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[gun cocks]

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[Diane Fanning] Here's a crime that
hasn't been solved for decades.

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00:00:14,462 --> 00:00:17,292
It's there, it's constant,

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00:00:17,396 --> 00:00:21,256
it's part of
your fabric of life.

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Does that compel
more violent acts to occur?

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[Mark Reinig]
Since Ken's death,

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we've had a lot of tragedies
in the town

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that is unusual
for a rural American town.

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[Fanning]
Skidmore is so haunted

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that it permeates their culture

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and makes violence more likely.

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[male reporter] Since 2001,
folks here in Skidmore

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have lived with a big question
on their minds:

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What happened
to one of their own?

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[James Klino] Branson went to the
shed to return some jumper cables,

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and, at that point,
was not seen from thereafter.

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[Marty Small] Branson, you know,
he had a lot of potential in life.

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Growin' up, I used
to go over to his house.

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[Reinig] It's just one of those
things we sit there and go,

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"Why is this happening?"

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[Ben Espey] Branson was
no innocent young kid

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that somebody just walked up
and shot they didn't even know.

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Branson was totally involved

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with fixin' and makin'
methamphetamine.

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We know exactly what's happened.

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We know who was involved.

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And I can tell you right now,
they were from Skidmore.

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[Steve Booher]
Nobody saw anything,

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nobody overheard anything,

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but make no mistake about this,

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just like in the murder
of Ken Rex McElroy,

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somebody knows.

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[♪♪♪]

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[Kirby Goslee] Being a farmer is so
many, many things.

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It's changing
so very, very fast.

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But the root part
of being a farmer, for me,

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it's a great sense
of satisfaction

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that you've weathered
the elements,

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you've got rid of the weeds,

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you get to work outside,

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you're close to nature and God.

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That's just basic life
on this earth.

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I enjoyed it growing up
and I enjoyed it as a man.

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[Espey] I graduated
out of high school in 1971,

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and I always thought then
I'd kind like to be

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in law enforcement and maybe
be a highway patrolman.

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They drove nice cars,

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dressed nice

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and they was well respected.

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I loved doin' my job.

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But if somebody called--
and I didn't care

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what time
of day or night it was--

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if they wanted me to come
and protect them from somebody,

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that's what I was there for.

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[David Baird]
When I became prosecutor,

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I didn't want to be prosecutor.

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I was the newest and youngest
attorney in town,

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and they contacted me and said,

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"Would you serve
as prosecutor?"

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So I went and got
sage advice from my father,

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who had lived here a long time,
and said, "What do you think?"

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And his quote was,

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"Go ahead and take it.

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"It'll be good experience
for a couple years.

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"And besides, nothing
ever exciting ever happens

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in Nodaway County anyway."

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[Goslee] I let my daughter
have our home place

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to raise her two boys.

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You know, that's my gift to her.

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And my grandsons.

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That's the thing to do,
you pass it on.

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[Small] As a kid,

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I knew I was gonna be a soldier.

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I knew that it more important

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to take care of the people
around me,

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because that's the way
I was raised.

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Shakespeare said,
"All the world's a stage.

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All I am is a player."

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You have
to understand your role.

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And we all pick our own roles.

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Well, in some cases, you get
thrown into your role,

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and you get stuck.

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Branson was a good kid.

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He was one of those people that,

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if he'd have made
different decisions in life,

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he could've done
a lot of great things.

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[Fanning] Branson was
kind of a shy boy.

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Blue eyes, blonde hair,

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and he had that baby face
that made him look

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a lot younger than his years.

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His parents got divorced

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when he was a small kid.

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[Klino] He liked snakes,
reptiles and things.

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And he liked
his artifact collection.

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[Small] I tried to spend time
with him as much as I could.

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As we get older,
you start to drift apart.

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And it's truly unfortunate,
'cause I do think

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he's a great kid.

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It's about life choices.

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But ultimately,
he made the choice

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and go do what he was gonna do,

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and it came back to haunt him.

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I think the family
still has a hard time

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coming to terms with that.

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And it's horrible that
they had to go through

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what they went through.

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You live with the fear
that the worst has happened,

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but you pray for the best.

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[Small] The big part of
gettin' through

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hard things in life is hope.

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We've heard about hope.

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Some people's hope is religion

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and faith.

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Some people's hope is love.

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If there's no hope, at the end,

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then what's there to live for?

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It was a little more
than eight years ago

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when Branson Perry vanished
from his hometown

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in western Nodaway County,
and this weekend, authorities

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honed in on a farm
in that area, hoping to uncover

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clues as to what happened
to Branson.

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There's one true story

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to Branson Perry's case.

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[male reporter]
In 2001,

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Perry, who was 20,

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vanished from outside his home.

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Signs from across the area
are giving the message out

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about this missing man,
but still, there have been

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no signs of Branson himself.

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[Espey] Branson Perry's case
led us into the drug scene.

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[Booher] During a time
of his disappearance,

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there was an active drug culture

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in rural northwest Missouri.

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[Britt Small] At that time,
when you hear of a house blowing up,

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very frequently,
it was a meth lab explosion.

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They do happen.

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[Leona Hayes] Ben Espey,

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he was a pretty good sheriff
to have been trusted.

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Pretty good.

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Back then, Skidmore
was full of drugs,

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and he was thinnin' 'em out
in this town pretty good.

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[Espey] We developed
drug enforcement agencies,

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that that's all they did.

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Their whole job was to go out
and find these young kids,

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follow them, film them,
and we would bust their labs

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where they was makin' it.

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Several people were taken,
put on a polygraph,

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and asked questions about,
"Were you there?"

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"What do you know?"

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Then we started
puttin' things together.

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Branson was totally involved

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with fixin' and makin'
methamphetamine.

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Part of Branson's job

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was to supply the ingredients

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to make the drugs.

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Branson somehow had gotten in
some kind of trouble

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with an officer,

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and, I think,
what happened is that

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the kingpin of several
different people that would meet

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thought that Branson would talk.

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[♪♪♪]

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I can tell you right now,
there was nine people

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involved in that case.

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And we knew, all of us knew,

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who the nine players were
that were involved in it,

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who the person was
that pulled the trigger.

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[male reporter] Investigators
say a tip came into them

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about two weeks ago that
Branson could be buried here

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in Quintmet.

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[male officer] The information
that we received in this case

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we felt was very credible

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and that we certainly needed
to act on it.

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[Espey] Two of the people
involved showed us on a map

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where they thought
that they'd buried Branson.

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Both people
were interrogated separately,

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both people showed us
the same place on the map.

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[male reporter]
They combed these empty fields

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and the area near
these old grain beds.

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A canine unit
from North Carolina

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even joined this search.

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We turned the dogs loose
and we cover

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about a two-mile area.

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[Klino] These dogs kept hittin'
this one spot pretty hard.

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So they took the dogs
a mile away,

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and walked 'em back
towards there,

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and they hit the spot again.

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[Espey] Nine of the ten dogs

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hit on exactly the same place.

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[male reporter]
Clues to what happened to him

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my still lie beneath this dirt.

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00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,120
We found some items that
we feel has substantiated

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the information
that was given to us.

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00:10:08,884 --> 00:10:11,654
So we feel
that we're on the right track.

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[Espey] When they was diggin'
right where the dogs hit,

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the earth underneath the ground

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was different.

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00:10:18,963 --> 00:10:20,453
So what that told me is,

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00:10:20,550 --> 00:10:24,310
the body probably
had been buried there,

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but it had been removed.

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We have a case,
we don't have a body.

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00:10:32,424 --> 00:10:34,774
I suspect that's when
the heat got on

202
00:10:34,875 --> 00:10:36,425
and law enforcement
got a little too close,

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00:10:36,532 --> 00:10:39,852
I think they dug the body up
and put it somewhere else.

