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Speaker 1: Who is it?

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Speaker 2: Who is it? Who is this?

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Speaker 1: Why do you want to know?

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Speaker 3: In the summer of nineteen eighty nine, during those early

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Speaker 3: days after Dana Stidham went missing, a nineteen year old

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Speaker 3: woman from Bella Vista began receiving bizarre, sexually explicit calls.

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Speaker 3: According to a police report, she claimed they were made

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Speaker 3: by a man she suspected of being a former classmate

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Speaker 3: and her neighbor.

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Speaker 1: Did you just take me at ramdy to call? Do

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Speaker 1: you know me?

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Speaker 4: Don't know me?

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Speaker 5: Then?

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Speaker 6: Why are you calling me?

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Speaker 1: An asking you this question?

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Speaker 3: She recognized the caller's voice because because the man quote

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Speaker 3: lived near her, and that after her father left for work,

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Speaker 3: within three or four minutes, the calls began, as if

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Speaker 3: the caller was watching her house.

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Speaker 7: Who is this?

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Speaker 1: Are you reading, Bud? What do you want?

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Speaker 4: Why?

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Speaker 1: Why are you calling me?

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Speaker 8: If you don't even know who I am?

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Speaker 1: Do you know who I am? You don't know who

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Speaker 1: I am? Then why are you calling me?

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Speaker 3: The young woman had known the neighbor she suspected of

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Speaker 3: making the calls since the fourth grade, which was why

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Speaker 3: she immediately recognized his voice. The caller, who is hard

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Speaker 3: to understand in these actual recordings, from thirty plus years ago,

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Speaker 3: never identifies himself. Tired of being harassed, and since there

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Speaker 3: was nothing much law enforcement could really do, the woman

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Speaker 3: decided to take matters into her own hands and confront

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Speaker 3: the neighbor by knocking on his door. He invites her in,

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Speaker 3: and what she sees inside alarms her. On his bedroom wall,

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Speaker 3: her name had been spray painted in large letters, alongside

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Speaker 3: photographs of her cut from their school yearbooks.

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Speaker 1: Well, I bet I'm not and I bet that you're

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Speaker 1: really sick.

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Speaker 3: Remember the calls came only when her father was not.

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Speaker 1: At home, Hello, Hello, is anybody there?

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Speaker 3: And then suddenly, after her visit to the neighbor's house,

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Speaker 3: the call stopped. She called the police and gave them

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Speaker 3: his name. Turned out he was already on the Benton

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Speaker 3: County Sheriff's Office list of suspects in connection with the

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Speaker 3: disappearance of Dana Stidham previously on Paper Ghosts.

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Speaker 2: I have nightmares about this. I have nightmares that she's

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Speaker 2: asking for help and I can't help her. That she

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Speaker 2: has been found after all these years, and she's alive,

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Speaker 2: and I don't know. I just want to know.

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Speaker 1: What happens to her.

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Speaker 5: I think you get more from a community when they're divided,

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Speaker 5: because everybody wants their opinion heard and they want to

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Speaker 5: explain why they feel the way they do, and they

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Speaker 5: want somebody to listen and acknowledge that their opinion counts

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Speaker 5: on this.

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Speaker 9: They drive around it and they see some clothes on

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Speaker 9: the side of the road, maybe six feet off the road.

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Speaker 9: They get out look at it and they're like, hilarious, Like,

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Speaker 9: I'm pretty sure that's Danu's clothes.

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Speaker 3: My name is em William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist

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Speaker 3: and author of more than forty true crime works. This

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Speaker 3: is season four paper Ghosts the Ozarks. On July twenty sixth,

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Speaker 3: the morning after Dana's Didham vanished, Benton County Sheriff's Office

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Speaker 3: detective Mike sidoriac arrived at the scene of Dana's vehicle,

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Speaker 3: wearing a white and blue pinstriped button up shirt, jeans,

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Speaker 3: and Aviator sunglasses. Sidoriak was photographed kneeling by the driver's

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Speaker 3: side open door of Dana's car, a clipboard in one hand,

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Speaker 3: the other reaching inside the vehicle. Dana's car was all

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Speaker 3: the Benton County Sheriff's Office, which I'll refer to from

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Speaker 3: here as the BCSO had as far as a crime scene,

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Speaker 3: a crime scene, mind you, showing clear signs of staging,

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Speaker 3: as if someone had placed items in certain areas of

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Speaker 3: the car and also taken things.

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Speaker 10: My name is Nathan Smith.

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Speaker 6: I'm the prosketting attorney in the nineteen Judicial District West,

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Speaker 6: which is Benton County, Arkansas, and I oversee all the

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Speaker 6: felony prosecutions in Benton County, and our county has an

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Speaker 6: unsolved or cold case murder involving.

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Speaker 3: Dana stem Nathan Smith was first elected prosecuting Attorney for

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Speaker 3: Benton County, Arkansas in twenty fourteen, re elected in twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 3: and again in twenty twenty two. He was seven years

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Speaker 3: old when Dana Stidham went missing, never once guessing her

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Speaker 3: case would drive him to ensure she was never forgotten.

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Speaker 6: I think the reason cold cases, once they've become cold,

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Speaker 6: if you will, tend to stay cold, is simply because

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Speaker 6: one they're going to be very difficult to solve. You know,

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Speaker 6: most cases are solved within the first several days, if not.

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Speaker 10: Immediately of knowing what happened.

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Speaker 6: Crime is committed Today, video cameras are ubiquitous on people's

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Speaker 6: homes and.

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Speaker 10: Gas stations everywhere.

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Speaker 6: We have DNA evidence, We have all these kinds of

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Speaker 6: sign hip mechanisms that have really been sort of relatively

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Speaker 6: late developing. The other real problem with cold cases is

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Speaker 6: that we don't live in a static environment. There are

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Speaker 6: going to be more crimes, more homicides, more things that

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Speaker 6: come in for police to work on that really will

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Speaker 6: take their focus off of cases where it seems like

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Speaker 6: they've hit a wall or hit a dead end.

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Speaker 3: So she leaves the store, do we know if there

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Speaker 3: was anyone that she met up with in the parking lot,

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Speaker 3: in the store, anything like that.

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Speaker 6: We believe that she did have a conversation with a

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Speaker 6: person in the parking lot before she left, and then

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Speaker 6: from there, really the evidentiary conclusions kind of diverge as

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Speaker 6: to what happened that There have been reports that she

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Speaker 6: was later seen on the side of the road, or

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Speaker 6: her vehicle was seen on the side of the road

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Speaker 6: with a man apparently changing a tire or something like that.

