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0:37

everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall

0:39

Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today

0:41

and if you're new, then welcome. I'm so happy

0:43

to have you here. So today

0:45

guys, I won't lie. This is

0:47

a tough case to discuss. Anytime we talk

0:50

about a case that involves children it's really,

0:52

really hard. But it is

0:54

also very important. And specifically we're

0:56

going to be talking about the case

0:58

of missing 5-year-old Leanna

1:00

Warner who disappeared back in

1:03

2003. And

1:05

to this day is still considered to

1:07

be missing. However, I wanted to talk

1:09

about it because their family has remained

1:12

so hopeful that one day they could

1:14

even possibly find Leanna. Or

1:16

that at the very least they could get

1:19

the answers that they so desperately need. Obviously

1:21

as time goes on with any case, media

1:23

coverage just kind of dwindles. And so I

1:25

thought it would be a good opportunity to

1:28

bring this case back into the spotlight a

1:30

little bit. But before I get into the

1:32

details of Leanna's disappearance, I wanted to quickly

1:34

take a moment to talk about the National

1:36

Center for Missing and Exploited Children. You guys

1:38

know that I've been working with them for

1:40

a while raising funds and raising awareness about

1:42

what they do. And one of

1:44

the amazing things that they do specifically to

1:46

help resolve cases of long-term missing children are

1:48

their amazing age progressions which have helped in

1:51

so many cases. I know that I've shared

1:53

so many of their age progressions over the

1:55

years in my coverage and you're going to

1:57

be seeing one of Leanna today. NACMEC has

1:59

a team. a forensic artist who age progressed

2:02

the missing children's faces to show what they

2:04

might look like today and increase the likelihood

2:06

of someone recognizing them as they could look

2:08

today. When I got the opportunity to visit

2:10

the NACMEC headquarters, I actually got a demonstration

2:12

on how they do this and it's a

2:15

really interesting process that is really

2:17

a labor of love. I mean, everyone that

2:19

works at the National Center for Missing and

2:21

Exploited Children is just so passionate about what

2:23

they do. And with that being said, I

2:25

wanted to shout out our NACMEC campaign and

2:28

the merch items that we still have available.

2:30

If you're interested, specifically one of my favorites

2:32

is the Blue Topaz Long Sleeve with NACMEC's

2:34

Every Child Deserves a Safe Childhood logo. And

2:36

then on the back, it has NACMEC's main

2:38

logo. It's really comfortable. It has a relaxed

2:41

fit and we've never done a NACMEC shirt

2:43

in this color. You can find all our

2:45

NACMEC items at Kendall Rae.shop and as always,

2:47

100% of the profit is donated directly to

2:49

the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

2:51

And thank you to everyone who has supported

2:53

this campaign so far. We are nearing $450,000

2:56

raised and I am super, super

2:58

proud of that. Super proud of all

3:00

of you who have helped us get

3:02

there. But with all that being said,

3:04

let's go ahead and jump into Leanna's

3:06

story. Now, Leanna Warner's case has stumped

3:08

law enforcement for two decades now. In

3:10

fact, when this episode goes

3:12

up, the 21-year anniversary of her disappearance

3:14

will just have passed. And even though

3:17

so much time has passed, it's still

3:19

important to talk about cases like this

3:21

because even when it feels

3:23

impossible that the person will never be

3:25

found, that maybe will never have answers,

3:27

some people are found decades later. For

3:29

example, I covered the story of Holly

3:31

Clouse, who was abducted as a baby

3:34

and found more than 40 years later.

3:36

And her story has always inspired me.

3:38

I think it's such a testament to

3:40

never giving up. And like I said,

3:42

her family and law enforcement have said

3:44

that they are never giving up hope

3:46

that one day she will be found.

3:48

So getting into her background here, Leanna

3:50

Marie Warner was born on January 21,

3:52

1998. Her parents, Kalyn

3:56

and Christopher, had both been married before and

3:58

had kids from those relationships. ships but after

4:00

the two of them fell in love they

4:02

decided they wanted to have a child with

4:04

one another. That child was obviously Leanna and

4:06

she was said to have been the glue

4:09

that held this blended family together. Kaitlyn says

4:11

that it was definitely a bit of chaos

4:13

having four young kids running around the house

4:15

but it was chaos that they welcomed and

4:17

loved. Now at this time they were living

4:19

in Hibbing, Minnesota which is along the Missabi

4:22

Iron Range in the northeastern part of the

4:24

state. And while they didn't stay in Hibbing

4:26

forever, they also didn't move that far away.

