WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Dana Stidham Part 1 0:00:08.285 --> 0:00:13.605 School of Humans. 0:00:14.205 --> 0:00:17.765 On July twenty fifth, nineteen eighty nine, eighteen year old 0:00:17.805 --> 0:00:22.325 Dana's Didham had just graduated from high school in grave At, Arkansas. 0:00:22.565 --> 0:00:26.165 She had her whole life in front of her. Dana 0:00:26.285 --> 0:00:28.125 had moved out on her own for the first time. 0:00:28.565 --> 0:00:31.485 She was living in Centerton with her older brother, Larry 0:00:31.645 --> 0:00:34.805 and a cousin. She was starting her life. She was 0:00:34.845 --> 0:00:38.205 excited about the future. But on that day she had 0:00:38.205 --> 0:00:41.045 to do some laundry, and like a lot of teens 0:00:41.045 --> 0:00:43.685 that age who have just left home, she was a 0:00:43.685 --> 0:00:46.725 little homesick. She wanted to spend some time with her dad. 0:00:47.645 --> 0:00:52.125 Her parents, Lawrence and Georgis Didham, lived in Highwasee, an 0:00:52.245 --> 0:00:55.325 unincorporated area in Benton County. That was about a ten 0:00:55.365 --> 0:00:58.005 to fifteen minute drive to where Dana lived in Centerton, 0:00:59.165 --> 0:01:02.165 so Dana drove home. She started to do her big 0:01:02.205 --> 0:01:06.005 pile of laundry with her dad, and then her dad 0:01:06.085 --> 0:01:08.645 said he was not feeling well. He asked Dana to 0:01:08.725 --> 0:01:11.885 run some errands for him, and she said yes. Dana 0:01:12.085 --> 0:01:15.125 was planning on coming right back. She had clothes in 0:01:15.165 --> 0:01:17.245 the wash cycle and her dad said he would put 0:01:17.245 --> 0:01:19.045 them in the dryer if she wasn't back by the 0:01:19.045 --> 0:01:22.765 time they finished. There has been a lot of publicity 0:01:22.805 --> 0:01:26.485 about this case, but no real answers. We're going to 0:01:26.565 --> 0:01:29.525 try to relive the last day of Dana Sidham's life 0:01:29.565 --> 0:01:31.685 and see if there's anything that was missed that can 0:01:31.725 --> 0:01:34.565 help us get closer to finding out what happened to 0:01:34.605 --> 0:01:39.965 her anne who killed her. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the 0:01:40.005 --> 0:01:43.605 past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, 0:01:43.725 --> 0:01:45.845 I've learned that there is no such thing as a 0:01:45.845 --> 0:01:49.725 small town where murder never happens. I have received hundreds 0:01:49.725 --> 0:01:52.685 of messages from people all around the country asking for 0:01:52.725 --> 0:01:55.845 help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, 0:01:56.165 --> 0:01:57.085 and their communities. 0:01:57.845 --> 0:01:59.525 If you have a case you'd like me and my 0:01:59.565 --> 0:01:59.965 team to. 0:01:59.925 --> 0:02:02.285 Look into, you can reach out to us at our 0:02:02.325 --> 0:02:05.085 Hell and Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven 0:02:05.165 --> 0:02:08.445 four four six one four five. That's six seven eight 0:02:08.805 --> 0:02:13.085 seven four four six one four five. This is Helen 0:02:13.165 --> 0:03:07.405 Gone Murder Line. Dana Stidham was just supposed to run 0:03:07.405 --> 0:03:09.845 out of the house for a few minutes, but hours 0:03:09.885 --> 0:03:13.165 went by and Dana never came home. So her worried 0:03:13.245 --> 0:03:16.165 parents called her older brother Larry, and after he got 0:03:16.165 --> 0:03:18.365 off work, he started looking for Dana. 0:03:19.005 --> 0:03:19.965 The whole family did. 0:03:20.005 --> 0:03:23.965 Actually, they were driving down Highway seventy one, the highway 0:03:24.005 --> 0:03:25.565 that cut through the middle of Bella. 