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00:10:42,676 --> 00:10:45,016
Ultimately, at the end,

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00:10:45,127 --> 00:10:48,957
our investigation
led us to that house

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00:10:49,062 --> 00:10:50,892
where Branson Perry was shot.

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00:10:52,168 --> 00:10:54,648
[Klino] Unfortunately,
the house burned

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00:10:54,757 --> 00:10:57,037
before the investigation got

209
00:10:57,139 --> 00:10:59,379
to see if there was
any evidence in the home.

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00:11:01,177 --> 00:11:03,147
No evidence was found.

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00:11:05,250 --> 00:11:08,560
The disappearance of Branson
is like the bully case--

212
00:11:08,668 --> 00:11:11,078
there's a lot more out there
that is known

213
00:11:11,187 --> 00:11:14,087
that people
are not talking about.

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00:11:14,190 --> 00:11:17,120
They're a small town,
they're all close knit.

215
00:11:17,228 --> 00:11:18,888
They don't want
to open their mouths.

216
00:11:18,988 --> 00:11:20,538
They're afraid of retaliation.

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00:11:20,645 --> 00:11:23,365
[Becky Klino] People say that
they're afraid

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00:11:23,475 --> 00:11:25,195
to mention something

219
00:11:25,305 --> 00:11:27,715
because they're afraid
for their own safety.

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00:11:27,825 --> 00:11:31,785
And I don't understand,
because how could they be

221
00:11:31,898 --> 00:11:34,618
so afraid
of something that is causing

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00:11:34,728 --> 00:11:36,768
somebody else so much pain?

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00:11:38,283 --> 00:11:40,603
[Hayes] A lot of people
in town wouldn't talk

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00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:42,810
because, in this town,

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00:11:42,909 --> 00:11:45,149
you'll get killed
for tellin' the truth.

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00:11:49,847 --> 00:11:51,677
[female reporter] It's a case
that's never been closed.

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00:11:51,780 --> 00:11:54,580
Nearly 10 years ago,
Branson Perry disappeared

228
00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:56,229
from his Skidmore home.

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00:11:56,336 --> 00:11:58,506
Law enforcement says leads
are more valuable

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00:11:58,614 --> 00:12:02,274
than ever in the case
and tips continue to come in.

231
00:12:04,724 --> 00:12:06,694
[Randy Strong] We are still
working the disappearance

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00:12:06,795 --> 00:12:08,375
of Branson Perry.

233
00:12:08,486 --> 00:12:10,246
That case, I have open.

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00:12:10,350 --> 00:12:13,970
We are actively pursuing
that case.

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00:12:15,079 --> 00:12:16,839
There is an underbelly of people

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00:12:16,943 --> 00:12:19,883
that live there that they're
involved in the drug culture.

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00:12:19,980 --> 00:12:23,260
We believed him to be
a homicide victim at this time,

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00:12:23,363 --> 00:12:26,853
but his body
has yet to be recovered.

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00:12:28,057 --> 00:12:30,227
[Hayes]
They'll never find the boy.

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00:12:30,335 --> 00:12:32,915
To me, I think that's
the closure of that one,

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00:12:33,028 --> 00:12:35,438
because the FBI has come in
and everything

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00:12:35,547 --> 00:12:38,517
and they couldn't find nothing.

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00:12:40,483 --> 00:12:42,423
[Marty Small]
Now, his body was never found.

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00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,800
I mean, there's been no
official report of his death.

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00:12:45,903 --> 00:12:49,463
What they speculate happened
is the body had been cut up,

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00:12:49,561 --> 00:12:53,531
and then dispersed
in a body of water.

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00:12:55,050 --> 00:12:56,670
The way law enforcement
finds things now

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00:12:56,776 --> 00:12:58,496
is you find big chunks,
you find a whole arm,

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00:12:58,605 --> 00:13:00,185
you find a whole body.

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00:13:00,296 --> 00:13:01,986
Little tiny pieces of things
that are chopped up

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00:13:02,091 --> 00:13:03,821
are really difficult to find.

252
00:13:03,921 --> 00:13:06,511
So they didn't have any of
the normal physical evidence

253
00:13:06,613 --> 00:13:08,553
of the murder.

254
00:13:08,649 --> 00:13:11,549
[female reporter] So far,
all tips have led to dead ends,

255
00:13:11,652 --> 00:13:13,412
but the case remains active,

256
00:13:13,516 --> 00:13:14,826
as those involved hope

257
00:13:14,932 --> 00:13:16,312
for what
they've been waiting for

258
00:13:16,416 --> 00:13:17,996
since he first went missing

259
00:13:18,107 --> 00:13:20,077
in April 2001.

260
00:13:21,421 --> 00:13:23,981
Those close to the case
are pushing forward,

261
00:13:24,079 --> 00:13:26,909
still determined
to find answers.

262
00:13:28,324 --> 00:13:30,334
[Espey] The sheriff
and the chief of police

263
00:13:30,430 --> 00:13:32,600
and the highway patrol,
we don't file charges, we can't.

264
00:13:32,708 --> 00:13:34,708
It's up
to the prosecuting attorney

265
00:13:34,814 --> 00:13:36,894
to file a charge on a case.

266
00:13:36,988 --> 00:13:38,988
And that's the reason
that Branson Perry

267
00:13:39,094 --> 00:13:40,894
is still pending.

268
00:13:42,442 --> 00:13:46,412
Back then, prosecuting attorney
was David Baird.

269
00:13:46,515 --> 00:13:50,855
Obviously, David decided
that he didn't have enough.

270
00:13:52,452 --> 00:13:54,182
[Baird] My focus has never been,

271
00:13:54,281 --> 00:13:55,701
"Gosh, I wish I had this,"

272
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,460
or "Boy, wouldn't it be great
to have that,"

273
00:13:57,560 --> 00:13:59,980
because that's
not what reality is.

274
00:14:01,150 --> 00:14:02,570
The role of prosecutor is

275
00:14:02,669 --> 00:14:04,459
that we are not
to file charges until

276
00:14:04,567 --> 00:14:06,497
we are convinced
beyond a reasonable doubt

277
00:14:06,604 --> 00:14:09,954
that a particular individual
committed a particular crime.

278
00:14:11,126 --> 00:14:12,576
[Baird]
Before we file charges,

279
00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:14,439
we want to make sure
we have that evidence.

280
00:14:14,543 --> 00:14:16,683
We do not simply take someone
to trial for the purpose

281
00:14:16,786 --> 00:14:19,476
of taking someone to trial
to get the case over with.

282
00:14:20,376 --> 00:14:22,026
[Espey] Everything is there.

283
00:14:22,137 --> 00:14:24,967
Because when I left,
everything was there.

284
00:14:25,071 --> 00:14:29,111
That's the deal: the prosecutor
is kind of like God.

285
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:32,250
He has enough to file.

286
00:14:32,354 --> 00:14:35,154
But if he decides
he's not gonna file,

287
00:14:35,253 --> 00:14:37,533
then it never goes
in front of a judge.

288
00:14:39,637 --> 00:14:42,357
When you're the sheriff
of the county, you feel like

289
00:14:42,467 --> 00:14:45,887
whatever crimes are committed,
you carry 'em with you.

290
00:14:45,988 --> 00:14:47,958
And you never get rid of 'em.

291
00:14:48,059 --> 00:14:50,679
[Tom Carneal] It's a terrible
thing for the family,

292
00:14:50,786 --> 00:14:54,886
when you never know for sure--
it's like, "Is he coming home?"

293
00:15:07,354 --> 00:15:11,194
[Reinig] The signs are fading
and starting to fall in.

