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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grease.

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Speaker 2: A beautiful young girl seemingly vanishes into thin air.

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Speaker 3: Worst fears could be true.

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Speaker 2: Has she been taken? Is she with a man she

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Speaker 2: met online that apparently is much much older than her?

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Speaker 2: What is a little fourteen year old girl doing with

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Speaker 2: a much much older man? Where is Ella? Is she

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Speaker 2: still alive? Is she somewhere trying to get home right now?

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Speaker 2: If she is with some predator she met online? Is

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Speaker 2: she being disallowed to call home or contact her mother?

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Speaker 3: Who is joining us right now?

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Speaker 2: A warning to parents everywhere, but right now, let's bring

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Speaker 2: Ella home.

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Speaker 3: I Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories

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Speaker 2: and on Sirius XM one eleven.

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Speaker 3: First of all, take a listen to this.

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Speaker 4: On January sixth, Sarah Merrill contacts the Mount Vernon, Washington

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Speaker 4: Police Department and reports her fourteen year old daughter, Ella Jones,

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Speaker 4: is missing. Since she left home, Ella Jones has not

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Speaker 4: made contact with any family members or friends. Ella Jones

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Speaker 4: is five foot five inches tall, weighs about one thirty five,

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Speaker 4: and has brown eyes and brown hair. Her mother says,

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Speaker 4: Ella Jones has very distinctive dimples at the time she left,

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Speaker 4: she was believed to be wearing a black cooded sweatshirt,

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Speaker 4: multi colored plaid pajamas, and black Nike Air Force shoes.

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Speaker 2: Joining us right now is Ella's mother, Sarah Merrill, and

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Speaker 2: I'm asking you please take a look at Ella Celeste Jones.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely gorgeous, beautiful dimples, as mom points out, light brown

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Speaker 2: hair to me, with a little touch of auburn to it.

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Speaker 2: She looks like a very very young win on a

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Speaker 2: rider to me. Beautiful brown eyes, perfect porcelain skin. Where

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Speaker 2: is she now? Is she being disallowed to call home?

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Speaker 2: She has never run away from home. She has never

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Speaker 2: ever been this long out of contact with her mother.

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Speaker 2: Right now, to Sarah Merrill, this is Ella's mother, and

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Speaker 2: you can find her online. Find Ella Jones, Miss Merrill.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for being with us.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me, Miss Merrill. Tell me what happened. First.

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Speaker 2: First of all, I want to go to the moment

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Speaker 2: you realized Ella is gone.

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Speaker 5: I woke up in the morning, I made myself some coffee,

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Speaker 5: kind of stalled and was trying to enjoy a nice,

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Speaker 5: quiet Saturday morning before everyone got up. I started to

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Speaker 5: cook omelets, and then I realized it was awfully quiet,

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Speaker 5: and it was getting late, so I decided to go

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Speaker 5: check on Ella and wake her up, and that's when

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Speaker 5: I discovered she was gone.

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Speaker 3: You went to her room.

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Speaker 2: Would she normally sleep in her room or fall asleep

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Speaker 2: on the sofa? Where would she normally sleep on a

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Speaker 2: Friday night.

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Speaker 5: She's normally in her bed. So I went to her room.

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Speaker 3: Door closed, door, open, door closed? Is that normal?

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Speaker 5: It is?

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Speaker 3: Okay?

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Speaker 2: So you're making omelets Saturday morning. Everything's quiet. You go

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Speaker 2: to her room, you knock on the door, you open

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Speaker 2: the door.

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Speaker 3: And what do you see?

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Speaker 5: She was just gone. I was immediately frantic and panicking.

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Speaker 5: I called her sister first, and then I hung up

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Speaker 5: on her and called the police.

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Speaker 3: Why did you call the sister first?

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Speaker 5: I didn't know what to do, and I was still

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Speaker 5: looking around the house to make sure that I wasn't

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Speaker 5: just in a panic for no reason. That conversation was

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Speaker 5: about thirty seconds long, because then I hung up and

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Speaker 5: called the police.

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Speaker 2: I think all parents do the same thing. They first

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Speaker 2: looked for the innocent answer. Is she in the bathroom?

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Speaker 2: Did we cross paths? Is she on the front porch,

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Speaker 2: the back porch? Is she somewhere around the house before

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Speaker 2: you call police. So let me ask you. This was

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Speaker 2: her bed made or unmade?

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Speaker 5: Unmade?

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Speaker 2: Is that the way she had it the night before?

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Speaker 2: Does she make it up every morning?

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Speaker 5: That would be ideal, but she does not do that

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Speaker 5: every morning?

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Speaker 3: Gotcha? Does she have a window in her room?

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Speaker 5: She does?

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Speaker 3: Was the window open or closed?

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Speaker 5: It was closed?

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Speaker 3: Locked, her unlocked?

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Speaker 5: Unlocked?

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Speaker 2: When you go out, her window is on a ground

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Speaker 2: level or do you have to climb down or can

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Speaker 2: you climb down?

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Speaker 5: It's the first story window.

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Speaker 2: So she could have gone through the window onto the

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Speaker 2: ground or someone could have gotten her out that way.

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Speaker 5: I believe that's how she left the house.

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Speaker 3: Question. Do you have a burglar alarm?

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Speaker 5: I do not. I have cameras on the doorbell and

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Speaker 5: one on the back, and the back camera had been pointed.

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Speaker 2: Up, So miss Merrill, you have a ring doorbell cam

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Speaker 2: on the front door and the other camera is that

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Speaker 2: on the back door or the side door.

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Speaker 5: I'd put it on the back of the house to

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Speaker 5: shoot down across all the windows in the sliding glass door,

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Speaker 5: so that I had covered.

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Speaker 2: And can that be manipulated by digitally by your computer?

