WEBVTT - Chalamont Park 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:15.045 School of Humans. Yeah, that's the playground the park over there. Yeah, 0:00:16.365 --> 0:00:20.725 recognize the playground of Salomont Drive. Alright, you're all right, 0:00:20.805 --> 0:00:23.325 let's see so I canna pull up the picture in 0:00:23.405 --> 0:00:27.245 the day mail. I'm at Chalomont Park and West Little 0:00:27.325 --> 0:00:31.725 Rock in the parking lot. This is a tiny private park. 0:00:32.805 --> 0:00:34.965 It's on a cul de sac and meant for the 0:00:35.005 --> 0:00:38.365 exclusive use of the residents of the Channel Valley neighborhood 0:00:38.365 --> 0:00:41.645 and their guests. In the summer, it would be full 0:00:41.685 --> 0:00:44.285 of kids swimming in the pool or playing on the playground. 0:00:44.725 --> 0:00:48.485 But it's late fall now the pool is closed and 0:00:48.525 --> 0:00:53.205 the playground is deserted. That's the entrance on the other side. 0:00:54.885 --> 0:00:56.445 It was parked near here. I'm gonna try to see 0:00:56.485 --> 0:00:58.325 if I can find a picture of the car. We 0:00:58.405 --> 0:01:00.085 know what kind of car she had. It was a 0:01:00.165 --> 0:01:06.885 Volklier facade, pretty small car. Yeah. So the other voice 0:01:06.885 --> 0:01:11.445 you're hearing is Mike. He's another private investigator. A few 0:01:11.445 --> 0:01:14.405 months ago, Mike and I worked on a project together 0:01:14.805 --> 0:01:18.845 where we helped local law enforcement apprehend felons. Mike is 0:01:18.885 --> 0:01:23.565 former military. He's an expert in data technology. He actually 0:01:23.605 --> 0:01:27.005 trains FBI agents on how to use data to solve cases. 0:01:27.565 --> 0:01:29.805 I brought Mike down to Arkansas with me to help 0:01:29.845 --> 0:01:35.005 out on the case, especially on two very important aspects, 0:01:35.085 --> 0:01:39.165 social media and cellular data. These are two things that 0:01:39.205 --> 0:01:43.485 may have been initially mishandled by police. Mike is also 0:01:43.805 --> 0:01:46.605 around six foot one and weighs about two hundred and 0:01:46.645 --> 0:01:50.325 twenty pounds of solid muscle. And since everyone keeps warning 0:01:50.325 --> 0:01:53.085 me that we may have to track down some dangerous 0:01:53.125 --> 0:01:56.445 people for this case, I decided it wouldn't be a 0:01:56.445 --> 0:02:00.845 bad idea to have a little backup. Also, just a reminder, 0:02:01.365 --> 0:02:05.685 Ebby's stepdad is Michael, so we'll always refer to him 0:02:05.685 --> 0:02:10.125 as Michael and Mike as Mike. Laury Elsa says, there 0:02:10.165 --> 0:02:13.805 weren't any cameras down here even now, which doesn't look 0:02:13.845 --> 0:02:19.445 like there are no there's there's nothing out here. There's 0:02:19.445 --> 0:02:23.525 a few a few light poles. Who was dark as hell, 0:02:23.605 --> 0:02:26.405 like you couldn't see anything. There's no lighting down there 0:02:26.445 --> 0:02:30.485 at all. Actually, this spot looks almost exactly like it 0:02:30.525 --> 0:02:34.365 did back in twenty fifteen when neighbors called in an 0:02:34.365 --> 0:02:38.885 abandoned car and that car turned out to be Ebby Stepics. Yeah, 0:02:38.965 --> 0:02:42.165 there's beers and like somebody was like, somebody was having 0:02:42.205 --> 0:02:45.965 some beers come out here and a party A little 0:02:45.965 --> 0:02:50.725 bit looks like which is normal. Yeah, if I was 0:02:50.765 --> 0:02:53.925 in high school, this would beg Yeah. It's a big spot. Yeah, 0:02:54.765 --> 0:02:57.005 it's it's a safe place. Yeah. I mean if you're 0:02:57.005 --> 0:02:58.925 having a hook up in your car or like, do 0:02:59.045 --> 0:03:02.285 whatever you're gonna do. I mean, it's even you know, 0:03:02.405 --> 0:03:05.085 there's benches down there, but if you're parked up here, 0:03:05.125 --> 0:03:09.485 you came the embankment there, so there's lots of screening 0:03:09.525 --> 0:03:16.565 and little visibility areas. We're going back to October thirtieth, 0:03:16.725 --> 0:03:21.245 twenty fifteen. Ebbi Steppac has been missing for five days. 0:03:21.965 --> 0:03:26.285 Her family, including