Speaker 1: By the end of December twenty twenty three, our team
Speaker 1: had wrapped up production on Hello John Dale. Todd and
Speaker 1: I talked a little bit about what we'd both do next,
Speaker 1: how excited we were about the show coming out, what
Speaker 1: kind of other unbelievable stories he'd come across that might
Speaker 1: warrant a second season. On January third of this year,
Speaker 1: I got a call from my editor Catherine.
Speaker 2: Todd had passed away that morning.
Speaker 1: He was only fifty three. I'm still not exactly sure
Speaker 1: how to process this. None of us are, but our
Speaker 1: team did what we knew we had to. We flew
Speaker 1: to Tennessee, paid our respects, and dedicated an episode to
Speaker 1: Todd Matthew's remarkable life.
Speaker 3: We do have a very full flight this morning, so
Speaker 3: if we do have a larger roller release, but it.
Speaker 4: Is Wales first.
Speaker 1: We couldn't let Todd go to the other side of
Speaker 1: the veil without a proper goodbye, and we wanted to
Speaker 1: finish what Todd started. Reached back out to Steve one
Speaker 1: last time to see what it all meant to him.
Speaker 1: My name is Kate Michigan and this is Hello John Doe.
Speaker 1: A sleuth, a family and a serial killer. The story
Speaker 1: of a family torn apart by tragedy and Todd's quest
Speaker 1: to break them back together. This is Chapter eleven, the
Speaker 1: first of three bonus episodes.
Speaker 2: This one's for Todd.
Speaker 1: Todd'stown, Livingston, Tennessee, is about an hour and a half
Speaker 1: outside of Nashville, a little sleepy and tucked away between
Speaker 1: mountains and trees. It was just a few days after
Speaker 1: the New year. The trees were barren gray. Todd's visitation
Speaker 1: was at a funeral home right next to the clothing
Speaker 1: boutique his wife, Florrie ran.
Speaker 5: And so today we gather to honor and to celebrate
Speaker 5: the remarkable life of Todd Matthews.
Speaker 6: There was so many people there, a lot of people.
Speaker 6: They were weaving us back and forth in the pews,
Speaker 6: and all I could do was watch that little TV
Speaker 6: thing showed dollar pictures.
Speaker 1: You know, that's Rosemary Westbrook. You might remember her from
Speaker 1: our first episode. She's the sister of Tent Girl, the
Speaker 1: very first woman Todd helped identify, the one that basically
Speaker 1: changed his life and obviously changed hers.
Speaker 6: It was a lot of thoughts running through your head
Speaker 6: of many years past.
Speaker 1: Rosemary and her family drove up from Arkansas to say goodbye.
Speaker 2: They were among the hundreds. There were people from the
Speaker 2: dough Network family.
Speaker 1: Seed helped reunite his own family, his wife, their two kids,
Speaker 1: and his grandkids. People from Hutchinson, the factory where he
Speaker 1: started his career. Tina Hall, his cousin who grew up
Speaker 1: with him, was surprised by the wide range of people
Speaker 1: who showed up.
Speaker 7: I knew he had done a lot, but even after
Speaker 7: his passing now, it's just amazing how many people came
Speaker 7: out to the funeral home and the stories about how
Speaker 7: he touched their lives. We were so proud of me.
Speaker 1: There were so many people in the receiving line that
Speaker 1: Todd's wife, Flor, stood by the casket for more than
Speaker 1: four hours.
Speaker 6: You know how you kind of listen in on stories
Speaker 6: as you're passing through this weaving motion, and most of
Speaker 6: them were stories of Todd being a prankster. You know
Speaker 6: how he played a trick on this one, played trick
Speaker 6: on that one, and tell somebody to go do something
Speaker 6: and watch them come out the building and laugh at him.
Speaker 2: I overheard that same thing. I knew this firsthand.
Speaker 1: But Todd didn't change his persona if he was at
Speaker 1: the factory or the doughnut work or the Department of Justice,
Speaker 1: or in his living room. He was the same guy, tenderhearted,
Speaker 1: with a propensity for tricks. We paid our respects and
Speaker 1: then came back the next day for the funeral. That's
Speaker 1: when we met John Brett, an old friend of Todd's.
Speaker 5: I first met Todd in an unconventional way. I was
Speaker 5: working as an investigative reporter at WLAXTV in Lexington, Kentucky.