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Speaker 2: Can it be manipulated or does it have to be

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Speaker 2: physically pointed up, like with a broomstick.

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Speaker 5: Or something physically pointed up.

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Speaker 3: Got it?

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Speaker 2: Okay, what did you tell police when you call them?

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Speaker 2: What did you tell them.

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Speaker 5: That my fourteen year old was missing and I didn't

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Speaker 5: know where she was? And they immediately issued an ATO

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Speaker 5: and then asked if I wanted to file a missing

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Speaker 5: person By that time, I.

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Speaker 6: Had already what's an ATL attempt to obtain ATO attempt

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Speaker 6: to obtain And they asked you if you wanted to

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Speaker 6: file a missing person's report?

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Speaker 5: Correct?

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Speaker 3: Did you?

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Speaker 7: Yes?

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Speaker 5: I did?

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Speaker 3: And what time was that?

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Speaker 5: Kim do you remember.

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Speaker 2: Also with us Kimberly Fearly, this is Ella's godmother, It

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Speaker 2: was in the afternoon. Well, yeah, because you didn't go

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Speaker 2: try to wake her up till after eleven am when

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Speaker 2: you thought she had really been sleeping, you know, all night.

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Speaker 7: H Nancy. I know that Sarah called me at twelve

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Speaker 7: fifteen pm on Saturday, January sixth, and at that point

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Speaker 7: in time, she had already contacted the police and filed

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Speaker 7: the missing person's report.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so that's a lot within one hour, guys, you

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Speaker 2: are hearing the voice of Sarah Merrill, this is Ella's mother,

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Speaker 2: and Ella's godmother.

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Speaker 3: So this all goes down either in the late night.

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Speaker 2: Hours or the early morning hours of Friday Saturday, January five.

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to figure something out, Sarah Merril. When did

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Speaker 2: you last speak to her?

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Speaker 5: It was about nine pm. I had been tired from

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Speaker 5: a long week of work. I was going to go

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Speaker 5: to bed. She came in and laid with me in

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Speaker 5: my bed for a few minutes. We talked, and she

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Speaker 5: said good night, mama and went to her room and

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Speaker 5: I went to sleep.

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Speaker 3: Interesting, where do you work?

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Speaker 5: I am a chemist at a water quality level.

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Speaker 2: When she came and laid in the bed with you

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Speaker 2: the night before she disappeared, was everything okay?

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Speaker 3: Was there an argument anything like that? At that time?

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Speaker 5: There is no argument. We had a seemingly normal evening.

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Speaker 5: It is normal for Ella to come and lay with me.

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Speaker 2: What did you do when you stay a seemingly normal evening?

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Speaker 2: What is a seemingly normal evening for you too?

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Speaker 5: We had dinner together at home. We at home meet

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Speaker 5: her and her eight year old brother. The kids watch

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Speaker 5: something on TV for a little bit, and then we

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Speaker 5: got ready for bed.

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Speaker 3: And that's normal for a Friday night.

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Speaker 2: Yes, hey, guys, joining me an all star panel to

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Speaker 2: make sense of what we know right now, but chip

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Speaker 2: line three six zero four two eight three two one

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Speaker 2: one very quickly after Sierrah realizes her girl is missing,

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Speaker 2: the specter of a much older man online a predator emerges.

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Speaker 3: Take a listen to Dave Matt from crime Online.

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Speaker 8: Some of eli owns as friends were concerned for the

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Speaker 8: fourteen year old and told her mother, Sarah Merrill, that

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Speaker 8: Ella had been talking to an older man in his

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Speaker 8: twenties or thirties that Ellen met online non o'meagal during

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Speaker 8: the pandemic, but since the site closed down last November,

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Speaker 8: they continue to talk using Discord. Sarah confronts her daughter

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Speaker 8: and as punishment, takes away her phone, temporarily.

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Speaker 2: Joining me in crime online dot Com Investige, a reporter

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Speaker 2: Nicole part Nicole explain to me what we are hearing

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Speaker 2: about omegle and discord.

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Speaker 9: So o'neigel is an app that has since closed, an

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Speaker 9: online site where it would match you with random people.

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Speaker 9: So you would enter and you could begin to talk

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Speaker 9: about things that were of interest to you, and then

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Speaker 9: the program would match you with someone that they thought

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Speaker 9: were a good match and place the two of you

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Speaker 9: in a chat room for private chat, and it believed

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Speaker 9: that that is how Ella met this older man. She

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Speaker 9: was randomly chosen from this online site, matched with this gentleman,

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Speaker 9: and they could chat in a private online chat room.

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Speaker 9: Once that closed down, it's believed that she continued to

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Speaker 9: communicate with him online Vienna app called Discord, which is

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Speaker 9: a video talk text out that you can communicate with someone.

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Speaker 1: Time Stories with Nancy Grace.

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Speaker 3: Anna Sinoda joining me.

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Speaker 2: Child grooming expert, clinical social worker and author of Duck

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Speaker 2: Duck Groom Understanding How a child becomes a target an A.

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Speaker 3: Sanoda.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for being with us. It's very difficult for

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Speaker 2: me to understand. And I'm not saying to call partner

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Speaker 2: is wrong. I think she's correct, but it's hard.

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Speaker 3: For me to get my mind around a.

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Speaker 2: Website that puts a little girl just turned fourteen into

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Speaker 2: a private chat with a man that apparently is in his.

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Speaker 3: Thirty or forty. Yes, Nancy, there's something very wrong with that.

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Speaker 10: Yes, Nancy Omegal. It was a website that was started

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Speaker 10: in two thousand and nine and it was you know,

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Speaker 10: it's the world Wide Web, so it is a worldwide

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Speaker 10: video or text random matching Conversation Avenue. It's free, it's anonymous,

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Speaker 10: and it was heavily promoted, especially to teens via TikTok.

