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434 // Lonene Rogers

434 // Lonene Rogers

Released Thursday, 7th December 2023
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434 // Lonene Rogers

434 // Lonene Rogers

434 // Lonene Rogers

434 // Lonene Rogers

Thursday, 7th December 2023
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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0:00

This is a Glassbox Media Podcast.

0:41

Welcome back to Missing. I am Tim here

0:43

today with Lance. Lance, how are you today?

0:45

I'm doing fantastic today, Tim. I hope all

0:48

of the missing listeners are doing as fantastic

0:50

as I'm doing. You seem to be doing

0:52

well, Tim. I feel inspired after this conversation

0:54

that we had. Are you feeling the same

0:57

way? How are you? I'm

0:59

doing great. Thanks a lot for

1:01

asking. And yeah, we spoke with

1:03

Allison Dyker in this interview, and

1:05

she is the daughter of Leneen

1:07

Rogers, who went missing on January

1:09

7th, 1981. At

1:13

the time of her disappearance, Leneen was 5'5", 140 pounds,

1:16

with sandy brown slash blonde

1:21

hair and gray eyes. And

1:23

if you have any information,

1:25

please call 814-332-6911. And

1:31

the reason why I said that I felt inspired

1:33

after this conversation is because Allison

1:36

has come out of this period of

1:38

her life in her adolescence, this period

1:40

of abuse and witnessing this abuse, to

1:42

write a book, too, A

1:44

Daughter's Journey and Story

1:46

of Resilience. This is a book that

1:49

you can find in any of your

1:51

booksellers, including Amazon. But she writes this

1:53

story. She's also used this traumatic moment

1:55

in her life to educate younger

1:58

people, including her family as well. So

2:00

what I thought was going to be a

2:02

heavy, serious conversation, which it was, turned out

2:04

to be not so much and I left

2:07

this conversation feeling like, hey, this woman

2:09

got through a lot and

2:11

it kind of puts a lot of things into perspective in

2:13

your own life, you know? Yeah,

2:15

absolutely. Yeah, Alison is

2:17

incredible to have lived through what she's

2:20

lived through and I'm sure you'll agree

2:22

after listening to her teller story in

2:24

her own words. But yeah,

2:26

you can pick up her book as well. It's

2:28

on Amazon and anywhere else you choose

2:31

to do your book shopping. And we're

2:33

just going to take a quick break

2:35

for commercial and we'll be right back

2:37

with Alison Diker. Before

2:44

we begin today's episode, you're about

2:46

to hear a word from our

2:48

sponsors. These ads make our show

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for you Apple Podcast listeners, you

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can also join directly on Apple Podcasts

3:16

by clicking try free at the top

3:18

of the feed. Now a word from

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4:00

selectquote.com. Select quote, we

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shop, you save. Full

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details on example policies at selectquote.com

4:08

slash commercials. Welcome

4:19

to the podcast, Alison Diker. How

4:21

are you today? I

4:23

am great. Thank you for having me. Yes.

4:26

Thank you so much for joining us. It's

4:28

so good to virtually meet you. We've

4:30

been working with the Light the Way organization,

4:33

Light the Way Missing. So that's how we

4:35

got connected here. Can you

4:37

introduce yourself and how you met Light

4:41

the Way and what it is that

4:43

brings you to the show tonight? Absolutely.

4:47

So Light the Way actually

4:51

joined my Facebook

4:54

page. I created

4:56

a Justice for Launeen page

4:58

on Facebook

5:01

and Launeen is my mother. She

5:04

has been a missing person for, it'll

5:06

be 43 years in January. I

5:10

was only five when she disappeared. And I,

5:13

you know, when I became an adult, I

5:16

started to question and started to think, you

5:19

know, I used to be afraid of the

5:21

story and afraid to even ask questions. But

5:24

when I became an adult and just felt, you

5:26

know, more confident in myself and safe, I

5:29

thought, you know, somebody has got to ask

5:31

questions. What happened? And so

5:33

I created this page and worked

5:36

really hard on trying

5:38

to bring awareness to the page, awareness

5:40

to the case. And I was lucky

5:42

that Light the Way found my page

5:45

and they joined and then said, we want

5:47

to help. And I said,

5:50

that's fantastic. And they

5:52

then connected me with you. Very

5:54

cool. Well, yeah, you've been doing a

5:56

great job advocating and really getting out

5:58

there with interviews. So well done with

6:02

all that. Yeah. Can

6:05

you tell us a little bit about your

6:07

background? I was born to

6:10

two deaf parents. My mother and

6:12

father were both deaf. They

6:16

had a rocky relationship from the start. And

6:18

I was born

6:22

shortly after they were married. I had a

6:24

brother that was born shortly after that. And

6:26

I do believe my mother hoped that having

6:29

children, which she dreamed

6:31

of, would also change my father and

6:34

his abusive and

6:36

criminal ways that

6:38

she had experienced during

6:41

their marriage. And long before their marriage,

6:43

for sure, it did not.

6:46

And when I was

6:48

five, she actually

6:51

became a missing person.

6:53

And the story

6:56

there is she was planning to leave

6:58

my father. So in October,

7:01

they were actually legally separated in

7:03

October of 1980. And

7:10

my mother allowed him to come

7:12

back to the home because the

7:14

area is very snowy

7:17

at the snow belt area. And

7:19

she wanted him to be able

7:21

to experience Christmas with

7:23

his children. We were young. So

7:26

she allowed him to come back to the

7:28

home over the Christmas holiday, concerned

7:30

for the weather and his ability to get

7:33

back and forth from where he was

7:35

staying, which was with his parents. So

7:38

we did Christmas together. She did indicate

7:40

that when Christmas was done, he needed

7:42

to go home. They were

7:44

not getting back together. She was just being kind.

7:47

And shortly after that,

7:49

so the night of January 6,

7:51

1981, she

7:55

decided that he

7:57

was not going to leave. She asked him

7:59

repeatedly. To leave he would

8:01

not he said this is my home. These are my

8:03

children. I'm not leaving She

8:06

had left work And

8:09

gone to her parents home and explained to them

8:11

that he was never gonna leave the house She

8:13

was going to have to leave and

8:15

she asked to borrow money

8:18

to kind of help her figure out

8:20

where she's gonna go and you know how she's gonna

8:23

Handle leaving him came home that night

8:26

Had dinner with the family which would have been my

8:28

father my brother and I they

8:31

argued that night and I Know

8:35

that because we lived in a duplex Which

8:37

means we lived on the top apartment and

8:39

then there was a family that

8:41

lived under us and the family

8:44

reported That they heard arguing

8:46

and yelling and you know that sort

8:48

of thing to the police Into

8:51

the early hours of the morning. So that

8:53

was January 6th of 1981 and The

8:58

night, you know going into January 7th

9:02

my father's claims to have

9:04

awoken at 1240 because he was on

9:06

the couch after their fight and I'm

9:10

sure he was on the couch anyway because they were

9:12

separated but he claims that he woke at 1240 and

9:14

she was gone He

9:17

claimed that she left with

9:19

another man woke my brother and I up

9:21

at 3 a.m. And Took

9:25

us to the babysitter claiming that he was

9:27

going to look for her and That

9:31

she had left with another man so

9:34

the babysitter was also hearing impaired the

9:37

babysitter then waited until morning

9:39

so that The timing

9:41

is is very important where

9:43

he claims to have woken at 1240 a.m.