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Speaker 10: So it gets kind of spotty as to what happened.

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Speaker 3: That man Dana spoke to was a threat of inquiry

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Speaker 3: I decided to focus on early in my investigation, but

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Speaker 3: other questions kept nagging me. Had Dana been abducted right

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Speaker 3: away or did she go voluntarily with her abductor only

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Speaker 3: to have things go sideways leader that night. And if

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Speaker 3: she had gone willingly, could that mean she knew the

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Speaker 3: person or had she simply taken off all on her own.

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Speaker 10: Did anyone believe that she'd run away?

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Speaker 6: One of the things that the investigators did at the

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Speaker 6: time was to eliminate that possibility, because one of the

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Speaker 6: things you're always going to look at is you know

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Speaker 6: and you see it. Even with runaway children and things

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Speaker 6: where they have alerts go out for kids, they're trying

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Speaker 6: to figure out, Okay, did this kid run away from home?

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Speaker 6: Have they done this of their own own accord? But

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Speaker 6: there was simply nothing in Dana's life to indicate that

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Speaker 6: she would do that. Right everything would indicate she wouldn't

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Speaker 6: be doing that.

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Speaker 3: As the first full day after Dana's disappearance progressed, more

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Speaker 3: bad news came, leading anyone who was hopeful she had

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Speaker 3: taken off on her own to lean in a more

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Speaker 3: uncertain direction. Two additional pieces of Dana's clothing, confirmed to

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Speaker 3: be dirty laundry from inside her car, were found on

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Speaker 3: Wellington Road in a grassy area not far from a

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Speaker 3: porno magazine. What's more, the receipt from the purchases she

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Speaker 3: made that day at the Phillips grocery was discovered inside

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Speaker 3: Dana's car. Oddly enough, however, the groceries she bought would

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Speaker 3: never be found. In addition, belongings confirmed to be from

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Speaker 3: inside her purse were discovered scattered along the grass medium nearby,

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Speaker 3: but Dena's purse, a unique large denim bag, was not.

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Speaker 6: It does appear that that's certainly the theory that the

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Speaker 6: investigators operated on, that those items were thrown out of

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Speaker 6: a car window. And it was always perplexing why they

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Speaker 6: found her car on the side of the road with

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Speaker 6: the keys in the ignition, and so there's all kinds

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Speaker 6: of theories around that. Was it a kind of a

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Speaker 6: sabotage thing to make sure a car wouldn't run. Did

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Speaker 6: she have a legitimate reason that was just happenstance to

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Speaker 6: pull over, But it certainly seemed at the time, I

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Speaker 6: think obvious to investigators that her car just being abandoned

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Speaker 6: on the side of the road does seem to be

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Speaker 6: a pretty significant coincidence.

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Speaker 3: That same day, a local girl came forward to say

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Speaker 3: she saw a tan or cream colored small pickup with

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Speaker 3: a camper parked behind Dana's vehicle that morning. She was

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Speaker 3: certain a man had been kneeling near the back of

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Speaker 3: the car as if he was fixing a flat. She

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Speaker 3: could not describe the man, but said the truck was

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Speaker 3: beat up and appeared to be used on a farm

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Speaker 3: or in the woods. Prosecutor Nathan Smith brought up a

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Speaker 3: good point. Did someone sabotage Dana's vehicle so the car

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Speaker 3: would malfunction and break down at some point on our

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Speaker 3: way home? Remember there is a report of several people

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Speaker 3: seeing an older man talking to Dana in the parking

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Speaker 3: lot of the Phillips just after she walked out of

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Speaker 3: the store. I also wondered how aggressive investigators had been

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Speaker 3: with regard to questioning people who popped up on their radar?

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Speaker 11: Are there any suspects being questioned that might have had

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Speaker 11: something to do with this?

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Speaker 6: So, and I got to be careful here. I only

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Speaker 6: say what's been publicly reported. But there were several suspects

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Speaker 6: that officers looked at at the time, the folks that

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Speaker 6: you would expect, they looked at, a at a man

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Speaker 6: that was a I believe a classmate of hers or

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Speaker 6: someone who knew her from her town, So that was

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Speaker 6: at least one person. And one of the problems with

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Speaker 6: cold cases, and specifically with Dana's case, is that there

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Speaker 6: is some evidence right now that if you looked at

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Speaker 6: it in a vacuum, could tend to support theories one

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Speaker 6: way or the other. And so as this case goes forward,

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Speaker 6: it's really important to narrow down who the evidence really

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Speaker 6: points to.

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Speaker 3: But the suspects in Dana's case weren't the only ones

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Speaker 3: the BCSO were looking at, because Dana's wasn't the only

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Speaker 3: disappearance in the area. The ugly reality law enforcement could

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Speaker 3: not ignore was that within a fifty mile radius of

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Speaker 3: where Dana was last seen, no fewer than five additional

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Speaker 3: young women had either gone missing or their bodies had

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Speaker 3: been discovered over a period of five years leading up

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Speaker 3: to Dana's disappearance, which led to the troubling notion that

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Speaker 3: a potential serial killer was roaming through Benton County and

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Speaker 3: the Ozarks, plucking young women off the streets at will

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Speaker 3: and running under every single law enforcement radar available. When

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Speaker 3: a small community like Benton County is rocked to its

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Speaker 3: core by the disappearance of a popular, well liked young

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Speaker 3: woman on a summer afternoon in broad daylight. They banned

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Speaker 3: together to help an eight x ten flier. A paper

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Speaker 3: ghost was mass produced and tacked to telephone poles in

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Speaker 3: supermarket windows, convenience stores and gas stations. A five thousand

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Speaker 3: dollars reward was offered for any information leading to Dana.

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Speaker 3: A canine search dog was then brought up to Ealing

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Speaker 3: Circle off Wellington Road, where Dana's brother, Larry Stidham, had

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Speaker 3: found some of his sister's clothing the night she was

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Speaker 3: reported missing, just a half mile from where Dana's car

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Speaker 3: had been located. By now, hope for the Stidham family

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Speaker 3: was waning, and that despair would only increase after a

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Speaker 3: pet dog trotting along the grass on the side of

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Speaker 3: Route seventy one found something. Here's Hunter portray, a current

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Speaker 3: lieutenant with the BCSO who you heard in the last episode.