her mom Laurie, her stepdad Michael, and 0:03:26.445 --> 0:03:30.285 her brother Trevor, had been driving all over town trying 0:03:30.325 --> 0:03:35.045 to find her. Then they get a call Ebby's car 0:03:35.085 --> 0:03:39.445 has been found. Michael and Trevor rush over to Schalmont Park. 0:03:40.765 --> 0:03:45.405 It's already getting dark. They look everywhere through neighborhoods in 0:03:45.445 --> 0:03:48.405 the wooded area behind the park, but they see no 0:03:48.485 --> 0:03:52.405 sign of Ebby. Ebby's car is back into a parking 0:03:52.445 --> 0:03:56.245 space in the rear of the parking lot. Behind the car, 0:03:56.605 --> 0:03:59.165 they see a manhole cover that leads down to a 0:03:59.205 --> 0:04:04.005 storm drain. They pull off the cover and look down 0:04:04.085 --> 0:04:07.645 into the drain, but there's nothing there except a pile 0:04:07.685 --> 0:04:11.245 of leaves. As Ebby's family and the police look for 0:04:11.285 --> 0:04:15.445 her everywhere, all over the state and eventually all around 0:04:15.445 --> 0:04:18.605 the world, they don't know that she was right here, 0:04:19.365 --> 0:04:23.205 just a few feet from her car all along. I'm 0:04:23.285 --> 0:04:59.045 Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gothen. In the days following 0:04:59.085 --> 0:05:03.325 Ebbie's disappearance, the police take Ebbie's car in for processing, 0:05:03.885 --> 0:05:08.685 then they start their investi Now, Normally, early in a 0:05:08.725 --> 0:05:12.965 police investigation, detectives will look through the missing person's phone 0:05:13.005 --> 0:05:16.965 records and their social media, especially with a teenager like 0:05:17.045 --> 0:05:20.565 Ebby who uses social media and texting as the main 0:05:20.645 --> 0:05:25.445 ways to communicate with her friends. Ebbie's family has already 0:05:25.485 --> 0:05:30.685 gotten started. They scour all of her accounts, including her Facebook, 0:05:30.805 --> 0:05:34.525 her Instagram, and her Snapchat for any clues as to 0:05:34.565 --> 0:05:38.485 where she could be. JC White is the Little Rock 0:05:38.525 --> 0:05:43.605 Police Department sergeant originally assigned to the investigation. Roy Williams 0:05:43.685 --> 0:05:47.485 is the detective and Laurie starts budding heads with JC 0:05:48.125 --> 0:05:52.325 and the rest of the department very early on because 0:05:52.405 --> 0:05:55.725 she says, they don't seem to be doing anything with 0:05:55.805 --> 0:05:58.605 Ebby's social media accounts. They didn't know what they were doing. 0:05:58.885 --> 0:06:01.205 They didn't know how to get into any of her 0:06:01.245 --> 0:06:07.045 social media, any of her Facebook, Instagram. Did they try 0:06:07.085 --> 0:06:11.845 to snapchat? They didn't know how to do any of it. Nothing. 0:06:13.525 --> 0:06:17.365 So Laurie takes matters into her own hands. She hires 0:06:17.365 --> 0:06:20.605 an it guy named Matthew to get into Ebbie's accounts. 0:06:21.445 --> 0:06:24.965 The police are not happy about that, so they give 0:06:25.045 --> 0:06:29.165 Lauria warning. They tell her to make sure that Matthew 0:06:29.245 --> 0:06:34.245 doesn't change anything in Ebby's accounts, but Laurie is concerned 0:06:34.245 --> 0:06:37.445 for another reason. When she and Matthew get into Ebby's 0:06:37.445 --> 0:06:41.645 social media, it looks like someone else has already been 0:06:41.685 --> 0:06:48.445 looking through her accounts. Meanwhile, the police still haven't gotten 0:06:48.485 --> 0:06:54.365 into Ebbie's Facebook or her Instagram. Now, the process for 0:06:54.485 --> 0:06:57.925 law enforcement to get information from companies like Facebook is 0:06:58.085 --> 0:07:02.965 actually pretty straightforward. Facebook requires that a subpoena, a court order, 0:07:03.085 --> 0:07:06.525 or a search warrant be filed, but police can ask 0:07:06.565 --> 0:07:09.885 for the information they want online without ever having to 0:07:09.925 --> 0:07:14.805 serve papers in person. Police can also ask these companies 0:07:14.885 --> 0:07:18.765 to release other types of information. This information can include 0:07:18.765 --> 0:07:25.165 a person's