294
00:15:12,256 --> 00:15:13,636
It's just kind of the ruminants

295
00:15:13,740 --> 00:15:16,570
and the memorial to a child

296
00:15:16,674 --> 00:15:19,024
that disappeared.

297
00:15:19,125 --> 00:15:22,435
[male reporter] This Skidmore cemetery
backs up to the Stinnett home.

298
00:15:22,542 --> 00:15:25,272
Family members say
they can't bear the thought

299
00:15:25,372 --> 00:15:26,962
of preparing
for yet another funeral.

300
00:15:27,064 --> 00:15:30,144
I asked my mom, I said, "Why
are we burying our children

301
00:15:30,239 --> 00:15:32,659
instead of our parents?"

302
00:15:32,759 --> 00:15:35,559
Our plots are all full
of our children.

303
00:15:36,452 --> 00:15:37,972
[Reinig]
Needless to say,

304
00:15:38,075 --> 00:15:40,455
Bob and Becky had a hard time.

305
00:15:41,837 --> 00:15:44,597
And Bob eventually
moved out of town.

306
00:15:48,878 --> 00:15:53,258
When he passed away,

307
00:15:53,366 --> 00:15:55,636
I think that he died
of a broken heart.

308
00:16:00,269 --> 00:16:04,449
In your heart, where
do you think Branson is?

309
00:16:04,549 --> 00:16:06,759
I have
to keep believin' he's alive.

310
00:16:06,862 --> 00:16:09,282
I can't go the other side yet.

311
00:16:09,382 --> 00:16:12,282
I can't go that way.
I can't give up hope.

312
00:16:14,594 --> 00:16:17,424
She prayed to God
every day for answers.

313
00:16:18,805 --> 00:16:21,695
Like any mother would want to do
for their own child.

314
00:16:23,327 --> 00:16:25,017
She went through hell

315
00:16:25,122 --> 00:16:26,742
trying to find answers.

316
00:16:27,848 --> 00:16:29,198
[Espey] When I got to the point

317
00:16:29,298 --> 00:16:30,958
that the charges
did not get filed,

318
00:16:31,059 --> 00:16:32,679
but we knew who did it,

319
00:16:32,784 --> 00:16:35,554
Branson Perry's mother
was dying of cancer.

320
00:16:36,616 --> 00:16:38,236
But before Branson's mother

321
00:16:38,342 --> 00:16:39,692
went to her grave,

322
00:16:39,791 --> 00:16:41,171
I had a meeting and told her

323
00:16:41,276 --> 00:16:44,176
exactly what I knew
and what we feel

324
00:16:44,279 --> 00:16:48,039
99.9% sure
that happened to her son.

325
00:16:50,561 --> 00:16:53,701
[Fanning]
When Branson's mother died,

326
00:16:53,805 --> 00:16:56,045
her obituary said

327
00:16:56,153 --> 00:16:57,913
that she was preceded in death

328
00:16:58,017 --> 00:17:00,017
by her son Branson.

329
00:17:01,192 --> 00:17:04,092
Obviously, she accepted

330
00:17:04,195 --> 00:17:06,715
the fact that he was gone.

331
00:17:10,408 --> 00:17:14,268
[Booher] The question that
haunts Skidmore to this day is,

332
00:17:14,378 --> 00:17:17,108
"Why all this violence?"

333
00:17:17,208 --> 00:17:20,178
And "Why isn't
anybody talking?"

334
00:17:21,488 --> 00:17:23,078
[Fanning]
Wendy Gillenwater,

335
00:17:23,180 --> 00:17:25,350
who was brutally murdered,

336
00:17:25,458 --> 00:17:29,188
Branson Perry disappeared
and is presumed dead,

337
00:17:29,289 --> 00:17:32,709
and the murder
of Ken Rex McElroy...

338
00:17:34,363 --> 00:17:37,133
[Booher]
That's a bad legacy for a town.

339
00:17:37,228 --> 00:17:41,468
And then you have probably
the most horrific case

340
00:17:41,577 --> 00:17:43,747
in the town's history,

341
00:17:43,855 --> 00:17:46,265
Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

342
00:17:46,375 --> 00:17:49,205
And it is literally repugnant

343
00:17:49,309 --> 00:17:52,999
to think of what happened
to that woman.

344
00:17:53,106 --> 00:17:55,376
And the person that did this.

345
00:17:57,386 --> 00:18:00,526
This is something
a normal person can't do.

346
00:18:03,634 --> 00:18:06,094
[♪♪♪]

347
00:18:07,914 --> 00:18:10,544
[Reinig] In 2004,

348
00:18:10,641 --> 00:18:13,301
a very,
very horrible thing happened.

349
00:18:14,610 --> 00:18:18,100
Part of a line
of amazingly horrible events

350
00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:19,370
that have happened in this town,

351
00:18:19,477 --> 00:18:21,337
particularly after

352
00:18:21,445 --> 00:18:24,925
the killing of Ken Rex McElroy,

353
00:18:25,034 --> 00:18:26,624
Wendy,

354
00:18:26,726 --> 00:18:28,896
Branson.

355
00:18:29,004 --> 00:18:32,944
We had a couple other incidents
where there was

356
00:18:33,042 --> 00:18:35,802
supposed suicides--

357
00:18:35,907 --> 00:18:38,907
a young boy was found hung...

358
00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:43,810
another was swimming
underneath the bridge,

359
00:18:43,915 --> 00:18:45,365
and he drowned.

360
00:18:47,954 --> 00:18:51,304
And I came to the end
of my rope, as it were.

361
00:18:52,303 --> 00:18:55,513
And so, I found Christ.

362
00:18:55,617 --> 00:18:57,097
I had a prayer partner.

363
00:18:57,205 --> 00:19:00,135
And he lived
two blocks away from me.

364
00:19:00,242 --> 00:19:04,832
And we would go out
every morning that we could,

365
00:19:04,936 --> 00:19:07,006
and we'd walk through the town
and we'd pray.

366
00:19:07,111 --> 00:19:10,011
We'd pray over the streets,
we'd pray over the houses.

367
00:19:10,114 --> 00:19:13,464
We'd pray for the people
who lived in the houses.

368
00:19:14,739 --> 00:19:17,399
And one day, as I was praying,

369
00:19:17,501 --> 00:19:19,331
I heard an audible voice,

370
00:19:19,434 --> 00:19:21,024
and it was not the voice of God.

371
00:19:21,125 --> 00:19:25,195
And the voice said,
"I am stealing the children

372
00:19:25,302 --> 00:19:27,612
from under your noses."

373
00:19:31,273 --> 00:19:33,173
And I looked up,

374
00:19:33,275 --> 00:19:35,205
and from under my nose,

375
00:19:35,312 --> 00:19:38,352
was Branson Perry's house,

376
00:19:38,453 --> 00:19:41,593
and then across the street

377
00:19:41,697 --> 00:19:43,977
was Bobbie Jo Stinnett's house.

378
00:19:46,530 --> 00:19:48,360
[Fanning]
Bobbie Jo Stinnett

379
00:19:48,463 --> 00:19:50,783
was brutally murdered

380
00:19:50,879 --> 00:19:52,359
in her own home

381
00:19:52,467 --> 00:19:54,847
right there in Skidmore.

382
00:19:58,990 --> 00:20:01,030
[Marty Small]
I remember being in college

383
00:20:01,130 --> 00:20:02,960
in 2004,

384
00:20:03,063 --> 00:20:05,513
sitting in class,

385
00:20:05,618 --> 00:20:07,718
I got a text message

386
00:20:07,827 --> 00:20:10,757
that there had been
another murder in Skidmore.

387
00:20:12,038 --> 00:20:14,658
Bobbie Jo, she was
a really nice girl.

388
00:20:14,765 --> 00:20:17,455
There was not a mean bone
in her body.