0:03:25.405 --> 0:03:27.285 Vista, trying to find her. 0:03:28.005 --> 0:03:31.165 They thought maybe her car broke down somewhere, but there 0:03:31.245 --> 0:03:34.605 was no sign of Dana Sidham. Her brother Larry was 0:03:34.645 --> 0:03:37.045 the one who called the police at nine thirty pm 0:03:37.085 --> 0:03:40.885 to officially report her missing. Officers put out a bolo 0:03:41.005 --> 0:03:43.245 a bee on the lookout for Dana with a. 0:03:43.205 --> 0:03:43.965 Description of her. 0:03:44.405 --> 0:03:47.725 She was petitue, five foot two and weigh just over 0:03:47.765 --> 0:03:51.365 one hundred pounds, with short brown hair. She was wearing 0:03:51.445 --> 0:03:54.165 white shorts, a white top with red lettering and red 0:03:54.205 --> 0:03:58.205 sox with white tennis shoes. Police retraced her steps and 0:03:58.245 --> 0:04:00.645 they found out Dana had made it to the store. 0:04:01.245 --> 0:04:03.725 She went to the Phillips food store in Bella Vista, 0:04:04.285 --> 0:04:06.445 and she knew a lot of people at that store. 0:04:06.485 --> 0:04:09.005 She actually worked at the Phillips food store in high school, 0:04:09.805 --> 0:04:12.645 so she talked to several people and all of them 0:04:12.685 --> 0:04:14.645 remembered seeing her when she came to pick up those 0:04:14.685 --> 0:04:18.245 items that day for her dad. Dana bought Alka Seltzer 0:04:18.525 --> 0:04:22.805 dishwashing soap and sugar. According to the cashier's receipt, she 0:04:22.925 --> 0:04:28.045 checked out of the store at three seventeen PM. Detectives 0:04:28.085 --> 0:04:30.765 said the last time Dana was seen alive that they 0:04:30.765 --> 0:04:33.445 were aware of was when she was leaving the Phillips 0:04:33.485 --> 0:04:38.645 Food Center parking lot. According to multiple media reports, Dana 0:04:38.685 --> 0:04:41.165 was seen talking to an older man in that parking lot. 0:04:41.805 --> 0:04:45.525 The man's identity was never confirmed by police, and there 0:04:45.565 --> 0:04:49.085 was a landscaper who worked nearby. He told police he 0:04:49.205 --> 0:04:52.045 saw Dana drive out of that parking lot, but he 0:04:52.085 --> 0:04:54.285 said he could not remember which way she had turned. 0:04:55.285 --> 0:04:59.005 Over the next few days, volunteers and searchers were looking 0:04:59.045 --> 0:05:02.205 for Dana. The disappearance was all over the news, so 0:05:02.365 --> 0:05:07.245 naturally a lot of tips started flooding in the next morning, 0:05:07.605 --> 0:05:11.205 July twenty sixth, At around six thirty am, a sergeant 0:05:11.245 --> 0:05:14.205 with the Benton County Sheriff's Department named Karen Myers was 0:05:14.285 --> 0:05:18.045 driving south on US Highway seventy one. She was on 0:05:18.045 --> 0:05:20.605 her way to work near Wellington Road when she saw 0:05:20.645 --> 0:05:23.165 a car on the shoulder of the road. The vehicle 0:05:23.245 --> 0:05:26.765 was parked on the southbound side. She didn't think anything 0:05:26.805 --> 0:05:30.045 of it until she got to work and the officers 0:05:30.085 --> 0:05:32.485 were being briefed on the missing woman, Dana Siddam. 0:05:33.165 --> 0:05:34.565 Then she remembered the car. 0:05:35.125 --> 0:05:37.805 When she went back, the car was still there and 0:05:37.845 --> 0:05:40.925 it was confirmed that was Dana Siddam's nineteen eighty four 0:05:41.085 --> 0:05:44.125 gray Dodge Omni. It was just a little bit down 0:05:44.125 --> 0:05:46.565 the road from where her last stop was the Phillips 0:05:46.565 --> 0:05:49.805 Food Store and about four miles from her parents' home. 0:05:54.365 --> 0:05:56.485 So this is what we know about the state of 0:05:56.525 --> 0:05:57.045 her vehicle. 0:05:57.845 --> 0:06:00.445 The keys were still in the ignition, the driver's side 0:06:00.485 --> 0:06:03.725 window was halfway down, and the left rear tire was flat, 0:06:04.325 --> 0:06:07.445 but according to lawn enforcement, it wasn't totally flat. 0:06:07.485 --> 0:06:10.965 The car was still drivable. Besides the tire. 0:06:11.165 --> 0:06:14.285 There was nothing seriously wrong with the car, no breakdown, 0:06:14.565 --> 0:06:18.165 no obvious sign of a struggle, no blood. But there 0:06:18.165 --> 0:06:21.845 were some items missing. Dana carried a big denim purse 0:06:22.125 --> 0:06:25.685 and it was gone, and weirdly, her groceries, the ones 0:06:25.725 --> 0:06:27.765 she just bought at Phillips Foodstore were missing. 