9:47

however he Went

9:51

to sleep when he realized he claims that he

9:53

went back to sleep when he realized she wasn't

9:55

there and Assumed that

9:57

she would just you know return

10:00

And then at 3 a.m. he claims

10:02

to have woken to get ready for

10:04

work and she's still gone. So

10:07

he wakes

10:10

us up, takes us to the babysitter. As

10:12

I said, the babysitter was hearing

10:14

impaired and waited until

10:16

morning because it was three o'clock in the

10:18

morning when he took us

10:21

there. The

10:23

babysitter then waits till

10:25

morning, has her hearing daughter call

10:27

my grandfather. My grandfather was

10:30

hearing and the hearing daughter said,

10:32

you know, the children were brought

10:34

here at 3 o'clock in the

10:36

morning. I'm very worried. Of course,

10:38

my grandfather was very worried knowing

10:41

that she had just had a conversation with

10:44

them about leaving him. He immediately

10:46

went to the apartment where

10:48

we were, the duplex, and

10:51

kicked open the door with my great grandfather,

10:53

went upstairs and

10:56

found the apartment pristine.

10:59

Everything was clean, no dishes in the

11:02

sink, beds were made, everything in its

11:04

place. So the odd thing there is

11:06

at 3 in the morning, if you're

11:08

ruffling, you know, and hurrying to get

11:11

your children up, I don't

11:13

know why your priority would be to

11:15

do the dishes and make beds, but

11:17

he did and went

11:20

to work. So my grandparents,

11:22

great grandfather and grandfather were in

11:24

the apartment, called

11:26

the police. The police came and

11:29

were doing a report when my father came home from

11:31

work. So when my father came home from

11:33

work, you know, he's upset because

11:35

people are in his apartment. What

11:39

are you doing here? Blah, blah, blah. You

11:41

know, the police explained that they heard, he

11:43

did not report her missing. They

11:45

heard that she was missing. And

11:47

he said, yeah, she ran away with another

11:49

man. So then just formality, they asked him

11:51

to empty his pocket and he

11:54

pulls out $60, $320 bill, which was

11:56

the exact denomination. that

12:00

my grandfather the night before had given to

12:03

my mother. So

12:05

of course my grandfather goes crazy and my,

12:07

you know, and a lot

12:10

of arguing takes place. From

12:12

that time forward, there were a lot

12:14

of like circumstantial things that were found,

12:16

such as a blanket was missing, you

12:18

know, a pink blanket that used to

12:20

be on on the backside of the

12:22

couch. He couldn't explain

12:24

where it could have gone. A

12:28

lot of different, you know, things that,

12:31

again, are circumstantial because she

12:33

was never found. There

12:35

were searches that took place. There were

12:38

volunteer firemen, you know,

12:41

community members. I had a lot of family members

12:43

in the area, you know, they did foot searches,

12:45

dog searches, helicopter searches, and

12:47

my father never participated in

12:49

a single one. Never

12:52

asked to help, never involved

12:54

himself in any way. In

12:57

fact, there's a report of him sitting

12:59

in the window watching

13:01

them search like

13:03

they were entertainment. So I

13:06

will say, you know, fast forward that

13:08

story. It's

13:10

been 43 years and there's been nothing,

13:13

no hits. Many,

13:15

many people have given,

13:17

you know, kind of character reports

13:20

of, you know, bad experiences with my

13:22

father and, you know, his

13:25

robbing, you know, stores

13:27

and homes and cars and a

13:30

lot of information that would lead to, you

13:33

know, negative character of

13:35

a person, but nothing that led to

13:37

finding her. And that's, you know, kind

13:39

of where we sit now, 43 years later. This

13:42

is an incredible story for a five-year-old

13:45

to have to experience and live

13:47

through. That must have been

13:49

incredibly traumatic for you. So

13:52

I applaud you for being

13:54

with us today and being

13:57

able to retell the story with

13:59

as little retry. trauma as possible. But

14:01

I know that you were only five and you

14:03

mentioned that your mom was abused and this was

14:06

back in the late 70s and early 80s. Obviously,

14:10

she's not putting her picture on her

14:12

Instagram of the abuse. So

14:14

how was it if you can remember or

14:16

was it something that you gradually

14:18

found out about as you grew up?

14:20

How did she communicate this to others

14:23

that she was being abused or was

14:25

it just so obvious that everyone knew?

14:28

So I can't say that it was a

14:30

memory of mine. It was definitely based

14:33

on my experience living with my father and

14:35

my own physical

14:39

abuse neglect that I experienced from

14:41

him. So that's one piece

14:43

of that. My aunt, her

14:46

sister, a lot of her friends,

14:50

through this crusade to try to find more

14:52

information, I have connected with more and more

14:54

and more people who knew her, which

14:56

is very special to me because I

14:59

was five and I don't

15:01

have many memories

15:04

of her that

15:06

are vivid actual memories. But

15:09

I have been told so many

15:11

times by my aunt many different

15:13

stories by her friends. My grandmother,

15:15

when she was alive, she wasn't

15:18

with us anymore. But lots

15:21

of stories of him just

15:24

being verbally abusive with her. I was

15:28

never told a specific physical

15:31

altercation or anything like that. More

15:35

verbal type abuse. I

15:38

do know that there have

15:40

been several people

15:42

who have said to me that they

15:45

experienced abuse. There's

15:47

a woman that responded

15:50

to me and said on the

15:52

Facebook page and said that she

15:54

put a restraining order against him because

15:56

he choked her when she asked him

15:58

point blank at the death club that

16:00

is an eerie word where he met my

16:03

mother what happened to her

16:05

and kind of point blank said

16:07

everybody knows you did it you know

16:09

and he lost it and

16:11

went for her throat and she

16:14

pressed charges and had a

16:16

restraining order against him and my aunt

16:18

has stories of you

16:20

know my my aunt my mother's sister told

16:23

me a story of he was abusing

16:25

the dog and she had

16:27

given him the puppy I think it's the story

16:30

so that was her connection to the dog and

16:32

he was beating the dog

16:35

and she could hear the dog yelping

16:37

as she was coming to the apartment

16:39

to visit us and she

16:41

came running up the stairs and

16:44

said you can't beat animals

16:46

you know and and said I'm taking the

16:48

dog back and tried to take the dog

16:51

and he knocked her down and this is

16:53

from my aunt you know she told me

16:55

the story that he knocked

16:57

her down and went for her throat

17:00

and that my mother was was like

17:02

stop stop stop so you

17:04

know this throat thing you know as

17:06

far as my hunch is concerned you

17:09

know they did not find blood they did

17:11

not find evidence such as that so

17:14

that would be a pretty clean way to go

17:18

about this crime and it is numerous

17:21

times then it has been reported that

17:23

he had done this to women I've

17:26

never heard this to a man in

17:29

regards to a man but I

17:31

have heard this multiple times from

17:33

women right so

17:35

he would go

17:38

towards their throat go to choke women

17:41

and he had quite a

17:44

criminal past in addition to

17:47

assaults but a lot

17:49

of theft yep

17:53

he was also convicted on

17:56

unfortunately and I

17:58

think it was in nineteen I

18:02

can't remember the date. Seventy-one maybe? Seventy?