389
00:20:17,561 --> 00:20:20,291
She had been
in my little sister's class

390
00:20:20,391 --> 00:20:23,741
in junior high,
and that was crazy.

391
00:20:23,843 --> 00:20:25,223
I remember the name comes
across, I'm like,

392
00:20:25,327 --> 00:20:27,017
"Holy crap, I know her."

393
00:20:27,122 --> 00:20:29,992
You know,
I can't believe that happened,

394
00:20:30,090 --> 00:20:31,990
yet it didn't surprise me.

395
00:20:39,065 --> 00:20:41,265
[phone line ringing]

396
00:20:46,831 --> 00:20:49,081
[Espey] I was
in the sheriff's department

397
00:20:49,178 --> 00:20:52,248
when the 911 call came in.

398
00:20:52,354 --> 00:20:53,564
[phone line ringing]

399
00:20:53,666 --> 00:20:55,936
I could hear the conversation

400
00:20:56,047 --> 00:20:58,077
from the person
on the other end of the line,

401
00:20:58,187 --> 00:21:00,807
which was Bobbi Jo Stinnett's
mother.

402
00:21:02,813 --> 00:21:05,303
She said, "I need
somebody here right now.

403
00:21:05,402 --> 00:21:08,542
My daughter's stomach
has exploded."

404
00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,060
[police siren blaring]

405
00:21:19,933 --> 00:21:23,013
[Reinig] It was a sight
that probably a county sheriff

406
00:21:23,109 --> 00:21:26,939
in rural northwest Missouri
was not used to seeing.

407
00:21:29,909 --> 00:21:32,359
[Espey] When I got there,
I walked through the house,

408
00:21:32,463 --> 00:21:34,293
and get to the room

409
00:21:34,396 --> 00:21:36,606
where Bobbie Joe Stinnett is.

410
00:21:36,709 --> 00:21:39,609
I could tell,
as I walked through the door,

411
00:21:39,712 --> 00:21:42,402
that there was probably
no life there.

412
00:21:42,508 --> 00:21:44,158
[camera shutter clicking]

413
00:21:44,268 --> 00:21:47,308
Bobbie Jo was laying flat
on her back, face up.

414
00:21:48,410 --> 00:21:49,890
Becky, the mother,

415
00:21:49,998 --> 00:21:51,858
looked at me and says,
"I don't know--

416
00:21:51,965 --> 00:21:54,415
"I've never done CPR. I don't
know that I'm doing it right.

417
00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,870
Can you help?"
I continued CPR

418
00:21:56,970 --> 00:22:01,010
until the ambulance
personnel walked in with a cot.

419
00:22:01,112 --> 00:22:04,322
[Booher] From the bedroom
to the kitchen,

420
00:22:04,426 --> 00:22:07,456
it was a horrific crime scene.

421
00:22:12,572 --> 00:22:14,302
[Britt Small]
There was so much blood,

422
00:22:14,402 --> 00:22:16,652
I mean, it just--
It made me sick.

423
00:22:16,749 --> 00:22:19,299
And the reason I knew
what all happened there

424
00:22:19,407 --> 00:22:23,957
was because my chiropractor
was the coroner at the time.

425
00:22:25,896 --> 00:22:28,166
[Booher] I was actually
here in the news room.

426
00:22:28,277 --> 00:22:32,247
We had gotten calls
from people around the area,

427
00:22:32,351 --> 00:22:33,871
saying, "Hey, looks like

428
00:22:33,973 --> 00:22:36,633
there's something big
goin' on in Skidmore."

429
00:22:36,734 --> 00:22:40,054
And of course, we thought,
"What, again?"

430
00:22:41,014 --> 00:22:43,094
[people chattering]

431
00:22:43,189 --> 00:22:45,569
Okay, here's modulation
mic check for KXCV Radio.

432
00:22:45,674 --> 00:22:48,474
KXCV Maryville,
KRNW Chillicothe.

433
00:22:48,574 --> 00:22:50,374
Mic check modulation.

434
00:22:50,472 --> 00:22:52,372
And, uh,
we don't have anything yet.

435
00:22:57,583 --> 00:22:59,033
[Espey]
There's been several crimes

436
00:22:59,136 --> 00:23:02,096
in Skidmore
over the past several years.

437
00:23:05,314 --> 00:23:07,014
But the Bobbie Jo Stinnett case

438
00:23:07,109 --> 00:23:09,969
was probably the biggest case
that I had in my career.

439
00:23:11,148 --> 00:23:12,358
Okay, we're gonna be real brief.

440
00:23:12,460 --> 00:23:13,880
Is everybody ready?

441
00:23:15,601 --> 00:23:17,671
This conference
won't last very long.

442
00:23:19,018 --> 00:23:21,608
There was a lot of manpower
put into this.

443
00:23:21,710 --> 00:23:23,400
There was a lot of hard
investigative work.

444
00:23:23,505 --> 00:23:25,085
Right now, there's investigators

445
00:23:25,196 --> 00:23:26,336
doing questioning.

446
00:23:26,439 --> 00:23:27,989
[male reporter 1]

447
00:23:28,096 --> 00:23:30,996
There's two people being
questioned at this time.

448
00:23:31,099 --> 00:23:34,379
And, uh, I think that's
where we'll leave it.

449
00:23:34,482 --> 00:23:38,042
[male reporter 1]

450
00:23:38,140 --> 00:23:39,420
They're still
in the process of doing

451
00:23:39,521 --> 00:23:41,111
an investigation on that.

452
00:23:41,212 --> 00:23:43,422
[male reporter 2]

453
00:23:45,182 --> 00:23:47,532
We're in the process
of doing that right now.

454
00:23:48,875 --> 00:23:51,395
[Espey] As they loaded
Bobbie Jo onto the stretcher

455
00:23:51,499 --> 00:23:53,669
and took her out
to the ambulance,

456
00:23:53,777 --> 00:23:55,607
I could see that
her stomach was cut

457
00:23:55,710 --> 00:23:57,160
from side to side.

458
00:23:58,575 --> 00:23:59,885
I then went back into the house

459
00:23:59,990 --> 00:24:02,060
and asked Becky,
the mother, I said,

460
00:24:02,164 --> 00:24:03,894
"Is Bobbie Jo pregnant?"

461
00:24:07,135 --> 00:24:12,515
"Yes, she was within a month
of delivering a new child."

462
00:24:13,452 --> 00:24:14,802
So we had a baby that was cut

463
00:24:14,901 --> 00:24:16,561
out of her mother,

464
00:24:16,662 --> 00:24:18,842
and the baby's gone.

465
00:24:20,044 --> 00:24:21,464
[male reporter]
When police entered this house

466
00:24:21,563 --> 00:24:23,293
in tiny Skidmore, Missouri,

467
00:24:23,392 --> 00:24:26,152
they discovered the slain body
of pregnant mother-to-be,

468
00:24:26,257 --> 00:24:27,667
Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

469
00:24:27,776 --> 00:24:29,846
Her murder was made
all the more horrifying

470
00:24:29,951 --> 00:24:32,331
by what police did not find:

471
00:24:32,436 --> 00:24:34,986
a pregnant woman
attacked in her home,

472
00:24:35,094 --> 00:24:39,654
the baby she was carrying,
cut from her womb and gone.

473
00:24:46,381 --> 00:24:49,211
[Hayes] I remember it was on
Friday when they found Bobbie Jo,

474
00:24:49,315 --> 00:24:52,275
and I cried a lot that night

475
00:24:52,387 --> 00:24:54,557
and I prayed a lot that night.

476
00:24:56,943 --> 00:24:59,193
Makes me shiver yet today.

477
00:24:59,290 --> 00:25:01,740
The cruelest, meanest

478
00:25:01,845 --> 00:25:04,875
that I had ever seen in my life.