4:28

In early 2003, which was actually just a

4:30

few months before

4:32

Leanna vanished, she and her parents along

4:35

with her sister Carly moved ten minutes

4:37

up north to Chisholm. And for those

4:39

first few months everything was as normal

4:41

as ever. Leanna had adjusted really well,

4:43

she was still her spunky, happy, outgoing

4:45

self. Her parents and sisters describe her

4:47

as an incredibly brave little girl who

4:49

was friendly, kind, and had a wildly

4:51

free spirit. She also loved to play

4:53

with Barbies, ride her bike, and hang

4:55

out with her dad while he was

4:57

hunting in the woods. They've described her

4:59

as kind of switching back from girly

5:01

girl to tomboy at the drop of

5:03

a hat and that was one of

5:05

the many things that her family say

5:08

they loved about her. And if there's

5:10

one thing I know for certain, it's

5:12

that she was and still is very

5:14

loved. So

5:17

that brings us to the day that Leanna

5:19

disappeared, June 14th, 2003. It was actually the

5:21

Saturday before Father's Day and it was a

5:23

beautiful day. So her mom, Kalen, decided to

5:25

take Carly and Leanna out to some garage

5:27

sales. This was a super fun activity for

5:29

them to do, you know, they can get

5:31

outside, spend time together, find local treasures. This

5:33

is something I love to do with my

5:36

mom as a kid too, especially when you

5:38

went to someone's house who had kids and

5:40

there were toys and books and clothes there.

5:42

So it's always fun to go garage sailing.

5:44

Carly, who was 10 at the time, said

5:46

that this was something they loved to do

5:48

together and that they had a great time

5:50

that day. And then after they shopped around

5:52

for a little while because it was such

5:55

a nice day out, they ended up driving

5:57

over to a friend's house where they played

5:59

and also before finally returning

6:01

home just before 4.30 p.m. When

6:04

they got home, Caitlyn starts unpacking the car

6:06

with all of the treasures that they found

6:08

out at the garage sales, and

6:10

both girls come up to her while she's unloading

6:12

the car, and they wanted to walk

6:14

over to their friend's houses. And just to be

6:17

clear, these are two different houses, two different friends,

6:20

and they're both close to their house.

6:22

And quite frankly, Caitlyn didn't want them

6:24

to go at first, especially Leanna, because

6:26

she knew she was tired and that

6:28

she needed a nap, but

6:30

she decided to go ahead and let

6:32

them go. Leanna just really, really

6:34

wanted to go to her friend's house, was begging

6:36

her mom, and the friend was only a block

6:38

and a half away, so she figured, why not?

6:40

But she did tell them that they needed to

6:42

be back by five, which left them with only

6:44

30 minutes to go and play. ["The

6:55

Line." Someone was taking a long time up

6:57

at the front, which no hate, I

6:59

know it happens, but I was just picking something

7:01

up, and obviously people were behind me too, so

7:03

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time, day, or- consider

12:01

keeping those thoughts to yourself. I think it's

12:03

important that we acknowledge that, you

12:05

know, that's not a great

12:07

idea. That letting your child walk alone

12:10

to a friend's house that young is, I would

12:13

definitely not recommend that. I think most

12:15

people would agree, but shaming that decision

12:18

now does absolutely nothing. I mean, 20

12:20

years later, can you imagine how much

12:22

guilt she has felt, how much

12:25

she wishes she could go back, turn back

12:27

the clock and change that decision? I'm sure

12:29

she thought about that every day for a

12:32

long time. And the

12:34

reason I say every day for a

12:36

long time and not still today is

12:38

because Kaylin is no longer with us.

12:40

She actually just recently lost her battle

12:42

to cancer. And so I especially wanted

12:44

to ask you guys to be kind

12:47

in the comments because I'm sure that's

12:49

even more hurtful to her family now

12:51

that she's gone. But anyway, like I

12:53

was saying, law enforcement started at their

12:55

house, thoroughly checked everything and then started

12:57

working their way outwards into the neighborhood.

12:59

And into that night, they were knocking on

13:02

neighbors' doors, checking in people's yards, going through

13:04

garages and sheds, and even looking in old

13:06

abandoned mines. They also checked out other friends'

13:08

houses to see if maybe Leanna went to

13:11

someone else's house after discovering that the Cork

13:13

family wasn't home. But for the most part,

13:15

it was all a dead end. And I

13:17

say for the most part because there were

13:19

two neighbors who had spotted her that night

13:22

and their sightings ended up being really helpful

13:24

when it came to establishing a timeline, at

13:27

least. The first witness was a

13:29

man who lived next door to the Cork

13:31

family. And he said that around 515, he

13:33

saw Leanna as she walked up to the

13:35

Cork store and began knocking. So

13:37

we know that she did go there. But

13:39

then after that, he ended up going inside

13:41

his house and that's all that he saw.