messages, photos, videos, timeline posts, and location. These 0:07:25.205 --> 0:07:28.165 requests gets sent to a special unit in Facebook called 0:07:28.165 --> 0:07:31.605 the Law Enforcement Response Team. Their sole job is to 0:07:31.645 --> 0:07:35.845 take request for this kind of data. Facebook gets thousands 0:07:35.885 --> 0:07:39.165 of these requests every year. All this really is to 0:07:39.205 --> 0:07:42.885 say that, in this day and age, requesting information from 0:07:42.885 --> 0:07:45.965 a social media company is seen as a very routine 0:07:46.005 --> 0:07:50.485 part of any investigation. According to Laurie, the Little Rock 0:07:50.565 --> 0:07:53.925 Police department did not seem to be familiar with these procedures. 0:07:54.685 --> 0:07:57.605 She also claims the police didn't seem to have a 0:07:57.645 --> 0:08:03.645 sense of urgency. I literally copied and emailed them the 0:08:03.725 --> 0:08:09.085 instructions that are on Facebook that when you sign up 0:08:09.085 --> 0:08:13.085 for Facebook and Instagram that tell you how to contact 0:08:13.285 --> 0:08:16.685 law enforcement, to tell you how to contact them. I 0:08:17.365 --> 0:08:21.445 copied that and sent that to them. That's how little 0:08:21.565 --> 0:08:25.085 they knew. Mike and I talked about how police departments 0:08:25.125 --> 0:08:28.725 investigate social media, So let's talk about the way it's 0:08:28.725 --> 0:08:32.685 supposed to work. Something happens to a victim in this case, 0:08:32.765 --> 0:08:38.605 Ebb Ebby goes missing. Ebby's parents do not have her 0:08:39.085 --> 0:08:43.285 social media log in. The law enforcement agency in charge 0:08:43.285 --> 0:08:46.285 of the case. All they have to do is get 0:08:46.325 --> 0:08:53.085 a warrant to subpoena the social media provider ie, Facebook, Instagram, whoever, 0:08:53.645 --> 0:08:57.565 and they'll provide access to that information. And when someone 0:08:57.685 --> 0:09:00.765 goes missing, if you're looking through their social media, what 0:09:00.805 --> 0:09:02.925 are the kinds of things that you should be looking for. 0:09:03.645 --> 0:09:08.805 I would be looking for who they talked to, where 0:09:08.845 --> 0:09:12.845 they were when they were posting. A lot of these devices, 0:09:12.925 --> 0:09:16.845 when you make a post, there's duolocational data inside of 0:09:16.885 --> 0:09:22.005 the picture, so you can get that from the platform 0:09:22.285 --> 0:09:28.445 Instagram or Facebook as an example, when you request that data. 0:09:29.085 --> 0:09:32.085 If the device has its location services on, it will 0:09:32.085 --> 0:09:36.245 be sharing its location with the platform, sometimes whether they're 0:09:36.245 --> 0:09:39.565 posting or not. So if they're sharing their location with 0:09:39.645 --> 0:09:43.725 the platform, there is a potential or a possibility, you 0:09:43.765 --> 0:09:46.725 could receive their last known location, at least as far 0:09:46.725 --> 0:09:51.045 as the platform is concerned. In twenty fifteen and into 0:09:51.045 --> 0:09:56.165 twenty sixteen, tensions are growing between Ebbie's family and the police. 0:09:57.485 --> 0:10:00.045 A member of Laurie's church, who used to work with 0:10:00.045 --> 0:10:03.805 the FBI offers to help. Laurie tries to get her 0:10:03.805 --> 0:10:08.245 friend involved, but the police department refused. He helped us 0:10:08.285 --> 0:10:12.125 as much as he could. He reached out to LRPD. 0:10:12.485 --> 0:10:16.445 They said, no, we don't want your help. He offered 0:10:17.365 --> 0:10:19.405 and offered, and they said, no, we do not want 0:10:19.445 --> 0:10:23.965 your help. Through her connections as a hairdresser, Laurie knows 0:10:23.965 --> 0:10:27.885 a victim's advocate that works for the prosecuting attorney Larry Juggley. 0:10:28.925 --> 0:10:32.845 This woman, Susie, is appalled by the police's treatment of Laurie. 0:10:33.245 --> 0:10:36.485 So Susie starts going with Laurie to her meetings with police. 