18:05

Something like that. I apologize. I

18:07

don't remember the date, but

18:09

he was convicted of

18:11

felony sexual assault

18:14

with use of a weapon. Now

18:17

at the time, the

18:19

charges unfortunately were not

18:21

as severe as it would be now. He

18:23

served six months and

18:26

was released on probation. And

18:29

he broke

18:31

into a college girl's apartment

18:34

who he followed home from a bar

18:37

and assaulted her

18:39

by knife to the throat.

18:42

And he was dead. So he did

18:44

not hear that somebody must

18:46

have called a neighbor

18:48

maybe and reported that a crime was

18:50

being committed because the police kicked

18:53

open the door and caught him and

18:55

the friend red-handed assaulting these women. There

18:57

were two actually. I mean,

18:59

that was the most violent. And I didn't even

19:01

know that happened until I was an adult. You

19:05

can get the criminal record reports from

19:07

the county. It's a public record. So

19:10

I had asked for, in the

19:13

two counties he had resided in,

19:15

I asked for the criminal records

19:17

report and was absolutely stunned to

19:20

see that. Now I knew about the

19:22

thefts. I knew about breaking into homes

19:24

and cars and garages and stealing tools.

19:28

But this was a very different crime

19:31

that surprised me. And was it

19:33

common for your mother to have

19:35

male friends from

19:37

time to time and ones that she

19:40

might go away with without much

19:42

notice? I don't believe so. Of

19:45

course, I can't say that I know

19:47

that it's actually because I wasn't there and

19:49

I was five. But

19:51

I will say that she was deaf. And

19:54

the deaf culture kind

19:57

of shy away from hearing

19:59

the case. hearing world typically because

20:01

they have a hard time communicating,

20:03

especially in 1980. It wasn't something,

20:05

you know, nowadays I think there

20:07

were more inclusive of handicaps. It

20:09

was very different then and she

20:11

would not have sought out, you

20:13

know, friendship from

20:16

just random people. She would probably

20:18

say more to herself and

20:21

just be friendly and loving, you know, but

20:23

I can't imagine that because

20:26

of the hearing barrier she would have sought

20:28

that out, but the

20:30

one there was a man who worked at

20:32

the same place that she worked at and

20:35

he was an older man and I think he

20:37

kind of wanted to help her. Was intrigued by

20:39

her hearing loss

20:42

and her way of communicating. They had

20:44

lunch together a couple times, but

20:47

I do believe from what I've heard and learned

20:49

about him that

20:52

he really just wanted to help her and help her

20:54

get up out of a bad situation,

20:57

but my father somehow found

20:59

out that she had lunch with this man and became

21:02

very jealous and she

21:04

was already in the process of wanting to

21:06

leave him, so he assumed that this was

21:08

the man. And now I will say that

21:11

the police fully investigated

21:13

him. He cooperated a hundred and

21:15

ten percent and was

21:18

ruled out, you know, in the

21:20

realm of suspicion. And did your

21:22

father ever say who the man was who

21:25

came to pick her up between two and

21:27

three in the morning? No. What kind of

21:29

car they drove? Just said she

21:31

ran away with another man.

21:33

No information on anything to

21:35

do with this man or what he drove

21:37

or anything about him. I

21:40

don't think he offered

21:44

any idea of who the man was,

21:46

just that it was a man that

21:48

she ran away with. Yeah, I'm

21:50

confused why

21:53

he would then drop you

21:55

off at that

21:57

time if that was true.

22:01

Right. Well, and you had just

22:03

said a little

22:05

bit ago that you were

22:08

impressed with my knowledge or

22:10

my sharing of the story

22:12

because I was five. But the piece

22:15

that I want to add is that I was

22:17

five, but my parents were deaf.

22:20

So I was hearing. And

22:22

I felt like from the moment I was born,

22:24

I was being trained and

22:27

conditioned to be their ears. So

22:29

even at five, I was

22:31

interpreting for them. I was

22:34

signing and telling them

22:36

what a hearing person was

22:38

saying and vice versa. I

22:42

found eight millimeter film, the tracks that

22:44

they used to have, like the role

22:48

of me signing for

22:50

my parents, which was really neat to

22:52

see. But again, so I

22:55

was at five, given

22:57

kind of an adult role of interpreting for

22:59

them anytime we had been anywhere. So a

23:02

lot of my

23:04

senses would be very heightened

23:07

because it was my job to

23:09

hear for them, to speak for them. And

23:11

who was it that taught you how to sign? Was

23:13

it your parents? Mm hmm.

23:15

Yep. Both of them came

23:17

from families where they were the only deaf

23:20

person in their family. So my mother

23:23

had no other hearing loss than her family. And my

23:25

father had no other hearing loss than their family. So

23:27

they were the the only

23:29

two that communicated,

23:32

you know, mostly through sign. And

23:35

we'll be right back after a quick word

23:37

from our sponsors. Lance,

23:40

I have been playing June's journey on

23:42

my device lately. And I love it.

23:44

Have you played June's journey yet? Tim,

23:46

I think it's funny that you're asking

23:49

me, I was the one that introduced

23:51

you to June's journey because I love

23:53

the fact that you can become your

23:55

own detective, you can find clues, you

23:57

can try to uncover the mystery of

23:59

June's sister. murder so I took all

24:01

of that and I was like Tim

24:03

you need to play don't you remember

24:05

this moment? No I remember telling you

24:07

about it about how you can escape

24:09

to a bygone age of mystery danger

24:11

and romance as you immerse yourself in

24:13

the world of June's journey. Well we'll

24:15

just have to agree to disagree on

24:17

this but one thing that we can

24:19

all agree on is that everyone loves

24:21

a good family mystery especially one with

24:23

as many twists and turns as June's

24:25

journey. So you can play as June

24:27

Parker and investigate beautifully detailed scenes of

24:30

the 1920s whilst uncovering the mystery of

24:32

her sister's murder. Great use of the

24:34

word whilst Tim I really appreciate that.