479
00:25:04,986 --> 00:25:08,886
And I was raised rough
in the country, and everything,

480
00:25:08,990 --> 00:25:11,540
and never seen
anything like that.

481
00:25:11,648 --> 00:25:13,548
It as just horrible.

482
00:25:16,135 --> 00:25:18,895
Bobbie Jo was the niece
of my daughters.

483
00:25:20,311 --> 00:25:23,211
And Bobbie Jo
and Zeb got married

484
00:25:23,314 --> 00:25:25,944
and was doin' real good.

485
00:25:26,041 --> 00:25:28,041
They were raising dogs together.

486
00:25:28,147 --> 00:25:33,257
And I never knew of Bobbie Jo
and Zeb ever had any problems.

487
00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:35,639
The mother, Becky, worked
at the filling station,

488
00:25:35,741 --> 00:25:38,331
and Bobbie Jo would come down
and pick her mother up

489
00:25:38,433 --> 00:25:39,713
and take her down home.

490
00:25:39,814 --> 00:25:41,374
Well, that very day,

491
00:25:41,470 --> 00:25:43,680
Becky knew that there
must have been something wrong,

492
00:25:43,783 --> 00:25:45,893
because Bobbie Jo
hadn't got down there.

493
00:25:45,992 --> 00:25:50,762
And so, that's when her mother
went up there,

494
00:25:50,859 --> 00:25:52,859
and that's when the mother
had found out

495
00:25:52,965 --> 00:25:55,345
they'd cut
Bobbie Jo's baby out of her.

496
00:25:58,522 --> 00:26:01,282
[Brett Small] She was a
good friend of my daughters.

497
00:26:01,387 --> 00:26:03,797
And she used to come out here,
ride her pony out here,

498
00:26:03,907 --> 00:26:07,357
and sit right here at the table
and eat with the family.

499
00:26:08,843 --> 00:26:10,673
[Goslee]
I knew Bobbie Jo real well.

500
00:26:10,776 --> 00:26:12,566
I knew her folks.

501
00:26:13,641 --> 00:26:15,711
Young cowgirl.

502
00:26:18,922 --> 00:26:20,822
She wouldn't hurt a fly.

503
00:26:22,477 --> 00:26:25,137
It's a real, real, real tragedy

504
00:26:25,238 --> 00:26:27,028
of what happened to her.

505
00:26:31,451 --> 00:26:34,181
[male officer] The sheriff, when
he started the investigation,

506
00:26:34,282 --> 00:26:37,152
right away, he activated
the major case squad,

507
00:26:37,250 --> 00:26:39,740
which brought in other
law enforcement agencies,

508
00:26:39,839 --> 00:26:42,809
such as the highway patrol,
the FBI,

509
00:26:42,911 --> 00:26:44,601
different sheriffs,
police departments

510
00:26:44,706 --> 00:26:46,736
in northwest Missouri.

511
00:26:46,846 --> 00:26:49,876
Essentially, half the town
was blocked off

512
00:26:49,987 --> 00:26:52,017
because of the crime scene.

513
00:26:52,127 --> 00:26:53,777
[Fanning]
They wanted every little

514
00:26:53,888 --> 00:26:56,098
tiny piece of trace evidence

515
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:58,690
they could find
that would nail down

516
00:26:58,789 --> 00:27:01,269
who came into this home.

517
00:27:03,967 --> 00:27:05,377
[Booher]
The first thing they did

518
00:27:05,485 --> 00:27:08,105
was take blood samples
of everything.

519
00:27:08,212 --> 00:27:09,842
[camera shutter clicking]

520
00:27:09,938 --> 00:27:12,178
There was a trail of blood

521
00:27:12,285 --> 00:27:16,145
where her murderer
had dragged her body

522
00:27:16,255 --> 00:27:18,255
down a hallway;

523
00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:21,330
a bloody knife laying
on the counter

524
00:27:21,432 --> 00:27:25,302
that was used to cut the baby
out of Bobbie Jo's womb.

525
00:27:27,266 --> 00:27:31,166
[Fanning] Forensic scientists
took up a piece of floor

526
00:27:31,270 --> 00:27:34,170
where she breathed
her last breath

527
00:27:34,273 --> 00:27:36,723
to see what evidence
they could find.

528
00:27:38,553 --> 00:27:41,043
[Booher] They don't want
to disturb the body.

529
00:27:41,142 --> 00:27:44,352
They want the body
to remain as it was

530
00:27:44,455 --> 00:27:46,035
when she died.

531
00:27:46,147 --> 00:27:48,837
So they just cut
the whole floor up--

532
00:27:48,943 --> 00:27:51,193
they pry it up, they lift it up

533
00:27:51,290 --> 00:27:53,260
and they take it
out of the house.

534
00:27:55,294 --> 00:27:59,194
[Strong] At the time, I was
a detective here in Maryville.

535
00:27:59,298 --> 00:28:03,338
And shortly after Sheriff Espey
and his deputies arrived there,

536
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,170
I got a phone call.

537
00:28:05,269 --> 00:28:08,069
The body was being taken
to St. Francis Hospital.

538
00:28:08,169 --> 00:28:09,929
I was told to go down there

539
00:28:10,033 --> 00:28:12,243
and document the body--
photograph the body

540
00:28:12,345 --> 00:28:13,685
and look for evidence.

541
00:28:16,142 --> 00:28:18,732
There were ligature marks
around her neck,

542
00:28:18,835 --> 00:28:21,315
where I could see a pattern--

543
00:28:21,423 --> 00:28:24,673
she was strangled at least
twice, if not, three times.

544
00:28:24,772 --> 00:28:26,642
I could see
the distinct bruising

545
00:28:26,739 --> 00:28:29,329
and the marks of the rope
around her neck.

546
00:28:29,431 --> 00:28:30,851
She was barefoot.

547
00:28:30,950 --> 00:28:32,500
I noticed that
on the top of her feet

548
00:28:32,607 --> 00:28:34,017
there was no blood.

549
00:28:34,126 --> 00:28:35,916
Her feet had been flat in blood

550
00:28:36,024 --> 00:28:38,344
and that blood had come up
between her toes,

551
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,930
which told me that
once she had been cut,

552
00:28:42,030 --> 00:28:45,100
and cut severely, that she was
not dead yet for a little bit,

553
00:28:45,206 --> 00:28:47,586
that she was able
to get up and stand.

554
00:28:47,691 --> 00:28:49,491
I believe that her attacker

555
00:28:49,589 --> 00:28:52,389
started cutting on her,
blood spilled out

556
00:28:52,489 --> 00:28:55,249
and that Bobbie Jo continued
to fight for her life,

557
00:28:55,354 --> 00:28:56,874
or her baby's life.

558
00:29:18,377 --> 00:29:22,037
People live in an area
like Skidmore, Missouri

559
00:29:22,139 --> 00:29:24,869
because, basically,
they want a quiet life.

560
00:29:27,110 --> 00:29:29,700
Then when
Bobbie Jo Stinnett died,

561
00:29:29,802 --> 00:29:34,152
all their old misbehaviors
were brought out.

562
00:29:34,255 --> 00:29:37,905
Everybody was focused on
what was wrong with Skidmore.

563
00:29:38,017 --> 00:29:40,227
[male reporter 1] Bobbie Jo
Stinnett was found strangled,

564
00:29:40,330 --> 00:29:43,820
lying in a pool of blood
inside this Skidmore home.

565
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,470
[male reporter 2] Keep in mind,
Skidmore was already no stranger

566
00:29:46,577 --> 00:29:49,927
to the media, and this case
put them on the map again.

567
00:29:50,029 --> 00:29:51,509
All these reporters

568
00:29:51,617 --> 00:29:53,927
and all these journalists
were comin' into town,

569
00:29:54,033 --> 00:29:56,453
and they were dredging
all this stuff up again.