0:10:36.845 --> 0:10:40.925 She's like, oh my gosh, Laurie, this is awful. So 0:10:40.965 --> 0:10:45.525 she went with me and took notes. So now I 0:10:45.645 --> 0:10:50.405 have someone with the prosecuting Attorney's office going with me 0:10:50.765 --> 0:10:53.965 to my meetings with little art police department, taking notes, 0:10:54.325 --> 0:10:58.405 so I have somebody by my side. It got so 0:10:58.485 --> 0:11:02.925 bad that on my emails now I was emailing the 0:11:03.045 --> 0:11:08.325 chief of police, the mayor, the sergeant, the detective. I 0:11:08.365 --> 0:11:14.365 was putting everybody on the emails. When finally I was 0:11:14.485 --> 0:11:18.085 kicked out of the meetings because she and Matthew had 0:11:18.085 --> 0:11:22.445 continued to dig into Ebbie's social media. The police department 0:11:22.765 --> 0:11:26.565 actually kicks Laurie out of their meetings. I notified him 0:11:26.645 --> 0:11:31.365 one day and said, Matthew has to change a password 0:11:31.725 --> 0:11:34.925 for a minute. We have to change it so we 0:11:34.965 --> 0:11:37.925 can figure out who is trying to get in. It's 0:11:38.045 --> 0:11:40.565 just gonna be for a minute. When I emailed and 0:11:40.645 --> 0:11:45.445 told him that, they said, we're done. We're done. Noe, 0:11:45.485 --> 0:11:49.725 Matthew is off. Off the k off, You're off. He's off. 0:11:49.725 --> 0:11:53.605 We're done. We will no longer contact you. We will 0:11:53.645 --> 0:11:58.005 not email you, contact you, we won't notify you of anything. 0:11:58.445 --> 0:12:02.325 You cannot come down here, don't show up. We're off. 0:12:02.365 --> 0:12:08.485 You're done. Laurie, with Matthew's help, downloads all of Ebby's 0:12:08.525 --> 0:12:12.685 social media messages. They find lots of messages between Ebby 0:12:12.765 --> 0:12:17.685 and her friends, but everything stops on Sunday, October twenty five, 0:12:18.525 --> 0:12:22.965 the same day that Ebbie stopped answering her phone. While 0:12:23.005 --> 0:12:26.205 Ebby's family tries to find out who she was hanging 0:12:26.205 --> 0:12:29.965 out with and where they were, the police start focusing 0:12:30.005 --> 0:12:33.765 on someone a lot closer to home, her husband. They 0:12:33.845 --> 0:12:37.085 tried to go straight for Michael having something to do 0:12:37.165 --> 0:12:41.285 with it. Angle they were already yet Michael's ready to 0:12:41.405 --> 0:12:45.885 throw him in jail. They were doing everything they could 0:12:45.925 --> 0:12:48.645 to prove some way that he had something to do 0:12:48.725 --> 0:12:53.205 with this. Since Ebbie's case is technically an open and 0:12:53.285 --> 0:12:58.125 active investigation. We have no access to police case files, 0:12:58.165 --> 0:13:00.365 so we have to start at the beginning and take 0:13:00.365 --> 0:13:03.285 a fresh look at the cell phone data. We don't 0:13:03.325 --> 0:13:06.285 have all of it, but Laurie do have some of 0:13:06.285 --> 0:13:09.365 Ebbie's phone records. She's kept them in a file for 0:13:09.405 --> 0:13:13.565 six years. I'm also trying to understand as best we 0:13:13.645 --> 0:13:17.005 can the mistakes that police may have made early on 0:13:17.085 --> 0:13:19.405 with the phone data, so that we can learn from 0:13:19.405 --> 0:13:24.205 them and move on with this investigation. When police access 0:13:24.285 --> 0:13:27.525 cell phone data and an investigation, they're looking for the 0:13:27.605 --> 0:13:31.885 record of calls and the cell phone tower data. So 0:13:32.245 --> 0:13:35.205 there are people in law enforcement who are specially trained 0:13:35.245 --> 0:13:39.325 and extracting this type of information. It's kind of like 0:13:39.405 --> 0:13:41.845 looking at the matrix and seeing pictures in the code. 0:13:42.405 --> 0:13:45.645 It's not just a science, it's an art. Mike and 0:13:45.685 --> 0:13:48.885 I also talked about this. So now that we're talking 0:13:48.885 --> 0:13:52.605 about cell phone data, where does the data actually come from. 0:13:53.405 --> 0:13:56.045 The data comes from the network provider. So let's just 0:13:56.085 --> 0:14:00.445 say at and T everything that you do, every place 0:14:00.485 --> 0:14:03.765 your cell phone goes is reporting one percent of the 0:14:03.765 --> 0:14:07.125 time while it's turned on and is attached to the tower. 