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
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details on example policies at selectquote.com
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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
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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
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buildings you can collect scraps of information
24:48
to fill your photo album and learn
24:51
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that? Chat and play with or against
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you'll even get a chance to play
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skills to the test. So escape reality
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and immerse yourself in the world of
25:07
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this is the game for you. June
25:14
needs your help detective download June's journey
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for free on iOS and Android. Can
25:18
you crack the case? Lance
25:26
I know you know about Rakuten but
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I want to tell our listeners and
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make sure they're using it because Rakuten
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maximize your savings. Ah Tim I am
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so glad you brought up Rakuten because
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They got Petco on there. You're
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already shopping, so why not get
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of fact, members have earned over
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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
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ridiculous voices and emotions to
27:36
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Reddit threads covering wild stories
27:42
and secrets, petty revenge, relationships,
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and much more. So if
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you're looking for a daily
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distraction and a laugh, check
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out rSlash wherever you get
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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
this happened. You
53:18
know, the police aren't going to be happy
53:20
with me sharing this. Not about secrets anymore.
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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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you ever wonder how could they do that?
54:34
In each episode of our podcast LA
54:36
Not So Confidential, we dissect the nexus
54:38
where true crime, forensic psychology and entertainment
54:41
meet. E. Blanchard was exaggerating her daughter's
54:43
medical condition for financial gain. We serve
54:45
up fascinating cases viewed through the lens
54:48
of human behavior. Why is your brother
54:50
afraid of you? Because that burden is
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so much. Delivered with our signature
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55:01
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55:03
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55:06
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
1:03:04
I pray that that message is also delivered
1:03:06
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is one of many who found a
1:05:10
new life through Seattle's Union Gospel Mission.
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I was living on the streets when I
1:05:15
heard this guy talk about how he got
1:05:17
clean and sober at the mission. So I
1:05:19
decided to give it a try. I could
1:05:21
feel something working inside of me, and I
1:05:23
knew I was getting better. Today, my number
1:05:25
one goal is to stay clean and sober.
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And grace will
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lead me home.
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To hear more, volunteer or
1:05:35
donate, visit ugm.org. This is
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a Glassbox Media Podcast.
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