0:06:27.845 --> 0:06:28.125 Also. 0:06:29.125 --> 0:06:33.085 That was my first question, actually, where were her groceries? 0:06:33.125 --> 0:06:34.725 What happened to them? 0:06:34.965 --> 0:06:38.205 The driver's seat had also been adjusted as if a 0:06:38.285 --> 0:06:42.445 much taller person had been driving. This made police believe 0:06:42.845 --> 0:06:45.845 that someone else besides Dana had driven the car to 0:06:45.885 --> 0:06:49.085 that location. So the working theory was that the car 0:06:49.125 --> 0:06:52.045 had been moved because in addition to that pushback seat, 0:06:52.525 --> 0:06:54.485 there was the fact that the car was parked along 0:06:54.525 --> 0:06:57.605 the main highway. Now her family and friends had been 0:06:57.725 --> 0:07:00.965 driving that road all night. They felt like someone would 0:07:01.005 --> 0:07:03.165 have spotted her vehicle if it had been sitting there 0:07:03.165 --> 0:07:07.045 the whole time. Police began to believe someone moved that 0:07:07.165 --> 0:07:10.845 car there in the middle of the night. Last week 0:07:11.005 --> 0:07:14.765 we dove into Amanda Tussing's case. We pointed out that 0:07:14.845 --> 0:07:18.645 Amanda and Dana's situations did have some similarities, at least 0:07:18.645 --> 0:07:21.325 on the surface. Both were petite women with short, dark hair. 0:07:21.925 --> 0:07:25.525 Both crimes happened in the same general area, and in 0:07:25.565 --> 0:07:28.685 both cases, cars were found abandoned on the side of 0:07:28.685 --> 0:07:31.085 the road, with the keys in the ignition and no 0:07:31.165 --> 0:07:34.205 signs of a struggle. But as we also said last week, 0:07:34.245 --> 0:07:37.565 there are a lot of differences. The main difference for 0:07:37.725 --> 0:07:40.965 me is the time of day. Amanda Tussing disappeared late 0:07:40.965 --> 0:07:43.925 at night. Dana Sidham vanished in the middle of the 0:07:44.005 --> 0:07:47.565 day in broad daylight. As many of you know, this 0:07:47.725 --> 0:07:50.485 case has received a lot of publicity. I've seen it 0:07:50.525 --> 0:07:53.685 covered in various podcasts on news channels over the years, 0:07:54.125 --> 0:07:56.725 but every time I see it covered, I kind of 0:07:56.765 --> 0:07:59.805 hear a variation of the same story that there was 0:07:59.885 --> 0:08:04.045 a suspect, someone who police believed had something to do 0:08:04.125 --> 0:08:07.845 with Dana's disappearance. We briefly touched on this last week. 0:08:08.325 --> 0:08:10.645 We said there was a guy who Dana knew from 0:08:10.685 --> 0:08:13.925 high school. This person apparently had some feelings for Dana, 0:08:14.325 --> 0:08:16.165 maybe an unrequited crush on her. 0:08:16.965 --> 0:08:18.005 And every time I. 0:08:17.965 --> 0:08:20.285 Read a news story, I see a mention of this person, 0:08:20.325 --> 0:08:22.965 but then there's no follow up. So what we're going 0:08:23.005 --> 0:08:25.005 to do this week is go through everything we think 0:08:25.045 --> 0:08:27.085 we know about the case. We're going to start at 0:08:27.125 --> 0:08:30.645 the beginning, go through the timeline, and really explore to 0:08:30.685 --> 0:08:33.765 see if there are any other suspects who might have 0:08:33.845 --> 0:08:39.165 been missed. I wonder, could someone have pulled Dana over 0:08:39.845 --> 0:08:42.605 or signaled for her to pull over and then pulled 0:08:42.645 --> 0:08:45.405 up behind her using that flat tire as a ruse, 0:08:46.125 --> 0:08:48.765 or maybe she felt the tire going flat on her own, 0:08:49.085 --> 0:08:52.125 pulled over herself, and then someone pretending to be a 0:08:52.165 --> 0:08:56.205 good Samaritan took advantage of the situation. These are all 0:08:56.285 --> 0:09:00.205 situations that Dana's family and friends considered over that summer. 0:08:59.925 --> 0:09:00.925 After she disappeared. 