0:14:07.805 --> 0:14:09.845 As you go from one tower to the next. That's 0:14:09.885 --> 0:14:12.485 also reported to the cell phone company, where whether you're 0:14:12.485 --> 0:14:17.205 actually using your phone or not. What law enforcement should 0:14:17.205 --> 0:14:21.005 do when this happens is they go get a warrant. 0:14:21.325 --> 0:14:25.525 They subpoena AT and T for example, and say, hey, 0:14:25.605 --> 0:14:29.765 can you give me the call detail record of this 0:14:29.805 --> 0:14:33.445 phone number, And in that call detail record will have 0:14:33.725 --> 0:14:38.205 every person that they've talked to, as far as called 0:14:39.005 --> 0:14:41.605 sent a text message to. It will have every tower 0:14:41.685 --> 0:14:45.765 that they've connected to and for how long. So you 0:14:45.805 --> 0:14:50.365 can actually get a geographical representation of dots on a 0:14:50.445 --> 0:14:54.845 map of where they were when they actually made those calls, 0:14:55.005 --> 0:14:57.925 where they were if they were sleeping somewhere at night, 0:14:58.605 --> 0:15:01.765 their direction of travel if they're traveling from north to south, 0:15:01.765 --> 0:15:06.485 east to west, for example. It's very very annular information 0:15:06.525 --> 0:15:10.125 and it's very easy to put together what was going 0:15:10.205 --> 0:15:13.285 on at that time. The secondary thing you do is 0:15:13.325 --> 0:15:15.725 if there are people of interest or people that you 0:15:15.805 --> 0:15:19.205 want to talk to, associates that she may have had, 0:15:19.845 --> 0:15:22.845 you can look at those phone numbers based on whom 0:15:22.885 --> 0:15:26.605 she had contact with and request the call detailed record 0:15:26.685 --> 0:15:30.365 for those and do some correlation to see if those 0:15:30.405 --> 0:15:32.725 people were in the same place at the same time. 0:15:33.325 --> 0:15:37.365 So I guess in a perfect world, law enforcement or 0:15:37.365 --> 0:15:41.565 whoever would put together all this information first and have 0:15:41.645 --> 0:15:45.045 an idea of where everyone was and then go talk 0:15:45.085 --> 0:15:49.165 to those people already knowing that absolutely you would, you know, 0:15:49.245 --> 0:15:52.245 don't don't get me wrong, there's going to be you know, 0:15:52.365 --> 0:15:55.245 detectives and investigators out there trying to do some things 0:15:55.885 --> 0:15:59.805 in real time, right because people are should be trying 0:15:59.845 --> 0:16:05.205 to solve the case as expediently as possible. But there's 0:16:05.205 --> 0:16:08.005 should would be a team or some people who are 0:16:08.045 --> 0:16:11.325 looking at this data from the moment that they receive 0:16:11.405 --> 0:16:16.005 it from the telco provider. Laurie said the police made 0:16:16.005 --> 0:16:21.285 some serious mistakes early in the investigation. First, she says, 0:16:21.325 --> 0:16:24.485 they pinged the wrong cell phone number, which meant that 0:16:24.525 --> 0:16:27.405 when Laurie and Michael go to the GPS coordinates that 0:16:27.445 --> 0:16:30.525 the police gave them, they end up in a random 0:16:30.565 --> 0:16:34.725 field miles away from home. Then, once the correct phone 0:16:34.765 --> 0:16:38.645 number was pinged, police also apparently have some of the 0:16:38.725 --> 0:16:41.605 cell phone time codes wrong, which will be a big 0:16:41.645 --> 0:16:46.725 problem later when they try to establish everyone's ALBI, including Michaels. 0:16:47.485 --> 0:16:52.045 They're tracking his movements to times that were totally incorrect. Jay, 0:16:52.125 --> 0:16:55.245 seeing them started pushing for us to do a lot 0:16:55.245 --> 0:16:59.565 of detector tests. At first they asked us, we said sure. 0:17:00.165 --> 0:17:03.645 Well then after they started pushing for us to do 0:17:03.685 --> 0:17:06.285 a lot of detector tests. When they started treating us 0:17:06.325 --> 0:17:10.205 like that, that's what Michael said. I'm gonna have to 0:17:10.605 --> 0:17:14.565 talk to a lawyer. And I didn't blame him either. 