Speaker 5: I was sitting at my desk one afternoon in the newsroom.
Speaker 5: In the phone rang and I picked it up and
Speaker 5: fat voice he started the conversation with You're gonna think
Speaker 5: I'm crazy, but please don't hang up until you hear
Speaker 5: my story. And that call was about the tent girl case.
Speaker 2: John was taken with Todd. Who was this guy?
Speaker 1: Todd ended up doing his first TV interview with John
Speaker 1: back in nineteen ninety eight. This was a milestone for
Speaker 1: him and the beginning of a lifelong friendship between two men.
Speaker 5: He was a son, a husband, a father, a poppy,
Speaker 5: and to many of us here a friend and a mentor.
Speaker 5: His humor, as we've heard his legendary as his investigative skills.
Speaker 1: Todd was famous in Livingstone, not just because of his
Speaker 1: national profile. He was an original, hard to miss.
Speaker 5: He was a man who found joy in life's simplest moments,
Speaker 5: whether it was nurturing his garden or cooking the meal
Speaker 5: for his family. His passing leaves a void that can
Speaker 5: never be filled, but his legacy is immortal. It lives
Speaker 5: on in the lives that he touched, the mysteries that
Speaker 5: he solved, the love he spread.
Speaker 1: If you've been listening to this podcast, you know Todd
Speaker 1: had a pretty unique relationship to death. Like he said himself,
Speaker 1: he confronted it early on when he lost his two siblings,
Speaker 1: and it was a huge part of how he made
Speaker 1: his living reuniting dead and missing people with their families.
Speaker 1: Todd talked a lot about death before his passing, not
Speaker 1: in a morbid way.
Speaker 2: He was just a matter of fact about it.
Speaker 8: I'm not squeamish. Acada Cereal, Elbadrasco.
Speaker 1: A few years ago, some documentary filmmakers from Morgan Freeman's
Speaker 1: production company filmed Todd when they were thinking about making
Speaker 1: a movie about him. After he died, we listened back
Speaker 1: to those recordings. I was stunned by how poignant his
Speaker 1: words were and his passing, the gained meaning became even
Speaker 1: more profound.
Speaker 8: Death is part of life, It is a real chapter
Speaker 8: of life. You have to accept that as you've done enough,
Speaker 8: you've done everything that you can do, accept the things
Speaker 8: you can't change, and embrace the things that you can.
Speaker 8: So that's what I had to do to make myself
Speaker 8: be okay, because I feel like I'm somebody that wants
Speaker 8: to see you want it all, but sometimes you have enough.
Speaker 1: As we were making Hello John Doe, when he thought
Speaker 1: we were capturing the story of Steve Patterson, we didn't
Speaker 1: realize we were documenting the last years of Todd's life too.
Speaker 1: You've heard Todd talk about losing his brother and sister.
Speaker 8: I was two years old, but I still remember fragments
Speaker 8: of the emotion.
Speaker 1: What he hadn't told you yet was that he had
Speaker 1: open heart surgery when he was just eight years old.
Speaker 8: There was a period of time I wasn't expected to live,
Speaker 8: so growing up, I really never expected to be here today.
Speaker 8: So I feel like almost my entire adult life, I
Speaker 8: felt like I was living on barred time. I wasn't
Speaker 8: planning on being a grandfather, but yet I'm here. So
Speaker 8: it gives you a different point of view. I don't
Speaker 8: feel like life was owed to me. I felt like
Speaker 8: I was granted life that was beyond what I expected.
Speaker 2: I always wondered what was driving Todd?
Speaker 8: So you do have to appreciate it, and I do.
Speaker 8: I do appreciate it. It's like, so what do you
Speaker 8: do with it?
Speaker 1: I guess this was that he was compelled to do
Speaker 1: something with the time he was given. He didn't just
Speaker 1: help one family, he helped dozens, hundreds.
Speaker 8: And it was a strange niche with missing and unidentified.
Speaker 8: You don't just choose that, it chooses you. And maybe
Speaker 8: that's what's kept me here for so long.
Speaker 2: It just feels like Todd was born to do this
Speaker 2: kind of to nestle into people's lives at their darkest points.
