0:02

Hey, guys. It's Pain Lindsey. I'm here

0:04

to announce that our hit series, Kovalbol,

0:06

is back with an all new season on a new

0:08

case. On August twenty eighth

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two thousand thirteen, twenty two year

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old Britney Stikes was shot and killed

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while driving on the highway. in Brown County,

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Ohio. It's been nearly a

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decade since our murder, and the search for

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answers continues. Host

0:23

Dennis Cooper, an investigative journalist

0:25

Jessica Knoll worked to unearth the

0:27

truth around the story of a young mother

0:30

whose life was cut short. from

0:32

resonate recordings and Tinder for TV.

0:34

Season two of Colobal is available

0:37

now. For ad free listening,

0:39

early episodes, and bonus content,

0:42

subscribe to Tinder Foot Plus on Apple

0:44

Podcasts, or visit Tinder Foot

0:46

Plus dot com. Here's a clip

0:48

from culpable season two. While you

0:50

listen, search for cobobooling your podcast

0:52

app and follow the show.

1:05

ever driven by vehicle on the side of the road.

1:09

You always

1:09

stop. You always go

1:11

check it out, see what's going on.

1:14

You know, can I help? Why

1:16

did I do that that day?

1:19

I don't know. the

1:22

bystander effect.

1:24

It's a theory I think most of us are familiar

1:26

with. Now, there's endless scenarios

1:28

to which it can apply, but the fact of the matter

1:31

is this. When we see someone

1:33

in need of our help, our tendency

1:35

is to ignore it. We've all

1:37

been there. Let's use his example.

1:40

you're driving past a person on the side of the road,

1:43

likely in need of assistance. A

1:45

party you is probably thinking, pull over.

1:48

See if they need a hand. but the

1:50

other part of you has places to go,

1:52

people to see. Keep driving.

1:55

It's okay. Someone else will

1:57

stop and help them. What do

1:59

you do in that situation? Chances

2:02

are you take the latter and hope everything

2:04

turned out okay. Never actually

2:06

knowing what happened to the person. unless

2:08

it shows up on the news, of course. And

2:11

you can assume this story did. But

2:13

I say all this because to really put the story

2:15

into perspective, you have to understand not

2:17

just the unlikely hood of this good Samaritan's

2:20

act, but also the

2:22

significance of it. I feel like

2:24

it's changed my outlook. But

2:26

still, I can't sit here and act like

2:28

I would have done what Craig Lebel did

2:30

on the night of August twenty eight, twenty

2:33

thirteen. when he pulled over to the side

2:35

of Highway sixty eight in Brown County,

2:37

Ohio. No.

2:39

What

2:40

he did that night bears repeating.

2:45

We

2:45

were on our way to New York

2:47

to see my parents and

2:49

family that lives up there. We're

2:51

heading toward New York, but we wanna go into

2:53

Amish country in Ohio. We

2:56

headed out toward Ripley and

2:59

then took a right on to

3:01

Route sixty eight. It

3:04

was a torrential rain. We hadn't

3:06

seen rain like that ever. I mean, it's

3:08

the middle of a car wash. It was so bad,

3:11

but we drove out of it and

3:13

we were coming to a point in the road

3:16

where it was gonna split So

3:18

I went left, we should have gone right.

3:22

Craig didn't realize it yet, but making

3:24

that wrong turn may have been the most

3:26

important mistake he's ever made in life.

3:29

Now heading down Highway sixty eight in the wrong

3:31

direction, just before Sundown Craig's

3:34

eyes began to wander. He and

3:36

his wife Sandy needed a place to turn around.

3:39

He continued driving and scanning the area

3:42

until something unexpected caught his

3:43

attention. Headlights shining

3:46

from a wooden area, about twenty or thirty

3:48

yards off the side of the highway. he

3:50

could tell what type of vehicle the lights belong

3:52

to. Then I noticed

3:55

the Jeep in the

3:57

woods down off the shoulder

3:59

of the road,

3:59

and I'm thinking, they

4:02

better hurry up whoever's down there because

4:04

they're gonna get caught in their range hormen.

4:06

Something's telling me I need to stop.

4:10

Craig pulls over to the side of the road.

4:13

As he exits the vehicle, his wife

4:15

Sandy is nervous. She encourages

4:17

him to stay in the car, call nine

4:19

eleven, and await help.

4:21

good advice. Right? It was getting

4:24

dark. They had no idea where they were.

4:26

And Craig had no idea what he was getting himself

4:29

into. nevertheless, got

4:31

out of the car and started walking

4:33

down the hill towards the Jeep.

4:36

There was that thought that ran through

4:38

my head as, like, what are you

4:40

doing? I have no idea

4:42

why I'm there other than just

4:45

checking it out. So I start yelling

4:47

as I'm entering the woods saying,

4:50

is anybody here?

4:52

Hello? And

4:54

I don't hear anybody. I don't

4:56

see anybody. I could

4:58

hear the windshield wipers

5:00

going and I could hear radio blaring

5:02

away.