0:17:15.765 --> 0:17:19.725 I did not trust them at all. In the weeks 0:17:19.765 --> 0:17:24.885 after the investigation, on November third, twenty fifteen, a woman 0:17:24.965 --> 0:17:27.645 and her daughter, who was a friend of Ebbie's, are 0:17:27.645 --> 0:17:33.685 walking through Chalmont Park. She calls nine one one, I's 0:17:33.725 --> 0:17:37.365 look as you emergency. I just came out of a 0:17:37.405 --> 0:17:41.805 meeting with Detective Williams in regard to a missing person 0:17:41.965 --> 0:17:49.285 named Ebbie. Uh. Okay. He said that the car was 0:17:50.045 --> 0:17:54.605 located in this park, and I brought my daughter to 0:17:54.885 --> 0:17:58.645 Lee Okay. She had been here with her before. True, 0:17:59.805 --> 0:18:03.005 you know, we came here gonna have her look around. 0:18:03.205 --> 0:18:10.125 And as I passed the sewer, now the composition, could 0:18:10.165 --> 0:18:15.205 you I'll send somebody here to investige. I want to 0:18:15.205 --> 0:18:19.165 see what who we need to get out there, and 0:18:19.445 --> 0:18:21.765 I will call you in just a few minutes and 0:18:22.525 --> 0:18:25.005 we'll go from there. Okay, okay, thank you, all right, 0:18:25.125 --> 0:18:29.325 thank you man. Alrighty. She says that she smells something 0:18:29.485 --> 0:18:34.365 rotting in Shalmont Park, but she says the police brushed 0:18:34.365 --> 0:18:44.765 off her concerns. In this world out here, you go 0:18:44.885 --> 0:18:47.965 into a police department, the worst thing you can do 0:18:48.125 --> 0:18:51.605 is say I'm a private investigator. This is Monty Vickers. 0:18:52.565 --> 0:18:55.605 He's a veteran and a former Little Rock police detective. 0:18:56.485 --> 0:19:00.405 While Monty was on the police force, he investigated hundreds 0:19:00.405 --> 0:19:03.885 of homicides, a lot of which he says, stay with 0:19:03.965 --> 0:19:08.925 him to this day. Just something you you can't forget. 0:19:10.165 --> 0:19:12.925 He's one of those old school former cops who could 0:19:12.925 --> 0:19:15.925 have come straight out of a movie. He really cares 0:19:15.965 --> 0:19:19.685 about his cases and about truth, justice in the American way. 0:19:20.485 --> 0:19:23.005 He retired from the force years ago and became a 0:19:23.045 --> 0:19:26.325 private investigator. I've been thrown out a more poee farmers 0:19:26.325 --> 0:19:29.525 and anyone around been thrown out. A senator told me 0:19:29.565 --> 0:19:34.165 a Mississippi Bible archer saw hot Springs two times and 0:19:34.205 --> 0:19:35.925 I had to get up in their face, and I say, 0:19:36.005 --> 0:19:39.325 you know, if you're not going to do your g 0:19:39.565 --> 0:19:44.325 D job, at least pretend you give damn you'll make 0:19:44.365 --> 0:19:49.525 these victims feel better. In early twenty sixteen, Laurie asked 0:19:49.525 --> 0:19:52.285 Money to investigate Abbie's case. I didn't want to get 0:19:52.325 --> 0:19:54.925 involved in they're saying at all, I said, I don't 0:19:54.965 --> 0:19:58.325 need to interfere with the priest department. I regret that now. 0:19:58.965 --> 0:20:02.845 Money says he was actually reluctant to get involved because 0:20:02.845 --> 0:20:06.405 he doesn't want to insert himself into an active police investigation. 0:20:07.205 --> 0:20:09.885 He is sure that the police will do a good job, 0:20:10.765 --> 0:20:14.565 but when he starts digging into Ebbie's case, he's deeply 0:20:14.685 --> 0:20:19.565 troubled by what he finds. First, he tries to get 0:20:19.645 --> 0:20:23.045 security camera footage from the time around when Ebbie went missing. 0:20:24.165 --> 0:20:27.445 Police did have some security footage of Ebby's car on 0:20:27.605 --> 0:20:31.165 Channel Parkway. This is the single image, by the way 0:20:31.205 --> 0:20:35.725 that has been released by police of Ebby. Police would 0:20:35.805 --> 0:20:38.445 not say if Ebbie was in the car alone when 0:20:38.485 --> 0:20:43.005 the footage was taken, or even which way she was traveling. Also, 0:20:43.325 --> 0:20:46.725 Laurie said that Ebby's phone needed Wi Fi to make calls, 0:20:47.245 --> 0:20:49.445 so she would often sit in the parking lot of 0:20:49.485 --> 0:20:54.365 the Walmart that was about three minutes away from Shalmont Park. Tragically, 