WEBVTT - 1. Vultures 0:00:15.036 --> 0:00:15.476 Pushkin. 0:00:44.916 --> 0:00:47.756 A couple of years ago, I found a video buried 0:00:47.756 --> 0:00:51.076 on the Internet, deep in the metadata behind the four 0:00:51.196 --> 0:00:54.796 or four error codes. In it, a young black woman 0:00:54.916 --> 0:00:57.716 is questioning a middle aged white guy who's sitting on 0:00:57.716 --> 0:00:59.516 the edge of his bed drinking a beer. 0:00:59.876 --> 0:01:01.316 Did you hear baiting on the door? 0:01:01.516 --> 0:01:03.676 Talking at the door like they just shut it on 0:01:03.756 --> 0:01:04.476 it or something. 0:01:04.516 --> 0:01:09.356 The person they're talking about is my Teres Richardson, a 0:01:09.396 --> 0:01:12.396 twenty four year old black woman who disappeared in Malibu 0:01:12.516 --> 0:01:15.316 in two thousand and nine and whose remains were discovered 0:01:15.316 --> 0:01:19.116 there eleven months later. They're talking about the day of 0:01:19.156 --> 0:01:20.596 her disappearance and. 0:01:20.716 --> 0:01:22.876 Was above when I first started voice him. 0:01:22.916 --> 0:01:25.516 By the time I got down, the love and kind 0:01:25.556 --> 0:01:28.676 of curiosity kind of drugged me closer to the Facebook. 0:01:28.796 --> 0:01:31.876 The interview is being shot vertical, seemingly on a cell phone, 0:01:32.196 --> 0:01:35.116 with the guy taking up the whole frame. He looks 0:01:35.156 --> 0:01:38.956 like an aging California golden boy with gray and blonde hair, 0:01:39.156 --> 0:01:42.756 a tan and a barrel chest. He's relaxed, wearing a 0:01:42.756 --> 0:01:46.076 sky blue Henley shirt tucked into a pair of camouflage shorts. 0:01:46.276 --> 0:01:47.876 So I really couldn't see her face, but I could 0:01:47.876 --> 0:01:50.156 see her shadow. It's. 0:01:50.756 --> 0:01:54.356 While he says this, he gestures broadly, waving his big 0:01:54.436 --> 0:01:55.556 paws around in the air. 0:01:56.276 --> 0:01:57.836 The light of the knife, you know, with the light 0:01:57.876 --> 0:02:01.036 of the front porch. She was screaming at something. Yeah, 0:02:01.156 --> 0:02:03.596 it was pretty loud, and I'm thinking, God, damn's. 0:02:03.316 --> 0:02:05.636 For three of them. Mort What was she saying? She 0:02:05.796 --> 0:02:07.116 was saying, God damn buddy. 0:02:07.116 --> 0:02:12.196 Oh yo, she was pitt or something, you know, something 0:02:12.236 --> 0:02:15.356 to be with the people at the house. She was 0:02:15.396 --> 0:02:17.236 angry and maybe they told her she had to read 0:02:17.556 --> 0:02:19.636 get a call at police, and she was telling. 0:02:19.476 --> 0:02:21.156 Him, you shun. 0:02:22.476 --> 0:02:23.756 What he got. 0:02:23.836 --> 0:02:27.076 Curious the scene was so out of place in this 0:02:27.196 --> 0:02:32.156 quiet neighborhood, a young woman alone in the early morning hours, 0:02:32.596 --> 0:02:35.596 shouting she might be in trouble, because I think. 0:02:35.596 --> 0:02:37.276 Well, if there's some dude there, I'm not gonna let 0:02:37.316 --> 0:02:40.756 some dody here, you know, right, I wouldn't have hesitated 0:02:40.796 --> 0:02:41.916 to walk on that property. 0:02:41.996 --> 0:02:44.036 But since there wasn't, you. 0:02:44.076 --> 0:02:47.436 Know, and I couldn't see anybody else except for her, 0:02:48.036 --> 0:02:52.196 or not really even her. Just she was angry something. 0:02:52.676 --> 0:02:54.796 I mean, I'm kind of that would have been right there. 0:02:55.036 --> 0:02:56.516 I have a good donald protected. 0:02:58.356 --> 0:03:02.036 The interviewer. Her name's Raven Masterson. She made the video 0:03:02.196 --> 0:03:06.276 sometime after my Terce's remains were found. Like so many people, 0:03:06.476 --> 0:03:08.556 she wanted to figure out what happened to my trees 0:03:09.836 --> 0:03:15.596 because the death of my Teres Richardson is Malibu's most horrifying, notorious, 0:03:15.676 --> 0:03:21.516 and scandalous unsolved case. For fifteen years, my Teresa's story 0:03:21.556 --> 0:03:25.276 has been shrouded in mystery. The scant clues have been 0:03:25.316 --> 0:03:29.836 worked over a thousand times to no end. There's no resolution, 0:03:30.356 --> 0:03:34.156 no satisfying explanation, and no one has been held accountable. 