5:05

Craig fights his way through the thick foliage

5:07

and crosses over and abatement. He's

5:10

practically in the woods when the vehicle really comes

5:12

in the picture. It's a

5:14

yellow Jeep Wrangler with a

5:16

soft top, you know, with the plastic

5:18

windows. It hadn't been parked

5:20

there intentionally. based on the terrain,

5:22

that would be impossible. Now

5:24

something bad had happened. That

5:26

much was clear. But Craig

5:28

didn't yet realize the severity. as

5:31

he approached the driver's side window, he

5:34

noticed a hole in the plastic.

5:36

So I put my face up there and

5:38

looked through this hole

5:41

and I saw a girl

5:43

in there and she

5:46

was just kinda slumped, laid

5:48

back in the seat with her head

5:50

tilted to the side and her

5:52

hand on her knee facing up,

5:54

like she fell asleep. I

5:57

started trying pound on the canvas

5:59

door

5:59

to get her attention, and

6:03

I'm not getting any response from her. and

6:06

I realized something's

6:08

not right. The

6:10

driver, twenty two year old Britney

6:13

Stikes, from the town of Ripley,

6:15

about ten miles away. Craig

6:17

immediately dials 911 As

6:20

he speaks with emergency dispatch, he

6:22

continues to the vehicle. At

6:24

first glance, Craig saw no visible

6:26

injuries to Britney. It just looked as though

6:28

she was unconscious. so

6:30

he walked around the Jeep to the passenger

6:33

side. Britney wasn't alone.

6:35

I grabbed on that passenger door and

6:37

I opened it and there's a baby

6:40

in a car seat. And the baby's

6:42

got blood all over its

6:44

forehead, and it's running

6:46

into the eyes, the baby's trying to

6:48

rub its eyes and just looking

6:50

at me, not saying a word just

6:53

that blank look and then

6:56

looks toward the driver and

6:59

says mama. I

7:01

just went into straight panic

7:03

mode. I didn't know what to do. Chevy

7:05

taking the baby out of the car seat, trying to

7:07

take the baby up to the side of the road.

7:10

And I remember my wife

7:12

yelling, saying somebody's coming.

7:16

To

7:16

Craig in Sandy's relief, a first

7:18

responder had arrived. It was a

7:20

firefighter from the neighboring town of

7:22

Russellville. Craig directed him to

7:24

the scene. First thing

7:26

he did when he reached in

7:28

is he put his fingers on the side of her

7:30

neck. and he

7:32

didn't get a pulse. And at that

7:34

point, I noticed a wet spot under her

7:36

armpit on the right

7:38

side. and I noticed it

7:40

was dark red blood, and I remember

7:42

telling him she's bleeding

7:44

pretty bad over here. There's

7:46

something wrong with her. As

7:50

the first responder begins working the scene,

7:52

another responder arrives. And

7:54

another and another.

7:57

In a matter of minutes, it was as though the

7:59

entire town had arrived. Craig

8:01

was eventually escorted back up the hill to

8:03

the side of the highway, where he and his

8:05

wife began speaking with officers answering

8:07

every question they had. And

8:10

he said, is there

8:12

anything that you need to ask us?

8:15

And I said, Yeah.

8:17

Is she gonna be okay? And

8:21

he

8:21

said, no, she's dead.

8:24

And that was just like,

8:25

wow. No.

8:28

Didn't see that comment. Did not

8:31

see that comment.

8:35

Britney Stikes was gone. A

8:38

bullet had passed through her vital organs.

8:41

she died quickly. Also

8:43

lost in the heinous act was

8:45

her unborn child. It turns

8:48

out she was about four months pregnant when this

8:50

happened. And as for the

8:52

passenger, Britney's fourteen month

8:54

old daughter, Aubrey, she'd

8:56

been shot in the head and was

8:58

rushed to a nearby hospital.

9:00

I'm still trying to process

9:03

it. I mean, it's it's

9:05

just It's unbelievable. It's

9:08

a constant question in in the back of

9:10

my head of who

9:13

did it, what brings

9:15

this to this point

9:17

or we still don't have an answer

9:19

to it. I worry

9:21

about the case dying in the police

9:23

hands. I feel like they've exhausted

9:26

their resources at this

9:28

point, and we

9:30

still don't know. While

9:34

that might seem true, the Brown

9:36

County Sheriff's Office is actively

9:38

investigating this case, and they

9:40

welcome any additional resources that could

9:42

help solve it. So we're gonna see

9:44

what we can do to help. Britney's

9:46

case has gone unsolved for nearly a

9:48

decade now, and it's hard to understand why

9:50

that is. This was a cold

9:52

blooded murder on a busy highway.

9:54

There's been no shortage of leads and

9:56

no shortage of theories. but

9:59

trust me.

9:59

That only adds to the frustration.

10:03

I

10:04

don't know if it's to settle a score or

10:07

if it's about money or

10:09

what it was about. But somebody

10:11

knows something. Somebody has

10:13

talked with somebody in

10:15

in that

10:16

needs to come out. It needs to come

10:18

forward so this family can

10:21

find out once and for

10:23

all who murdered

10:24

her.

10:27

From Resonate Recordings

10:29

and Tinder Foot TV. I'm

10:32

your host. Dennis Cooper.

10:34

This is season two of

10:36

Coppola. Listen for

10:38

free on Apple Podcasts wherever

10:40

you get your podcast.