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Speaker 9: I think maybe a week and a half later, further north,

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Speaker 9: there's a dog that brings up like a wallet and

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Speaker 9: it has Dana's ID in it. So at that point

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Speaker 9: in time, you know, it went from bad to worse

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Speaker 9: to now. It's like Okay, we think we're pretty sure

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Speaker 9: foul play because it was her id. There were some

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Speaker 9: contraceptives that were found.

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Speaker 3: I appreciated Lieutenant trace sincerity, compassion, and eagerness to see

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Speaker 3: Dani's case resolved. A cold case needs someone in law

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Speaker 3: enforcement fighting for it, or the case will sit in

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Speaker 3: an eminence room and collect frost.

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Speaker 4: Well.

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Speaker 9: Generally, with the passage of time, it doesn't get any easier.

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Speaker 9: A lot of times the detectives investigators that work those

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Speaker 9: cases are either retired, a lot of times they are deceased,

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Speaker 9: and you can't go back and speak to them directly,

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Speaker 9: so you have to look through the case file. So

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Speaker 9: the best way to do it, the best way that

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Speaker 9: I found is go back and start from square zero

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Speaker 9: and basically look through everything with the fresh set of

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Speaker 9: eyes and just kind of kind of get your own

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Speaker 9: gauge and opinion of the case itself. Look for things

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Speaker 9: that may have been missed, things that you can do,

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Speaker 9: people that may have been interviewed that need to be

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Speaker 9: interviewed again, people that you think weren't interviewed need to

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Speaker 9: be interviewed.

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Speaker 3: Advancements in DNA over the past ten years, Lieutenant Portray

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Speaker 3: noted had been both the cause of great celebration and

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Speaker 3: also disappointment.

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Speaker 9: The OJ trial that kind of brought it to everybody's spotlight,

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Speaker 9: and that was what early nineties. So in the twenty

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Speaker 9: thirty years since that DNA technology has increased dramatically. Like

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Speaker 9: just last year, we saw three of our cold case

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Speaker 9: John Doe. Two of them were John Doe's and one

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Speaker 9: was a Jain Doe, and we had no idea who

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Speaker 9: they were, and we were able to through DNA and

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Speaker 9: genetic genealogy figure out who those people were. So now

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Speaker 9: we have leads to try to close those cases out victimology,

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Speaker 9: you know who they associated with. Prior to that, they

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Speaker 9: were just John Doe's and Jane Doe's and you had

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Speaker 9: no idea who they were, and you can't start anywhere

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Speaker 9: until you know who they are.

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Speaker 11: And we know that probably eighty percent of murders is

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Speaker 11: someone you know in your circle.

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Speaker 9: That seems to be the consensus at least the homicide

256
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Speaker 9: that I've worked on. Very few random stranger homicides. Now

257
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Speaker 9: they do happen, but statistically speaking, it's going to be

258
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Speaker 9: somebody that they're associated with, and not necessarily close family

259
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Speaker 9: or whatever, but somebody that they're somewhat associated with. Whether

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Speaker 9: it's an acquaintance, someone they ran into, somebody they bumped

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Speaker 9: into at the store, or knew from another friend slightly

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Speaker 9: but didn't really know personally, but generally it's somebody that

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Speaker 9: they affiliated with or associated with at some.

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Speaker 7: Point in time.

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Speaker 3: As I dug deeper into the victimology side, several things

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Speaker 3: about Dana's circle of friends bothered me more than usual.

267
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Speaker 3: You see, I generally develop a sense, or rather thoughts

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Speaker 3: and theories as I begin working on a cold case, knowing,

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Speaker 3: of course they will shape and change and perhaps point

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Speaker 3: me in a new direction as I move forward. But

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Speaker 3: here I started talking to sources on and off the record.

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Speaker 3: I could not shake a feeling that there was an

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Speaker 3: important piece of this puzzle missing, something either few were

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Speaker 3: willing to talk about, those close to Dana were in

275
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Speaker 3: denial about where they just didn't know. And something Lieutenant

276
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Speaker 3: Petree said to me pushed me further down this road.

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Speaker 9: This is the day that Dana went missing, around five pm.

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Speaker 9: There's a lady who's driving on three forty, which is

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Speaker 9: the highway basically right there at Town Center. She says

280
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Speaker 9: that there's a car that comes into her lane. She

281
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Speaker 9: has to swerve to miss it. There's a mail driving,

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Speaker 9: there's a female passenger, and there looks like there's another

283
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Speaker 9: person in the backseat. At that point in time, she

284
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Speaker 9: doesn't really think anything about it.

285
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Speaker 3: I obtained the transcript of the interview police conducted with

286
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Speaker 3: this woman. She was twenty four years old then and

287
00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:00,480
Speaker 3: lived in Bella Vista. On July twenty fifth, between five

288
00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 3: and six pm, she drove up to the Missouri state

289
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,840
Speaker 3: line to buy gas. On her way back into Arkansas,

290
00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,639
Speaker 3: not too far from the town center where Phillips Grocery is,

291
00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,840
Speaker 3: a vehicle swerved into her lane. Quote it looked like

292
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Speaker 3: Dana's car. The guy driving had dark hair. He was

293
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:22,639
Speaker 3: a big dude, likely in his twenties. The girl sitting

294
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Speaker 3: next to him had long, dark hair. The source explained

295
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,119
Speaker 3: to police that the girl she believed to be Dana,

296
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,960
Speaker 3: had perhaps grabbed the wheel and purposely swerved the car

297
00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:39,160
Speaker 3: into her lane. The next morning, July twenty sixth, as

298
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,600
Speaker 3: she was driving toward Wellington Road, she saw Dana's car

299
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Speaker 3: parked on Route seventy one, heading south, where it was

300
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Speaker 3: eventually found. She noticed the driver's side window was rolled down.

301
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Speaker 3: She then drove up Wellington to a friend's house. By

302
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Speaker 3: six thirty am that same morning, she was on her

303
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Speaker 3: way back down Wellington, sitting at a stoplight facing Route

304
00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,080
Speaker 3: seventy one in front of her, when she saw a

305
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:09,080
Speaker 3: Ford courier truck, as she described it, parked behind Dana's

306
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,600
Speaker 3: car with a shell or camper on the back, and

307
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,480
Speaker 3: there was that same large man again from the previous night,

308
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Speaker 3: the one driving Dana's car, standing behind it. She assumed

309
00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,119
Speaker 3: he was getting ready to change the tire of Dana's car.