0:03:35.556 --> 0:03:38.556 Many people blame the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for 0:03:38.596 --> 0:03:41.716 her death. Some take it farther, and this is how 0:03:41.796 --> 0:03:45.276 Ravenlean's in the video. They even think a deputy may 0:03:45.276 --> 0:03:49.516 have killed my Teres. My Rise was arrested at Jeoffrey's 0:03:49.516 --> 0:03:52.956 Restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway on September sixteenth, two thousand 0:03:52.956 --> 0:03:56.916 and nine. She was released from Lost Hill Station at 0:03:56.996 --> 0:04:01.436 twelve twenty five am on the seventeenth. After that, there 0:04:01.476 --> 0:04:04.556 was one official sighting of her at six thirty am 0:04:04.716 --> 0:04:07.756 in the backyard of a house in Montanito, a secluded 0:04:07.796 --> 0:04:12.236 neighborhood off Malibuqion. That's about six miles from the Lost 0:04:12.316 --> 0:04:16.476 Hill Sheriff station. But the guy in the video, he 0:04:16.596 --> 0:04:20.716 says he saw her too, two hours earlier at four 0:04:20.916 --> 0:04:24.996 thirty am, making a commotion in the front yard of 0:04:24.996 --> 0:04:34.196 that same house. Montaneito Mountain Nest. It's a tight knit 0:04:34.276 --> 0:04:38.036 community in the shadow of the Santa Monica Mountains. Most 0:04:38.076 --> 0:04:41.956 people in La don't even know it exists. It's got 0:04:41.996 --> 0:04:44.716 creeks and horses and neighbors that have known each other 0:04:44.916 --> 0:04:49.636 in some cases for generations. Kids run around barefoot. There's 0:04:49.676 --> 0:04:53.116 a big Fourth of July parade and an annual square dance. 0:04:54.756 --> 0:04:58.476 It's a place out of time. It feels like the 0:04:58.596 --> 0:05:02.956 rustic Horsey California of the nineteen forties mixed with the 0:05:02.996 --> 0:05:07.156 freewheeling party culture of the nineteen seventies. And it's got 0:05:07.276 --> 0:05:10.076 none of the flash of coastal Malibise or the nearby 0:05:10.156 --> 0:05:15.276 gated communities of Calabasas. This is California, so of course 0:05:15.316 --> 0:05:18.196 there have been a couple of waves of gentrifiers. But 0:05:18.236 --> 0:05:21.956 among the old timers, the people who practically homesteaded there 0:05:21.996 --> 0:05:27.556 in the fifties, there's a distinct backwoods ingrown feeling, and 0:05:27.956 --> 0:05:32.116 it bears mentioning The whole place is extremely white, with 0:05:32.276 --> 0:05:36.756 one notable exception. Will Smith, one of the most famous 0:05:36.756 --> 0:05:40.676 black men in America, owns an estate in Montanito. But 0:05:40.756 --> 0:05:43.076 I don't think he frequents the Square Dance or the 0:05:43.116 --> 0:05:47.796 Fourth of July parade. It's hard to express how unlikely 0:05:47.836 --> 0:05:49.716 it is that my trace would end up in this 0:05:49.916 --> 0:05:54.276 isolated community. There isn't even a sign for Montanito on 0:05:54.316 --> 0:05:58.196 Malibu Canyon. How would she even have known it was there. 0:06:10.796 --> 0:06:15.076 Eleven months after my Teres Richardson disappeared, park rangers checking 0:06:15.116 --> 0:06:18.356 a known illegal pot grow found her remains in a 0:06:18.396 --> 0:06:23.396 treacherous canyon above Montanito called Dark Canyon. During this time, 0:06:23.436 --> 0:06:27.196 the Santa Monica Mountains were notorious for harboring large marijuana 0:06:27.236 --> 0:06:32.156 operations run by organized crime syndicates. These massive grows were 0:06:32.156 --> 0:06:34.716 often protected with armed guards who would camp out in 0:06:34.756 --> 0:06:38.916 the canyons for extended periods. The rangers had disrupted a 0:06:38.996 --> 0:06:42.116 Dark Canyon grow in July two thousand and nine, two 0:06:42.116 --> 0:06:46.436 months before my Teres's disappearance. When they returned in August 0:06:46.476 --> 0:06:49.956 of twenty