WEBVTT - Episode 3: “The Skull in the Creek Bed” 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:11.000 I've been interviewing the families of murder victims since nineteen 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:15.160 ninety nine. It's one of the most profound and personal 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:20.880 aspects of my job, because well, I'm one of them. 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:25.040 In nineteen ninety six, my brother's wife, five months pregnant, 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:31.000 was strangled to death. Her case remains unsolved. So when 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:34.280 families tell me how difficult this is to talk about, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:39.600 I can empathize. Opening up old wounds, digging back into 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:44.240 the past is not always worth the pain and vulnerability 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.839 of exposing yourself for the sake of keeping a memory alive. 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.640 I hate to get into this. We've heard the rumor 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.640 and we got a hold to Hanny and Mike, the 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:02.880 cop State were on the case, and they came to 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:04.319 the house and told us. 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.919 There was that knock on the door. No family member 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.920 of a missing person ever wants to hear. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.639 I'm thinking they're lying like hell, because my little girl 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:22.080 wasn't dead, and that's really all I can talk about that. 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:30.640 The anguish in Georgia Stidham's voice truly emphasizes how murder 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:36.200 violates the core foundation of what family represents. When the 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.360 victim is your child, your world is not only shattered 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:47.800 but everything from that moment on is different. Danis Stidham's 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:52.320 family had been in emotional purgatory for nearly two months, 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:58.360 not knowing, wondering and waiting. But then on September seventeenth, 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.480 nineteen eighty nine, the Benton County Sheriff's Office shows up 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:07.680 to deliver the worst news imaginable. As you heard Dana's mother, 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.839 Georgia Stidham explain, the mere memory of all that she'd 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.600 lost that day was still too difficult to talk about 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.920 in any detail some three decades later. 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.920 I also wanted to ask you about Lawrence. Tell me 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:25.080 about your husband. 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:31.919 Oh, he was so sick. He had rheumatoid arthritis, real bad, 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:37.600 and all the dregs had eating at his insides pretty much, 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:44.280 and he was just Dana was his everything. She went 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.560 to the stores for anything she thought he needed, she'd 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:49.359 go pick up. 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:49.880 And bring to. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:57.720 And they were home a lot together, Laurence's Dutch where 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:03.040 he couldn't work with the kids while I were so 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:07.120 this crushed them, then, yes it did. It was the 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.120 beginning of the air for him. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.200 Georgia believes Dana's murder contributed to the death of her husband, 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.440 who died in the years after Lawrence was only fifty 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:23.919 years old. Dana's cousin and best friend, Christy Smith, recalls 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:28.280 how harrowing those days leading up to finding Dana's body were. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.240 Well, this whole time we have been driving around, we 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:35.640 have been posting flyers. We went all over Missouri, the 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.960 bordering cities of Missouri, all over Fayville, everywhere we can 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.120 think of, at every store that would allow us, we 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:46.080 posted flyers and never got a response. In the back 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.880 of your mind, you know that if you haven't heard 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.360 something by now, then she is either no longer alive 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:57.120 or somebody has her and you don't know who it is. 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:04.320 And then in September we had actually driven by where 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.880 they found her body, going to a place to put 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:09.600 out some flyers, and I believe it was the next 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.680 day they found her remains. 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:18.359 For BCSO Detectives. As horrible as the situation was, the 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:23.560 discovery of Dana's body gave the investigation a much needed boost. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:27.880 They now had a crime scene to process. Justice for 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.599 Danis Stidham and her family could begin as the hunt 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:39.280 for her killer entered a brand new face. Previously on 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:41.359 Pay for Ghosts. 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.880 So I'll stopped there and Bill will Squahant and I 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.520 saw and a drag creek dead and saw scull and 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:48.559 some rib bone. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.320 And it became somewhat alarming when they found a dirty 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.200 magazine with some of van It's clothing. 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.680 So now you have a suspect that worked at. 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.520 The store with Anna, had an issue with email on 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:04.040 fullet text of harassment and also said have ativity for 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:05.000 thirty magazines. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.680 You know, hey, we've got three or four suspects, why 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:11.280 not add another fifth suspect. 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.160 My name is em William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.440 and author of more than forty true crime books. This 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.680 is season four of Paper Ghosts the Ozarks. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:42.919 All right, so here this is leading to beale road, woods, 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:48.919 dirt road. We'll definitely drive in a truck. 