24:37

With hundreds of mind teasing puzzles the

24:39

next clue is always within reach. And

24:41

you can also build your very own

24:44

island estate with expansive gardens and beautiful

24:46

buildings you can collect scraps of information

24:48

to fill your photo album and learn

24:51

more about each character how fun is

24:53

that? Chat and play with or against

24:55

other players by joining a detective club

24:58

you'll even get a chance to play

25:00

in a detective league to put your

25:02

skills to the test. So escape reality

25:04

and immerse yourself in the world of

25:07

June Parker. If you're craving a good

25:09

mystery or just looking for an escape

25:11

this is the game for you. June

25:14

needs your help detective download June's journey

25:16

for free on iOS and Android. Can

25:18

you crack the case? Lance

25:26

I know you know about Rakuten but

25:28

I want to tell our listeners and

25:30

make sure they're using it because Rakuten

25:33

is the smartest way to save money

25:35

when you shop. Look we all have

25:37

holiday shopping to do. Rakuten though it

25:40

lets you stack holiday sales on top

25:42

of cash back so you can really

25:44

maximize your savings. Ah Tim I am

25:47

so glad you brought up Rakuten because

25:49

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Sephora, Tim. I'm all about

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26:31

They got Petco on there. You're

26:33

already shopping, so why not get

26:36

some cash back? As a matter

26:38

of fact, members have earned over

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or get the Rakuten app and

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download the free browser extension to

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start saving today. Happy holidays. Happy

26:55

holidays, indeed. Tim and Lance here.

26:57

Lance, I got a question for

26:59

you. Yes, sir. Am I the

27:01

butthead for stealing an engagement ring

27:03

or for ruining an entire dog

27:05

olympics? Is that something you've actually

27:07

done, Tim? Or are you presenting

27:09

me with a hypothetical scenario? I'm

27:11

presenting you with a hypothetical scenario

27:13

that's based on rSlash, which is

27:15

a new podcast that I've been

27:17

listening to. It's fantastic. Tim, and

27:19

you know that I love a

27:21

good Reddit scroll, so rSlash is

27:23

my kind of show. I think

27:25

it's your kind of show as

27:28

well. And for those who don't

27:30

know, rSlash is a hilarious

27:32

podcast where Dabney Bailey uses

27:34

ridiculous voices and emotions to

27:36

read aloud the week's craziest

27:38

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27:40

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27:42

and secrets, petty revenge, relationships,

27:45

and much more. So if

27:47

you're looking for a daily

27:49

distraction and a laugh, check

27:51

out rSlash wherever you get

27:53

your podcasts. Tim, can you

27:55

spell that for me? Sure

27:57

can, Lance! That's r-s-l-a-s-h. age

28:01

thanks to our sponsors and now we're back to the

28:03

program. What

28:05

was your mom like? I

28:08

know you were five when she went

28:10

missing but anything you remember or

28:12

you've been told over the years

28:14

about her? So I

28:17

didn't really have very many memories

28:19

of my own but

28:22

the gifts that I've had through this

28:24

kind of mission to try to get

28:26

more information and awareness you know about

28:28

the case I have come

28:30

across more and more people who knew her

28:33

and every story I hear just it

28:36

just warms my heart and gives me like

28:38

this picture of who she was and from

28:40

what I've been told from people who knew

28:42

her and loved her she was funny and

28:44

she was vibrant and she was kind of

28:46

you know a light of the party sort of always

28:50

very positive and never

28:52

accepted this is what I love and

28:54

I really connect to it never accepted

28:56

I can't or I

28:59

won't or you know never accepted

29:01

her disability as something

29:03

that would hold her back from anything and

29:06

my grandmother instilled that you know

29:08

and said well she's deaf so

29:11

we might have to help her but she's no different than you

29:13

and I she's gonna do it anything she wants and

29:16

you know I feel

29:18

like I resonated with that through all the

29:20

stories of people telling me you know that

29:22

she never accepted you know her disability as

29:24

anything that would hold her back and

29:27

likewise you know growing up I had

29:30

so many reasons to pick a

29:32

bad path you know and so many excuses

29:35

for not trying to

29:37

be a productive citizen or you know trying to

29:39

be a loving person I had plenty of reasons

29:41

not to be but I never

29:43

wanted to be like my father I

29:46

wanted to be like my mother I wanted

29:48

to be successful I wanted to be

29:50

loving and kind and known for that

29:54

and I became a special education teacher

29:56

so I am 24 years into my

29:58

special education education

30:00

career and I I love

30:03

working with with families and

30:06

children and That's what I

30:08

believe is my mother's legacy that in

30:10

spite of all of this ugliness I

30:14

could connect with you know that resilience

30:16

within her and live

30:19

to honor her and You

30:21

know, I am fighting for answers and

30:24

that will never stop but

30:26

it doesn't prevent me from having

30:28

a Loving

30:30

successful life. I

30:32

don't I'm very careful about my my

30:35

boundaries with my family and you know Giving

30:38

them what they need and I

30:41

often joke and say that I never grew up,

30:43

you know My growth was stunted as a child.