ten, they didn't report any fresh signs of 0:06:49.996 --> 0:06:54.396 pot growing activity, but there in the dormant grow were 0:06:54.396 --> 0:06:59.516 the remains of a black woman. She was mostly bones, 0:07:00.276 --> 0:07:05.036 a skeleton with small flaps of mummified skin remaining, and 0:07:05.756 --> 0:07:10.436 she was naked. From the beginning, every aspect of the 0:07:10.476 --> 0:07:15.356 case seemed off. What was wrong, how she was arrested, 0:07:15.756 --> 0:07:18.756 how she was released, how she was searched for, how 0:07:18.756 --> 0:07:22.516 her remains were discovered, how her remains were recovered, and 0:07:22.556 --> 0:07:26.516 how her death was investigated. All of it looked like 0:07:26.516 --> 0:07:29.076 a colossal screw up on the part of law enforcement, 0:07:29.676 --> 0:07:33.476 starting with the Lost Hills cops and what the Sheriff's 0:07:33.516 --> 0:07:35.956 department has said about the case over the years, it 0:07:36.236 --> 0:07:41.436 just makes no sense. Their refrain, essentially is some cases 0:07:41.556 --> 0:07:46.316 can't be solved. This is a Sheriff's spokesman three days 0:07:46.436 --> 0:07:48.356 after my Teresa's body was found. 0:07:49.076 --> 0:07:52.636 Homicide will continue their investigation. It's likely that we can 0:07:52.716 --> 0:07:55.596 never find out exactly how she got there, but they're 0:07:55.596 --> 0:07:57.436 going to do their very best to figure that. 0:07:57.716 --> 0:08:01.196 And they're still saying my Teresa's death will always be 0:08:01.236 --> 0:08:07.916 a mystery. But I don't accept that it's a stubborn, strange, 0:08:08.116 --> 0:08:14.636 problematic case. But I do think it's solvable because someone 0:08:15.116 --> 0:08:19.956 in that secluded, tight knit community of Montanito knows what 0:08:20.116 --> 0:08:27.836 happened to her. I'm Dana Goodyear and this is Lost 0:08:27.916 --> 0:09:06.236 Hills Season four, Dark Canyon, Episode one, Vultures. Right off 0:09:06.276 --> 0:09:09.476 Pacific Coast Highway, across from the Malibu Lagoon, next to 0:09:09.516 --> 0:09:13.196 the gas station, there's a small memorial. It's a rock 0:09:13.276 --> 0:09:15.676 with a plaque on it, commemorating the life of a 0:09:15.676 --> 0:09:21.556 man who was known as Malibu Jo. Malibujo was Jo Costello. 0:09:21.996 --> 0:09:25.316 He was originally from Genoa, Italy, but starting in the 0:09:25.356 --> 0:09:29.236 mid nineteen fifties, he became a beloved Malibu figure, riding 0:09:29.276 --> 0:09:32.556 his bike slowly up and down pH in a fedora 0:09:32.596 --> 0:09:36.436 and a baggy overcoat. In the summer of nineteen eighty eight, 0:09:36.636 --> 0:09:38.836 he was beaten and left for dead in the only 0:09:38.916 --> 0:09:41.956 under bushes where he lived, where the memorial is today. 0:09:42.716 --> 0:09:45.836 He died a few days later. He was ninety six 0:09:45.996 --> 0:09:50.836 years old. The Sheriff's department investigated, but the killing was 0:09:50.876 --> 0:09:56.156 never solved, so no one was ever punished. Malibu Jo 0:09:56.396 --> 0:10:00.196 died two decades before my Terse Richardson. The cases have 0:10:00.396 --> 0:10:05.196 nothing to do with one another except this. Both Joe 0:10:05.236 --> 0:10:09.516 and my Trees show moments of rupture. They're both signs 0:10:09.676 --> 0:10:19.996 that Malibu isn't what it seems. Malibu is not paradise, sunshine, nature, beauty, health, wealth, 0:10:20.036 --> 0:10:24.116 and eternal youth. That's the myth. But if I've learned 0:10:24.156 --> 0:10:28.196 one thing reporting here, it's that every seductive surface has 0:10:28.236 --> 0:10:33.316 its dark side. The beauty is the danger. It makes 0:10:33.356 --> 0:10:36.116 you let down your guard and believe in the fantasy. 0:10:37.356 --> 0:10:43.196 The unspoiled wilderness hides unspeakable crimes, and a place like that, 0:10:44.356 --> 0:10:51.436 a place like that breeds monsters. In the fall of 0:10:51.436 --> 0:10:54.876 two thousand and nine, my Teresa's disappearance was all over 0:10:54.876 --> 0:10:55.676 the local news. 0:10:56.116 --> 0:10:59.196 The mystery unraveled on a September night in two thousand 0:10:59.236 --> 0:11:02.636 and nine, right where the Pacific reached the shores of Malibu. 