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:54.880 Investigators enter a crime scene hoping to collect fingerprints, footprints, 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:59.920 tire tracks, blood, and additional bodily fluids, along with hairs, fibers, 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.000 fire debris, a cigarette butt, or any other item that 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:09.520 might lead them to a killer. Back to the vehicle 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.360 rocker parked up here. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:14.919 Offee goes. 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.800 I have seen murdersov with the most obscure, smallest piece 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:24.000 of evidence lint from a blanket, sweat, DNA, unseen by 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:29.040 the naked eye, even a single cat hair. The crime 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.160 scene itself, where it is, what the terrain is like, 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.760 how it looks can say a lot about a killer. 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.919 Here's investigative journalists Brandon Howard. 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.599 I went there a few years ago. I was shocked 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.000 to see that it's super rural, still almost forgotten in time. 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.040 It's a place you go from a paved highway that 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:55.400 sees thousands of cars to dirt road really quickly uneven 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.440 deep into the woods opens it to a large clearing, 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.600 sort of circular base, a culta sac without any pavement. 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.800 Yet despite being so far off the beaten path, you 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.840 can see not far the liquor store just up the 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:09.160 road that's crossed the state line. 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:11.960 And then so you get out, you walk through the 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.560 woods and there's a creek bed there where she was found. 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:16.320 Right. Yeah. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.520 I had one detective mentioned that they thought it was 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.920 done hastily, and then they realized other items of hers romance. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.440 They went back and tossed those and left. But I 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.360 would think that you'd have to be somewhat strong or 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.239 able body to carry a person down into that area 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.200 of the woods and know about it. I don't think 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.400 that anyone just stumbled across that spot. 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:43.320 In June twenty twenty three, I made my way from 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.679 the Phillips grocery toward the crime scene where Dana's body 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.520 had been discovered, and what struck me first was how 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:55.040 remote it is. We're talking about a densely wooded section 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.080 of Bella Vista. To get there, you travel along these narrow, 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.920 winding roads, zigzagging through the northern part of the state, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.000 on the southern edge of the Ozarks. Houses are few 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.280 and far between. One would have to have prior knowledge 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.360 of this area, I imagine, to commit a murder here 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:17.400 and or dump a body. I was guided by GPS 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:21.760 and had the global satellite coordinates of the exact location 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:26.080 where Dana's remains were found, and still had trouble finding it. 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.680 The dry creek Betty's talking about, and she would have 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:34.079 been found about right here. I parked in what was 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.800 a dirt road cul de sac not yet developed into housing. 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.280 Walking down the steep embankment into a thickly forested valley, 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.679 the road where I had parked disappeared from my view. 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.160 Cover here is remarkable. 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:48.400 The hill in front of me. 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.680 She's screaming no one's hearing. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:58.120 Her standing where Dana's body had been found. The immense 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:02.400 sadness of this place had an overwhelming effect on me. 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.680 You're talking about an eighteen year old that just graduated 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.440 high school like two months prior. She's got her whole 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.640 life ahead of her, and all that gone in the 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.439 blink of an eye for mother, for her to have 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.719 to live with this, I can't even put myself in 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.760 her shoes. Un she's had to go through over the years. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:28.360 That was Bcso Lieutenant Hunter betray Georgia Stidham told Brandon 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:32.560 Howard in an article he published in twenty fifteen, quote 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.319 and her rest will never bring closure. I'll never get 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.200 her back, but I'd like to see her kill her caught, 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.400 so wouldn't feel like I just let my daughter die 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:48.280 and I walked away. Sadly, Georgia would not live to 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:53.559 experience justice. On October twenty sixth, twenty twenty three, she 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:55.920 passed away, seventy three years old. 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.160 You know, I talked to her and just kind of 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.439 revisited because I had not met her again. You know, 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.920 this was not my case to begin with, so I 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.199 had not met her and basically just went over to 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.480 her house and grabbed it and spoke to her for 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.079 about thirty minutes to an hour and just it's always man, 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.319 it's if he because you don't want her to have 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.160 to relive. Sure, bring all these things back up. 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.520 And so September comes, no Dana. 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.520 I think at that point in time, you're talking about 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:33.719 six to seven weeks since she disappeared and nothing. And 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.719 then all of a sudden there's a guy who was 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:40.200 squirrel hunting in an area clear on the other side 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.559 of town, basically on the east side of Bello Vista, 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.959 ran across some remains. Pretty much at that point in 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.439 time they had been skeletonized. So I don't want to 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.439 get to sound like it's a body remains, is I 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:54.040 think probably the proper term. 