30:45

So I'm Reliving my childhood

30:47

through my children and I love every minute

30:49

of it Yeah,

30:51

that's not necessarily a bad thing at all So

30:56

It's a really incredible thing to hear

30:58

you say you're doing this work in

31:01

honor of your mother Because that's her legacy

31:03

something that she would probably look at you

31:05

doing right now and think to herself like

31:07

this is exactly what I would want my

31:09

daughter to be doing and the

31:12

trauma that you just inevitably

31:14

went through after Experiencing

31:17

this after you were five and and

31:19

and as you grew up I'm

31:22

again so impressed that you're you're able to come

31:24

out of it the way you've come out of

31:27

it can you talk about like

31:29

that time period a little bit more if

31:31

you don't mind like when you

31:33

started realizing they're worth there were things going

31:35

on with your dad and and What

31:38

other family members were telling you and what they weren't

31:40

telling you like what they were shielding from you to

31:42

protect you Sure. So

31:46

after my mother disappeared they

31:49

couldn't Convict him of

31:51

anything because they couldn't prove a crime was

31:53

committed if they didn't have her, you know

31:56

My father said she ran away. Well,

31:58

there's no way to prove that

32:00

she didn't without finding her. And

32:02

there's no way to prove that he committed a crime without

32:05

finding her. So the police

32:07

were not able to take

32:10

away, I guess, for lack of a better word,

32:12

my brother and I. So

32:15

we lived with my father, even

32:17

after all of this, you know,

32:19

craziness and even after all of

32:21

the criminal record reports and everything

32:23

else, we

32:25

were always placed in his

32:27

care. Now, throughout

32:30

my young life,

32:33

you know, I we ended up in foster

32:35

care for a while. I ended up with an

32:37

aunt because he would

32:39

go in and out of wanting to be a

32:41

parent, not wanting to be a parent. But

32:44

one thing he did do is that, you

32:46

know, of course my mother's side of the

32:48

family always believed that he

32:51

was responsible for what happened. So

32:53

he cut those ties and did not

32:55

allow any of them to

32:58

have any contact with us. Now from

33:01

time to time, like I would see

33:03

a Christmas card or a birthday card

33:05

or something comes through that I knew

33:07

that that name was someone connected to

33:09

my mother's side, but he

33:11

never gave us

33:13

any of that. I never saw like money or gifts

33:15

or anything like that. They

33:19

were completely shut off and basically

33:21

he told us that they didn't care about

33:24

us. That, you know,

33:27

we were with him and my mother

33:29

ran away and that they didn't care

33:31

about us because she

33:34

ran away. So as

33:37

I was growing, growing up, I

33:39

mean that's kind of the seed he planted and I

33:41

had no one to tell me a different message. You

33:44

know, that was the only message I heard. I experienced,

33:47

you know, abuse and neglect and when I

33:50

say abuse, I mean physical. He,

33:52

you know, would push us, hit us. And

33:55

I say us because I had

33:57

a younger brother. He was very neglectful,

33:59

would leave. for long periods of

34:01

time, often going to

34:03

his girlfriend, we would be left home alone. I

34:06

remember one time going to a neighbor's

34:08

house and asking if they had any food because we

34:11

hadn't seen my father and I don't know how long

34:13

and we didn't even have food in the house.

34:15

So I went next door and asked if you

34:18

know they had any food that my brother and

34:20

I could have so then Children's Services would sweep

34:22

in and take us away. And so

34:24

you know that led all the way up

34:26

until I was 14 and

34:29

this is another character story you know with

34:31

my father. So at the age of

34:33

14 it was my brother's

34:35

birthday, it was October 14th and we

34:37

were all going out

34:39

to dinner to celebrate my brother's

34:41

birthday. My father had

34:43

a pickup truck and at that time I

34:45

don't even think you know quad cabs

34:47

existed they were only single cabs

34:50

and the back of the pickup

34:52

truck wasn't covered it was just

34:54

open and October

34:56

in Erie Pennsylvania is very

34:58

very cold. Oftentimes

35:00

there's already snow in October but

35:03

it's very cold. It was at

35:05

night that we were traveling my

35:08

father's girlfriend had come to the apartment and he

35:10

said well she's coming with us so you have

35:12

to sit in the back and so I sat

35:15

in the back of the pickup truck you know

35:17

exposed to the elements and

35:20

we drove for about 20-25

35:22

minutes into Erie from where we were living

35:24

and I you know I

35:26

had tears like freezing to my cheeks you know

35:28

when your nose gets so cold your eyes start

35:30

watering and and I was banging on the back

35:33

of the pickup truck window. He just

35:35

ignored me and drove all the way in,

35:37

drove into Erie police station, gets

35:39

out and now again I'm usually the interpreter

35:42

so it was odd that he got out

35:44

and didn't ask me to come with him

35:47

but I just sat because I wasn't

35:49

sure what was going on and the police were

35:51

certainly not his friend so that was odd. He

35:54

comes back out and kind of motions me to

35:56

come with him so I go back into the

35:59

police station. with him and the officer

36:01

says, I don't know

36:03

what he's saying. Can you

36:06

help interpret for me? So my father says

36:08

to me, tell him you're bad and I'm

36:10

not taking you home. So

36:13

I interpret to the police officer, he says

36:15

I'm bad and he doesn't want to take

36:17

me home. It was

36:19

a Friday night. The police officer said,

36:22

okay, well, you can't just drop children

36:24

off here, but please tell him that

36:26

we'll get you some help. On

36:29

Monday, we'll have someone call you from

36:31

children's services and we'll

36:34

get you some support. He refused, said

36:36

I'm not taking her home. She's

36:38

bad. I don't want her anymore. Like I was a

36:41

pound puppy or something. And the

36:43

police officer said to me, do

36:45

you have anybody you can call? Now

36:47

let me pause this by saying, this

36:50

was the second time I was in this

36:52

particular school district. We had moved constantly because

36:55

he didn't pay his rent and we had

36:57

kicked out and have to move. And so

36:59

I was in Fort Lebff School

37:01

District for the second time. I had been there

37:03

in fifth grade and we had come back again

37:05

in eighth grade. So that

37:08

particular day, the guidance

37:10

counselor called me down and

37:13

asked me if I was

37:16

okay, if I needed anything. And by

37:18

this point, I was done even saying

37:20

anything because it never led

37:22

to an actual resolution that was

37:25

beneficial. I would get in trouble

37:27

for telling anybody anything. I'd get taken away and

37:29

that was never a good thing. So I just

37:31

said, I'm fine. I'm fine. And

37:34

she knew that I probably wasn't if I was

37:36

back with my father. So she wrote

37:38

her phone number down, her home phone number on a

37:40

piece of paper and handed it to me and

37:43

said, if you need anything ever,

37:45

you call me. Day or night, doesn't matter.

37:47

You call me. So now back

37:50

to the police station, he says, do

37:52

you know anybody we can call? I said, well,

37:54

they always take me to my aunt's house, which

37:56

was my father's sister. So they call

37:58

my aunt and my aunt's says, I'm done. Tell

38:01

them to figure it out. They're

38:03

not coming back here, meaning

38:06

my brother and I, although it

38:08

was just me that he was trying

38:10

to get rid of that night. So out

38:12

of nervousness, the police officer asks me, do

38:14

you know anybody else? And I said, no,

38:16

I don't. So out of nervousness, I put

38:19

my hands in my pocket and I felt

38:21

that paper. And I was like, well,

38:23

here, my teacher said I should call her

38:25

if I ever needed anything. You could try

38:27

her. So I really was just,

38:30

you know, in despair. And I didn't know what

38:32

to say. Never

38:35

imagining that, you know, she would actually

38:37

be part of, you know, a

38:39

resolution here. So he calls her and

38:42

she says, I'm on my way. And

38:46

they took me into their home and

38:49

I, they got legal custody of me. And

38:52

so from 14 to 18, I

38:54

had the stability of a loving

38:57

home. And, you know, I heard

38:59

messages of you will,

39:01

you will be successful. You will become

39:03

something. You will do whatever you desire.

39:05

You know, I heard these positive messages

39:08

that, you know, thanks me to

39:10

God, erased those negative messages. And

39:12

I did go to college and,

39:14

you know, I did move on

39:16

and have, you know, a decent life.

39:18

You know, I was able to kind of decide

39:21

for myself that I didn't, I

39:24

didn't want to be a failure.

39:27

I didn't want to be just another kid

39:29

in the system. And very much like my

39:32

mother, you know, when somebody told me I

39:34

couldn't do something, I was like,

39:36

Oh, yeah, watch, you know,

39:38

and I had an aunt that I lived with that

39:40

said, you'll be, you'll be pregnant by the time you're

39:42

16. And at the time I was just

39:44

like, I don't know, like 12 or 13. And

39:47

I thought, why would you even say that? And so

39:50

like inside of me, I was like, watch,

39:53

not only will I not be pregnant, but I'm going

39:55

to get a college degree and none of you have

39:57

one, you know, like, it was part of me that

39:59

was like just watch.