310
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Speaker 3: Woul Dana's case being the top story on all the

311
00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:32,840
Speaker 3: local news stations throughout those early days. This would not

312
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,399
Speaker 3: be the only report from a random person claiming to

313
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,359
Speaker 3: have seen Dana on the day she went missing, or

314
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Speaker 3: even later on into the evening.

315
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Speaker 11: What I'm getting from you is that her car is

316
00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,520
Speaker 11: seen kind of all over seventy one that.

317
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Speaker 9: Day, couple of different places, all relatively around that Phillips area,

318
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Speaker 9: but one person saying that they saw it south in

319
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Speaker 9: the north boundle line, and then obviously later on we

320
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Speaker 9: know that it was found in the southbound lane north

321
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:11,400
Speaker 9: of the town center. So those are things that complicated

322
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,960
Speaker 9: the case. You got three people saying they all saw

323
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Speaker 9: it at the same location. You got three people saying

324
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:20,399
Speaker 9: they saw it, but different locations, different set of circumstances,

325
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,760
Speaker 9: just not conducive to getting it solved right away.

326
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Speaker 3: It bothered me at so many different people, a list

327
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:31,000
Speaker 3: which would continue to grow as I developed. Additional sources

328
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Speaker 3: claimed to have seen Dana at different locations around Bella

329
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Speaker 3: Vista and even as far away as Gravit, the time

330
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Speaker 3: where she grew up and had lived most of her life.

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Speaker 3: Here's one of Dana's cousins, Dwight Stidham, who spoke to

332
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Speaker 3: police a day after Dana went missing about what he

333
00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 3: had seen, but has never spoken to anyone else about

334
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,360
Speaker 3: this since. Tell me what you remember about Dana growing up.

335
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Speaker 8: She just well, behaved well and always doing stuff for

336
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:09,080
Speaker 8: her parents, and especially for Laurence because he had as righters,

337
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,440
Speaker 8: real bad and that's what finally got him at the end.

338
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,280
Speaker 8: You know, she was always there for him.

339
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Speaker 3: And Dwight, several years older than Dana, is referring to

340
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 3: Dana's father, Lawrence. Dwight saw Dana a lot growing up.

341
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Speaker 3: He also knew the town of Gravit and the people

342
00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,639
Speaker 3: within dana circle of friends. In and out of town

343
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,399
Speaker 3: fairly well. And not all of them were as straight

344
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,159
Speaker 3: lace as Dana has been described.

345
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,199
Speaker 8: They was a little bit on the wild side in

346
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 8: what ways, in the drinking and the drugs.

347
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Speaker 3: When you say drugs, what kind of drugs are you

348
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 3: talking about?

349
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Speaker 8: When we talk about drugs around here, it's just your

350
00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:58,719
Speaker 8: basic drugs, marijuana, speed, just different kinds of peals.

351
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,200
Speaker 3: You know, when goes missing. Do you remember that time?

352
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:04,680
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, tell me about that.

353
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:06,359
Speaker 3: Tell me how it starts for you.

354
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:07,200
Speaker 7: What you remember.

355
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,399
Speaker 8: Well, at that time, we was living up from grab It.

356
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:13,639
Speaker 8: We had a little dairy bar up her. It had

357
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 8: pool tables and some arcade games in it, and I'd

358
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 8: go up there on the weekends and play pool. And

359
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,640
Speaker 8: it was probably around six seven o'clock. It wasn't dark

360
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 8: or anything. It was still good daylight and sunny and everything.

361
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,480
Speaker 8: And me and my nephew we was going up her

362
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:36,159
Speaker 8: to play the games, playpool and stuff. And before you

363
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,080
Speaker 8: get to the little dairy bar, I pulled up to

364
00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:42,479
Speaker 8: the four ways stop and she had pulled up across

365
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,119
Speaker 8: the street from me, facing me, and she had a

366
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Speaker 8: girl in the car with her, But I didn't recognize

367
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,439
Speaker 8: who the girl was or anything. But you know, she

368
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 8: just she waved at me and everything, and I didn't

369
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Speaker 8: think nothing about it. As far as I know, Me

370
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:58,760
Speaker 8: and my nephew was probably the last two in the

371
00:22:58,800 --> 00:22:59,879
Speaker 8: family that had seen her.

372
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,680
Speaker 3: And she didn't look distressed, she didn't look in trouble.

373
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 8: No, she had a big old smile on her face,

374
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 8: just wayed real big and you know, did we just

375
00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,919
Speaker 8: crossed past her at the four ways stop and it

376
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 8: just seemed normal to me.

377
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 3: So between six and seven pm on the night Dana

378
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 3: went missing, she was out and about with a friend,

379
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,320
Speaker 3: driving around the town where she grew up in smiling,

380
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,040
Speaker 3: having a good time. That kind of nixes the theory

381
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:35,200
Speaker 3: that someone at the Phillips sabotaged her tire, or followed

382
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 3: her or abducted her that afternoon in the parking lot.

383
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:44,760
Speaker 3: This information pointed in the direction of somebody Dana knew.

384
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,760
Speaker 9: Another thing that hindered this case, and it's nothing that

385
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 9: the investigators did wrong. It's a product of the time

386
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 9: that it happened. Eighty nine, nobody had cell phones really,

387
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 9: so today and age, cell phones are tremendous for law

388
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 9: enforcement as far as tracking people we know based off

389
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 9: a GPS they went here there nineteen eighty nine, we

390
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 9: didn't have that. Also, you know, surveillance cameras, security cameras,

391
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 9: it existed, but not for most people. So Phillips Grocery,

392
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 9: no video surveillance, there's nothing. So those two things kind

393
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 9: of complicated the case as well, because you don't have

394
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 9: video of her driving by a certain location. You don't

395
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,000
Speaker 9: have GPS location of hey, she placed a phone call here.

396
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 3: Even more alarming is the timeline the BCSO developed for

397
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 3: when Dana's car could have made it to the location

398
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 3: where it was found on Route seventy one.

399
00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,199
Speaker 9: There's a sergeant who was our sheriff here for a

400
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,919
Speaker 9: while after, but he worked for the state police. He

401
00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 9: actually around eleven thirty that night, turns up Wellington to

402
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,480
Speaker 9: serve a warrant, takes care of his business, comes back

403
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:10,199
Speaker 9: down Willington would have been facing the car in states

404
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,800
Speaker 9: that the vehicle was not there at that point in time,

405
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 9: So you kind of have to take that for what

406
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,960
Speaker 9: it's worth, and like it's staring you in the face.