0:20:54.805 --> 0:20:58.125 by the time Monty talked to people at Walmart. It 0:20:58.205 --> 0:21:02.925 had been several months, and Walmart says the surveillance footage 0:21:02.965 --> 0:21:07.445 had already been deleted. Five months after Ebbie went missing, 0:21:08.325 --> 0:21:13.165 Monty goes back to Shalamant Park. He starts canvassing and 0:21:13.285 --> 0:21:17.085 knocking on doors. He's looking for anyone who may have 0:21:17.125 --> 0:21:19.685 been in the area where Ebbie's car was found and 0:21:19.805 --> 0:21:23.325 he may have seen Ebbie on those crucial days. That's 0:21:23.325 --> 0:21:27.965 when he finds Guy Hooper. Guy Hooper is a security 0:21:27.965 --> 0:21:31.765 guard who patrols Shalamant Park on a regular basis, and 0:21:32.405 --> 0:21:34.925 he was on duty the night that Ebbie went missing. 0:21:35.565 --> 0:21:37.965 How did you find the security guard? Did you just 0:21:38.925 --> 0:21:41.565 think there might have been a security guard there? And Yeah, 0:21:42.685 --> 0:21:49.725 called out there and after the park area and found 0:21:49.765 --> 0:21:51.845 out as a security guard. And I called him and 0:21:51.965 --> 0:21:53.965 he told me on the phone for this and I 0:21:54.085 --> 0:21:56.285 arranged to meet him out there. That's when I took 0:21:57.125 --> 0:22:00.405 recorded statement from me about a forty five men or 0:22:00.485 --> 0:22:05.165 our statement. Monty is shocked when Guy tells him that 0:22:05.205 --> 0:22:07.565 he's the first person to show up to talk to 0:22:07.605 --> 0:22:12.445 him about this investigation. Then Guy Hooper tells Money that 0:22:12.565 --> 0:22:16.125 he actually called the police multiple times about Ebbe's car 0:22:16.725 --> 0:22:18.645 and that the police had failed to show up in 0:22:18.685 --> 0:22:22.685 the park. And then guy says that he had seen 0:22:22.765 --> 0:22:27.205 Ebby before at that park during his routine patrols. He 0:22:27.245 --> 0:22:32.565 had seen her there before with a young small black 0:22:32.605 --> 0:22:36.085 male about her size, about five foot he said, five 0:22:36.125 --> 0:22:40.765 foot three or four, and he had seen her there 0:22:40.925 --> 0:22:45.365 multiple times. And one of the things that was just 0:22:45.965 --> 0:22:48.645 gets you right in the heart that he said he 0:22:48.685 --> 0:22:51.005 had all his own video, that he had a dash 0:22:51.085 --> 0:22:56.125 camera and he videoed all of the encounters with her 0:22:56.285 --> 0:22:58.645 in the past, because he said every night when he 0:22:58.685 --> 0:23:02.885 would when he would get off shift, he would download 0:23:03.325 --> 0:23:06.525 take a chip and download it to to his computer. 0:23:06.805 --> 0:23:11.725 But then he tells us that's all gone now, this 0:23:11.845 --> 0:23:14.285 dash cam footage that he had of Ebby is gone. 0:23:15.365 --> 0:23:18.205 Guy says that he lost the footage after his computer 0:23:18.285 --> 0:23:23.405 malfunctioned one morning. He came home shot to download the 0:23:23.925 --> 0:23:27.805 dash cam and a computer said it could not read 0:23:27.845 --> 0:23:32.485 this device. So his wife worked at a company and 0:23:32.565 --> 0:23:37.605 the attic and computer tech there that she took the 0:23:37.605 --> 0:23:42.885 computer and the chip in there, and the guy told 0:23:42.965 --> 0:23:46.365 him said, computer shot, its fried. You know, it's an 0:23:46.365 --> 0:23:50.565 old and best thing. Due just get your new computer. 0:23:50.965 --> 0:23:54.285 So he did, and a computer tech guy through his 0:23:54.445 --> 0:23:58.885 other computer and everything away. Monty gives this information to 0:23:58.925 --> 0:24:02.445 the police and then stops his investigation for a few months. 