Speaker 8: I do make friends really quickly with people, and that's
Speaker 8: just my nature. Some of my best friends are dead,
Speaker 8: but it's okay. They were dead when I met him,
Speaker 8: and it's like, why is that weird? And I don't
Speaker 8: think that's inappropriate, not at all.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 8: I think it's absolutely necessary and matters of life and death,
Speaker 8: it's absolutely necessary that somebody truly knows that you're going
Speaker 8: to do everything you can to resolve it for them.
Speaker 8: Just because somebody's unclaim doesn't mean they're unwanting.
Speaker 1: All this to say, when Todd died, I hope he'd
Speaker 1: already meet peace with it.
Speaker 8: I think death is such a stigma because people it's
Speaker 8: something you don't want to do. You know, It's like
Speaker 8: nobody wants to die. You heard the saying everybody wants
Speaker 8: to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. It's
Speaker 8: just like it's easy to just like, let's just forget
Speaker 8: about that. Let's push it away. That's going to be
Speaker 8: a long time from now. I don't want to deal
Speaker 8: with it. It's only sad, it's only bad. Let's not
Speaker 8: think about it. But it's just like it is a
Speaker 8: part of life.
Speaker 1: In this video, Todd was in the car showing the
Speaker 1: producers around Livingstone. He was wearing a basel cop and
Speaker 1: he had a look on his face. I came to
Speaker 1: know fairly well, it's kind of a lopsided grinnin like
Speaker 1: he's already thinking five steps ahead of you. You've pulled
Speaker 1: up to the cemetery where his brother and sister were buried.
Speaker 8: I think if you can prepare for it and accept it,
Speaker 8: because you're not going to change it. I would love
Speaker 8: to change it if I could. But I realized that
Speaker 8: instead of avoiding it and pushing it off, evading it,
Speaker 8: you got to think about what do I need to
Speaker 8: do before I'm here? What do I need to do
Speaker 8: to finish up some things in life before I lay
Speaker 8: down here and go to sleep myself. I don't want
Speaker 8: to have that damnation of wishing I had of So
Speaker 8: that's why I want to do now while I have time,
Speaker 8: because I know the day is coming I lay down here,
Speaker 8: so I want to do it with a clean slate.
Speaker 8: If I could say that, I'd like to do it
Speaker 8: when I think you know what you don't know all
Speaker 8: you can do, be proud of it, be happy so
Speaker 8: you laid it when the work is done.
Speaker 1: In that interview, Todd talked about how he felt about dying,
Speaker 1: but he didn't talk about everyone he'd leave behind, and
Speaker 1: he didn't give us instructions on what we're supposed to
Speaker 1: do without him. Lately, Todd's family's been wondering how to
Speaker 1: live in a world without him. His son, Devin, who's
Speaker 1: twenty two, saw his dad's work up close.
Speaker 9: He went to Kentucky one time I was with him
Speaker 9: when he exhoomed a grave. I was there for a
Speaker 9: part of that, and that was really really cool. He
Speaker 9: was just in his element.
Speaker 2: Todd never shielded his kids from what he did for
Speaker 2: a living.
Speaker 9: From a pretty young age, I knew exactly what it
Speaker 9: was because I I had to know. I was always
Speaker 9: nosy and it was never like a traumatizing thing. It
Speaker 9: was always just like, oh wow, Okay, that's fascinating.
Speaker 1: Which meant that when the time came, Devin felt better
Speaker 1: equipped to deal with grief than most.
Speaker 9: I mean, if there's anybody that's helped me realize that
Speaker 9: it happens to everyone and all different kinds of ways,
Speaker 9: it's him, and I don't know, I feel like it's
Speaker 9: given me a better outlook on it.
Speaker 1: Not shielding his kids from dath meant Devin and his
Speaker 1: brother Dylan grew up with a pretty unique understanding of it.
Speaker 2: They had to roll with Todd's morbid sense of humor.
Speaker 10: I remember specifically, growing up, we had this head in
Speaker 10: the house. It was a skull and it was facially reconstructed.
Speaker 2: That's Todd's older son, Dylan, So.
Speaker 10: It looked like a woman's head. It had the eyes
Speaker 10: and everything, and we had a small chihuahua and we
Speaker 10: didn't want the dog getting into that and messing with it,
Speaker 10: so at night that that head would have to be
Speaker 10: in my room. He'd get up at like four o'clock
Speaker 10: in the morning to go to work when he worked
Speaker 10: at Hutchinson, the.
Speaker 1: Factory down the street where Todd helped make air conditioning parts.