407
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,919
Speaker 9: So right, Larry didn't see it, the family didn't see it.

408
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 9: You know, you got a state trooper.

409
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 3: Dana's car was parked on that pull off on the

410
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 3: side of Route seventy one between eleven thirty pm and

411
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:36,680
Speaker 3: five am, and the two sources bookending those times are

412
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 3: both law enforcement. Now you take that fact and add

413
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,840
Speaker 3: it to a name the BCSO received early into its inquiries,

414
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:52,680
Speaker 3: and the investigation broadens. Mike McMillan, a classmate who allegedly

415
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 3: had a crush on Dana, was seen driving around Bella

416
00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:03,439
Speaker 3: Vista between those same hours. Mike was a year older

417
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,680
Speaker 3: than Dana. He was preparing to head out to San

418
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 3: Diego for Navy basic training in two weeks. Mike was

419
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 3: a tall, large young man with dark hair. Mike McMillan

420
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:22,040
Speaker 3: was one person law enforcement was laser focused on at

421
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 3: this time. Mike was questioned by police on July twenty seven,

422
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty nine. In the investigator's notes from that interview,

423
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 3: Mike said he was driving his father's truck in Bella

424
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,919
Speaker 3: Vista at eleven thirty PM to a friend's house in

425
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 3: a border town. He claimed to have stayed there until

426
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,920
Speaker 3: two thirty or three before driving to another friend's house,

427
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 3: leaving there by four am. He had seen Dana a

428
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 3: few days before she went missing. He had actually stopped

429
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,480
Speaker 3: at her apartment before that, he had not seen her

430
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 3: for two months. Here's Dana's cousin, Christy Smith once again.

431
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:05,640
Speaker 7: Mike McMillan.

432
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,160
Speaker 3: Was he in high school with y'all?

433
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 11: Yes?

434
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 12: He was?

435
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,119
Speaker 3: And what kind of guy was he in high school?

436
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 2: Mike was a good guy, very friendly, just seemed to

437
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:15,399
Speaker 2: be like all the other boys in school.

438
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 9: He liked Dana obviously.

439
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:17,960
Speaker 12: Uh huh.

440
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 5: He did it.

441
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 2: Never It never seemed like it went, you know, too

442
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,480
Speaker 2: far or beyond what she was willing, you know, to

443
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 2: have with him. They were friends for a long time.

444
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 2: We all rode the school bus together. I never noticed

445
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 2: anything odd about the way he felt about her.

446
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 3: And there was someone else in Dana's life. I needed

447
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 3: to find out more about her ex boyfriend and her

448
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 3: former boyfriend.

449
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 11: Was he looked into right away?

450
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 12: I believe they interviewed him and possibly his brother early on.

451
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 12: He said he called in sick to work that day

452
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 12: was his alibi. But I I do believe he got

453
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,199
Speaker 12: a lawyer fairly early on.

454
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 3: That is the voice of Brandon Howard, an investigative journalist

455
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 3: from Benton County who has done more reporting on this

456
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 3: case than perhaps anyone I met. Brandon through a detective

457
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 3: I've known quite a while that ex boyfriend, Brandon Mentions,

458
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,919
Speaker 3: who was a good friend of Mike McMillan's, was brought

459
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 3: in and interviewed within a week of Dana's disappearance. He'd

460
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,440
Speaker 3: met her in nineteen eighty eight at a local mall.

461
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:35,160
Speaker 3: The breakup in April nineteen eighty nine was contentious.

462
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,480
Speaker 9: You know, they had talked to some people, her boyfriend

463
00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 9: that she had just broken up with. There were some

464
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 9: issues there, number one, because it ended on bad terms.

465
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 9: There was also an issue with a motorcycle title. From

466
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,840
Speaker 9: what I understand, his parents had put up some money

467
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:57,520
Speaker 9: for engagement rings. They were supposed to get married. Dana

468
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 9: was supposedly pregnant. Found out that she wasn't pregnant. That

469
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 9: caused a big riff. They ended up breaking up, tried

470
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 9: to get back the motorcycle title. The family didn't want

471
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 9: to give it back until he paid a certain amount

472
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,040
Speaker 9: of money. So all this stuff's going on. So, yeah,

473
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 9: he was a person of interest. But there are people

474
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 9: that saw him that day, that night that he was

475
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 9: at a certain house. He was here, he was there.

476
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:24,920
Speaker 9: He was on a motorcycle two which would have made

477
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 9: it really difficult to do.

478
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,840
Speaker 3: After digging into Dana's ex boyfriend's alibi, reviewing all the

479
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 3: reports and relevant polygraphs, conducting several interviews with people about him,

480
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 3: the ex boyfriend didn't seem to be too high on

481
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,959
Speaker 3: the list of people who might have had something to

482
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 3: do with her disappearance. I couldn't exclude him completely, but

483
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 3: I was confident I would be able to. Yet, even

484
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 3: with the ex boyfriend moved from the top of my

485
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 3: list of potential suspects and what now appears to be

486
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,600
Speaker 3: a serious crime, the pool of people who had motive

487
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 3: and opportunity in Dana's disappearance was about to grow exponentially.

488
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 3: When a person is missing for more than three months,

489
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,000
Speaker 3: they fall under a classification called long term missing person.

490
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 3: Danastdam had been missing about six weeks, half that time

491
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,800
Speaker 3: when investigators dug their heels in and focused on those

492
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 3: who could have either helped Dana take off or were

493
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 3: responsible for her disappearance. By now, sadly, most everyone involved

494
00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 3: believed that Dana's Didam was no longer alive. With Brandon

495
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 3: Howard's help, my focus shifted towards several people. Remember that

496
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 3: Phillips employee. Well, he lived just off Wellington Road. So

497
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 3: there's this older guy from Phillips, and many of whom

498
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 3: I spoke to who knew him and work there, they

499
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,479
Speaker 3: call him a perver. Right now, some of Dana's clothing

500
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:30,680
Speaker 3: had been found close to his house, right like literally

501
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 3: blocks away.

502
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, maybe the first street or so away from

503
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:35,280
Speaker 1: his street.

504
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 3: So tell me about this guy. I mean, you sent

505
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 3: me the transcript of the interview they did with him.

506
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:44,280
Speaker 3: You've studied at read through. What are your thoughts on

507
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:45,160
Speaker 3: this guy.