0:24:03.285 --> 0:24:07.085 He still hopes the police will handle it, but then 0:24:07.765 --> 0:24:12.645 nothing happens, so he gets back on the case. Monty 0:24:12.765 --> 0:24:15.765 wants to find out who Ebby was with on Friday 0:24:15.845 --> 0:24:20.005 night and what happened to her. He goes back and 0:24:20.085 --> 0:24:24.925 finds another friend of Ebby's, a guy named Gage. Gage 0:24:24.965 --> 0:24:27.965 shares the text that Ebby had sent him on Friday 0:24:28.045 --> 0:24:31.445 night with Monty, the ones where she said she had 0:24:31.525 --> 0:24:34.165 sex with a guy who filmed her against her will. 0:24:35.445 --> 0:24:39.645 Since Ebby had sent these texts alleging sexual assault, Monty 0:24:39.765 --> 0:24:43.885 believes that police absolutely have probable cause to search the 0:24:43.925 --> 0:24:46.245 phones of the boys who were mentioned in those texts. 0:24:46.765 --> 0:24:51.605 Jac whyatt Superhu said that he had asked for their phone. 0:24:51.725 --> 0:24:55.965 They wouldn't give him their phones, so that's all they did. 0:24:56.165 --> 0:24:59.725 So after they told me that, that's when I call 0:25:00.085 --> 0:25:05.005 the prosecuting attorney. Monty calls up the prosecuting attorney, Larry Juggley, 0:25:05.245 --> 0:25:07.485 to get his insights on this. I called him with 0:25:07.565 --> 0:25:09.925 a lawyer and him there that night. I called him 0:25:09.965 --> 0:25:13.685 and told him about this, and I said they need 0:25:13.685 --> 0:25:18.885 to get these three guys cell phones, and he agreed, 0:25:19.285 --> 0:25:24.365 so he had a deputy prosecutor go to the Little 0:25:24.485 --> 0:25:29.765 Rock Police department, and from what I was told, the 0:25:29.765 --> 0:25:36.165 detective sergeant argued with the deputy prosecutor that there wasn't 0:25:36.285 --> 0:25:42.685 enough probable cause to seize these cell phones. What Money's 0:25:42.765 --> 0:25:46.125 getting out here is that this situation is getting surreal 0:25:46.805 --> 0:25:50.325 because usually it's the prosecuting attorney who's telling the detectives 0:25:50.445 --> 0:25:53.365 that they don't have enough evidence, then the detectives go 0:25:53.405 --> 0:25:56.165 out and try to get more. It's never the other 0:25:56.205 --> 0:26:01.445 way around. It's unbelievable to Money that a prosecuting attorney 0:26:01.605 --> 0:26:05.125 is recommending seizing the phones and that the police are 0:26:05.125 --> 0:26:09.205 refused to do it. So, even though she's been kicked 0:26:09.205 --> 0:26:13.325 out of the meetings, Laurie continues to email the police department. 0:26:14.165 --> 0:26:16.525 She takes it to the next level and emails the 0:26:16.565 --> 0:26:21.685 captain and finally she gets another meeting with the police. 0:26:22.405 --> 0:26:26.325 This time everyone is there, the captain, the detectives, the 0:26:26.365 --> 0:26:30.245 prosecuting attorney. Laurie wants to make sure that her voice 0:26:30.525 --> 0:26:33.725 and her complaints are heard. So I took all this 0:26:34.165 --> 0:26:38.125 to the captain and had a meeting with everybody. And 0:26:38.165 --> 0:26:41.565 the first thing was why did you have to email 0:26:41.645 --> 0:26:47.445 the chief? And I said, to get y'all's attention. I said, 0:26:47.445 --> 0:26:49.965 it got a meeting, didn't it. I got all of 0:26:50.005 --> 0:26:52.965 y'all in the room. She has a lot of grievances, 0:26:53.165 --> 0:26:56.565 the phone, the social media, the fact that it appears 0:26:56.565 --> 0:27:00.245 to her that police haven't really been doing anything, for instance, 0:27:00.325 --> 0:27:03.285 even things that would seem to be basic, like why 0:27:03.365 --> 0:27:06.685 hadn't police looked through security footage at the nearby walmart 0:27:06.965 --> 0:27:08.805 that was less than half a mile from the park. 0:27:09.445 --> 0:27:11.925 Then Laurie gets to the issue of the boy's phones, 0:27:13.085 --> 0:27:16.925 and I said, so why don't I have Why can't 0:27:16.925 --> 0:27:20.965 you get a subpoena for this? Don't have probable cause? 0:27:21.445 --> 0:27:23.845 I said, why why don't have probable cause for this? 0:27:25.445 --> 0:27:27.805 Don't have probable cause for this? And this? And I said, 0:27:27.965 --> 0:27:31.085 the prosecuting attorney says, I do. And I said, what 0:27:31.605 --> 0:27:35.005 at what level is probable cause? And the chief said, 0:27:35.205 --> 0:27:39.445 the Captain said, when I say it is just started shaking. 0:27:40.045 --> 0:27:43.965 I mean, I was just was like this, I'm never 0:27:44.045 --> 0:27:49.965