Speaker 10: Every night when I went to bed, I turned that
Speaker 10: head away from me because it was creepy. And every
Speaker 10: morning when I woke up, it was facing me. And
Speaker 10: he never admitted to it. I was like nine years
Speaker 10: old allways, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, he never admitted
Speaker 10: to it his whole life. But I mean I had
Speaker 10: not Marrius about that thing.
Speaker 2: He was always causing trouble. He loved pranking people.
Speaker 1: Todd and his cousin Tina were like brother and sister,
Speaker 1: only seventeen months apart. Once, when they were adults, they
Speaker 1: went to the grocery store while both of their kids
Speaker 1: were at karate practice. They opened Todd's trunk in the
Speaker 1: parking lot.
Speaker 7: Todd said, watch out for her and be careful with her,
Speaker 7: and I'm like who. He points to a box and
Speaker 7: it was a box of bones. And he was taken somewhere,
Speaker 7: you know, And this wasn't uncommon for Todd to have
Speaker 7: something like this in his car.
Speaker 2: Then later in the night, Tina opened the trunk again,
Speaker 2: something fell.
Speaker 7: Out, and I was terrified to looke. I just covered
Speaker 7: my eyes. I said, please tell me it wasn't her.
Speaker 7: Please tell me it wasn't her. It was my twelve
Speaker 7: packag of popes. But still I was terrified.
Speaker 2: He was always up to something.
Speaker 1: When Todd and I drove across North Carolina to meet
Speaker 1: Steve's family over Memorial Day weekend in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: he took every opportunity to tell me about his many
Speaker 1: irons in the fire. Todd's ambitions went way beyond the
Speaker 1: Department of Justice. He had ideas for at least two
Speaker 1: other podcasts. There was his screenplay about the Bounty Hunter.
Speaker 1: He officiated weddings, He dabbled in the wine business, and
Speaker 1: he had a prolific side career in background acting, including
Speaker 1: in a twenty twenty two movie called Santa boot Camp
Speaker 1: starring Rita Moreno. Even with all of his projects, Todd
Speaker 1: found the time to teach special needs classes at a
Speaker 1: middle school. He taught at Livingston Academy, the very same
Speaker 1: place he'd gone to school four decades ago.
Speaker 9: I think he left a legacy at the school too,
Speaker 9: because a lot of those students with his special needs class,
Speaker 9: he really changed their lives and impacted their families. And
Speaker 9: I think that he'll be talked about for a long
Speaker 9: time around there, especially with the sudden loss, like they
Speaker 9: really were prepared to have him in the coming years.
Speaker 2: So were we.
Speaker 1: In the final months of production on this podcast, I
Speaker 1: told Todd that some of my friends and co workers
Speaker 1: had encouraged me to take some time off after the
Speaker 1: show was released. I could rest a little recharge think
Speaker 1: about the next project. Todd scoffed told me to keep going.
Speaker 1: There were too many stories to tell. Honestly, I liked
Speaker 1: hearing that from him. He had a motor he'd rest. Later,
Speaker 1: his sons told me Todd was feeling really good about
Speaker 1: his life, including this podcast coming out. He was looking
Speaker 1: forward to the end of winter break, to getting back
Speaker 1: to teaching the kids.
Speaker 9: And he said that he had a really good like
Speaker 9: end of the year, and he just he hadn't been
Speaker 9: this happy in a long time. He was about to
Speaker 9: go back to work Wednesday would have been his first
Speaker 9: day back. He was so excited.
Speaker 2: You'd think work was his life.
Speaker 1: But if you were here, he'd tell you the most
Speaker 1: important things happened at home. He haspecially loved his grandkids,
Speaker 1: Connor and River. He talked about them all they time.
Speaker 10: He loved my kids. He said, if we could just
Speaker 10: have skipped the kids and went straight to the grandkids,
Speaker 10: that he could not have been naster to my kids.
Speaker 10: If that was the only thing he ever accomplished, was
Speaker 10: making those two kids, those two grandkids possible, then that
Speaker 10: would have been enough for him.
Speaker 1: Todd and his family all basically lived on one block.
Speaker 1: Todd and his wife, Flri were in one house. Dylan
Speaker 1: and his family were within eyesight. Todd's parents were there too,
Speaker 1: even Todd's brother for the Matthews family taught us everywhere.