0:11:03.596 --> 0:11:06.636 It all started when my Teres tried to leave Jeoffrey's, 0:11:06.956 --> 0:11:10.716 a pricey restaurant on Pacific Coast high without paying her bill. 0:11:11.516 --> 0:11:14.676 She was arrested and taken to Lost Hill station, about 0:11:14.716 --> 0:11:15.916 thirteen miles away. 0:11:16.596 --> 0:11:19.156 They contacted her mother, who said that she will pick 0:11:19.196 --> 0:11:20.476 her up in the morning. 0:11:20.196 --> 0:11:23.156 If you will keep her there. Deputy said, we will. 0:11:23.316 --> 0:11:26.516 But instead of staying at the station, my Teres walked 0:11:26.516 --> 0:11:29.516 out into the Malibu night. Her car was at a 0:11:29.556 --> 0:11:32.716 tow yard near pch with her belongings inside. 0:11:32.916 --> 0:11:36.316 She was released at twelve thirty a m no wallet, 0:11:36.436 --> 0:11:38.916 no cell phone, no credit cards, no car. 0:11:39.636 --> 0:11:43.516 She was gorgeous and charismatic, and as would later come out, 0:11:43.836 --> 0:11:46.716 she was in the midst of a mental health crisis. 0:11:47.156 --> 0:11:51.116 A beauty contestant and honor student, and now a missing person. 0:11:51.716 --> 0:11:54.956 According to her mom, she had no street savvy whatsoever, 0:11:55.516 --> 0:11:57.116 and she didn't know Malibu at all. 0:11:57.356 --> 0:12:00.156 My Teres Richardson walked out of a Los Angeles County 0:12:00.196 --> 0:12:05.396 Sheriff's office and into a mystery that continues to baffle investigators. 0:12:05.356 --> 0:12:08.076 And then the mystery became a horror. 0:12:08.596 --> 0:12:12.476 Eleven months later, the twenty four year old college graduates. 0:12:11.996 --> 0:12:15.636 Remains were found here in Dark Canyon. She was naked 0:12:15.716 --> 0:12:20.956 and partially mummified. They discovered a skull, they discovered a pelvis, 0:12:20.956 --> 0:12:27.516 and they discovered a lake on just bones. They determined officially, unequivocally, 0:12:28.076 --> 0:12:30.916 and unfortunately, it was my Terce Richardson. 0:12:31.156 --> 0:12:34.476 Corners Officials haven't determined the cause of death, and they 0:12:34.516 --> 0:12:37.756 say Richardson's body was in the canyon for more than 0:12:37.836 --> 0:12:38.756 six months. 0:12:39.076 --> 0:12:43.236 Whatever happened in Dark Canyon remains in the moment a 0:12:43.316 --> 0:12:44.476 dark secret. 0:12:47.276 --> 0:12:51.356 It's been fifteen years since my trace disappeared, fourteen years 0:12:51.356 --> 0:12:54.516 since her remains were found, and there's been no progress 0:12:54.556 --> 0:12:57.916 on her case. There's no sign that law enforcement is 0:12:57.956 --> 0:13:00.596 actively working on it. But it's not a cold case. 0:13:01.316 --> 0:13:05.756 It's a quote active criminal investigation, which means the Sheriff's 0:13:05.756 --> 0:13:09.476 department doesn't have to share information. And believe me, they 0:13:09.516 --> 0:13:12.796 take that very seriously. They do not like to talk 0:13:12.836 --> 0:13:17.116 about this case. In the midst of their silence, a 0:13:17.156 --> 0:13:21.076 sinister narrative has taken hold in the public imagination that 0:13:21.196 --> 0:13:25.316 the La County Sheriff's Department, specifically the Lost Heils cops, 0:13:25.636 --> 0:13:29.596 are behind my Teres's death. They deny this, but the 0:13:29.676 --> 0:13:33.076 idea lives on in a new generation of true crime 0:13:33.116 --> 0:13:37.676 TikTokers and YouTubers. Welcome to another episode of Murder, Mystery 0:13:37.716 --> 0:13:38.916 and Makeup Monday. 0:13:39.116 --> 0:13:41.396 Today's story was about Matrise Richardson. 0:13:41.756 --> 0:13:44.556 Kind of feels like that they were hiding something. 0:13:44.636 --> 0:13:46.356 The police work in this case was off long. 0:13:46.516 --> 0:13:48.236 Is this incompetence or cover up? 0:13:48.276 --> 0:13:51.236 I mean they originally were trying to hide the fact 0:13:51.236 --> 0:13:52.836 that they had security footage. 