40:02

So you know you asked me

40:04

about what my thoughts were

40:06

about what happened to her. Well I had

40:09

never heard anything but she

40:11

left you from five on and

40:14

I had no connection to my mother's

40:16

side. So when I became

40:18

a senior and I was graduating

40:20

from high school my adoptive mother

40:23

asked me if I wanted to you know reach

40:26

out to them and get to know who they are

40:28

and I was like I guess you

40:30

know I didn't really have an opinion about them

40:32

because I was too busy trying to survive so

40:34

I wasn't I didn't know why

40:37

they didn't rescue me you know but I

40:40

didn't I was really not

40:42

sure and kind of nervous to meet them because if

40:44

they were anything like him I didn't need any of

40:46

that but they wanted to throw me a graduation party

40:49

so I was like okay so I

40:51

went and that day

40:53

I met my

40:55

cousin's aunt uncles from

40:57

my mother's side who had who never

41:00

knew what happened to me because my

41:02

father cut those ties and

41:04

who were so very excited to meet me

41:06

and they're like oh my gosh you look

41:08

so much like your mother and you act

41:10

like her and your mannerisms and the way

41:12

you talk and then I started to learn

41:14

you know that they never knew what happened

41:17

to me and they weren't

41:19

even allowed to talk to me because my

41:21

father had all the parental rights and he

41:23

forbid it so you know

41:25

I'm now connected with them and I go

41:27

to family reunions and I try to learn more

41:30

you know about my mother and that's where

41:32

I've heard some of the stories that you

41:35

know I I've based memory from but I

41:38

have to say that you know

41:40

the only message I heard growing up from

41:42

my father was that she loved you but

41:45

there was something inside of me that never believed it

41:47

and I just I just never bought

41:49

it and I knew not to

41:52

say anything because I didn't want to make him mad but

41:54

I just knew she didn't just leave us

41:57

and if he could be so abusive and unkind

44:00

of you have come out of it in

44:02

a more positive way. You've also

44:04

contributed to an organized searches

44:08

and done a lot of boots

44:10

on the groundwork to try

44:13

to figure out the truth here. Can

44:15

you talk about that? Sure. So the

44:17

justice page that I told you is called

44:19

Justice for Loning. That's

44:21

my mother's name. I had

44:24

posted that I was, I had

44:27

gone and met with the police and said,

44:29

okay, I don't know anything and I'm an

44:31

adult now and I want

44:33

to know what, what happened, what's going on?

44:35

What are you doing? What have you done?

44:37

What are you doing? You know, where are

44:39

things? And you know, the,

44:41

the investigator was saying, well, you know, this is

44:44

kind of where we're at. And, um, as

44:47

we were talking, there was one piece

44:49

of information she shared saying that, you

44:52

know, other than a deaf

44:54

person, um, talking about

44:56

or telling the police

44:58

that he had had

45:01

an encounter with my father's girlfriend,

45:03

long time girlfriend, saying

45:05

that she thinks that she knows where my

45:07

mother was buried. There hasn't been any hits.

45:10

I'm like, wait, wait, hold on a minute.

45:13

So, you know, back up. So I'm like,

45:15

tell me about this. So I said,

45:17

I didn't know any of that. And

45:19

so what had happened was my

45:22

father's girlfriend at the

45:24

time, um, they had broken up, which they

45:26

were kind of together back, you know, they

45:28

did a lot of that breaking up, making

45:31

up business for years. She

45:33

was at a party, also deaf, was

45:35

at a party picnic kind of thing

45:37

with other deaf people and a gentleman

45:40

who was also deaf, um,

45:42

was just talking to her and she said

45:45

to him, listen, I need to tell

45:47

someone. If anything ever

45:49

happens to me, I need

45:51

you to go up to church road and

45:54

see if, if he put me

45:56

there. Now, let me back up

45:59

and say that this. story is she

46:02

said that they that he kept

46:04

stopping at this particular forested area, the

46:06

dirt road, there's not much on this

46:09

on that road. No real

46:12

reason for many people to be on the road. And

46:15

he kept going there with

46:17

her stopping at a certain spot

46:20

and going into the woods and then coming back. And

46:23

one day she said she asked him, why

46:25

do you keep going in there? Like what,

46:28

what is there? Why do we keep coming here?

46:31

And he said, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. She

46:34

claimed that she said to

46:36

him, is Lonnie there? And

46:39

my father said, shut your mouth. Never

46:42

say, say that again, or I'll put you in

46:45

there with her. Now

46:47

Marie, this ex girlfriend told

46:49

the friend Richard, um, that

46:52

he said that. And if anything

46:54

ever happens to me, you need to look on

46:56

church road because I think she's there. Richard

46:59

tells the police and the police decide

47:02

that he's deaf and you know, they

47:04

didn't have a, an interpreter. So, you

47:06

know, it was hard to understand and

47:08

they just didn't, didn't accept

47:10

it as a credible lead and never

47:12

followed through on anything with that. And

47:15

I was like, what?

47:18

How do you, how do you get this information

47:20

and not at least do something? But

47:23

they determined he was not credible. So

47:25

I then said, okay, we

47:28

need to rewind this and figure out what,

47:31

where this is, what happened. I found out

47:33

who the man was, um, got

47:35

in touch with him. Um, I

47:37

recorded an interview with him. So

47:40

I knew that if I was going to

47:42

convince the police that they need to do something,

47:44

I had to have, you

47:46

know, evidence, so to speak, of

47:49

why. So I recorded, um,

47:52

he's deaf, so we were signing, but I tried to

47:54

like talk as we, as we were

47:56

talking, you know, in addition to

47:58

sign. So I recorded, the whole interview

48:00

and he was fine with it. And I shared

48:03

that interview with the police and I said, I

48:05

want cadaver dogs on church

48:07

road looking for remains. And

48:11

the investigator said, I'm with you, let's do

48:13

it. You know, I'm going to arrange it,

48:15

blah, blah, blah. Next thing I know, I'm

48:17

getting a phone call saying, I'm sorry, but

48:19

you know, we have to have more evidence

48:21

in order to warrant these kinds of resources.

48:24

And I'm like, you should have

48:26

done this years ago when they told you this.

48:28

And I believe her

48:30

boss told her, sorry, we're

48:32

not doing this. So then I

48:35

posted it on the justice page. And

48:37

wouldn't you know, I got a personal

48:39

message on the justice page from a

48:42

canine search human

48:45

cadaver search dog who the

48:47

police work with. So she

48:49

contacts me and said, I'll

48:52

bring the dogs and I'll have my friends

48:54

come and we'll run two different dogs. So

48:57

we did that. They brought their dogs. And

48:59

so I had two different handlers, two different

49:01

dogs run from two

49:03

different areas, three

49:05

times. We did it in

49:07

the winter. We did it in the spring. We did

49:09

it in the fall. And all three times, both

49:12

of those dogs alerted

49:14

their handlers to remains at

49:17

one certain tree and stump. And

49:20

so I then call the police

49:22

and I'm like, I recorded it.