570
00:29:56,553 --> 00:29:59,693
This was something
so unusual that it captured

571
00:29:59,798 --> 00:30:02,728
the attention of media outlets
all over the world.

572
00:30:02,835 --> 00:30:04,695
A baby born of violence,

573
00:30:04,803 --> 00:30:06,463
ripped from the womb
and her mother...

574
00:30:06,563 --> 00:30:08,913
Fetal abduction
in the nation's heartland.

575
00:30:09,014 --> 00:30:12,024
[female reporter] The vicious crime
has shaken this tight knit small town.

576
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,500
I just can't understand
why anybody

577
00:30:14,605 --> 00:30:16,845
would do a trick like that.

578
00:30:26,134 --> 00:30:28,724
[Jeff Lanza] File, and you might have
a lot more information at that point.

579
00:30:28,827 --> 00:30:31,207
- [woman] Sheriff-- -[man] What time
you talkin', like later on tonight?

580
00:30:31,312 --> 00:30:33,112
Yes, later on tonight,
I would anticipate.

581
00:30:33,210 --> 00:30:35,320
I don't have
a specific time, okay?

582
00:30:35,419 --> 00:30:37,009
[female reporter]

583
00:30:44,221 --> 00:30:47,191
Nobody here,
nobody here could ever perceive

584
00:30:47,293 --> 00:30:49,233
this ever taking place,

585
00:30:49,330 --> 00:30:52,510
to have a fetus taken out
of someone's womb.

586
00:30:54,059 --> 00:30:55,609
It's unconceivable.

587
00:30:56,855 --> 00:30:58,095
And I'm a grandparent,

588
00:30:58,201 --> 00:31:00,271
and I had a grandson born

589
00:31:00,375 --> 00:31:03,235
six days prior to this incident.

590
00:31:04,897 --> 00:31:08,247
And then for me to think that
now I'm workin' a case here

591
00:31:08,349 --> 00:31:10,489
where someone's taken a baby
out of a mother...

592
00:31:12,353 --> 00:31:15,153
The grandparents, the family,

593
00:31:15,252 --> 00:31:17,632
nobody was gonna be able
to see this baby.

594
00:31:17,737 --> 00:31:20,117
I know you guys,
you really want a lot of stuff.

595
00:31:20,223 --> 00:31:22,333
We're in the middle
of this investigation.

596
00:31:22,432 --> 00:31:24,022
We're not in the back of it.

597
00:31:24,123 --> 00:31:25,643
What I can't do
and we can't afford to do

598
00:31:25,745 --> 00:31:28,675
is let anything slip from here
that can jeopardize

599
00:31:28,783 --> 00:31:30,513
the murder case.
And you're gonna want--

600
00:31:30,612 --> 00:31:32,752
If it's your grandkid,
you're gonna want this person

601
00:31:32,856 --> 00:31:33,996
behind bars as well as we are.

602
00:31:34,099 --> 00:31:36,479
[male reporter]

603
00:31:37,826 --> 00:31:39,656
We're really not gonna
comment on that right now.

604
00:31:39,759 --> 00:31:41,379
If you stick around
for a little while,

605
00:31:41,485 --> 00:31:42,655
we may have some more
information about the case

606
00:31:42,762 --> 00:31:44,252
in general. Thank you very much.

607
00:31:44,350 --> 00:31:47,660
- [reporters clamoring]
- [Lanza] Get it right here.

608
00:31:54,429 --> 00:31:58,159
[Booher] Law enforcement
was under enormous pressure

609
00:31:58,261 --> 00:32:00,231
to solve this case,

610
00:32:00,332 --> 00:32:02,132
and do it damn quick.

611
00:32:02,230 --> 00:32:04,650
[female reporter] Officials
ask if you know anything,

612
00:32:04,750 --> 00:32:06,230
to come forward.

613
00:32:06,338 --> 00:32:07,788
[Espey] Don't assume
that we already know,

614
00:32:07,891 --> 00:32:09,171
'cause we may not.

615
00:32:09,272 --> 00:32:11,312
And that may be the one piece

616
00:32:11,412 --> 00:32:12,972
of the puzzle
that we might need.

617
00:32:14,553 --> 00:32:16,563
[Hayes] It was
December the 16th,

618
00:32:16,658 --> 00:32:19,078
around 3:30...

619
00:32:20,559 --> 00:32:23,459
my son and I
rolled up in the yard,

620
00:32:23,562 --> 00:32:25,462
and here come this red car,

621
00:32:25,564 --> 00:32:27,504
just abarrelin'.

622
00:32:31,501 --> 00:32:35,441
I seen a woman in the back seat
doing something.

623
00:32:35,539 --> 00:32:38,779
And the little one
that was doing the driving,

624
00:32:38,887 --> 00:32:41,027
her hands were small.

625
00:32:41,131 --> 00:32:43,821
So we run around
the truck to see,

626
00:32:43,927 --> 00:32:45,957
and the vehicle went south.

627
00:32:48,518 --> 00:32:51,278
And I thought, "Should I call
the sheriff to see?

628
00:32:51,383 --> 00:32:53,973
Maybe it would
give him a lead."

629
00:32:54,075 --> 00:32:56,105
I did go ahead and call.

630
00:32:56,215 --> 00:32:59,485
I called the sheriff
to tell the FBI

631
00:32:59,598 --> 00:33:01,118
what I seen.

632
00:33:01,220 --> 00:33:03,500
[male reporter] Early on,
investigators got a lead--

633
00:33:03,602 --> 00:33:06,992
an anonymous phone call
about a red car.

634
00:33:07,088 --> 00:33:10,088
[Booher] The day that
Bobbie Jo Stinnett was killed

635
00:33:10,195 --> 00:33:15,225
was different from Ken Rex
and Branson Perry's case.

636
00:33:16,787 --> 00:33:18,197
I don't know if it was because

637
00:33:18,306 --> 00:33:20,826
there was an infant involved,

638
00:33:20,929 --> 00:33:26,349
but Nodaway County
asked for help that day.

639
00:33:26,452 --> 00:33:30,422
Townspeople responded that day.

640
00:33:30,525 --> 00:33:34,115
Tonight, the authorities
are still looking for

641
00:33:34,219 --> 00:33:36,949
the red car-- they believe
the red car was used

642
00:33:37,049 --> 00:33:38,599
to take the baby away.

643
00:33:38,706 --> 00:33:41,016
[male reporter]
The FBI, highway patrol,

644
00:33:41,122 --> 00:33:42,812
the sheriff, had nothing but red

645
00:33:42,917 --> 00:33:45,637
as the color of
the getaway car. That was it.

646
00:33:45,747 --> 00:33:48,437
Remember, they didn't know
if they would find a baby,

647
00:33:48,543 --> 00:33:50,893
if the baby would be alive
or healthy,

648
00:33:50,994 --> 00:33:53,414
or how to even tell
if it's the right baby.

649
00:33:53,514 --> 00:33:56,664
Because this baby
had not gone full term,

650
00:33:56,758 --> 00:34:00,378
but he's probably alive
out there somewhere.

651
00:34:00,486 --> 00:34:04,586
[Fanning] And so the time factor
is even more critical.

652
00:34:05,767 --> 00:34:08,247
[Espey] The mother
was eight months pregnant,

653
00:34:08,356 --> 00:34:11,566
so we're lookin' at
a one-month premature baby.

654
00:34:11,670 --> 00:34:13,740
From what it looks like
to us is, there was,

655
00:34:13,844 --> 00:34:15,504
the evidence would show
that the baby

656
00:34:15,605 --> 00:34:18,565
was probably wrapped up
and taken out of the home.