0:13:53.036 --> 0:13:56.916 The previous captain was in on it and promoted for 0:13:56.956 --> 0:13:58.036 his cover up job. 0:13:58.156 --> 0:14:00.476 I believe that Maturse Richardson was murdered and it was 0:14:00.476 --> 0:14:03.836 covered up by the La County Sheriff's office. 0:14:06.356 --> 0:14:08.476 We know the cops took my trees to the station, 0:14:08.916 --> 0:14:12.116 and the cops let her go in the dark. This 0:14:12.196 --> 0:14:18.596 part is true, undisputed fact. And then what how did 0:14:18.636 --> 0:14:21.716 she get from the station to Montanito six miles away? 0:14:22.636 --> 0:14:26.196 How did she end up in dark canyon? Why was 0:14:26.236 --> 0:14:29.876 she naked? And what happened to her missing bones? 0:14:31.236 --> 0:14:31.396 Oh? 0:14:31.476 --> 0:14:36.556 Yeah, that's one more undisputed fact. While most of my 0:14:36.676 --> 0:14:40.756 Teresa's bones were eventually accounted for, discovered in the canyon's 0:14:40.796 --> 0:14:45.716 heavy leaf litter, an important one has not been found, 0:14:47.156 --> 0:14:51.076 the fragile bone above the larynx that often breaks when 0:14:51.076 --> 0:15:11.476 a person is strangled. My Terce Richardson's death is not 0:15:11.716 --> 0:15:17.436 officially a homicide. The autopsy reads, quote, while there is 0:15:17.516 --> 0:15:20.436 no evidence of antimortem trauma to the bones or the 0:15:20.476 --> 0:15:23.756 limited amount of tissue accompanying them, in the absence of 0:15:23.836 --> 0:15:30.156 internal viscera, internal injury cannot be completely ruled out and quote, 0:15:30.436 --> 0:15:34.556 in the absence of suitable specimens for toxicology testing, the 0:15:34.636 --> 0:15:39.516 possibility of fatal substance abuse cannot be ruled out, and 0:15:39.876 --> 0:15:44.436 quote death due to exposure, snake bite, pneumonia, or other 0:15:44.556 --> 0:15:50.356 natural diseases also cannot be ruled out. Therefore, quote both 0:15:50.476 --> 0:15:59.596 cause and manner of death remain undetermined. Unquote Hello, I'm 0:15:59.716 --> 0:16:03.436 Dana Danah, nice to meet to meet. I'm at the 0:16:03.476 --> 0:16:07.476 home of Lisa Shinan. She's the forensic pathologist who conducted 0:16:07.516 --> 0:16:10.716 the autopsy of my Terce's remains. She's also one of 0:16:10.716 --> 0:16:14.076 the world's foremost authorities on roller coasters. 0:16:14.476 --> 0:16:17.756 That is my big hobby, that collecting butterflies. 0:16:18.076 --> 0:16:21.316 Her house, a normal looking suburban house in Redondo Beach, 0:16:21.756 --> 0:16:26.756 is basically a natural history museum. So do you capture 0:16:26.756 --> 0:16:31.996 them in a net and then pick a loup shadow box? 0:16:32.036 --> 0:16:35.356 Frames filled with specimens are stacked in every corner. 0:16:36.076 --> 0:16:38.476 There's something called a killing jar which you can make. 0:16:39.716 --> 0:16:42.236 It's a jar that has a plaster of Paris base 0:16:42.716 --> 0:16:46.636 and then you pour in. You can use cyanide when 0:16:46.676 --> 0:16:49.076 you screw the cap on. It's a closed environment and 0:16:49.156 --> 0:16:51.636 it makes fumes that kill the butterfly, basically put it 0:16:51.676 --> 0:16:53.116 to sleep in seconds. 0:16:53.716 --> 0:16:56.876 Doctor Shinen worked for the La County Coroner's Office for 0:16:56.916 --> 0:16:59.876 twenty four years or I was. 0:17:00.236 --> 0:17:04.436 A deputy medical examiner at the La County Coroner's Office, 0:17:04.756 --> 0:17:05.476 now retired. 0:17:06.836 --> 0:17:09.636 She worked on a lot of high profile cases. She 0:17:09.756 --> 0:17:14.236 did the autopsies on the musicians Elliott Smith, a notorious big. 0:17:14.916 --> 0:17:19.956 My autopsied Steve Allen, Doctor nor from the Killing Fields, 0:17:20.476 --> 0:17:23.556 Brittany Murphy, Brian Keith. 