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.079 Many thought it was strange, if not suspicious, that the 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.079 hunter had waited a day before calling police about the 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:03.640 discovery of a body. 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:07.840 Again, it's unusual and it's weird because he doesn't report 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.800 it right away. He waits a day. He actually sees it, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.439 looks at it, leaves because he says he was in 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:18.480 a hurry, goes and talks to a friend, tells the friend, hey, 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.559 I found some human remains. Friend kind of didn't didn't 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.000 really believe him at first, but basically told him, hey, 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.280 you need to report that. So the next day he 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.600 does report it. The skull. 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.079 Let's talk about where this is. This is not a 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.760 place that you would put a body unless you knew. 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:42.120 Of the place, probably unless you were driving around, which 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.199 you would be really high risk driving around with a 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.760 body in your car looking for a place. So yeah, 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.839 probably you know the statistics and the odds are that 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:54.160 somebody you ever did this. One person two persons was 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.079 familiar with the area. Bella Vista has a lot of 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.559 cull to sacks, a lot of dead end roades, a 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.120 lot of them are undeveloped. 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:07.000 Hunter Petray then mentioned something quite interesting, if you recall 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.079 from a previous episode, I began to wonder about a 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.840 group of friends Dana hung around whom she hadn't discussed 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:18.440 much with her family. Georgia and even Christy knew most 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.000 of the people within Dana's circle, but. 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:22.000 Not all of them. 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:23.959 I don't know if you know this or not, but 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:28.079 prior to this, maybe a year or two prior, that 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:32.200 area was kind of a party spot for kids. There 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.600 was a shooting that took place there and a kid 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:39.439 died after that kind of everybody was afraid to associate 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.560 with that area. So there were people that were familiar 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:47.640 with that area as a party spot. So again things 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.120 start running through your mind. Are these people that same 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.319 age group as Dana that knew about this area? Again, unknown, 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.520 but that's a possibility, but yeah, it was a party 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.760 spot for a while. That could sack. 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:03.719 Did they try to find those people and interview. 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:03.920 Any of them. 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.600 They talked to some people that had been out there before, 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:08.760 but they said that they had not been out there, 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.679 you know, since that kid got killed out there with 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:13.280 the shooting. 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.720 As Dana's body was sent in for autopsy, investigators hoped 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:22.080 to learn something about her killer. They theorized she had 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.520 been out in the elements since the day after she 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:30.440 went missing, nearly eight weeks. Her body was skeletonized, torn apart, 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.160 and spread by animals over an area about the size 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:39.160 of a football field. One particular discovery by the corner 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.319 gave a possible explanation as to how Dana might have 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:44.000 been murdered. 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.040 When you have passage of time and its remains, that 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.720 also complicates autopsies because you don't have an intact body. 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:56.520 But they found there was a nick on the collarbone 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.800 that they felt like was from a knife. Now, whether 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.560 she was stabbed, you know, in the neck throat cut, 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.199 we don't know for sure because we can't tell, but 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:11.160 there was a nick in the collarbone that suggested that 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:12.920 it was some type of knife attack. 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:14.960 So that would beat the inside part of the. 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.480 Collars correct, yeah, close to the neck the throat area basically. 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.080 So they did note that and noted that that was 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.440 anti mortem, which would have been prior to death. They 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:29.080 rolled it a homicide. There was also some things that 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.640 suggested that this was possibly a sexual assault, like what 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.640 the braw the over the shoulder straps were cut with 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.240 some type of sharp instrument down near where they connect 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.040 with the backstrap. It appears that the braw had been 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:46.240 cut with a sharp instrument. 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.880 Several facts discovered during the autopsy become important for one. 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:58.080 Dana's clothing white shorts, white shoes, bra white T shirt 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.280 were all found in a hole about one foot deep 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.720 ten or more yards away from where her skull was 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:10.640 recovered in the creek bed. Her underwear, however, was found 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.360 close to her skull. The corner noted quote based upon 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.680 the presence of a sharply cut inner aspect of the 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.840 left clavicle. There was a violent injury through a cut 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:27.240 throat or a stab wound to the area. Two rings, 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:30.840 later identified as Dana's were found near her buried clothes. 