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Speaker 10: And we know that children are using social media at

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Speaker 10: higher and higher rates, and one of the taglines is

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Speaker 10: join at your own risk. There's no way to report, flag,

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Speaker 10: or block users within omego, and it's also possible to

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Speaker 10: record chats, which again could be videos, so there's no

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Speaker 10: way to consent or maybe even have knowledge if you're

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Speaker 10: being recorded. As it was already noted, it was shut

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Speaker 10: down in November of twenty twenty three. But there are copycats.

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Speaker 10: Need to look out for websites such as Chat, random

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Speaker 10: you Now, monkey Chat, Roulette, tiny Chat, and text Now,

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Speaker 10: which are copycat.

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Speaker 2: Wait give me those names. The gamepoint Chat, random Chat,

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Speaker 2: random you Now.

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Speaker 10: You Now, monkey Chat, Roulette, which is as just as

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Speaker 10: it sounds, tiny Chat, and text now. Not to mention

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Speaker 10: the fact, Nancy, that many of these are selling information

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Speaker 10: of the users, so we might be talking about personal information.

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Speaker 10: We might be talking about hackers being able to access

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Speaker 10: IP addresses and get locations on kids who are simply

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Speaker 10: using it for connecting with friends or with random people. However,

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Speaker 10: the risk factors are enormous alternatives that parents and kids

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Speaker 10: can look at that are more controlled are things like

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Speaker 10: childline and ditch the Label, which are too safer options?

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Speaker 2: Okay, child line and ditch the label, Okay, what are they?

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Speaker 10: Those are more supervised, more moderated, curated within the safety context.

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Speaker 10: What you have to remember is that you know, parents

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Speaker 10: are sold this idea that we can control through parental

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Speaker 10: controls and settings the online experience for our kids. And

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Speaker 10: by and large, what's happened is technology is moving faster

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Speaker 10: than the rules and policies.

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Speaker 2: What can you tell me an? It's the note about Discord.

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Speaker 2: So apparently this guy got her, this fourteen year old

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Speaker 2: little girl to move from Omegle, which was then shut

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Speaker 2: down in November to Discord.

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Speaker 3: Tell me about discord?

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Speaker 10: Right, So Discord started in twenty fifteen. It's recommended for

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Speaker 10: kids seventeen and older, but normally kids as young as

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Speaker 10: thirteen with parental supervision can use it.

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Speaker 2: Current Wait a minute, wait, white, white, white. When you

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Speaker 2: say they can use it, can't anybody use it and

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Speaker 2: say they're eighteen?

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Speaker 10: You're exactly right, You're exactly right.

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Speaker 3: So anybody can get on there.

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Speaker 10: Absolutely, there's no proof of age.

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Speaker 2: Like a forty year old man talking to a fourteen

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Speaker 2: year old girl. To Sarah Merril, joining me, this is

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Speaker 2: Ella's mother. When did you find out from the friends?

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Speaker 2: I understand that Ella had been online. There's a chat

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Speaker 2: room with a guy that at least in his twenties,

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Speaker 2: possibly forties.

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Speaker 5: It was my first stop Saturday morning. I immediately went

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Speaker 5: to a few places that I thought would be more

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Speaker 5: likely for Ella to be, grocery stores that are within

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Speaker 5: walking distance. It was chilly, so I was thinking about

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Speaker 5: where someone would go if they wanted to get warm initially,

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Speaker 5: and then I went to her friend's house and it

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Speaker 5: was there that speaking with her friend and her parents,

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Speaker 5: they were very supportive. Her friend started telling me of

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Speaker 5: these in terms of an older man and that she

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Speaker 5: may have met him on amagle. She also started calling

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Speaker 5: other friends to see if anyone knew anything about where

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Speaker 5: Ella was, and she started helping me with the search.

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Speaker 2: So let me understand the friend Ella's friend. You're out

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Speaker 2: looking for your daughter. You're not sitting back waiting for

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Speaker 2: the police to show up. You're looking for her actively.

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Speaker 3: You go to the grocery store, she's not there.

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Speaker 2: You go to the little friend's house, and how did

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Speaker 2: you get her to tell you about the online meeting?

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Speaker 5: Who was immediately very concerned about Ella's wellbeing?

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Speaker 2: Okay, I find that very very interesting. Del Carson joining me.

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Speaker 2: High profile lawyer out of Jacksonville, former FBI agent, former

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Speaker 2: Miami Dade, author of Arrest Proof Yourself. Del Carson, thank

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Speaker 2: you for being with us. Clearly the little friend knew

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Speaker 2: not that this was wrong, but that it was dangerous

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Speaker 2: because seemingly, pretty quickly after Ella's mom comes to the home,

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Speaker 2: where's Ella, she quickly gives it up.

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Speaker 3: It's not like Ella's mom had to pull it out

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Speaker 3: of her.

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Speaker 2: She said, hey, she has been talking to some older

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Speaker 2: guy online. Clearly, the little friend was concerned. And if

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Speaker 2: the little friend is concerned, that means it's real. It's

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Speaker 2: a big concern because at that age, they think they're invincible.

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Speaker 2: They don't think anything's going to ever happen to them,

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Speaker 2: anything bad anyway.

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Speaker 3: So for the little friend to be worried, it's very telling.

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Speaker 3: Dell Carson, Well, absolutely it is.

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Speaker 11: And it tells us, of course that she was definitely

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Speaker 11: communicating with her friends and not her family. And this

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Speaker 11: is a real nightmare.

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Speaker 10: For every parent.