0:17:23.596 --> 0:17:27.156 That goes back away, but my Teresa's case stands out. 0:17:27.836 --> 0:17:32.716 There are over the years some cases that do stick 0:17:32.796 --> 0:17:37.156 with me because of the circumstances of the case. There 0:17:37.156 --> 0:17:40.516 were so many unknowns. I mean, every time I've been 0:17:40.556 --> 0:17:43.676 near Malibu, I'd start thinking of, oh, geez, this is 0:17:43.716 --> 0:17:47.356 where my race was, and this is just such a 0:17:47.396 --> 0:17:48.356 tragic case. 0:17:49.916 --> 0:17:52.796 But she knew at the start was very basic. A 0:17:52.876 --> 0:17:56.276 few scattered pieces of clothing and a human skeleton had 0:17:56.316 --> 0:18:00.796 been found in an inaccessible canyon in Malibu. The autopsy 0:18:00.876 --> 0:18:03.836 report details the pieces of my Teresa's clothing that were 0:18:03.876 --> 0:18:08.116 recovered from their remain site. One navy blue or black 0:18:08.196 --> 0:18:14.156 padded bra two pink narrow belt, medium large alligator skin pattern, 0:18:14.796 --> 0:18:20.476 three blue jeans US size twenty nine, dirty empty pockets. 0:18:20.956 --> 0:18:22.996 She'd been wearing a bob Marley T shirt and a 0:18:22.996 --> 0:18:26.316 pair of vans when she left Lost Hill station. She 0:18:26.476 --> 0:18:30.636 also had her California driver's license on her. Those items, 0:18:30.676 --> 0:18:32.996 along with her hat and her keys, were missing. 0:18:34.236 --> 0:18:40.076 I had the investigator's report. This particular investigator's report was 0:18:40.276 --> 0:18:44.836 very straightforward. It said somebody from law enforcement was checking 0:18:44.876 --> 0:18:49.236 an area in a remote canyon and found the bones 0:18:49.476 --> 0:18:52.916 and the clothing, and the clothing was about one hundred 0:18:52.956 --> 0:18:58.196 feet away from the skeleton. You know, that's very limited information, 0:18:58.396 --> 0:19:01.556 and sometimes we have two or three pages of information, 0:19:01.676 --> 0:19:05.996 but not so in this case. So the first thing 0:19:06.036 --> 0:19:10.636 you do is you lay everything out in anatomical order 0:19:11.156 --> 0:19:16.716 and count what you've got. It was a nearly complete skeleton. 0:19:17.356 --> 0:19:22.036 It wasn't in an intact skeleton, and that everything was connected. 0:19:22.956 --> 0:19:27.116 There were a lot of disarticulated bones, but there were 0:19:27.116 --> 0:19:30.156 some areas or certain blocks, like some parts of the 0:19:30.156 --> 0:19:33.116 lower extremities parts of some of the upper extremities were 0:19:33.156 --> 0:19:36.716 held together by a minimal amount of soft tissue. 0:19:36.996 --> 0:19:40.756 The soft tissue was mostly skin that had been mummified. 0:19:41.436 --> 0:19:46.516 Yeah, mummification is a process. It can be accidental. If 0:19:46.556 --> 0:19:50.276 you have a body in a very dry, hot environment, 0:19:50.916 --> 0:19:56.156 the liquid essentially disappears, and what you get is this 0:19:56.596 --> 0:20:03.876 very leathery, rigid skin, sometimes some soft tissue. Usually the 0:20:03.916 --> 0:20:09.036 internal organs don't mummify, so it's mostly the skin muscle 0:20:09.356 --> 0:20:10.996 tendons at that type of thing. 0:20:12.036 --> 0:20:14.116 There were a few small marks on some of the 0:20:14.156 --> 0:20:20.036 bones the work. Doctor Shinen thought of animals scavenging the remains. 0:20:20.836 --> 0:20:24.676 The toes of the left foot were missing, and that 0:20:24.996 --> 0:20:28.716 was consistent with animal activity. 0:20:29.156 --> 0:20:31.196 But otherwise the bones were intact. 0:20:31.716 --> 0:20:35.876 We look for things like fractures, which would usually mean 0:20:35.956 --> 0:20:39.356 some sort of a blunt force impact. We would look 0:20:39.396 --> 0:20:43.756 for any evidence of a gunshot wound, or a stabbing. 0:20:44.076 --> 0:20:49.636 I didn't see any evidence of a physical traumatic injury. 0:20:49.716 --> 0:20:52.116 There was also no way to tell if my trees 0:20:52.156 --> 0:20:53.356 had been sexually assaulted. 0:20:53.716 --> 0:20:57.636 Without soft tissue, there's really nothing that you can do 0:20:57.756 --> 0:21:00.516 or see, and sperm doesn't last. 0:21:00.396 --> 0:21:03.196 Without internal organs. There was no way to tell if 0:21:03.236 --> 0:21:04.156 she had overdosed. 