49:25

I didn't want them to ever say, I was being untruthful.

49:27

Like, here's the evidence. I recorded

49:29

the entire thing. We

49:32

did it in three different trials with

49:34

two different dogs. And the response was,

49:36

well, I wish you would have invited

49:38

us to come when

49:40

they were coming out. And

49:42

I said, these are reputable dogs. So when I said

49:44

who it was, they're like, we know we work with

49:46

them. Okay. So

49:49

that turned out to

49:51

be, again,

49:53

I reached out

49:56

on that justice page and said, does anyone

49:58

have an excavator? Does anyone? anyone, let's

50:00

look in this area. And

50:03

I kind of arranged for

50:06

people to come and do some excavating.

50:08

We all like took it very slow

50:10

and kind of sifted through looking for

50:12

things. And we

50:15

never found anything. We

50:18

also, the police did after, you

50:21

know, the dog handlers

50:23

reported their report saying, you know,

50:25

they alerted three times from

50:27

three different, okay, all of that. They did

50:29

send Mercyhurst forensic

50:32

science team, which

50:35

is a university to come

50:37

and do ground penetrator radar to

50:39

see if there's anything there. And

50:42

the short of it is they didn't

50:44

find anything. But I will say that

50:47

just from what I've learned and researched,

50:49

I don't know that she was buried. It

50:52

was winter, you know, I

50:54

don't know that the ground would have been disturbed.

50:57

I could see how he would

50:59

cover her up with, you know,

51:01

branches or twigs or whatever. And

51:04

then unfortunately, you know, nature, wildlife,

51:06

I mean, the remains would be

51:08

scattered. So what

51:10

the handler said to me was it

51:13

could be that, you know, as morbid

51:16

as it sounds, like her body could have

51:18

decomposed there. And it would always be part

51:20

of the soil and the trees. So,

51:23

you know, when the dogs alerted, they kind

51:25

of punctured the ground and the dogs were

51:27

sniffing up the tree. And I said, are

51:30

they looking for squirrel? And

51:32

she said, no, they're following the scent because

51:35

the scent was going up. And I was like,

51:37

oh my gosh. So

51:39

we never found her, but I don't

51:41

believe, those dogs don't lie. They alerted

51:44

so convincingly multiple

51:46

times. Something was there, but

51:49

I don't again have any way to prove that. And

51:52

I don't know that he didn't move her. Maybe

51:55

she was there at some time and

51:57

then he moved her. I don't know. all

52:00

this, you know, circumstantial information,

52:02

but I have

52:04

been so grateful for the

52:08

community, for social media, for

52:10

podcasts, for people joining the justice

52:12

page. I mean, it has been

52:15

a community effort to

52:18

try to solve this case. You know, I've

52:20

been able to kind of move things forward

52:23

through the help of people who don't even know me, you

52:26

know, just willing to offer a helping hand. I

52:28

believe that we've moved forward

52:31

more than this case has moved in

52:33

over 40 years. And we'll be

52:35

right back after a quick word from our

52:37

sponsors. On

52:42

a hot summer night in 1988, Jane Barosky was

52:44

stabbed 27 times by an unknown man. She was

52:49

seven months pregnant. My

52:53

name is Jane Barosky. I survived

52:55

and I remember everything. Jane

52:58

is the lone survivor of the Valley

53:00

Killer, who prowled the borderland

53:02

of Vermont and New Hampshire and murdered

53:04

at least eight other women. I'm your

53:06

host, Jennifer Amell, and this

53:08

is Dark Valley. Jane

53:11

and I didn't set out to solve this. But

53:13

in the course of a two year investigation,

53:16

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53:18

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53:20

with me sharing this. Not about secrets anymore.

53:23

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in for an evening of mystery, mayhem

54:14

and exploration of the dark side of

54:16

humanity. I'm Dr. Shiloh, a former cop.

54:18

And I'm Dr. Scott, a former

54:21

Hollywood casting director. Now we're both

54:23

forensic psychologists working in Southern California.

54:25

Are you fascinated by the

54:27

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54:32

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54:34

In each episode of our podcast LA

54:36

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54:38

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54:41

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54:43

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54:48

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54:50

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Not So Confidential. Trust us,

55:08

we're doctors. Thanks to our

55:10

sponsors and now we're back to the program. Just

55:13

to go back to the location

55:15

and the need to

55:18

get an excavator there to dig up

55:21

the soil. What

55:24

did your dad do for work? If

55:27

he was, I don't

55:30

know, able to bury somebody or

55:32

to move a body, did he

55:34

have access to equipment that could

55:36

do these types of things? I'm

55:38

not sure about access to equipment. However,

55:40

he worked in a tool and die shop.

55:43

You know, many people

55:45

have theories that he took her there.

55:47

It's a foundry. They melt metal. I

55:52

have been told from

55:54

the police that they thoroughly investigated that

55:57

and that's not possible. I don't

55:59

know that I... entirely believe that

56:01

that's not a possibility, but he

56:04

worked in a foundry. You know,

56:06

as far as what kind of access

56:08

he would have to equipment, I

56:11

don't know what he would have. He

56:14

was very handy with tools and

56:16

fixing cars and things like that. I can't

56:19

say he had many friends, so I'm

56:21

not sure people would just like let him

56:23

borrow something, but nothing like that I ever

56:25

heard. But

56:27

he was a big guy, like

56:29

over six foot big burly guy,

56:32

and you know my mother was 140 pounds. So I

56:36

mean dead weight is heavier, but

56:38

I would imagine the adrenaline of

56:40

the situation would make him

56:42

able to lift or move

56:44

or whatever if he had to. He

56:47

also drove a four-wheel-drive Bronco, so his

56:49

ability to get in and out of

56:51

dense forest or you know

56:55

heavy deep snow is a

56:57

little more likely in a four-wheel-drive. Right,

57:00

and what was this off-road a little bit

57:02

this location? Where it was,

57:04

it was not far from the road,

57:07

like a traveling road. It was in

57:10

like just off the road

57:12

maybe 150 yards maybe. You

57:15

could see the road from that area, and

57:17

it was an old logging road. So it

57:19

had been traveled many many

57:21

years prior. At that point,

57:23

I don't know how well the

57:25

road was maintained,

57:27

but there could have been a path.

57:30

Forty years later there wasn't, but there could

57:33

have been one then. Tell us

57:35

about your book and your

57:37

decision to write a book. Yes,

57:40

so I wrote

57:42

a book, this is my mother, called

57:45

A Daughter's Journey and Story of Resilience.