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Speaker 11: It is frightening more than anyone seems to understand.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean the mother with Sarah Merrill fearing her

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Speaker 2: fourteen year old girl was lured on a social platform,

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Speaker 2: matching quote random people and like Anatinoda was saying earlier,

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Speaker 2: childdreoming expert. It is like having your child play a

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Speaker 2: game of Russian Roulette, except instead of a bullet, they

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Speaker 2: get an older man that has now lured them away.

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Speaker 11: Right, an older man who's a man who is prepared

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Speaker 11: to do most anything to acquire the object of his desire,

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Speaker 11: and focuses all of his energy into doing that. And

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Speaker 11: that's what parents don't generally understand. These individuals are focused

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Speaker 11: on that activity in a way a professional ballplayer focuses

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Speaker 11: on their game. They're not just doing it randomly.

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Speaker 2: Well, I want to I want to explore what you're saying,

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Speaker 2: joining me.

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Speaker 3: In addition to Dale Carson, Sarah.

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Speaker 2: Merrill, who is Ellis's mother, the godmother, Kimberlyarly all searching,

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Speaker 2: physically searching, having vigils, begging for help. Tip line three

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Speaker 2: six zero four two eight three two one one repeat

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Speaker 2: three six zero four two eight three two one one.

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Speaker 2: You know Bill Garcia is with us licensed PI at

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Speaker 2: Bill Garcia Investigative Services. What he just said is right.

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Speaker 2: For instance, you and I work all day. These people

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Speaker 2: sit at a computer all day and they fish and

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Speaker 2: they search. It's literally like fishing, it's literally like hunting,

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Speaker 2: and they do it all the time. I have seen

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Speaker 2: these guys. They're usually men. They may even be at

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Speaker 2: work and they'll have their laptop up, they'll have their

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Speaker 2: work screen up, and then they'll have another screen.

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Speaker 3: It could be another laptop, it.

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Speaker 2: Could be a gaming laptop, it could be their iPad,

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Speaker 2: and they're.

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Speaker 3: Trolling all day long. I mean, a little kid, it's

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Speaker 3: no match for someone that determined.

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Speaker 12: To Bill Garcia, Unfortunately, they are very determined and they

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Speaker 12: spend a lot of time thinking about these things. For

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Speaker 12: over thirty years, we've been helping families try to recover

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Speaker 12: children that have been abducted under these types of circumstances,

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Speaker 12: and it's only getting greater and greater.

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Speaker 3: What do you do to try to find the child?

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Speaker 3: What's your first move?

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Speaker 12: Well, the most important thing is to have law enforcement

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Speaker 12: get on the case as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, small

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Speaker 12: departments or overwhelmed departments don't give it quite as much

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Speaker 12: credibility as it needs to be able to jump on

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Speaker 12: one of these cases quickly. And so as time goes by,

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Speaker 12: the difficulty factor gets greater and it becomes more difficul

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Speaker 12: cold to actually find the perpetrator. And unfortunately, with the

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Speaker 12: passage of time, so does the distance between the location

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Speaker 12: where they may have been taken from and where they

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Speaker 12: have gone grows.

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Speaker 2: To Delle Carson, sixty miles an hour, times an hour,

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Speaker 2: one hour, sixty miles, two hours, one hundred and twenty miles,

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Speaker 2: three hours, one hundred and eighty miles, and so forth

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Speaker 2: and so on. But in this case, Dale, let me

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Speaker 2: go back to Sarah Merril. You did immediately call police.

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Speaker 2: Let me ask you something, Miss Merrill. Uh? Has she

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Speaker 2: ella just fourteen years old? Has she ever gone twenty

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Speaker 2: four hours forty eight hours to me two hours without

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Speaker 2: contacting you.

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Speaker 5: No, even if she is upset with me, she generally

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Speaker 5: wants me around. We have a really close relationship. And

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Speaker 5: also so just to point out the mention of limiting

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Speaker 5: social media, I had been limiting social media. I believe

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Speaker 5: primarily most of her access was through her school computer.

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Speaker 5: I had gone in December and spoke with the principal

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Speaker 5: and the technology department to limit websites on her computer

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Speaker 5: because I had found texts now on History, so I

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Speaker 5: had gone to the school to ask them to limit

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Speaker 5: it because it was the only device that I didn't

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Speaker 5: have access to parental controls. She did have a phone,

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Speaker 5: but I had it so that her app store and

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Speaker 5: Safari was shut off on it. She was still able

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Speaker 5: to circumvent some of that. They're smart.

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Speaker 3: They really aren't.

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Speaker 2: Here's the other thing to say, well, just take all

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Speaker 2: their devices away, Anna Sonota. In this world, the world

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Speaker 2: we live in, it's a new world.

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Speaker 3: They have devices at school.

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Speaker 2: They have their phone, which if you will notice a

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Speaker 2: certain generation, they don't even bother using their laptop very

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Speaker 2: much or their iPad. Everything they do is on their phone.

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Speaker 2: So if you want your child not to be s

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Speaker 2: trended at school, or not to be streaded after a game,

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Speaker 2: or they have a phone because to be so they

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Speaker 2: can be in constant touch with you if they need you.

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Speaker 2: Plus you can track that phone with Life three sixty

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Speaker 2: or find my iPhone. But you know, it's draconian and

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Speaker 2: I think a little, not a little, very unrealistic to say, well,

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Speaker 2: they don't have access to digital media.

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Speaker 3: They do.

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Speaker 2: If they don't have it at home, they're going to

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Speaker 2: get it at school or at a friend's house.

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Speaker 3: It's going to happen. So instead of sticking.

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Speaker 2: Your head in the sand and your butt in the air,

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Speaker 2: you need to accept they're going to get their fingers

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Speaker 2: onto a device. So now, now, what are you going

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Speaker 2: to do about That's the way I look at it,

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Speaker 2: Anthonota am i wrong.

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Speaker 10: Phones are often given to children as a safety tool.