0:21:04.516 --> 0:21:08.636 She wasn't found with cocaine, with amphetamine, heroin, anything like that. 0:21:08.636 --> 0:21:10.876 Shouldn't really have a history of that type of thing, 0:21:11.316 --> 0:21:14.636 But again without being able to do an accurate test, 0:21:14.916 --> 0:21:15.436 we don't know. 0:21:16.756 --> 0:21:20.236 There was a small amount of leg muscle. Doctor Shinan 0:21:20.356 --> 0:21:25.076 sent it in for toxicology, and that report came back inconclusive. 0:21:30.036 --> 0:21:33.276 As soon as my Trees's remains were discovered, law enforcement 0:21:33.396 --> 0:21:37.156 began suggesting that my Trees, experiencing a mental health episode, 0:21:37.556 --> 0:21:41.436 had probably wandered into Dark Canyon by herself and died 0:21:41.516 --> 0:21:47.876 from exposure, dehydration, venom, or something. Her death, they implied, 0:21:47.996 --> 0:21:52.596 was tragic but natural. I asked doctor Shinen about the 0:21:52.676 --> 0:21:54.236 natural causes theory. 0:21:54.516 --> 0:21:59.196 In this particular case. There's several possibilities. There are rattlesnakes there. 0:21:59.236 --> 0:22:02.236 She could have been bitten by a rattlesnake. There's also 0:22:02.396 --> 0:22:05.876 a fire ants. She could have had a severe allergic 0:22:05.916 --> 0:22:12.116 reaction to something. There's poison oak there. That's horrible. It's everywhere, 0:22:12.516 --> 0:22:14.836 and some people are more sensitive than others. 0:22:15.916 --> 0:22:20.236 But why would the skeleton be naked. My Trees's broad 0:22:20.356 --> 0:22:23.356 belt and jeans were found hundreds of feet from the skeleton, 0:22:24.036 --> 0:22:27.956 and the belt was no longer on the jeans. A 0:22:27.996 --> 0:22:32.276 seasonal stream, Dark Creek runs through the canyon, and cops 0:22:32.316 --> 0:22:35.636 suggested that a flashed flood could have removed her clothes, 0:22:35.876 --> 0:22:40.196 carrying them downstream. The winter my Trese was missing was 0:22:40.236 --> 0:22:43.636 a rainy one. But even so, it takes a real 0:22:43.756 --> 0:22:47.316 contortion of logic to imagine a flood could strip a 0:22:47.316 --> 0:22:51.236 body naked and remove a belt from a pair of pants. 0:22:51.716 --> 0:22:54.276 Usually, when we have a person who's dead with their 0:22:54.276 --> 0:22:57.076 clothes on, the clothes will stay on. Even if the 0:22:57.076 --> 0:23:01.116 body mummifies, the clothes are going to stay on. Water 0:23:01.236 --> 0:23:03.836 might wash off socks or something like that, but it's 0:23:03.876 --> 0:23:07.756 not going to completely undress a body. 0:23:08.116 --> 0:23:14.036 Doctor Shinen raised different natural explanation for my Trees's nudity hypothermia. 0:23:14.596 --> 0:23:20.236 There's something that happens with extreme cold cold, paradoxical undressing. Normally, 0:23:20.276 --> 0:23:22.956 when you're cold, your blood vessels will constrict to try 0:23:23.196 --> 0:23:26.516 to keep the blood more central in the body. Well, 0:23:26.556 --> 0:23:31.716 what happens with paradoxical undressing is there is a reflex 0:23:31.836 --> 0:23:35.156 dilatation of these blood vessels. So all of a sudden, 0:23:35.196 --> 0:23:38.516 you get this rush of nice, warm blood into these 0:23:38.556 --> 0:23:42.396 areas that were previously cold, and people who were probably 0:23:43.676 --> 0:23:46.676 a little bit out of it by this point think, 0:23:46.756 --> 0:23:49.036 oh my gosh, it's so warm, I'm too hot, and 0:23:49.076 --> 0:23:52.916 they take their clothes off. However, that tends to happen 0:23:53.676 --> 0:23:57.356 more often in extreme cold, where there's snow. 0:23:58.556 --> 0:24:01.676 In mid September two thousand and nine, the average overnight 0:24:01.716 --> 0:24:04.676 low at the weather recording station nearest to Dark Canyon 0:24:04.876 --> 0:24:06.756 was in the mid sixties, and. 0:24:06.756 --> 0:24:08.796 I'm not sure it would get cold enough up in 0:24:08.836 --> 0:24:12.836 the Care Canyon for that to happen, But it's just 0:24:12.836 --> 0:24:14.076 something to think about. 