0:09:02.005 --> 0:09:04.605 There were also, as there are with many cases and 0:09:04.645 --> 0:09:07.245 a lot of publicity, a lot of random people people 0:09:07.285 --> 0:09:10.685 coming forward to say they saw Dana. Some people said 0:09:10.685 --> 0:09:13.085 they had seen her partying on the night she went missing. 0:09:14.205 --> 0:09:17.525 Then other evidence started showing up. A few days after 0:09:17.605 --> 0:09:20.365 Dane went missing, her brother Larry, found some of her 0:09:20.365 --> 0:09:23.445 clothes on Ealing Circle, near the area where her car 0:09:23.485 --> 0:09:24.045 had been found. 0:09:24.845 --> 0:09:26.165 Then on August. 0:09:25.765 --> 0:09:29.725 Fifth, nineteen eighty nine, someone contacted law enforcement to report 0:09:29.765 --> 0:09:33.565 that they had found some other items. According to Ay magazine, 0:09:33.805 --> 0:09:38.005 those items included Dana's checks, her wallet, her driver's license, 0:09:38.525 --> 0:09:41.165 and they were kind of thrown out along the road, 0:09:41.805 --> 0:09:44.525 almost like someone had thrown them out of a moving car. 0:09:45.565 --> 0:09:49.805 There was also a pornographic magazine found nearby, though investigators 0:09:49.845 --> 0:09:52.565 seemed kind of divided about that, whether it was left 0:09:52.605 --> 0:09:54.885 by the person who assaulted Dana or if it was 0:09:54.925 --> 0:09:59.125 just random trash and it was a coincidence. A couple 0:09:59.205 --> 0:10:02.405 of days after that, someone's pet dog showed up at 0:10:02.405 --> 0:10:04.525 the house, and when its owner looked at what it 0:10:04.525 --> 0:10:08.245 had brought back home. It had Dana Didham's wallet in 0:10:08.285 --> 0:10:12.285 its mouth. This seemed to be the moment when the 0:10:12.325 --> 0:10:15.765 case turned around, because before that it seemed as though 0:10:15.845 --> 0:10:18.685 law enforcement had considered the possibility she might have gone 0:10:18.725 --> 0:10:21.085 missing on her own. But after that dog showed up 0:10:21.085 --> 0:10:23.725 with that wallet, the sheriff at the time, Andy Lee, 0:10:23.845 --> 0:10:27.125 made a comment. He said, quote, we know when she 0:10:27.285 --> 0:10:30.005 left the car, she took her purse with her, but 0:10:30.085 --> 0:10:32.845 we don't believe she would be throwing personal items out 0:10:33.245 --> 0:10:36.805 end quote. So the rest of the summer passes, Dana's 0:10:36.805 --> 0:10:39.605 family and friends are no closer to getting answers. The 0:10:39.645 --> 0:10:43.565 two lead detectives at the time, Mike Sediak and Danny Varner, 0:10:44.005 --> 0:10:47.165 worked tirelessly on this case. They've talked about it at 0:10:47.205 --> 0:10:50.245 various times over the years and when they've made comments 0:10:50.285 --> 0:10:53.125 to media. To me, it is obvious they cannot stop 0:10:53.165 --> 0:10:55.965 thinking about this case, and they were frustrated by the 0:10:56.045 --> 0:11:01.445 dead ends that they seemed to keep encountering. On September sixteenth, 0:11:01.565 --> 0:11:04.685 nineteen eighty nine, a squirrel hunter named Wayne T. Grantham 0:11:05.045 --> 0:11:07.645 was out in a remote area on the east side 0:11:07.685 --> 0:11:10.525 of Bella Vista. He was in a dry creek bed 0:11:10.605 --> 0:11:18.805 near the Missouri Arkansas border. He saw a skull. On 0:11:18.845 --> 0:11:22.445 September sixteenth, nineteen eighty nine, almost two months after Dane 0:11:22.445 --> 0:11:25.805 has Stidham disappeared, a hunter named Wayne T. Grantham saw 0:11:25.845 --> 0:11:27.445 a skull while he was out in the woods in 0:11:27.485 --> 0:11:32.005 Bellavista County. This brings us to another really strange point 0:11:32.005 --> 0:11:35.645 in this case. Not necessarily suspicious, but it's something that 0:11:35.765 --> 0:11:38.085 should be delved into, in my opinion, a little bit. 0:11:38.685 --> 0:11:41.085 According to the missing Persons report, which we have a 0:11:41.125 --> 0:11:44.765 copy of from the Arkansas State Police, the hunter apparently 0:11:44.845 --> 0:11:49.685 waited an entire day before reporting what he found. After 0:11:49.725 --> 0:11:53.045 he saw a skeleton, he went on and continued his hunt. 0:11:53.725 --> 0:11:56.885 Then the next morning, on September seventeenth, nineteen eighty nine, 0:11:57.005 --> 0:12:00.645 Wayne Grantham contacted the Benton County Sheriff's office and told 0:12:00.725 --> 0:12:01.885 him about the remains. 