657
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:24,169
[Reinig] The sheriff immediately
called for an amber alert,

658
00:34:24,269 --> 00:34:26,099
for the child that was missing.

659
00:34:26,202 --> 00:34:28,552
And apparently,
the state refused.

660
00:34:28,652 --> 00:34:30,482
We didn't have enough criteria
to meet it,

661
00:34:30,585 --> 00:34:32,925
which would be
like hair color, eye color,

662
00:34:33,036 --> 00:34:35,106
skin complexion, size, weight.

663
00:34:36,281 --> 00:34:37,391
[Espey]
The amber alert is a system

664
00:34:37,489 --> 00:34:39,219
here in the United States.

665
00:34:39,318 --> 00:34:40,598
Law enforcement started this up,

666
00:34:40,699 --> 00:34:42,289
and it's meant to help
find a child

667
00:34:42,390 --> 00:34:44,050
that's in distress

668
00:34:44,151 --> 00:34:45,431
or somebody's kidnapped.

669
00:34:45,531 --> 00:34:46,951
[beeping]

670
00:34:47,050 --> 00:34:48,910
There's a description
of the child,

671
00:34:49,017 --> 00:34:52,057
description of the vehicle
you're looking for.

672
00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:56,269
It goes out on all
the law enforcement networks,

673
00:34:56,370 --> 00:34:58,480
on all the television,
all the radio,

674
00:34:58,579 --> 00:35:01,099
right now
on all the cell phones.

675
00:35:04,412 --> 00:35:06,972
[Fanning]
But there was a problem.

676
00:35:07,070 --> 00:35:09,280
He could not describe the baby.

677
00:35:09,383 --> 00:35:10,873
The baby hadn't been born.

678
00:35:10,970 --> 00:35:12,490
[male reporter]
Sheriff Ben Espey had

679
00:35:12,593 --> 00:35:14,843
a brutal crime to solve,
and fast.

680
00:35:14,940 --> 00:35:18,390
But how could he request
an amber alert for a child

681
00:35:18,495 --> 00:35:21,325
that had technically
never been born?

682
00:35:22,603 --> 00:35:24,783
[Fanning] No one
could describe the baby,

683
00:35:24,881 --> 00:35:27,681
but the person
who just abducted the baby.

684
00:35:43,900 --> 00:35:46,940
Over here is where
Bobbie Jo lived.

685
00:35:49,354 --> 00:35:51,844
And they've been in the process
of tearin' this down

686
00:35:51,942 --> 00:35:53,462
ever since the murder, but...

687
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,190
uh, it's a real slow process.

688
00:35:59,985 --> 00:36:01,635
Sad, sad deal.

689
00:36:06,164 --> 00:36:07,654
My stepdaughter lived here

690
00:36:07,751 --> 00:36:10,511
with her two boys
for a couple years...

691
00:36:11,617 --> 00:36:13,897
prior to what happened
to Bobbie Jo.

692
00:36:13,999 --> 00:36:16,449
I used to come up here
all the time.

693
00:36:16,553 --> 00:36:18,623
[knocks on wood frame]

694
00:36:18,728 --> 00:36:21,318
Living room and a spare bedroom.

695
00:36:21,420 --> 00:36:23,800
Bathroom right there.

696
00:36:25,286 --> 00:36:26,936
Little kitchen area.

697
00:36:28,565 --> 00:36:31,705
I don't know
the gruesome details.

698
00:36:31,810 --> 00:36:34,400
I wouldn't talk about 'em
if I did.

699
00:36:34,502 --> 00:36:38,132
But you take a young woman

700
00:36:38,230 --> 00:36:39,440
gettin' ready to have a baby,

701
00:36:39,542 --> 00:36:41,442
and somebody murdered her?

702
00:36:41,544 --> 00:36:44,374
I mean, it can't get
any worse than that.

703
00:36:45,375 --> 00:36:47,545
Can't get any worse than that.

704
00:36:50,449 --> 00:36:51,859
Probably the saddest thing

705
00:36:51,968 --> 00:36:53,898
that's ever happened
in this town.

706
00:37:01,253 --> 00:37:03,393
[Fanning] We have long heard
the phrase that

707
00:37:03,497 --> 00:37:08,257
"The sins of the father
are visited upon their sons."

708
00:37:09,468 --> 00:37:11,988
One generation stood
in the street

709
00:37:12,091 --> 00:37:15,201
and shot down Ken McElroy

710
00:37:15,302 --> 00:37:17,032
and ended his life.

711
00:37:19,513 --> 00:37:22,553
With a small town like Skidmore,

712
00:37:22,654 --> 00:37:25,384
these violent crimes
leave a mark

713
00:37:25,484 --> 00:37:27,524
on the whole town.

714
00:37:27,624 --> 00:37:29,454
It's almost biblical,

715
00:37:29,557 --> 00:37:33,317
that one act of violence

716
00:37:33,423 --> 00:37:35,493
seemed to have bred

717
00:37:35,598 --> 00:37:39,118
three acts of violence
in the next generation.

718
00:37:40,810 --> 00:37:44,120
[male reporter 1] Bobby Jo Stinnett
would never see her child born.

719
00:37:44,227 --> 00:37:46,017
The 23-year-old pregnant woman

720
00:37:46,125 --> 00:37:47,985
was strangled
in their small town home--

721
00:37:48,093 --> 00:37:51,443
her womb cut
and her unborn baby kidnapped.

722
00:37:51,545 --> 00:37:53,305
The medics told us
at the hospital that

723
00:37:53,409 --> 00:37:55,169
this baby is
probably still alive

724
00:37:55,273 --> 00:37:56,933
and is gonna need
medical attention.

725
00:37:59,587 --> 00:38:02,727
[male reporter 2] The sheriff's
first amber alert request was denied,

726
00:38:02,832 --> 00:38:04,942
because this child
had not been born yet.

727
00:38:05,041 --> 00:38:07,391
[Espey] Well, they wouldn't
give me the amber alert.

728
00:38:07,492 --> 00:38:10,252
The said you gotta have
the baby's height, weight,

729
00:38:10,357 --> 00:38:12,427
eye color, hair color.

730
00:38:12,531 --> 00:38:14,021
Well, we didn't have
any of that.

731
00:38:14,119 --> 00:38:15,709
The only thing I really had was

732
00:38:15,810 --> 00:38:18,610
the fact that we had a baby
that was a month premature

733
00:38:18,710 --> 00:38:20,300
that had been taken.

734
00:38:20,401 --> 00:38:22,711
And to me,
that should be enough.

735
00:38:22,817 --> 00:38:24,407
[male reporter 3]
Espey would not be deterred.

736
00:38:24,509 --> 00:38:26,509
He made some calls,
pushed his case,

737
00:38:26,614 --> 00:38:28,314
He even lobbied his congressman

738
00:38:28,409 --> 00:38:30,409
to make sure the word got out.

739
00:38:31,343 --> 00:38:32,693
[Espey] So here's what we got.

740
00:38:32,793 --> 00:38:34,103
We've got a baby
that was cut out,

741
00:38:34,208 --> 00:38:37,038
we've got a murder--
the mother's dead--

742
00:38:37,142 --> 00:38:38,732
and I need the amber alert.

743
00:38:38,833 --> 00:38:41,153
Within two hours,
the highway patrol

744
00:38:41,249 --> 00:38:42,979
called me and said, "All right,
Sheriff, you got what you wanted."

745
00:38:43,079 --> 00:38:44,669
Well, I didn't like
that attitude.

746
00:38:44,770 --> 00:38:46,950
But I got it.
I got what I wanted.

747
00:38:47,048 --> 00:38:48,808
[male reporter 4]
After a day long nightmare,

748
00:38:48,912 --> 00:38:50,502
police sounded an amber alert,

749
00:38:50,604 --> 00:38:52,164
triggering a dragnet in Missouri

750
00:38:52,260 --> 00:38:53,610
and nearby states.