0:24:14.836 --> 0:24:19.436 Obviously, there's another possible explanation, foul play. 0:24:20.476 --> 0:24:23.676 There are sinister reasons for the person not having their 0:24:24.276 --> 0:24:27.516 their clothes on. I mean, could she have been sexually 0:24:27.556 --> 0:24:32.636 assaulted and they just took her clothes off and left 0:24:32.636 --> 0:24:38.916 them off. Who knows. It's certainly a real possibility. 0:24:40.036 --> 0:24:42.116 And what about the missing clothing. 0:24:42.716 --> 0:24:45.236 And also the fact that it was an incomplete set 0:24:45.276 --> 0:24:49.316 of clothes and none of the additional items of clothing 0:24:49.436 --> 0:24:52.636 were ever found, and including shoes, which I think have 0:24:52.716 --> 0:24:55.076 a little more weight than other clothing. 0:24:56.436 --> 0:24:59.636 As with everything about my Teresa's case, the story of 0:24:59.676 --> 0:25:03.796 her remains is a story of absences, gaps, and guesses. 0:25:04.916 --> 0:25:08.796 A forensic pathologist works by process of elimination, but was 0:25:08.876 --> 0:25:12.556 so little hard evidence it was difficult to rule out anything. 0:25:13.836 --> 0:25:17.996 So the fact that I didn't see any trauma in 0:25:18.036 --> 0:25:23.716 the bones doesn't mean trauma didn't happen. It's always possible 0:25:24.316 --> 0:25:27.516 that a gunshot wound can go through and through a 0:25:27.556 --> 0:25:31.516 body without hitting bone, same thing for a stab wound. 0:25:32.116 --> 0:25:37.916 What's also possible is asphyxia or a manual strangulation or 0:25:37.996 --> 0:25:42.876 maybe you know, choked with a rope. The reason people 0:25:43.116 --> 0:25:48.476 die when they're strangled is you're cutting off the blood 0:25:48.556 --> 0:25:53.156 flow to the brain. We're looking for things that reflect 0:25:53.236 --> 0:25:57.396 the fact that you are compressing neck structures. 0:25:58.396 --> 0:26:01.196 In the autopsy report, there's a list of missing bones. 0:26:01.676 --> 0:26:05.156 Some bones from the hand, the left toes, presumably scavenged 0:26:05.156 --> 0:26:09.356 by animals, the tailbone, the zyphoid process at the bottom 0:26:09.396 --> 0:26:13.876 of the sternum, and a thin, fragile neck bone called 0:26:14.116 --> 0:26:14.796 the hyoid. 0:26:16.396 --> 0:26:20.436 The hyoid bone is the only floating bone in the body. 0:26:20.476 --> 0:26:24.316 It's not attached to any other bone. It sits a 0:26:24.356 --> 0:26:29.476 little bit above the thyroid cartilage, and it's essentially there 0:26:29.956 --> 0:26:32.276 as a base of muscle attachment. 0:26:33.236 --> 0:26:35.956 Because of its shape and position in the body, a 0:26:35.996 --> 0:26:40.636 broken hyoid can provide clear evidence of strangulation for a 0:26:40.636 --> 0:26:43.956 forensic pathologist. It's a very significant bone. 0:26:44.836 --> 0:26:48.476 And what's important about it is it's a U shaped 0:26:48.516 --> 0:26:53.636 bone with the projections heading towards the back of the neck. 0:26:54.156 --> 0:26:56.676 So if it's compressed from both sides, which is what 0:26:56.876 --> 0:27:02.156 happens when you have a strangulation. Case with manual strangulation 0:27:02.996 --> 0:27:06.196 is that you're putting pressure on the wings of the 0:27:06.276 --> 0:27:11.196 hyoid bone and a can fracture. The thing with the 0:27:11.276 --> 0:27:13.476 hyoid is if you found it and it was broken, 0:27:13.596 --> 0:27:15.876 you could say, aha, this person was strangled. 0:27:17.796 --> 0:27:21.316 But like the missing clothing and her id, my Teresa's 0:27:21.436 --> 0:27:26.716 hyoid bone was never found. Doctor Shinen says my Teresa's 0:27:26.756 --> 0:27:31.116 case could still be resolved with new evidence. The coroner 0:27:31.196 --> 0:27:34.036 could change the cause of death from undetermined. 0:27:35.156 --> 0:27:40.756 If there was foul play involved, someone could confess. You 0:27:40.876 --> 0:27:46.476