57:48

It was the 40th year,

57:50

so we're about to, in

57:52

January it'll be 43 years. So

57:54

almost three years ago it was COVID year,

57:56

you know, and everybody's home and can't go

57:59

anywhere. I just had

58:02

often just had this gut

58:05

feeling like I needed to tell her story, but

58:07

I wasn't ready. I had spent

58:09

so much of my life just trying to survive.

58:13

And I finally had come to a point that

58:15

I didn't feel like I needed to put so

58:17

much energy in surviving,

58:20

you know, that I

58:23

was healthy enough to tell the story. And I

58:25

was no longer afraid of my father. That was

58:27

another thing. You know, I never wanted

58:29

to upset him to a point where he'd come after

58:32

me or try to find me or find my family.

58:35

And something just turned

58:37

in me. You know, I just was

58:39

healthy enough and strong enough to

58:42

feel like, you know what, he can't hurt me anymore. You

58:45

know, he's old. So

58:47

I decided in the 40th

58:49

year of her disappearance that

58:52

I was going to write a

58:54

book. And I worked very hard,

58:56

like at every practice or

58:58

every event I would take the kids,

59:01

my children to, but I couldn't go

59:03

in because only they could go in.

59:05

There were so many times that

59:07

I was stuck in the car and I would bring my laptop

59:10

with me and I would write and write and write, you know,

59:12

much to my surprise. I was able

59:15

to finish that book in about nine

59:17

months and it's 530 pages.

59:20

Sorry, but there's a lot of pictures. I

59:24

had no idea how much, you know, that would

59:26

turn out to be. But the

59:28

gist of the book is I start by talking

59:31

about my mother's resilience, my grandmother's resilience in a

59:33

time where there was no such thing as special

59:35

ed. You know, if you had a handicapped child,

59:37

you sent him away to a boarding school. And

59:41

the resilience of my grandmother saying, no, this is

59:43

my child. Nobody else is going to raise my

59:45

child in a time when nobody

59:48

did that, you know, and then talking about

59:50

my mother's resilience and her

59:52

story of being born deaf, but never

59:54

accepting no or I can't, you

59:56

know, and then leading into the

59:58

disappearance and every that happened with

1:00:01

that. And then I kind

1:00:04

of morphed that into my story of living

1:00:06

without her. And you know what it was

1:00:08

like for me growing up

1:00:10

not knowing what happened to her or if

1:00:12

she would ever actually appear. You know

1:00:15

they call that ambiguous loss where it's

1:00:18

loss but it's not loss

1:00:20

that's definitive. Like I don't

1:00:23

I didn't have a grave to go to.

1:00:25

I didn't even have certainty

1:00:27

in knowing that she was truly gone even

1:00:29

though she was not present in my life

1:00:32

and just talked about a lot of that in in

1:00:34

the book. And the theme

1:00:36

throughout is resilience. It's in the title.

1:00:39

You know I talk about each you know

1:00:42

family member's story of resilience and

1:00:45

that you know as I

1:00:47

mentioned already this is this

1:00:50

is a fight to

1:00:52

find justice for my mother and find

1:00:54

out what happened. But more than anything

1:00:56

the bigger message is

1:00:59

the power of love, the power of

1:01:01

resilience, and you know

1:01:03

the the ability to overcome

1:01:06

horrific things and

1:01:09

put the focus and the

1:01:11

power in that

1:01:14

that spirit within us. That

1:01:16

when you've got nothing else

1:01:18

to reach for just that

1:01:20

little flame that just helps push you

1:01:22

forward you know on that positive path

1:01:25

and that you can

1:01:27

have a horrendous story and

1:01:29

come out as

1:01:32

a as a successful person

1:01:34

that can contribute positively. I

1:01:37

am not what happened to me. I am

1:01:39

who I decide to be. And

1:01:41

you know as a child so

1:01:44

much of the time I didn't have a choice with you

1:01:46

know where I was going to go or who was going

1:01:48

to take care of me but I do now. And

1:01:51

now I have the choice to use my

1:01:53

story to help others. You know I

1:01:55

help the students I work

1:01:57

with. I pray that that this touches

1:02:00

the hearts of people dealing with

1:02:02

trauma and gives them, you know,

1:02:05

encouragement and strength to know, you

1:02:07

know, if I could live

1:02:09

through all of this craziness, you can

1:02:11

too. Don't let it defeat you. You're

1:02:14

bigger than that. And that

1:02:17

is my mother's legacy. I really

1:02:19

feel strongly that, you know, I am

1:02:22

a teacher and I have tried

1:02:25

to, you know, touch others through my

1:02:27

teaching and connect with families. But

1:02:30

I pray that my book,

1:02:32

that my message, my story can

1:02:35

touch others that are struggling and

1:02:37

hurting and know that in this

1:02:39

world with so much pain, you

1:02:42

can be stronger and you

1:02:45

just got to dig deep, you know, dig

1:02:47

for that resilience spirit. And I do pray

1:02:49

that, you

1:02:51

know, my mother is known not

1:02:54

just for this crazy story, but

1:02:57

for that resilience spirit and

1:02:59

what we all can choose to be, you know,

1:03:02

if we put our minds to it. So

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I pray that that message is also delivered

1:03:06

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From The Podcast

Missing

Missing is a true crime podcast that tells stories of missing people, homicides, and injustices. Starting in 2015 with the disappearance of Maura Murray, Missing has covered the vanishings of Brianna Maitland, Brandon Lawson, Phoenix Coldon, Trenny Gibson, Daniel Robinson, Jessica Stacks, Erica Franolich, Cieha Taylor, Calvin Johnny Hunt, Abbie Flynn, Tabitha Queen, Raymond Green, Alicia Markovich, Niqui McCown, Samantha Tapp, Archer Ray Johnson, Dale Williams, Morgan Bauer, Pepita Redhair and more mysteries in depth. Due to their close affiliation with the non-profit organization, Private Investigations For the Missing, the team features stories sourced from their case files when appropriate. While Missing primarily focuses on unsolved cases, they also highlight solved murders, doe’s, DNA updates, cold cases and serial killers like Christopher Wilder as a way to explore all the factors. Whether it’s psychological, socioeconomic, or something deeper that plays a part in a person’s disappearance, Missing does not shy away.Missing also has an impressive guest list with names like Jon Ronson, Maggie Freleng, Todd Matthews, Sarah Turney, John Lordan, Danelle Hallan, Julie Murray, James Renner, the Generation Why, Nancy Grace, True Crime Garage, Patrick Hinds, Ellyn Marsh, Jim Clemente, Art Roderick, David & Kristen Mittelman of Othram Labs as well as current law enforcement and licensed private investigators.Tim Pilleri and Lance Reenstierna were also featured in Oxygen's The Disappearance of Maura Murray 6 part documentary.Missing is hosted and produced by Tim Pilleri, Lance Reenstierna and Jennifer Amell of Crawlspace Media.

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