508
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 1: He's probably most troublesome because you can actually put him

509
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 1: in the store in the day of Dana's disappearance, so

510
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: you can put him with Dana right before she disappeared.

511
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 3: Now do we know if he is the quote old

512
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 3: guy that she's seen talking to in the parking lot,

513
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 3: because according to his interview, he says.

514
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 1: No, I don't think there's ever been any definitive answer

515
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 1: as to who that person.

516
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:16,719
Speaker 3: Was Bcso Lieutenant Hunter Portray confirmed this, and he's also

517
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:21,360
Speaker 3: fired from Phillips on July twenty seven, which is two

518
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 3: days after she goes missing. Right, yes, very alarming and

519
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 3: not to forget. At this time, investigators have no idea

520
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 3: what happened to Dana? She is still missing. Her status

521
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 3: is about to change in a remarkable, sad way. But

522
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 3: at this time in the investigation, there are more suspects

523
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 3: than possible answers. And so now why was he fired?

524
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:53,040
Speaker 1: I guess it was a culmination of sexual harassment complaints

525
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,400
Speaker 1: that had been launched against Une. I don't know if

526
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 1: there was a specific one in the lead up to

527
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 1: July of nineteen eighty nine, but I think something must

528
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 1: have tipped the scales because it sounded like he had

529
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 1: somewhat of a sort of reputation among the female employees.

530
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 3: And then we come to a proclivity he has for magazines, right,

531
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,800
Speaker 3: they start to get into that in the interview.

532
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: I guess that since he was a receiving clerk and

533
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 1: took in maybe not just groceries, but items that would

534
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 1: be sold in the grocery store, like toys, trinkets, magazines,

535
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 1: he was receiving some X rated magazines or buying something

536
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 1: in the store from the people that would drop them off.

537
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,320
Speaker 1: And it became somewhat alarming when they found a dirty

538
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:41,920
Speaker 1: magazine with some of Venus clothing. So now you have

539
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: a suspect that worked at the store with Danna, had

540
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 1: an issue with female employees and sexual harassment, and also,

541
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:52,080
Speaker 1: like you said, out of proclivity for dirty magazines, right.

542
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,480
Speaker 3: And as you say, they found one of those magazines

543
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:56,960
Speaker 3: with her clothing.

544
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's pretty alarming that there's a magazine with

545
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: her clothing. There's a guy that likes these magazines and

546
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:09,399
Speaker 1: that same person lives within throwing distance of where those

547
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: clothing and magazine are found and works at the store

548
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,440
Speaker 1: with Dana and was at least at the store that

549
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 1: they for sure know where Dana was lifting.

550
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 3: On the other part of this interview is they ask

551
00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 3: him what type of vehicle you drive and what does

552
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 3: he say? He says, I drive a Toyota pick up

553
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:33,760
Speaker 3: with a camper. Yes, the guys shift that Phillips ended

554
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 3: at about the same time Dana would have been on

555
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 3: her way out, And we know that these types of

556
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 3: mis in person cases are statistically crimes of opportunity. Until

557
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:49,799
Speaker 3: the BCSO can confirm or discredit his alibi that he

558
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 3: was at home with his wife, he remains a primary

559
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,920
Speaker 3: person of interest. Even though they have numerous reports of

560
00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:00,120
Speaker 3: people seeing Dana later on that day and in to

561
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:05,800
Speaker 3: the early evening. I asked Brandon what he thought about

562
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 3: those phone calls which you heard at the top of

563
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:12,799
Speaker 3: the episode, the sexually explicit calls made to a young

564
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 3: Bella Vista woman by a neighbor she knew from high school?

565
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 3: Were they significant? Were they even related to Dana's case?

566
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,000
Speaker 3: What about the name of the caller she gave the police.

567
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,359
Speaker 1: I would argue she has the best opinion for that.

568
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 1: I mean, she grew up with him. I think at

569
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:32,880
Speaker 1: least went to high school with him, and he was

570
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:34,760
Speaker 1: her neighbor. I would think she'd know his boys.

571
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 3: Brandon gave me the name of the caller, which I

572
00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:41,040
Speaker 3: am choosing not to reveal. I can say, however, he

573
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 3: was looked at by law enforcement. Now a question I

574
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 3: had for you, and that I'm unsure of, is I'm

575
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 3: curious whether she makes the accusations against the caller as

576
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 3: being before he is a public suspect in Dana's case.

577
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 1: I would say confidently than it's not a public suspect

578
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:04,279
Speaker 1: until at least nineteen ninety six.

579
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:08,880
Speaker 3: To add more confusion to the case, two weeks after

580
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 3: Dana went missing, a sixteen year old girl contacted the

581
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:18,520
Speaker 3: BCSO with an incredible story. I communicated with her and

582
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,000
Speaker 3: asked if she wanted to tell her own story on

583
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 3: the podcast, but she doesn't want her name or voice used.

584
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 3: The police report and subsequent interview the BCSO did with

585
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:32,880
Speaker 3: her in nineteen eighty nine, however, is beyond revealing.

586
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:37,960
Speaker 9: There was a female that made a statement that Dana

587
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 9: had been seen at Blowing Springs Park.

588
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 3: This girl says she was at the park in Bella

589
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,560
Speaker 3: Vista on July twenty fifth, nineteen eighty nine, with two

590
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:50,319
Speaker 3: guys in their twenties. She had driven herself there. It's

591
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,320
Speaker 3: around nine pm. She is sitting on a picnic table

592
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:57,400
Speaker 3: when another thirty something dude from just across the Missouri

593
00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:01,640
Speaker 3: state line named Orville Mitch Goodwin, whom she was somewhat

594
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 3: familiar with, pulls into the park in his green pickup

595
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 3: with a camper on the back. The two guys she

596
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 3: met at the park walk up to Goodwin's vehicle, she follows.

597
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 3: She tells police that when she looks into the cab

598
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:21,040
Speaker 3: of the truck, Dana is sitting next to Goodwin. The

599
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 3: insinuation is that Dana, because she worked at the Phillips

600
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:28,200
Speaker 3: knew Goodwin because he was routinely showing up at the

601
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,319
Speaker 3: store picking up garbage for a guy he worked with.

602
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:36,040
Speaker 3: He also hung around another guy who worked for Ozark Beverage,

603
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:38,200
Speaker 3: which did business at the store.