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Speaker 10: The average age of a child getting their first smartphone

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Speaker 10: in America is age ten. So when we expect these

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Speaker 10: children to be raised in a digital native environment, and

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Speaker 10: then we're not equipping them or equipping ourselves as adults

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Speaker 10: to recognize what are the risk factors online. It's so

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Speaker 10: easy to impress teens in person, it's even easier to

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Speaker 10: impress them online. And grooming is the process of duping

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Speaker 10: somebody in order to get what they want, in order

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Speaker 10: to gain access to a minor. So when we are

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Speaker 10: raising our kids, we're having to have those conversations that

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Speaker 10: everything online is fake, everything is curated, everything is made up.

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Speaker 10: The only thing you can be assured of is that

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Speaker 10: there has been a premeditation in conjuring up this picture

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Speaker 10: or con bring up this scenario. And when it comes

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Speaker 10: to predation online predators don't even need to come in

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Speaker 10: through our threshold of our home anymore because the virtual

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Speaker 10: world has taken over a large swath of the access

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Speaker 10: for potential victims, and the Center for Missing and Exploited

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Speaker 10: Children just in twenty twenty one had twenty nine point

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Speaker 10: three million tips of online predation.

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Speaker 2: To Karen joining me, renowned psychologists joining us out of Manhattan.

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Speaker 2: You can find her at karenstart dot com. That's Karen

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Speaker 2: with a C if you try to locate her. Karen,

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Speaker 2: thank you for being with us. You know, I don't

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Speaker 2: think that parents should be made to feel guilty because

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Speaker 2: their child has a cell phone.

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Speaker 3: And you know our story, Karen Stark.

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Speaker 2: I was holding out until they were fourteen to give

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Speaker 2: them a cell phone, or maybe fifteen.

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Speaker 3: And then we went to a football game.

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Speaker 2: My fred girl son was in the marching band, and

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Speaker 2: that was the night he was going to perform. So

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Speaker 2: we all went so John David and Lucy said to me, Mom,

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Speaker 2: can we go walk around and go get whatever or

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Speaker 2: a corn dog with our friends?

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Speaker 12: Like sure?

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Speaker 2: Come back In twenty minutes, twenty minutes past, thirty minutes past,

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Speaker 2: I started getting nervous. At forty minutes, I got up

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Speaker 2: and started looking for them. And guess what was right

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Speaker 2: behind the stadium? Parents, grown women and men tailgating like

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Speaker 2: they were at a.

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Speaker 3: Party for them. They were drunk as skunks. I thought,

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Speaker 3: my little girl, she was twelve.

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Speaker 2: At the time, and you know, Lucy's very slight is

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Speaker 2: walking through this with a bunch of drunk guys. I

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Speaker 2: don't know them. Karen started.

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Speaker 3: There had to be fifty to one hundred.

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Speaker 2: Cars tailgating behind a high school football game. Why I

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Speaker 2: don't get it, but anyway, I swore, right then, if

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Speaker 2: I ever get my men back on them, they're getting

444
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:05,680
Speaker 2: cell phones.

445
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 3: And Karen, I was standing there in a throng of people.

446
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 2: There had to be two thousand people kneeling around, and

447
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 2: I was looking as like anela and a haystack. And

448
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 2: guess what happened, Lucy? Somebody grabbed me from behind me

449
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 2: with Lucy, she had got her face painted. With her

450
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,520
Speaker 2: little friends, they all had their faces painted with flowers.

451
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,360
Speaker 2: And right after that, John David walked up with two

452
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:31,920
Speaker 2: hot dogs, one in each hand, and I thanked God,

453
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:33,880
Speaker 2: and I went out the next day and they got

454
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,400
Speaker 2: cell phones so I could be able to find them.

455
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,679
Speaker 2: And in that moment, I was thinking about a predator

456
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,960
Speaker 2: like Sarah Merrill is having to think about right now.

457
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 2: I mean, I just can't even imagine what she's going through.

458
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 2: Where is my daughter if she went this guy in

459
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 2: his thirties, where does he have her? Is she even alive?

460
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 2: Why can't she call me? I mean, Karen, the dilemma

461
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 2: do you give them then?

462
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:03,800
Speaker 3: What do you do? Then? Once they get the phone,

463
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 3: it's like the parents can't win.

464
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 13: That's what makes this day and age so difficult. Nancy,

465
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,119
Speaker 13: your exact story, because you want them to have the

466
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 13: phone for safety reasons, just like one of the guests said,

467
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,640
Speaker 13: And so how do you cope with that situation? It's

468
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 13: a conundrum And the most important thing to realize is

469
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,120
Speaker 13: it's the spin line between not wanting to frighten them

470
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:36,040
Speaker 13: but also educate children about these possibilities. They need to

471
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:41,239
Speaker 13: understand that not everybody who comes across as kind and

472
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 13: charming and helpful, and that's exactly how these predators are.

473
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 13: They're really, really manipulative, and they make you feel like

474
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 13: they're your friend. And so they need they need to

475
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 13: really talk to their parents.

476
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,400
Speaker 2: Karen Dark truer words that were never spoken.

477
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 1: Time Stories with Nancy Grace.

478
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:21,159
Speaker 2: Sarah merrill Is with me, Ella's mother, and Kimberly Fearley,

479
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 2: her godmother. When the little girl the friend told you

480
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 2: she's been talking online to some guy, what else did.

481
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 3: She tell you?

482
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,160
Speaker 5: She had mentioned she had seen Ella have a video

483
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:34,400
Speaker 5: chat with him, gave a vague description. It later came

484
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,080
Speaker 5: out amongst other kids that kids had been talking to

485
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 5: each other and concerned about it. Primarily the boys and

486
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 5: the friend groups.

487
00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 10: Had not liked it.