0:12:02.445 --> 0:12:04.285 According to that missing. 0:12:04.125 --> 0:12:08.045 Persons report, he said he waited because he basically did 0:12:08.085 --> 0:12:10.845 not want to ruin or interrupt his day hunting. At 0:12:10.845 --> 0:12:13.605 the time, he made some kind of comment about the 0:12:13.605 --> 0:12:17.965 fact that the skeleton wasn't going to go anywhere that day. 0:12:18.005 --> 0:12:21.125 This sounds pretty insensitive, and it kind of is, but 0:12:21.285 --> 0:12:24.245 to be fair, he did later tell police that he 0:12:24.325 --> 0:12:27.085 kind of regretted that decision. He said he should have 0:12:27.085 --> 0:12:33.325 called the police immediately. Police recovered the remains, They sent 0:12:33.365 --> 0:12:36.845 them to the medical examiner's office, and they identified them 0:12:36.885 --> 0:12:43.685 as Dana's. The remains were very decomposed, mostly skeletal, so 0:12:43.965 --> 0:12:47.245 at the time authorities could not determine if Dana had 0:12:47.245 --> 0:12:48.245 been sexually assaulted. 0:12:49.325 --> 0:12:50.885 This was a tough crime scene. 0:12:51.085 --> 0:12:54.165 The remains were spread out over a pretty big area, 0:12:54.205 --> 0:12:59.205 according to news reports, over fifty feet, but they were 0:12:59.325 --> 0:13:03.845 able to find some signs of Dana's assault. There was 0:13:03.925 --> 0:13:07.445 evidence of a nick, probably made by a knife, on 0:13:07.485 --> 0:13:11.005 her collarbone area on the left side. Authorities also found 0:13:11.005 --> 0:13:15.125 something else. They found baling twine. Several feet of twine 0:13:15.125 --> 0:13:18.365 that was tied up in knots. Duct tape was also 0:13:18.485 --> 0:13:21.885 found on her clothes. They were buried nearby. One of 0:13:21.925 --> 0:13:25.565 her braw stripes had been cut, which again made police 0:13:25.565 --> 0:13:29.005 think the killer had used a knife. There were also 0:13:29.165 --> 0:13:32.605 a few locks of Dana's hair found, and even though 0:13:32.685 --> 0:13:35.645 investigators had found Dana's wallet with her id in those 0:13:35.685 --> 0:13:39.405 closed by the roadside, they never found some things, including 0:13:39.445 --> 0:13:41.365 that denim purse she had had with her on the 0:13:41.445 --> 0:13:44.245 day she went missing, and the groceries she got for 0:13:44.285 --> 0:13:48.325 her dad. Something else was missing from the body. Dana 0:13:48.325 --> 0:13:51.125 always wore a ring, one that her grandmother had given her. 0:13:51.725 --> 0:13:54.245 She had been wearing it when she left home, but 0:13:54.325 --> 0:13:58.845 it wasn't on her body. On September twenty first, nineteen 0:13:58.885 --> 0:14:01.885 eighty nine, the medical examiner announced that the manner of 0:14:01.925 --> 0:14:04.565 death was homicide, but the cause. 0:14:04.325 --> 0:14:08.565 Of death was under turned at the time. 0:14:08.725 --> 0:14:12.285 Sergeant Varner, one of the detectives on the case, said, quote, 0:14:12.765 --> 0:14:16.525 robbery wasn't the motive. Everything points to a sex crime 0:14:16.885 --> 0:14:20.885 end quote. But police didn't have much to go on. 0:14:21.685 --> 0:14:24.925 They couldn't determine time of death. They couldn't figure out 0:14:24.965 --> 0:14:27.125 if Dana's killer had killed her on the day she 0:14:27.165 --> 0:14:29.685 went missing, or if they had had her somewhere else 0:14:29.725 --> 0:14:32.205 before that. They didn't know if the body had been 0:14:32.245 --> 0:14:35.725 moved now. Early on, there were rumors that the area 0:14:35.765 --> 0:14:39.645 where Dana's body was buried was near a notorious party spot, 0:14:39.965 --> 0:14:42.805 or that she may have been involved with some drug dealers, 0:14:43.325 --> 0:14:46.845 but these rumors were not backed up by any evidence, 0:14:46.885 --> 0:14:51.045 and honestly, those type of rumors about drug dealing, the 0:14:51.045 --> 0:14:53.085 fact that the party spot was on this dead end 0:14:53.165 --> 0:14:56.285 road kind of gave me deja vus and made me 0:14:56.325 --> 0:15:00.485 think about Rebecca Gould's case and in Dana Siddam's case, 0:15:01.085 --> 0:15:06.605 the rumors seemed equally far fetched. It was another theory 0:15:06.605 --> 0:15:11.045 that made more sense. Police wondered, could someone have punctured 0:15:11.085 --> 0:15:13.925 her tire on purpose, maybe while she was talking to 0:15:13.965 --> 0:15:17.645 her former co workers the Phillips food store. Then maybe 0:15:17.645 --> 0:15:20.445 that person followed her out of that parking lot because 0:15:20.445 --> 0:15:24.765 they knew that her tire would run flat. Some people 0:15:24.805 --> 0:15:28.725 believed someone impersonating a police officer or an actual police 0:15:28.725 --> 0:15:33.165 officer could have signaled for Danna to pull over. We'll 0:15:33.165 --> 0:15:35.445 get back to that in a minute. Back to Dana's 0:15:35.485 --> 0:15:38.565 route that day. So it turns out that Dana had 0:15:38.605 --> 0:15:42.125 a reason for avoiding a convenience store that was much 0:15:42.205 --> 0:15:46.445 nearer her parents' house, the Dairy Freeze, because a guy 0:15:46.565 --> 0:15:48.805 she went to high school with, one who apparently had 0:15:48.845 --> 0:15:50.805 a crush on her, the one we were talking about before, 0:15:51.605 --> 0:15:55.605 His parents owned that business. So Dana's parents told police 0:15:55.645 --> 0:16:00.165 that Dana avoided that store she wanted to avoid that guy. 0:16:00.285 --> 0:16:03.885 This guy's name is Mike McMillan. This is public information, 0:16:04.005 --> 0:16:06.085 by the way, It's part of the case case file 0:16:06.245 --> 0:16:08.565 and included in the paperwork that we got from the 0:16:08.565 --> 0:16:13.845 Benton County Sheriff's Department after we filed foyer request. Mike 0:16:13.965 --> 0:16:15.965 was a friend of Dana's. They knew each other from 0:16:16.005 --> 0:16:20.045 high school, and again, her family said he always liked her, 0:16:20.405 --> 0:16:22.925 but that the feelings were just not reciprocated. She was 0:16:22.965 --> 0:16:28.005 not interested. From the beginning, police were apparently suspicious of Mike. 0:16:28.565 --> 0:16:31.125 The police asked him if he had an alibi. He 0:16:31.325 --> 0:16:33.725 said that at the time of Dania's disappearance, he was 0:16:33.805 --> 0:16:37.845 visiting a girlfriend, but the girlfriend apparently said he wasn't, 0:16:38.445 --> 0:16:41.525 and then he mentioned another girl's house he supposedly went to. 0:16:42.245 --> 0:16:44.405 This is pretty vague and we haven't seen the whole 0:16:44.405 --> 0:16:46.805 case file with his interviews in it, but the bottom 0:16:46.845 --> 0:16:50.605 line is Mike was out and driving around and police 0:16:50.725 --> 0:16:55.085 were not able to verify his alibi. Detectives polygraphed him 0:16:55.325 --> 0:16:58.405 and he passed. But then it came out in the 0:16:58.405 --> 0:17:01.645 media that there was this weird quote he was quoted 0:17:01.765 --> 0:17:05.005 as saying during one of his interviews with police. Quote 0:17:05.245 --> 0:17:07.845 some times I think I did kill Dana, but I 0:17:07.925 --> 0:17:08.525 know I didn't. 0:17:08.765 --> 0:17:11.925 End quote. This was according to a local. 0:17:11.645 --> 0:17:16.805 Newspaper, Tulsa World, So, Mike's behavior was a little bit 0:17:16.805 --> 0:17:19.245 out of the ordinary. He was in the military and 0:17:19.285 --> 0:17:21.805 he went to San Diego to start his service. He 0:17:21.885 --> 0:17:24.965 ended up missing Dana's funeral and he appeared to be 0:17:25.165 --> 0:17:29.485 very distraught. Apparently, after that, Mike showed back up in 0:17:29.565 --> 0:17:32.845 town and he started visiting Dana's grave at night. 