604
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:44,839
Speaker 9: Now, from what we know, miss said that he didn't

605
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:50,799
Speaker 9: know Dana from talking with her family friends. They didn't

606
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 9: know Mitch. Mitch was older. It's not somebody that would

607
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 9: have been on the outside looking in would have been

608
00:37:57,600 --> 00:37:59,480
Speaker 9: in her circle of friends.

609
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 3: They questioned the teenage witness intensely about minor details. She

610
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:10,520
Speaker 3: seemed to answer each question very clearly. She claims Goodwin

611
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:14,720
Speaker 3: pulled in from Route seventy one and parked for about

612
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes with Dana by his side. She was asked,

613
00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 3: quote any doubt in your mind that the girl that

614
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 3: was in the passenger seat at that time was Dana Stidham.

615
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:33,560
Speaker 3: Her answer one hundred percent positive than this. She says

616
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 3: Goodwin left at about nine point thirty with Dana and

617
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:42,400
Speaker 3: returned an hour and fifteen minutes later without Dana. Not

618
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:46,440
Speaker 3: long after she reports this to police, she claims Orville

619
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:51,439
Speaker 3: Mitch Goodwin starts calling her, threatening to kill her if

620
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 3: she mentions anything to police about what she saw. The

621
00:38:56,960 --> 00:39:00,840
Speaker 3: phone call threat she says carried on for two years.

622
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 9: Could he have done it, Yes, But you also have

623
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:07,360
Speaker 9: to kind of look at the credibility of your witness

624
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 9: that's given the statement. And you know, people say they

625
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 9: see aliens all the time, and maybe they do. Maybe

626
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:14,279
Speaker 9: I don't know. I don't want to get into that,

627
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:15,680
Speaker 9: but you have to kind of take it with a

628
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 9: grain of salt, like, Okay, this person supposedly saw Dana

629
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 9: in this in this truck with Mitch Goodwin, but nobody

630
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:25,359
Speaker 9: else can corroborate that. There are other people that were

631
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 9: at the park that can't corroborate it.

632
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 3: In the years after he is accused of having been

633
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:35,799
Speaker 3: involved with Dana's disappearance, Orville Mitch Goodwin pleads guilty to

634
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 3: first degree attempted murder and is sentenced to twelve years

635
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 3: in prison. The crime, Goodwin shot a woman named and

636
00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 3: Net rapidly in the face and left it for dead

637
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,920
Speaker 3: in a Bella Vista Creek bed near the Missouri border.

638
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 3: If not for a man on horseback riding by who

639
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 3: saw in that bloodied and laying on the ground, she

640
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:02,960
Speaker 3: would died there. He was interviewed, right.

641
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,239
Speaker 9: Yeah, he was interviewed, and again didn't know who she was, and.

642
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,240
Speaker 3: He had an alibi, I believe.

643
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:15,840
Speaker 9: Possibly now there is a person who claims that the

644
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:19,279
Speaker 9: guy that was in the van or the guy that

645
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:21,879
Speaker 9: was parked on the side of the road that saw

646
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 9: Dana outside with these two guys, thinks that the person

647
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 9: had red hair and thinks that it matches the description

648
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:34,440
Speaker 9: of Mitch Goodwin. So again, just something else to complicate

649
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:39,400
Speaker 9: the case. You know, hey, we've got three or four suspects,

650
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 9: why not add another fifth suspect.

651
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 11: You know, people don't make the best witnesses.

652
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:48,719
Speaker 9: No, but you know, people are adamant in their own

653
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:54,439
Speaker 9: mind that hey, I heard a gunshot at eleven oh two,

654
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:59,200
Speaker 9: and I called my friend and let them know about it,

655
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,960
Speaker 9: and there one hundred percent positive And then you get

656
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,200
Speaker 9: the phone records and it's like nine o'clock. But they're

657
00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:09,760
Speaker 9: sitting there telling you like it's one hundred percent truth

658
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:13,520
Speaker 9: that it was eleven o'clock. But you have physical proof

659
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,919
Speaker 9: that nor your time is off. So people, I don't

660
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,279
Speaker 9: think intentionally always do that, sure, but a lot of

661
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 9: times their mind plays tricks on them and they think

662
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:23,239
Speaker 9: that it's a certain time where they think that they

663
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 9: saw a red shirt, and then you find the person

664
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 9: in it's a blue shirt.

665
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:28,480
Speaker 3: That's why forensics is so important.

666
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:33,440
Speaker 9: Correct, That's why physical evidence and that's why prosecutors like

667
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 9: that to try cases. You know, you're when you're talking

668
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,360
Speaker 9: about circumstantial which is in this case, we have a

669
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 9: lot of circumstantial evidence that's hard to take to court,

670
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 9: and that's hard to get a jury to convict somebody.

671
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:52,000
Speaker 3: The plethora of circumstantial evidence that BCSO had on several

672
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 3: persons of interest was about to get a huge boost

673
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 3: from physical evidence as September nineteen eighty nine came around.

674
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,399
Speaker 3: I'm calling him Stephen, which is not his real name,

675
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 3: and I'll get to why he asked me to change

676
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:11,600
Speaker 3: his name in a minute. On September sixteenth, nineteen eighty nine,

677
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:15,120
Speaker 3: Stephen had some free time on his hands, so he

678
00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:18,520
Speaker 3: decided to go out and scout locations where he and

679
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,799
Speaker 3: his buddy could go hunting and maybe even do a

680
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:27,480
Speaker 3: little hunting himself. That day, it was early afternoon, Stephen

681
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,680
Speaker 3: wound up on Beal Lane Circle, a dead end in

682
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:33,880
Speaker 3: Bella Vista so close to the Missouri state line you

683
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:40,160
Speaker 3: could probably hit it with a football throw. Stephen parked,

684
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:43,400
Speaker 3: got out of his truck and started walking through the woods.

685
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:46,760
Speaker 7: I was supposed to meet some people, so I stopped

686
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 7: there and did a little score hunting and walked around

687
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 7: a elemit instead. And as I was walking out, I

688
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 7: saw in a dry creek bed and saw a skull

689
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:59,560
Speaker 7: and some rib bones. So next morning I called the

690
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 7: police and took him down there, and they said, oh,

691
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,680
Speaker 7: I'm sure it's just a bear skull or a deer sculls,

692
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,719
Speaker 7: I know, the difference to human skull and the bear.

693
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:11,839
Speaker 3: Where exactly was this?