Speaker 10: When I walk out the door, I could almost see
Speaker 10: him walking down the driveway to his house. I can't
Speaker 10: look out the door without seeing some plant he's planted,
Speaker 10: some tree planted.
Speaker 1: When Todd passed away, his family took on a unique
Speaker 1: assignment writing letters to him.
Speaker 2: Then they buried them with him.
Speaker 10: My mother's letters in his left breast pocket, my letters
Speaker 10: in his right breast pocket. My kid's letters are in
Speaker 10: his hands. He would have loved those letters. Things we
Speaker 10: all should have said to him every day, but you
Speaker 10: don't get a chance until it's too late. Sometimes. If
Speaker 10: he was miraculously able to come back and get possession
Speaker 10: of those, that would be his most cherished things he
Speaker 10: could possibly have in his life if.
Speaker 2: He did come back.
Speaker 1: A few of his relatives kind of joked about Todd's
Speaker 1: return from the beyond. Family member Brent Right even made
Speaker 1: a joke about it at the funeral.
Speaker 11: I'm still in somewhat of disbelief.
Speaker 12: I still think this might be one of Todd's pranks.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 12: I'm just waiting for him to pop out in the
Speaker 12: corner somewhere and say a.
Speaker 11: Hi, I got you.
Speaker 2: This was a part of Todd too.
Speaker 1: There was something about him that was a little supernatural,
Speaker 1: like he had a direct line to the dead. When
Speaker 1: Todd started telling me about this and I brushed it off,
Speaker 1: but there was something about the way he said it,
Speaker 1: I kind of just began believing it. Here's his son, Dylan.
Speaker 10: Off the record, of course, but I made a joke
Speaker 10: to a lot of the family members. I think you
Speaker 10: better stay away from Uija board for a while because
Speaker 10: your house will be possessed with the spirit of Todd. Well,
Speaker 10: you can't. I don't mind. He would enjoy that joke.
Speaker 1: I think Todd had a sense of humor about death
Speaker 1: and the afterlife.
Speaker 10: My mom even said she's like, I'll know if it's
Speaker 10: possible to come back, because she said, if anybody's coming back,
Speaker 10: he's coming back. He always said he would too. He's like,
Speaker 10: I'll haunt her. But you're just joking, you know, But
Speaker 10: just joking.
Speaker 1: He's not really talking about a ghost hiding under a
Speaker 1: white sheet. Todd's beliefs I think were really more spiritual.
Speaker 1: He talked about being on one side of the veil
Speaker 1: that separated life and death. The way Todd talked about it,
Speaker 1: that veil was more sure for him than for most.
Speaker 9: I can kind of feel his presence sometimes, Like when
Speaker 9: I'm thinking about him, I'm just like, like, this is weird.
Speaker 9: Like I can feel that you're here, but I can't
Speaker 9: see that you're here. It's just crazy.
Speaker 2: I like to think he's right.
Speaker 1: I hope he had a way to see the hundreds
Speaker 1: of people who showed up for him in his funeral.
Speaker 1: I think he'd be proud of the way his son
Speaker 1: summoned the courage to be interviewed on maybe the hardest
Speaker 1: day of their lives. I think he'd be thrilled to
Speaker 1: see the release of this podcast, a project he'd been
Speaker 1: ostensibly working on for twenty years. But it really all
Speaker 1: started with Tent Girl. This is Rosemary Westbrook again, Tent
Speaker 1: Girl's sister.
Speaker 6: There is nothing. I don't think that anybody could ever
Speaker 6: match what he has done. And if it wasn't for
Speaker 6: Tod being so damn persistent, we'd still not know where
Speaker 6: she was. So what is Todd mean to us?
Speaker 2: Everything?
Speaker 6: And who's to say that he might leave a little
Speaker 6: tidbit of information here, little clues you don't know that
Speaker 6: you know. Do I believe in God?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 11: I do.
Speaker 3: Do I believe in Todd? Yes? I do.
Speaker 11: Hey Steve, it's Kate, Hey Kate. How are you?
Speaker 3: I'm good?
Speaker 8: How about you?
Speaker 1: The last we'd heard from Steve, he'd been surprised by
Speaker 1: his biological mom, Sandy, at a hotel room in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Todd wanted Steve to find peace, and he thought that
Speaker 1: meeting his.
Speaker 2: Birth mom would help that along.