488
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,040
Speaker 5: Nobody had come forward with it. I had had conversations

489
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 5: with Ellis, and she was very little about stranger danger

490
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 5: and not keeping secrets and the fact that online anyone

491
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 5: could be anyone anything, and to never talk to anyone

492
00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:59,800
Speaker 5: that you don't know in person. She's kind of my

493
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:04,320
Speaker 5: rule set. So, I mean, my warning to other parents

494
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 5: is that you can do everything right and it still

495
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 5: may not work.

496
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 3: Exactly you're doing exactly what I'm doing. I try to

497
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 3: monitor them.

498
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 2: I tell them about stranger danger, everything you're saying, but

499
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 2: enough about what could have, would have should have because

500
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 2: you were.

501
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 3: Doing everything right, no blame. Yes.

502
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 2: In fact, you had taken her phone away when you

503
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 2: thought she had broken a rule.

504
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:30,959
Speaker 3: You were monitoring her.

505
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 2: You had gone to the school to ask them to

506
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 2: limit her acts and her social media access. But let's

507
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 2: talk about this guy. The friend group had seen him.

508
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 2: Is he a white male?

509
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 7: This is completely We don't actually know if he is

510
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,640
Speaker 7: a white male. I think that kids have a really

511
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 7: difficult time positively identifying people, and the context under which

512
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 7: they saw him didn't really make him very clear. So

513
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 7: he'd been seen possibly on Discord, and he'd also been

514
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 7: seen by another child, possibly on Snapchat with Ella, which

515
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 7: is a very common app I think most of us

516
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 7: are pretty familiar with. And the descriptions between those two girls,

517
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 7: which do not know each other, don't look by each other,

518
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,200
Speaker 7: were very similar, as in that he had a slightly

519
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 7: heavier set face, he had a chin strapped beard, and

520
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 7: he also had short, yet puffy hair, and that hair

521
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 7: was described as very dark brown, almost black. One child

522
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,040
Speaker 7: also said that in his video chat with her, he

523
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 7: was wearing jewelry like a gold chain, he had a

524
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 7: really nice watch on, perhaps a Rolex, and he was

525
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 7: vaping on the screen. And so those were just some

526
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 7: really specific details that were given to us about this.

527
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 2: Individual suspect online name Keith. And remember, we don't know

528
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 2: if this is real because a profile shot could be

529
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 2: completely different from what you look like. But these children,

530
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:59,360
Speaker 2: these chains say they saw him on a video chat

531
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 2: more likely to really be him. So, Sarah Merrill and

532
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 2: Kimberly Fearley, I'm trying to understand, we're all the change together,

533
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,200
Speaker 2: and they saw the chat going on, So you've got

534
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:15,440
Speaker 2: more than one witness seeing him.

535
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 3: Correct.

536
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 7: No, she was chatting individually at one of her good friends' homes,

537
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,960
Speaker 7: and then a couple months after that, she was chatting

538
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,959
Speaker 7: at a totally different residence with a friend that is

539
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 7: not related. So the two witnesses we have saw this,

540
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 7: and tips came from the boys and the friend group

541
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,440
Speaker 7: based off of conversations they had been having in person

542
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,760
Speaker 7: at school and you know, over the phone and text.

543
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 7: And so the boys had come forward saying that she

544
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 7: had mentioned this individual. She had said his name was Keith,

545
00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 7: and she had said he was thirty or approximately in

546
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 7: his thirties.

547
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 2: Well, this is something I don't understand. Let me go

548
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 2: to Bill Garcia. Anybody on the panel jump in it

549
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:03,160
Speaker 2: seems to me her devices could be backtracked and we

550
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 2: could go into her cloud and find out who this

551
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,800
Speaker 2: guy is and find out his IP address.

552
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 3: I mean that.

553
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 2: Is that not happening? Have they seized her items? Sarah Merril?

554
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,840
Speaker 2: Do they have all of her digital items?

555
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 5: About ten days after she was missing, they did come

556
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 5: collect her school computer and her phone and they are

557
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:28,520
Speaker 5: going through it forensically currently and I haven't gotten any

558
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 5: information as to where they've gotten with that so far.

559
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 3: Ten days.

560
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a long time. Ten days before they get

561
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:37,840
Speaker 2: the information.

562
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 3: Sarah, Yeah. Okay.

563
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 2: Kimberly Fearly is Ella's godmother. Kimberly, jump in, give me

564
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:47,720
Speaker 2: your analysis on what's happening right now.

565
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 7: Currently we are three weeks of Love being missing, and

566
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,440
Speaker 7: great amount of the work, the investigative work the community outreached,

567
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 7: the contacts with transit centers other police departments, have been

568
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 7: done by our individual group volunteers, friends and family members

569
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 7: that came together really quickly after we realized Ella was missing.

570
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 7: It was very frustrating in the beginning because the police

571
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 7: were simply not taking this seriously, despite the fact that

572
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 7: we had multiple children coming forward and stating they believed

573
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 7: she was speaking to this individual. They were afraid that

574
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 7: she may have left with him. They were afraid she

575
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 7: was in danger. The police continued to treat it that

576
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,160
Speaker 7: as hearsay. They were looking for what they would consider

577
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 7: concrete evidence, some sort of picture, some sort of chat

578
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,400
Speaker 7: history that proved that she was talking to an adult,

579
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 7: and they waited ten days to take her devices. In

580
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 7: that period of time, her mother, myself, one of our

581
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,480
Speaker 7: other good friends went through those devices. We actually hacked

582
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 7: into all of her socials. We were pulling screen names,

583
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 7: we were downloading chat history, we were doing everything we

584
00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 7: could to try and find a username that might be

585
00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 7: associated with this individual who was calling himself Keith. And

586
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:04,959
Speaker 7: we have put together a group of approximately ten individuals

587
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,399
Speaker 7: right now, primarily women that are really close to Ella,

588
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 7: and we're working really hard to canvas and communicate with

589
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 7: every possible location that somebody might take a kid and

590
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 7: be hiding out. So we're covering Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho

591
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 7: all the way up to the border at this point

592
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,760
Speaker 7: in time, and getting Ella's information to as many people

593
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:27,480
Speaker 7: as possible.