0:17:34.045 --> 0:17:35.685 Then he stole something. 0:17:37.165 --> 0:17:41.325 So on Dana's grave before they put down a headstone, 0:17:41.725 --> 0:17:45.685 you have the temporary grave marker, and that's what Mike stole. 0:17:45.805 --> 0:17:47.165 He stole the grave marker. 0:17:48.365 --> 0:17:51.085 Mike's lawyer said that his weird behavior could be chalked 0:17:51.165 --> 0:17:54.045 up to the fact that he was grieving. Mike's lawyer 0:17:54.085 --> 0:17:57.245 told NBC News quote, it was a temporary marker, a 0:17:57.285 --> 0:18:00.165 plastic marker. The news reports make it sound as though 0:18:00.165 --> 0:18:02.725 it was a gravestone. You see, my client was in 0:18:02.765 --> 0:18:04.965 the Navy at the time and miss the funeral. He 0:18:05.005 --> 0:18:08.005 came back feeling sorrowful and went to the grave. He 0:18:08.045 --> 0:18:09.845 wanted something to remember her by. 0:18:10.245 --> 0:18:10.725 End quote. 0:18:12.205 --> 0:18:15.325 Police arrested Mike and charged him with misdemeanor theft for 0:18:15.365 --> 0:18:18.885 stealing that grave marker. This gave them another chance to 0:18:18.965 --> 0:18:22.125 question Mike. They gave Mike a lot of detector test. 0:18:22.165 --> 0:18:23.005 And he passed it. 0:18:23.925 --> 0:18:26.605 In the end, police could not build a case against Mike, 0:18:26.805 --> 0:18:30.405 so they let him go. There were so many conflicting 0:18:30.485 --> 0:18:34.085 tips and timelines and suspects it made the case very 0:18:34.085 --> 0:18:38.605 difficult at times. So what happened to Dana after she 0:18:38.685 --> 0:18:41.445 left that parking lot? There is still a lot of 0:18:41.525 --> 0:18:44.645 unanswered questions that I hope to dive into more next week, 0:18:45.285 --> 0:18:50.165 including the multiple and conflicting witness accounts. There was reportedly 0:18:50.205 --> 0:18:52.565 someone who came to police and told them that on 0:18:52.685 --> 0:18:56.125 the day Dana disappeared, on the twenty fifth, she remembered 0:18:56.165 --> 0:18:59.445 seeing Dana's car and that a woman with long dark 0:18:59.485 --> 0:19:02.245 hair was in the driver's seat and a man with 0:19:02.365 --> 0:19:04.885 dark hair was in the passenger seat. She said that 0:19:04.925 --> 0:19:07.885 the car swerved into her lane in a way that 0:19:07.965 --> 0:19:11.365 may have been intentional. Then there was another witness who 0:19:11.405 --> 0:19:12.845 said they saw a car on the side of the 0:19:12.925 --> 0:19:15.685 road and a truck behind it. There was a woman 0:19:15.725 --> 0:19:18.845 and two men there, and apparently one guy crouched down 0:19:18.885 --> 0:19:21.525 by the car trying to change a tire. Now we 0:19:21.645 --> 0:19:25.405 know that Dani's tire was partially flat. We don't have 0:19:25.445 --> 0:19:27.605 the case file, we don't know who these people are, 0:19:28.045 --> 0:19:30.925 so for me, a big part of this investigation is 0:19:30.965 --> 0:19:33.205 going to be trying to track down the source of 0:19:33.245 --> 0:19:36.245 these supposed sightings and find out if they are credible 0:19:36.365 --> 0:19:39.565 or not. In the meantime, though, let's see if there 0:19:39.565 --> 0:19:43.525 are any theories we can eliminate. There are still a 0:19:43.645 --> 0:19:46.485 lot of unanswered questions, and I really hope to dive 0:19:46.565 --> 0:19:48.885 more into the case file into some of these questions 0:19:48.965 --> 0:19:53.205 next week. Last week, we talked about another theory that 0:19:53.245 --> 0:19:57.085 the Blue Light rapist Robert Todd Birmingham, the one who 0:19:57.165 --> 0:19:59.445 was arrested in nineteen ninety seven and convicted of two 0:19:59.525 --> 0:20:03.685 sexual assaults, could have been involved in Dani's kidnapping and murder. 0:20:04.685 --> 0:20:07.725 So there was a thirty one year old farm laborer 0:20:07.725 --> 0:20:10.725 from Pine Tree. He was arrested in Little Rock on 0:20:10.765 --> 0:20:14.365 September fifteenth, nineteen ninety seven. He farmed for his father 0:20:14.405 --> 0:20:16.245 in law and was married to a woman named Nanji. 