751
00:38:53,710 --> 00:38:54,990
[Espey over radio]
Keep an eye out for

752
00:38:55,091 --> 00:38:56,511
an infant with possible
health issues,

753
00:38:56,610 --> 00:38:58,230
a newly cut umbilical cord

754
00:38:58,336 --> 00:39:00,196
and bloody clothing.

755
00:39:00,303 --> 00:39:03,513
[Fanning] It was all over
national television.

756
00:39:03,617 --> 00:39:06,617
Where is this baby?

757
00:39:11,279 --> 00:39:13,209
We're back here live.
Now, they are just going to go

758
00:39:13,316 --> 00:39:14,866
with a press conference--
they're going to give an update.

759
00:39:14,973 --> 00:39:16,663
Here is the latest
from the investigators...

760
00:39:16,768 --> 00:39:18,938
- ...in this case.
- [Espey]...involved in the case.

761
00:39:20,116 --> 00:39:21,906
[Espey] When this
amber alert come out,

762
00:39:22,014 --> 00:39:23,744
we took an anonymous tip
that come

763
00:39:23,844 --> 00:39:25,744
from several states away
from here...

764
00:39:27,019 --> 00:39:29,059
[Fanning] Meanwhile,
they're taking

765
00:39:29,159 --> 00:39:31,709
lots of calls from people

766
00:39:31,817 --> 00:39:34,537
who are noticing odd things.

767
00:39:34,648 --> 00:39:38,068
But the real trigger
to find out what was going on

768
00:39:38,168 --> 00:39:40,548
was in Bobbie Jo's computer.

769
00:39:43,691 --> 00:39:46,071
[male reporter] A fellow dog
breeder from North Carolina

770
00:39:46,176 --> 00:39:48,796
led FBI agents
to Stinnett's website.

771
00:39:48,903 --> 00:39:51,083
Investigators
searched her computer,

772
00:39:51,181 --> 00:39:52,631
discovering a vital clue.

773
00:39:52,735 --> 00:39:54,905
[man] Bobbie Jo ran a website

774
00:39:55,013 --> 00:39:57,263
where she sold rat terrier dogs.

775
00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:58,810
[mouse clicks]

776
00:39:58,913 --> 00:40:00,233
They took that computer in,

777
00:40:00,328 --> 00:40:02,048
they started analyzing it,

778
00:40:02,158 --> 00:40:04,438
and they found this chat group

779
00:40:04,540 --> 00:40:07,160
of rat terrier breeders...

780
00:40:07,266 --> 00:40:08,406
[mouse clicks]

781
00:40:08,509 --> 00:40:09,859
[Booher] At the time,

782
00:40:09,959 --> 00:40:12,169
we didn't think
it was important.

783
00:40:12,271 --> 00:40:14,031
[Strong] Anybody
getting on the website

784
00:40:14,135 --> 00:40:15,645
could look at that
and see that she was pregnant.

785
00:40:15,758 --> 00:40:17,138
[mouse clicks]

786
00:40:17,242 --> 00:40:19,042
She documented
her pregnancy on that.

787
00:40:19,140 --> 00:40:21,040
She showed
different stages of that,

788
00:40:21,142 --> 00:40:23,182
and she talked about
how excited she was--

789
00:40:23,282 --> 00:40:25,632
this was gonna be
her and Zeb's first child.

790
00:40:25,733 --> 00:40:26,843
[mouse clicks]

791
00:40:26,941 --> 00:40:28,811
Her address is on the website,

792
00:40:28,909 --> 00:40:31,119
so anybody could get on there
and find out where she lived.

793
00:40:31,221 --> 00:40:33,261
The day before the murder,

794
00:40:33,361 --> 00:40:35,261
a woman gets online,

795
00:40:35,363 --> 00:40:36,683
and introduces herself

796
00:40:36,779 --> 00:40:38,469
as Darlene Fischer.

797
00:40:38,574 --> 00:40:41,344
She says she wants to buy a dog

798
00:40:41,439 --> 00:40:42,509
from Bobbie Jo Stinnett

799
00:40:42,612 --> 00:40:44,512
in Skidmore, Missouri.

800
00:40:44,614 --> 00:40:47,004
Bobbie Jo was

801
00:40:47,099 --> 00:40:48,449
making arrangements

802
00:40:48,549 --> 00:40:50,339
to meet with someone,

803
00:40:50,448 --> 00:40:51,658
and it was supposed to happen

804
00:40:51,759 --> 00:40:53,759
that day.

805
00:40:53,865 --> 00:40:55,625
So they wanted to find

806
00:40:55,729 --> 00:40:57,249
this person--
find out if that person

807
00:40:57,351 --> 00:40:58,531
had come to the house

808
00:40:58,628 --> 00:41:00,698
to look at the puppies.

809
00:41:03,253 --> 00:41:05,223
She was Darlene Fischer

810
00:41:05,324 --> 00:41:07,534
from Fairfax, Missouri.

811
00:41:10,226 --> 00:41:12,086
They flooded Fairfax

812
00:41:12,193 --> 00:41:15,063
with tons of cops,
trying to find Darlene Fischer.

813
00:41:15,162 --> 00:41:17,512
[police siren blaring
in distance]

814
00:41:17,613 --> 00:41:19,173
[thunder crashes]

815
00:41:19,269 --> 00:41:21,129
But it was all a ruse.

816
00:41:22,341 --> 00:41:25,721
The FBI then, very quickly,
was able to track

817
00:41:25,828 --> 00:41:28,108
this Darlene Fischer's
domain name

818
00:41:28,209 --> 00:41:29,559
back to Melvern, Kansas.

819
00:41:29,659 --> 00:41:32,459
[♪♪♪]

820
00:41:32,559 --> 00:41:34,179
[Espey] So that's when I sent

821
00:41:34,284 --> 00:41:35,634
Randy Strong and Don Fritz

822
00:41:35,734 --> 00:41:38,154
to Melvern, Kansas

823
00:41:38,254 --> 00:41:39,324
to try to figure out

824
00:41:39,427 --> 00:41:42,087
who Darlene Fischer was.

825
00:41:42,189 --> 00:41:43,219
[thunder crashes]

826
00:41:43,328 --> 00:41:44,638
And at the same time,

827
00:41:44,743 --> 00:41:46,503
a woman from Melvern

828
00:41:46,607 --> 00:41:48,677
was calling in and saying,

829
00:41:48,782 --> 00:41:52,512
"There was this woman walking
around with a newborn baby."

830
00:41:53,303 --> 00:41:54,443
Lisa Montgomery.

831
00:41:54,546 --> 00:41:56,926
[♪♪♪]

832
00:41:57,031 --> 00:41:59,341
Lisa Montgomery is incapable

833
00:41:59,447 --> 00:42:00,967
of having a newborn baby.

834
00:42:01,070 --> 00:42:03,590
She had a tubal ligation
years ago.

835
00:42:05,143 --> 00:42:06,873
[female reporter]
That woman, Darlene Fischer,

836
00:42:06,972 --> 00:42:09,602
turns out to be Lisa Montgomery.

837
00:42:09,699 --> 00:42:12,359
[Fanning]
Everything was closing in.

838
00:42:12,460 --> 00:42:14,390
That baby had to be located

839
00:42:14,497 --> 00:42:16,327
as fast as they could.

840
00:42:16,430 --> 00:42:19,880
There are all sorts of things
that could go wrong.

841
00:42:19,985 --> 00:42:21,635
This child is in danger.

842
00:42:21,746 --> 00:42:23,816
[♪♪♪]

843
00:42:25,301 --> 00:42:27,341
[♪♪♪]