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.440 Hares believed to be pulled out of her head were 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:38.080 also recovered, a lock of which showed heavy damage to 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:43.080 the roots from all the decomposition. It was also reported 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.440 that the right and left sleeves of Danish shirt had 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.480 been severed at the armpits, jagged cuts as if made 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.440 crudely with the knife. On the upper left front thigh 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:58.120 area of her shorts. The crime lab found a piece 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:02.840 of duct tape. Was there any bindings or anything like 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:03.440 that found? 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:09.920 Yeah, there was some twine O orangish red twine that 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.280 was there. There was also some found up at the 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.680 cull to sag. They sent a lot of that down. Now, 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.880 there were some knots in it, but the lab could 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:24.520 not determine or specify that any of those knots were 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:28.000 used for any type of ligature or binding of Dana. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:33.520 The amount of bindings seemed significant. One section was nineteen 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.480 inches long with a two inch diameter or loop tied 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.400 in a double strand overhand knot. Forty three and a 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:44.040 half inches of baling twine was recovered directly next to 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:48.280 her body and divided into two pieces, tied together with 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.720 a clove hitch slip knot with a binding knot at 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:57.120 the end. That type of knot is indicative of binding 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:04.280 one thing to another and clearly intentional. Still, were the 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.160 bindings connected to Dana's murder. 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.840 That was never conclusively determined that any of that twine 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.000 had been used to tie her up or bind her 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.679 or anything of that nature. But it's interesting, and again, 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.240 you know, it's complicated because that area was a party spot. 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.719 There were people that drove by there and dumped things. 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.520 You know, is this twine involved in this or is 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:27.400 it just unknown? 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.960 Up on bea lane along the embankment of the cul 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.400 de Sac leading down toward where Dana was found, ten 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.720 additional feat of bailing twine, divided into six pieces and 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:45.520 enjoined by intricate different types of knots, were located. The 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.960 crime lab concluded that quote none of the cuts or 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.360 knotted regions indicated that these twines had clearly been used 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:58.399 in ligaturing, restraining, or binding a person. A statement, I 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.680 kind of have a problem with because there is no 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:06.479 definitive way to answer that question by studying the twine alone. 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:12.639 After all, an inability to prove something doesn't automatically disprove it. 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:18.920 DNA testing was possible, but also unreliable since the material 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.040 had been out in the elements for so long. Near 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.240 the same time, the lab came back with another find. 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.800 They'd located a single Caucasian strand of hair three point 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.760 three inches long with the roots still attached inside a 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:42.720 cup and Dana's car, a potentially significant discovery because they 0:18:42.800 --> 0:19:02.680 knew immediately that one hair was not Dana's. After the 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:08.160 discovery of her remains, Dana Stidham's murder dominated local news reports. 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.840 Benton County was eager to put a face on evil. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.280 You take away someone's sense of safety. Fear seeps in, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.520 fear breeds accusation, reaction. 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:26.840 And a rush to judgment. That's just human nature. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.000 In order for me to get a clear picture of 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.520 what could have possibly led up to Dana's murder, it 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:38.040 was important to look at the dynamics of Dana's life 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:44.639 from different perspectives. Here's Dana's mother again, Georgia, Can you 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:45.879 just talk to me? 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.320 A little bit about Dana as a child growing up? 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:50.840 What kind of child she was? 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:55.960 She was a laugh a minute. She was the happiest 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:01.200 kid you've ever met. She was always being sol and snickering, 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:04.200 and she had a slap and all the time. 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:07.399 What did she talk about as a young kid that 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:08.480 she wanted to do? 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:11.800 You know, boy boys boys boys. 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:15.600 And when she was younger, what was she like? 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:16.720 What did she like to do? 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:21.200 She was into all kinds of stuff. She painted, and 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:26.159 she did ceramics, and she did all kinds of stuff. 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:28.399 She was really talented. 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:32.840 And how was her relationship with mom and dad over 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:33.320 the years. 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:34.840 It was good. 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:36.719 She had a lot of friends. 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.240 Yes, she wanted everybody to be her friend. 