0:20:16.965 --> 0:20:19.485 They lived on an eight acre plot of land where 0:20:19.485 --> 0:20:23.285 his parents had a house. The Blue Light rapist story 0:20:23.365 --> 0:20:26.805 became a national story. There was this quote from the 0:20:26.885 --> 0:20:29.805 La Times that I found that kind of summed it up. 0:20:31.045 --> 0:20:31.965 It read quote. 0:20:32.245 --> 0:20:36.205 A blue light rapist and others mimicking him have raped, accosted, 0:20:36.365 --> 0:20:39.485 or chased more than a dozen women in communities from 0:20:39.525 --> 0:20:41.085 northeastern Arkansas. 0:20:40.685 --> 0:20:43.245 To northern Louisiana. Since November. 0:20:44.005 --> 0:20:47.565 A predator using a police style flashing blue light has 0:20:47.605 --> 0:20:51.605 pulled over women traveling alone in Cross County, Arkansas. Because 0:20:51.645 --> 0:20:55.325 the incidents have occurred over a wide area, police suspect 0:20:55.365 --> 0:20:59.965 that some were carried out by copycats end quote. Last week, 0:21:00.005 --> 0:21:03.645 we talked about how Robert was convicted and a key 0:21:03.685 --> 0:21:06.245 witness against him was one of his victims, seventeen year 0:21:06.285 --> 0:21:10.805 old Shannon Woods. She survived the attack. She was the 0:21:10.845 --> 0:21:14.645 one who very bravely testified against Robert. She was able 0:21:14.725 --> 0:21:17.165 to give an accurate description of the house that was 0:21:17.165 --> 0:21:20.805 owned by Robert's father. He was apparently taking his victims 0:21:20.845 --> 0:21:24.005 to this vacant property. She knew the house was off 0:21:24.005 --> 0:21:26.765 a gravel road, that it had a screen door that 0:21:26.845 --> 0:21:30.125 was hard to open. She knew about the rocking chair 0:21:30.165 --> 0:21:33.005 with a loose arm, and a lot more details about 0:21:33.005 --> 0:21:35.645 the layout of the house. She was also able to 0:21:35.685 --> 0:21:38.445 describe the vehicle he was using. It had two door 0:21:38.485 --> 0:21:41.325 bucket seats with no air conditioning. This is all by 0:21:41.365 --> 0:21:46.165 the way. According to court documents, investigators were also able 0:21:46.205 --> 0:21:49.165 to link Robert to these crimes through a DNA profile 0:21:49.285 --> 0:21:52.245 taken from one of his victim's rape kits. In the end, 0:21:52.725 --> 0:21:55.805 Robert was convicted of the April nineteen ninety seven rape 0:21:55.805 --> 0:21:58.645 of a woman at her home and when, and the 0:21:58.765 --> 0:22:02.725 July nineteen ninety seven rape of Shannon Woods. But as 0:22:02.805 --> 0:22:05.965 those newspaper articles pointed out, those were not the only 0:22:06.005 --> 0:22:09.805 attacks happening in that area at the time. Robert Birmingham 0:22:09.965 --> 0:22:13.245 was accused of two other crimes, one in Cross County 0:22:13.245 --> 0:22:17.245 one in Lee County, using the same mo victims who 0:22:17.245 --> 0:22:20.565 had been pulled over on highways and then assaulted, but 0:22:20.845 --> 0:22:25.205 those two cases never made it to trial. In two thousand, 0:22:25.565 --> 0:22:28.605 Robert Todd Birmingham was sentenced to life in prison plus 0:22:28.645 --> 0:22:33.445 eighty years for those convictions. He never admitted to his crimes. 0:22:33.445 --> 0:22:37.245 He always said he was innocent. Robert Birmingham died while 0:22:37.285 --> 0:22:40.525 serving his sentence in twenty twenty. He died of COVID 0:22:40.565 --> 0:22:47.005 related complications. I can understand why Robert would be considered 0:22:47.045 --> 0:22:51.525 a suspect in Dana's case. Her car was found parked 0:22:51.525 --> 0:22:53.925 with the key in the ignition the back tire was 0:22:54.045 --> 0:22:58.405 running flat. It is possible, but there are some differences, 0:22:58.805 --> 0:23:01.125 like the fact that the blue light rapist mo was 0:23:01.165 --> 0:23:04.205