594
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:32,400
Speaker 2: Anna Sanota joining US child grooming expert. It seems to

595
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 2: me that the first thing police should do is deliver

596
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:42,400
Speaker 2: the penuts to the websites that this guy is using

597
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:49,320
Speaker 2: to lure Ella Jones, Sharah's daughter, for instance.

598
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:50,439
Speaker 3: I know that.

599
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 2: Amegal is no longer working, but what about the others

600
00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:01,160
Speaker 2: the other site she was using, like cord to talk

601
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:05,799
Speaker 2: to this guy, Because in order to have his profile key,

602
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:06,720
Speaker 2: whether that's.

603
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,399
Speaker 3: His real name or not, you have to give them the.

604
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 2: Website you're real a real email address, right, Isn't that

605
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,439
Speaker 2: how it worked in a Tonda.

606
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,800
Speaker 10: So On discord where you have two hundred million users, Nancy,

607
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 10: there are different channels available to you, so you could

608
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 10: have a private conversation, you could post announcements, you could

609
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,080
Speaker 10: join a general chat. You know, it's quote your place

610
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:40,000
Speaker 10: to talk. So, because there's no age verification and there's

611
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:45,160
Speaker 10: no identity required either, so you come up with your

612
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,399
Speaker 10: own username, which, as you've already stated again and again

613
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 10: in this show to your audience, identities are fabricated.

614
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,080
Speaker 3: Kimberly Fearley, this is godmother.

615
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,600
Speaker 2: Is my understanding that you have to have a phone,

616
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 2: usually a cell phone, or an email address in order

617
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,080
Speaker 2: to establish your fate profile.

618
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,960
Speaker 7: Yes, that's correct, you have to have an email address,

619
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:13,280
Speaker 7: for Discord.

620
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:18,640
Speaker 2: Chamberly, has there been any stubpoenas to Discord or what's

621
00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 2: left of Amegal. You can actually go back to their

622
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 2: records even though they're closed now, or to any other

623
00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:29,400
Speaker 2: of the account she Ella was using.

624
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:31,800
Speaker 3: Has that happened, Yes.

625
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 7: It has happened now, But it took them over two

626
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:38,720
Speaker 7: weeks to submit those warrants to the various social medias

627
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,920
Speaker 7: that we were concerned about. We actually asked them at

628
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:46,440
Speaker 7: day four of this to contact Discord and to contact

629
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 7: text Now because that was another platform we were aware

630
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,080
Speaker 7: she may have been using. And I personally sent that

631
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,960
Speaker 7: email to them asking them to put in a request,

632
00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:59,800
Speaker 7: an emergency request for information from text Now and asking

633
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 7: them to subpoena from Discord. And it took them about

634
00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,240
Speaker 7: two weeks to verify with us that they had submitted wars.

635
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 2: Okay, the warrants will take a minute to turn around,

636
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 2: because then the companies themselves have to do the search.

637
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:13,960
Speaker 3: To Sarah Merrill, this.

638
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 2: Is Ella's mother and again Ella is about five five.

639
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,960
Speaker 3: H porcelain skin. She here she looks.

640
00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 2: Like a young win ow A rider, a very like

641
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,760
Speaker 2: a teen girl, a thirteen year old win ow A rider,

642
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 2: that's what she looks like with longer hair. Sarah Merrill,

643
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 2: tell me about potential sidings of Ella again, Chip line

644
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 2: three six zero four two eight three two one one,

645
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,200
Speaker 2: tell me about potential sidings of your daughter.

646
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:49,720
Speaker 5: Initially we had quite a few. Some were on local

647
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 5: city transit buses. We tried to obtain video footage. Unfortunately,

648
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 5: one of the first ones, the GVR on the bus

649
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,319
Speaker 5: was not operational, so we were not able to obtain that.

650
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,680
Speaker 5: We have had some other sightings. Unfortunately, again we have

651
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,440
Speaker 5: not someone's camera is either not working or we have

652
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:14,240
Speaker 5: obtained the wrong footage. We have not caught her on camera.

653
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,600
Speaker 5: We're getting sightings all over the place. I'm sure most

654
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,879
Speaker 5: of them are not Ella, but it is a sign

655
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 5: that we have gotten attention, and we do have eyes

656
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:26,560
Speaker 5: out there looking and caring and helping us find her.

657
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 5: So in that sense, it's total. On the other sense,

658
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,080
Speaker 5: it's confusing because you don't know which direction to go.

659
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,480
Speaker 5: I've spent a long time, a lot of time, as

660
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 5: well as Kim and some of our other friends. If

661
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,240
Speaker 5: we get a tip that we feel is more viable,

662
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:44,480
Speaker 5: we head right down to wherever that tip had come

663
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,800
Speaker 5: from and start talking to employees at the local stores

664
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 5: in that area and trying to get her flyers up

665
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 5: and trying to get further.

666
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:56,600
Speaker 2: Leads Sarah question, do either you or Kimberly know whether

667
00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,680
Speaker 2: anyone else in your neighborhood have ring dormll cam?

668
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:05,440
Speaker 5: So that is something I did on day two, so Sunday,

669
00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:09,520
Speaker 5: after I had found her, Sunday and Monday, I went around. Actually,

670
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:11,960
Speaker 5: I think the first one I gathered was my very

671
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:16,719
Speaker 5: closest next door neighbor was on Saturday, I started reaching out.