Speaker 1: But after that day, Todd came to realize that Steve
Speaker 1: deserved a head's up. He should have had the chance
Speaker 1: to decide whether it was time to meet his biological
Speaker 1: mom or not. The surprise reunion caused a bit of
Speaker 1: a break in Steven Todd's relationship. I suspected Steve had
Speaker 1: some complicated feelings about Todd. The last time he saw
Speaker 1: Todd was in that hotel room last August. He was
Speaker 1: shocked by Todd's death just five months later in early January.
Speaker 11: It was a lot of a mixed emotions because I
Speaker 11: don't know, I didn't get to tell him marry Christmas,
Speaker 11: because we it was kind of weird between us, just
Speaker 11: because we had met. And he brought my mom there.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 11: I feel bad about that, I really do, because he
Speaker 11: didn't tell me that he was bringing my mom at
Speaker 11: the motel room.
Speaker 12: He sprang it all on him.
Speaker 2: That's Steve's girlfriend, Janette.
Speaker 12: He brung it on Steve and that was just not
Speaker 12: what he wanted and how it was all handled was wrong,
Speaker 12: and like that. I feel like they did it without
Speaker 12: me and Steve's mom there on purpose because they knew
Speaker 12: how he felt and Steve wasn't going to stand up
Speaker 12: for himself, and so there was a little tension.
Speaker 1: I guess no one expected this to be the last
Speaker 1: conversation between the men. Todd said to himself in the
Speaker 1: last episode. He expected that in a few years they'd
Speaker 1: reconnect and continued on the path together.
Speaker 11: I wish I had told you to marry Chris.
Speaker 12: Steve had just beat himself up over that because he
Speaker 12: didn't reach out Christmas, and like, you don't think that
Speaker 12: you're not going to be able to like fix it,
Speaker 12: and so you know, Steve struggled with that a little bit,
Speaker 12: because you fight and then you fix it, and like
Speaker 12: they didn't have time to fix it.
Speaker 2: Steve said that even when they were distant, he didn't
Speaker 2: forget how Todd got into his life in the first place.
Speaker 11: I didn't learn respect for him, not at all. I
Speaker 11: just think.
Speaker 12: It just could have handled it could have been handled differently. Well,
Speaker 12: that doesn't change how Steve felt about.
Speaker 11: I mean, I love Todd, yeah.
Speaker 12: Absolutely, I mean it was just like a normal family fuss.
Speaker 11: He felt like we were brothers. Yeah, And he told
Speaker 11: me that numerous times.
Speaker 1: I'd never heard this from Steve, that the brotherhood may
Speaker 1: have felt reciprocal to him too. All along, Steve had
Speaker 1: been getting to know his biological family. He never knew
Speaker 1: along the way he came Todd too.
Speaker 11: But he was one of the greatest people I've ever
Speaker 11: known in my life.
Speaker 12: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 11: Oh it was great. Man. He came to bat for
Speaker 11: me when nobody else came to bat, including the FBI,
Speaker 11: the police, just anybody. I mean, he believed my story.
Speaker 11: He was the only one before anybody ever believed it.
Speaker 12: And if you could have heard see when he called me,
Speaker 12: because he's like he believes me, like he's gonna help us.
Speaker 12: He believed me. It was just insane. Yeah, nobody believed us.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 11: If it wouldn't have been for him, I wouldn't even
Speaker 11: be where I'm at right now. I would still be
Speaker 11: a missing person.
Speaker 2: Steve says he's still talking to his sisters.
Speaker 11: I love my sisters that I'm just the same dude
Speaker 11: I was. I had a good childhood with my mom.
Speaker 11: I'm just a normal guy with just a fucked up story.
Speaker 13: Thanks, thanks, going, Okay it is Yes, it was rust
Speaker 13: for a little bit, but that was in rough Like
Speaker 13: people don't find things out like this about themselves.
Speaker 1: But you.
Speaker 13: What good.
Speaker 2: Then Steve said something that knocked the wind out.
Speaker 11: Of me and I just wondered, who's gonna take his place? Oh,
Speaker 11: I mean, I'm not the smartest man in the world computers,
Speaker 11: but I would like to do that too. Really, I mean,
Speaker 11: if I could change somebody's life like he changed mind, man,
Speaker 11: that would be good for me.