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.880 Three days after Dana's body was found, the BCSO brought 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.320 in a classmate whose name was given to them by 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.960 several of Dana's friends. I'll call him Stand for the 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.960 purposes of the podcast. He was never named as a suspect, 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:01.600 but he did provide some rather compelling information. He referred 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.600 to himself as Dana's best friend, but made it clear 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.800 he'd never had a sexual relationship with her. He had 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:13.719 seen her the weekend before she disappeared. During Stan's interview, 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:17.320 detective Mike Sidoriac asked about Dana lending a friend a 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.240 pair of boots, which she had wanted back on the 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:27.760 day she disappeared. Stan corroborated this information. Zidoriac asked Stan 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:31.680 if he would have pulled up behind Dana as she drove, 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:37.920 would she have stopped? Stan said yes, So you have 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:42.360 the body, the bodies released, the body is buried. 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:43.920 What happens next? 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:47.200 So you know, the big thing back then was that, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:49.399 you know, they took people when they interviewed them. They 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.840 polygraphed him, they took their fingerprints, hoping that something would 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.520 come back off the chip bag or her clothing that 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.800 was sent down Layton's hair follicles, you know, something to 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.480 try to tie somebody as far as physical evidence to 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:06.600 the homicide and the abduction. 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:08.440 Or murder, and nothing came back. 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:09.640 Nothing came back. 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:09.960 Really. 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:13.960 Detectives Mike Sadoriak and Danny Varner had been up the 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.800 ass of a local kid, Mike McMillan since almost the 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:23.120 day Dana went missing. Several people I spoke to, including police, 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:28.720 said Mike was an easy target. Mike, however, didn't help 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:30.960 his own cause well. 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:35.120 He was interviewed He was given several polygraphs, but initially 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:39.360 he was confronted a couple of days after her disappearance. 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:44.480 He could not give well. He tried, but it was 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:46.159 kind of blown out of the water. He tried to 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:50.680 give an alibi that he was visiting a girl down 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.080 in Farmington, which is down by Fayetteville, you know, thirty 0:22:54.119 --> 0:22:57.200 miles away or whatever, but she basically said, I don't 0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:59.800 remember that, you know, I don't think that I was 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.920 with you. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie for you. 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:05.760 I'm not gonna come up with some story for you. 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:11.440 If I'm a BCSO detective, I'm wondering why in the 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:13.520 hell lie about where you were? 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:15.600 Then this? 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:20.359 You know, he was seen that night and I'm talking 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:23.320 about that night. I'm talking about the twenty fifth into 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.160 the early morning of the twenty sixth. He was seen 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.680 around three o'clock that next morning, and I want to 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:34.360 say it was at the Bentonville Mercantile. Somebody had seen 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.480 him there, and he just didn't really have a good 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:42.159 alibi other than just driving around. His mother said that 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:46.160 he had left home earlier that day on the twenty fifth, 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:50.400 and did not come back until you know, way later 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:54.119 the next morning. So I don't know about you, but 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:57.760 I know, like, like I probably can't tell you what 0:23:57.800 --> 0:23:59.840 I had for lunch yesterday, but I can tell you 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:02.920 I went if I thought about it. And you know, 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:05.000 just two days later to not be able to come 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:09.120 up with any valid alibi of where you were at 0:24:10.480 --> 0:24:12.680 other than something you come up with which was blown 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:13.280 out of the water. 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:17.639 And what's the connection to Dana with Mike McMillan schoolmates? 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:20.080 He was in a line of schoolmates that were questioned. 0:24:20.440 --> 0:24:24.159 Yeah, and he was also really good friends with well, 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:26.359 I say really good friends. They kind of lived together. 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:30.000 I think I bleeped out his name. But Hunter Portray 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:34.720 is referring to Dana's ex boyfriend, so he starts looking suspicious. 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.840 Well, from people that were taught to he was somewhat 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:42.840 infatuated with her and had tried to make advances on her, 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:46.159 and she had rejected him because she was seeing some 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.879 other people at the time and basically didn't want anything 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:52.359 to do with him. You know, there's some people that 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:55.959 said that, you know, he was kind of infatuated with her, 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:57.800 wanted to go out with her, and she just kept 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:00.960 rejecting him, and he would get upset about. So there's 0:25:00.960 --> 0:25:01.680 a motive there. 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:06.479 Yeah, could be strong person of interest for sure, right, 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:08.240 as were others. 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:10.760 As were others. Yeah, at this time. You know, again, 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:14.440 there's no physical evidence, there's no witnesses to tie. But 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:17.960 there's a lady that saw him driving, supposedly and saw 0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:21.200 a brunette girl in the truck with him. Now we 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:25.439