694
00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:16,319
Speaker 7: It was right behind actually from where I stood, like

695
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:18,040
Speaker 7: in the fall. I'm sure in the summer you couldn't

696
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 7: see it, but in the fall you could see up

697
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:21,880
Speaker 7: to a liquor store that was just over the state

698
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 7: line there. It was on the east side of Ela Vista.

699
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 3: And what did you think when you first saw that skull?

700
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:28,399
Speaker 3: What went through you?

701
00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:29,080
Speaker 5: Well?

702
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 7: I wasn't sure. I mean because it's kind of pretty

703
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:33,800
Speaker 7: close to Peer Ridge Battlefield, So I thought maybe it

704
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:37,279
Speaker 7: was an old skull or whatever. I could tell. It's

705
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,800
Speaker 7: fairly small. It wasn't a big person. But that's what

706
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 7: I told them there too, you know, when they said

707
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 7: it was a deer skull, said, no, No, it's a

708
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:47,240
Speaker 7: human skull, fairly small.

709
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,760
Speaker 3: And were you familiar with the case of Dana Stidham

710
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:51,680
Speaker 3: that was in the news.

711
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,000
Speaker 7: No, I had never never heard of it.

712
00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:58,840
Speaker 3: And so you called the next morning. What made you

713
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,040
Speaker 3: wait a day or half a day or whatever.

714
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:03,839
Speaker 7: Well, like I was supposed to meet somebody, we were

715
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:06,319
Speaker 7: going to doub hunting, met them and they said, well

716
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:09,360
Speaker 7: maybe I said, well, you know, it's not going anywhere.

717
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:12,560
Speaker 7: In hindsight, yes, I should have immediately called them, but

718
00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:14,440
Speaker 7: you know, like I said, I didn't. I didn't think

719
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,359
Speaker 7: it was afresh. You know, if that w ever saw

720
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 7: you know, any kind of flesh or anything like that,

721
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:20,359
Speaker 7: I definitely.

722
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:23,160
Speaker 3: Would tell me it. Describe exactly what you saw.

723
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 7: Just there was skull and some bird roe and rib

724
00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:28,839
Speaker 7: boons in a dry creek bed. Really all I saw

725
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:30,080
Speaker 7: it initially.

726
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,120
Speaker 3: And was it together, the body together.

727
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:35,960
Speaker 7: It was, you know, scattered over probably fifteen or twenty feet.

728
00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:38,000
Speaker 7: She was buried in a shallow grave of an animals

729
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:38,680
Speaker 7: got to heed.

730
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,120
Speaker 3: And you didn't see any of her clothes or anything

731
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:41,560
Speaker 3: like that.

732
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:43,879
Speaker 7: When I took him back the next day and we're

733
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:47,840
Speaker 7: showing him around. Actually, the cop that I was following

734
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 7: him after it kind of showed him more the boones.

735
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 7: When we were walking back, he actually stepped on a

736
00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 7: piece of skin that had some duct tape, and I

737
00:44:57,239 --> 00:45:01,880
Speaker 7: think there was some clothing there too. Really yeah, and

738
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:03,920
Speaker 7: I planted. He I just stepped on.

739
00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:07,719
Speaker 3: Some So he steps on a piece of so the

740
00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:10,439
Speaker 3: duct tape was taped to clothing and then that had

741
00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:11,080
Speaker 3: skin on it.

742
00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:13,720
Speaker 7: I believe, so that it was all kind of stuck together.

743
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,760
Speaker 3: This man who stumbled across Danastidam's body is talking about

744
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:21,880
Speaker 3: an area of Bella Vista, about five point five miles

745
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:25,239
Speaker 3: a ten minute ride from the Phillips Grocery and that

746
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:29,840
Speaker 3: Route seventy one area where Dana's car was found. It

747
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,080
Speaker 3: was an undeveloped Could de Sac far off the beaten path.

748
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 3: The creek bed is about one hundred and seventy feet

749
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 3: from the Cold de Sac. Only four tenths of a

750
00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:41,880
Speaker 3: mile northeast from where Dana Stidam's body was found. In

751
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 3: these woods is the Ozark Beverage Company, where Orville Mitch

752
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:50,319
Speaker 3: Goodwin had just told the BCSO a friend of his

753
00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 3: worked and he had visited on numerous occasions. The reason

754
00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:58,799
Speaker 3: why the man I am calling Stephen didn't want his

755
00:45:58,960 --> 00:45:59,880
Speaker 3: name used.

756
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:03,440
Speaker 7: Because I had somebody's driving up sitting in front of

757
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 7: my house in a truck, and after three or four times,

758
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 7: you know, I stuck out the back and stuck up

759
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,279
Speaker 7: the truck in my shot and they took off, and.

760
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:13,840
Speaker 3: This person. Do you think it was a copper?

761
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:16,800
Speaker 7: I'm sure the killer?

762
00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:24,319
Speaker 3: Next time on paper ghosts, I'm thinking they're lying like hell,

763
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:26,359
Speaker 3: because my little girl wasn't dick.

764
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,400
Speaker 4: Something's not right here. Something in my mind told me

765
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 4: that this guy is fixing to kill this girl. But

766
00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:38,719
Speaker 4: he never moved because there was his arms folded, his

767
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 4: smirky smile on her to dance him, and I, oh,

768
00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:46,160
Speaker 4: my god, this is some kind of a murder.

769
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 12: They find what appear to be several hairs I think

770
00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 12: maybe some blood spots in the car, and then they realized,

771
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 12: you know, other items of her remains. They went back

772
00:46:56,920 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 12: and tossed those and left.

773
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 13: But I would think that you have to be somewhat

774
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:04,759
Speaker 13: strong or able body to carry a person down into

775
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:07,719
Speaker 13: that area of the woods and know about it. I

776
00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,880
Speaker 13: don't think that anyone just stumbled across that spot.

777
00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:15,239
Speaker 3: Please listen and subscribe to my other podcasts. Crossing the

778
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:18,319
Speaker 3: line with m William Phelps and White Eagle. Wherever you

779
00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:22,920
Speaker 3: get your favorite shows. Paper Ghosts Season four is written

780
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:27,080
Speaker 3: and executive produced by me M William Phelps, script consulting

781
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 3: by Rose Bachi, sound design by Matt Russell, executive production

782
00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:36,080
Speaker 3: by Catherine Law, and audio editing and mixing by Brandon

783
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:40,800
Speaker 3: Dicker Takaboom Productions. The series theme number four four to

784
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,959
Speaker 3: two is written and performed by Thomas Phelps and Tom

785
00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:44,080
Speaker 3: mo