Speaker 1: Steve wants to volunteer with the Doe Network, the online
Speaker 1: platform Todd started at the beginning of his career. I
Speaker 1: can't think of anything more meaningful. Todd and his wife
Speaker 1: Lori had been married for thirty six years. You met
Speaker 1: Laurie in episode one. Todd always talked about the two
Speaker 1: like they were something even more than soulmates, that they
Speaker 1: were meant to be together. Laurie's dad was the one
Speaker 1: who found ten Girl, so in a way, the two
Speaker 1: were intertwined.
Speaker 3: Early on, he loved to make people lay off. The
Speaker 3: biggest thing he did is he liked to scare you.
Speaker 3: You could jump out anywhere, you could come out of
Speaker 3: the bathroom, out of the hallway, wherever he would jump
Speaker 3: out and scare again. He would have the biggest laugh.
Speaker 3: But we would always get mad, because you know, you
Speaker 3: don't like being scared.
Speaker 4: But I got to work. I was doing him the
Speaker 4: same way, and he didn't like it as well either.
Speaker 1: Laurie also told me that Todd loved being outside. He'd
Speaker 1: spend hours out there in silence, just thinking. He left
Speaker 1: to have his hands in the dirt planting something new.
Speaker 4: He planted a tree every year. He planted a tree
Speaker 4: for our anniversary.
Speaker 3: He planned a tree for each kids a birth date,
Speaker 3: like he would plant a tree on the day they
Speaker 3: were born. He planted a tree on her grand babies birthdays.
Speaker 1: Despite his money, projects and interests, Todd always made time
Speaker 1: for his family. He and Laurie would go out to
Speaker 1: dinner or go shopping. He met her dinner every single night.
Speaker 3: Family meant everything to Todd. He always wanted us to
Speaker 3: get together. He always wanted to have cookouts, Thanksgiving, Christmas.
Speaker 3: We had always had to do things together.
Speaker 2: Why do you think that was what about him wanted that.
Speaker 3: I think it had something to do with maybe his
Speaker 3: brother and sister passing at an early age. He just
Speaker 3: always wanted everybody to be together, be happy.
Speaker 1: I asked Laurie about what Devin had said about Todd
Speaker 1: being so satisfied. In the last days of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3: We spent the Saturday night with my family and then
Speaker 3: we went to a New Year's Eve party, and then
Speaker 3: we had New Year's Day and then the day after
Speaker 3: and we was just preparing for work and we.
Speaker 4: Just we just got along. We were happy.
Speaker 3: Just we did everything together and we talked about stuff
Speaker 3: and just I don't know.
Speaker 4: He just said, Laurie, I did the best three days.
Speaker 4: He was just like, I finally got where I wanted
Speaker 4: to be.
Speaker 1: They're incredibly close. But Todd kept a lot of his
Speaker 1: work to himself.
Speaker 4: I think he hid a lot of his stress.
Speaker 3: I think he stayed up many nights, tortured over you know,
Speaker 3: some of the cases that he worked on, you know,
Speaker 3: like the Steve Patterson case. You know, it did bother him.
Speaker 3: He really wanted to solve that case.
Speaker 2: For her part, Laurie didn't give Tod's work too much.
Speaker 4: Thought.
Speaker 3: I wasn't interested in his work because I lived it,
Speaker 3: so it wasn't enjoyable for me.
Speaker 4: But now I realize I'm going to have to live it.
Speaker 2: Why do you feel like you have to do it?
Speaker 3: I would love to see his work continue, and I
Speaker 3: don't know who else could do it.
Speaker 1: Now, she's trying to learn how the dough network works
Speaker 1: so she can carry on the torch and carry on
Speaker 1: Todd's legacy of reuniting these families. Maybe she can help
Speaker 1: bring others peace.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to do some research, trying to look for
Speaker 3: some missing people that hopefully I can take over and
Speaker 3: help him and just continue his work. My goal is
Speaker 3: to keep the donutwork going and just trying to continue
Speaker 3: what he wanted.
Speaker 1: What's it been like to learn that what's involved.
Speaker 3: It's a lot harder than I thought it said. It's
Speaker 3: a chorer trying to get through everything. And the enormity
Speaker 3: of how many people are actually missing or unidentified. I
Speaker 3: did not realize that so many people are struggling and
Speaker 3: suffering looking for their families, and all of these missing
Speaker 3: people and all the unidentified. There is people looking for them.
Speaker 3: There has to be, So it's just flowing my mind
Speaker 3: how many people it really is.
Speaker 2: I told her host Steve wanted to help out too.