672
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 5: I got into that next door app and put a

673
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:26,480
Speaker 5: post out and I went physically door to door. Unfortunately,

674
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:30,560
Speaker 5: most people have their ring cameras their proximity turned down

675
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 5: so that they don't catch all the street traffic, so

676
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 5: I wasn't able to obtain anything.

677
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,799
Speaker 3: How about any red light cams or business cam.

678
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:43,600
Speaker 5: So the red light cameras are public information. I would

679
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 5: hope that the police had gone through it, but because

680
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:50,800
Speaker 5: I didn't have an exact time and they were treating

681
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,440
Speaker 5: her as a runaway, I'm not sure what happened with that.

682
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,920
Speaker 5: As far as the red light cameras. I did go

683
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:02,360
Speaker 5: to the local gas station around the corner and it's

684
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 5: family owned, and he had remembered Ella coming in and

685
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 5: he was very eager to try to help and find

686
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 5: anything on his cameras. But that would only be if

687
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:13,799
Speaker 5: they happened to stop there.

688
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:16,239
Speaker 2: Well, what about if they passed by there? Because that

689
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:19,520
Speaker 2: was a big factor in the Brian Coburger case. That

690
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,560
Speaker 2: was a real break in the case. There was a

691
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:27,520
Speaker 2: convenience store gas station at a corner, and after combing

692
00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:31,160
Speaker 2: through records for hours and hours and hours, it's what

693
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:36,319
Speaker 2: Elantra was spotted going by around four am ish in

694
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 2: the morning the night of the murders. So I'm just wondering,

695
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:45,040
Speaker 2: is their gas or their gas gas tanks there?

696
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:45,680
Speaker 5: There are?

697
00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, so those.

698
00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:53,359
Speaker 2: Are usually covered with close circuit TV. Would he let

699
00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:57,399
Speaker 2: you go through that night till the early morning? Would

700
00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:58,640
Speaker 2: he let you come through it?

701
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,880
Speaker 5: I'm pretty sure he would. He was very forthcoming, concerned

702
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:06,319
Speaker 5: and helpful, and he had gone through it. I had

703
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 5: also told the police that he was very helpful and

704
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:16,960
Speaker 5: willing and suggested that I don't have all the details

705
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,640
Speaker 5: as far as what is going on with the police investigation.

706
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:20,920
Speaker 5: It's kind of a black box.

707
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:24,799
Speaker 2: Is this the Mountain Vernon, Washington Police Department? It is

708
00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 2: guys again. Tip line three six zero four two eight

709
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 2: three two one one. Ella is just fourteen years old

710
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:39,319
Speaker 2: and her mother has reason to fear she has been

711
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:46,120
Speaker 2: lured on a social platform that matches up random people

712
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:53,440
Speaker 2: regardless of age, putting them into a private chat room.

713
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:55,280
Speaker 3: With Merrill.

714
00:41:55,480 --> 00:42:00,400
Speaker 2: Why were her friend boys in her group were about

715
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:03,520
Speaker 2: this guy that we're calling cheek because that's what he

716
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 2: was calling himself.

717
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:06,000
Speaker 3: Why were they so worried?

718
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:09,240
Speaker 5: In hindsight? As more time went by, the kids started

719
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 5: opening up more and more and more things came out,

720
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 5: and the perception that I was given was that they

721
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:16,360
Speaker 5: found it creepy and they didn't like it, so that

722
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:18,880
Speaker 5: a couple of the boys had had a discussion between

723
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 5: themselves in the past. Unfortunately, none of the children had

724
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:27,960
Speaker 5: come forward to an adult.

725
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:31,960
Speaker 2: Did they ever confront Ella about it? And if so,

726
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:32,960
Speaker 2: what did she say?

727
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:36,200
Speaker 5: I am unaware if that was something that happened.

728
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 3: Guys again.

729
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,239
Speaker 2: The tip line three six zero four two eight three

730
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:44,840
Speaker 2: two one one, Sarah Merril, how are you getting through

731
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:46,800
Speaker 2: the days and the nights?

732
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:52,960
Speaker 5: Not very smoothly? Sleeping was pretty much impossible for the

733
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:56,000
Speaker 5: first week week and a half. I finally started sleeping

734
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,320
Speaker 5: a little bit more. I think just at a sheer exhaustion.

735
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:05,520
Speaker 5: I have been physically ill, sick to my stomach, and

736
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:09,279
Speaker 5: my back is even going out, like my body is

737
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,359
Speaker 5: just shutting down. If I'm not actively out looking for

738
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:17,040
Speaker 5: her or scouring the internet or doing something active, I'm

739
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:21,360
Speaker 5: breaking down and crying, which is not helpful for finding

740
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:26,120
Speaker 5: her or for my eight year old son. So I've

741
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,520
Speaker 5: been just trying to stay going.

742
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 2: Do you believe Ella, your girl is being disallowed from

743
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:36,800
Speaker 2: calling you to tell you she's okay?

744
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:37,839
Speaker 5: Absolutely?

745
00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:39,400
Speaker 3: Why do you say that there's.

746
00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 5: No doubt in my mind that she would call me

747
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:44,360
Speaker 5: if she could, And I wake up panicked when I

748
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,480
Speaker 5: do fall asleep. Something is really wrong.

749
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:52,879
Speaker 2: Please help us bring Ella home again. The chip line

750
00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:57,000
Speaker 2: to help find this fourteen year old little girl, Ella

751
00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 2: Ella Celesto Jones three six zero four two eight three

752
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:07,840
Speaker 2: two one one. There is also a family tip line.

753
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:14,360
Speaker 2: Find Ella Jones at gmail dot com. Repeat find Ella

754
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 2: Jones at gmail dot com.

755
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:21,400
Speaker 3: Goodbye friend,