Speaker 3: I mean, we'll accept any volunteer. I mean, the Do'
Speaker 3: network is a family of volunteers. You know, if he
Speaker 3: wants to volunteer, we'd be more than happy to have him.
Speaker 3: We can set him up. Maybe he can one day
Speaker 3: thought a missing person case.
Speaker 1: It's given Laurie a deeper appreciation for her husband's work.
Speaker 3: He showed me what it was like to have an
Speaker 3: impact on people in the world. He showed me how
Speaker 3: he was a great teacher. He showed me that you
Speaker 3: can get places by working.
Speaker 4: I do think that Tod did make me a better person.
Speaker 1: In the months before he died, Todd and Laurie would
Speaker 1: take walks together at night and they'd listen to early
Speaker 1: mixes of this podcast. Laurie would always want Todd to
Speaker 1: pause the podcast so she could ask questions, why did
Speaker 1: you say that?
Speaker 3: Because you know, he just didn't discuss it with me,
Speaker 3: because he just didn't feel like I was interested in
Speaker 3: his work, which you know, I wish now that i'd
Speaker 3: show more than I was.
Speaker 4: But I was always proud of him.
Speaker 1: Laurie's been listening to this podcast as it comes out,
Speaker 1: but with every week that goes by, there are fewer
Speaker 1: episodes to listen to.
Speaker 3: It's hard to listen to them. But it does give
Speaker 3: me peace because I know that's what he wanted. The
Speaker 3: podcast is very comforting and it's his legacy. It's what
Speaker 3: he wanted to do. It made him happy, and I
Speaker 3: can hear his voice even after he's gone. I'm just
Speaker 3: so glad he got the finish shit too.
Speaker 4: It's just perfect coming.
Speaker 3: I know, I know, maybe that was his goal in life.
Speaker 4: Maybe that's what he was supposed to do. Finished the podcast.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, And in a way, you're kind of finishing
Speaker 1: it for him because this will be the last episode.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's true. That's true. It's pretty special and I
Speaker 4: will love him forever.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to know more about do network or donate,
Speaker 1: visit donetwork dot org.
Speaker 9: Hello.
Speaker 8: John Doe is and original productions by Revelations Entertainment in
Speaker 8: association with First and Last Productions from Revelations. Our executive
Speaker 8: producers are Morgan Freeman and James Younger. From First to Last,
Speaker 8: Lindsay Moreno is the executive producer. Our producing partner is
Speaker 8: Neo on Hume Media. It was written and produced by
Speaker 8: Kate Michigan. Our editor is Katherine Saint Louis. She is
Speaker 8: also ne On Home Media's executive editor. Our executive producer
Speaker 8: is Sharah Morris. Our development producer is Ian Lindsay. Our
Speaker 8: associate produce sir is Rufaro Faith Masarua. Sound design and
Speaker 8: mixing by Scott Summerville. Theme and original music composed by
Speaker 8: Jesse Pearlstein. Additional music came from Epidemic Sound and Blue
Speaker 8: Dot Sessions. Bendall Faulton is our fact checker. Our production
Speaker 8: manager is Samantha Allison from my Heart Media. Dylan Fagan
Speaker 8: is our executive producer. Special thanks to Adelia Ruben at
Speaker 8: Nie on Hum and Carrie Lieberman and Will Pearson at iHeartMedia.
Speaker 8: I'm Todd Matthews. You can learn more about name us
Speaker 8: at NamUs dot com. The number for the National Center
Speaker 8: for Missing Exploited Children's Call Center is one eight hundred
Speaker 8: the loss that's one eight hundred eight four three five
Speaker 8: six seven eight. The National Sexual Assault Hotline from the
Speaker 8: Rate Abuse and Incest National Network is one eight hundred
Speaker 8: sixty five six four six seven three.
Speaker 1: We have two more bonus episodes for you starting next week.
Speaker 1: Next episode, we talk to an expert about late discoverers
Speaker 1: adoptees like Steve Patterson, who discovered late in life that
Speaker 1: they were adopted to impact that house on their lives.
Speaker 2: Join us.
Speaker 8: Okay, guys, this is the end of the show. If
Speaker 8: you didn't like it, don't do anything. But if you
Speaker 8: did like it, you make sure that you rate, and
Speaker 8: review the show. It helps more people to find it
Speaker 8: and hear this wonderful story. Thanks again for listening.