13:43

The second witness was another man who lived

13:46

across the street and he said he saw

13:48

Leanna around that same time. And according to

13:50

what he shared with investigators, they believe that

13:52

after nobody answered the door, Leanna crossed the

13:54

street and began walking by this man's house.

13:56

And this witness basically said that he was

13:58

outside working on his car and that when

14:01

he saw Leanna walking by he was worried

14:03

that his puppy was going to jump on

14:05

her. And so to make sure that the

14:07

puppy didn't jump on her he went inside

14:09

and grabbed a leash and by the time

14:11

he came back outside she was gone. It's

14:13

hard for serving for Chris Warner to be

14:16

here. This house

14:18

now boarded up on 2nd Street in

14:20

Chisholm is where he raised

14:22

his daughter Leanna. What's your name? Leanna.

14:24

The little five-year-old on a late Saturday

14:26

afternoon in June 2003 walked

14:29

down the alley to knock on a friend's door

14:31

but no one was home. There's another gentleman that

14:34

lived here and he actually saw

14:36

her come make it up this far so and

14:38

then after that that's

14:40

where we lost our song. That was

14:43

the last known moment Leanna was ever

14:45

seen. And I know people are going

14:47

to ask about this especially because there

14:49

was a puppy involved and oftentimes that

14:51

is a tactic used when kidnapping but

14:54

this man was cleared 100% by

14:56

law enforcement and had no involvement. He

14:59

is said to have been completely cooperative.

15:01

He allowed law enforcement to search his

15:03

property and all that was completely cleared.

15:06

I just wanted to clear that up because I completely

15:08

understand if that's where your mind went because

15:11

that is where my mind went too but

15:13

yeah he is not a person

15:15

of interest. But honestly what sticks out to me

15:17

most with all of this is the timing

15:19

of it all. I mean it really doesn't make

15:21

sense. If Leanna had left

15:24

her house at 4 30

15:26

and walked over to her friend's house which would only

15:29

have taken a few minutes but both of these neighbors

15:31

saw her at 5 15 that's 45 minutes where we

15:34

have no

15:37

idea where she was or what she

15:39

was doing. Plus that also means if

15:41

these two sightings are accurate that

15:44

her mom and sister just missed her because

15:46

they started searching for her at 5 30.

15:49

So not only does that leave such a

15:51

small window of time to when she would

15:54

have been taken but it also doesn't

15:56

answer the question of what she was doing for that

15:58

45 minutes. pretty

16:00

long time. It really makes no sense. It

16:02

made no sense to anyone back then and

16:04

it still doesn't to this day. So anyway,

16:06

the search went on into that night and

16:08

once it got dark, the St. Louis County

16:10

Rescue Squad and local fire department were called

16:12

in to help as well. A state patrol

16:15

helicopter also joined the search and they used

16:17

some heat sensors to try to find out

16:19

if maybe she was somewhere that they couldn't

16:21

see in the dark. They even got a

16:23

bloodhound out there, which is great. I mean,

16:25

bloodhounds are amazing at tracking scents, but

16:28

even if they do find a scent,

16:30

they obviously cannot communicate to you or

16:32

obviously even know when the

16:34

scent was left there. So in this

16:37

case, the dog did end up picking

16:39

up Leanna's scent, which seemed like great

16:41

news at the time, but they ended

16:43

up figuring out that the scent he

16:45

picked up was from the day before.

16:47

Specifically, the dog ended up bringing investigators

16:49

down by the lake and when they

16:51

were there, they came across a child's

16:53

footprint down by the water. This was

16:55

obviously a really scary discovery and

16:58

you know, they're thinking at least at first

17:00

that she may have wandered down by the

17:02

lake and drown. And by this point, it

17:04

was too late and too dark for them

17:07

to search the water. So they waited until

17:09

the next morning and once the sun

17:11

came up, the search was back in full

17:13

swing. Dozens of volunteers as well as law

17:16

enforcement officers on boats and in helicopters checked

17:18

out that lake and the area surrounding it.

17:21

And this was not an easy task

17:23

because this water was extremely murky and

17:25

muddy and they did this for hours,

17:27

but they ended up stopping because investigators

17:29

learned from Carly, her sister, that she

17:32

and Leanna had been

17:34

down by the water playing that Friday in

17:36

the exact same spot. So literally the day

17:38

before. For reference, Longyear Lake was just a

17:41

couple of blocks down the street from where

17:43

the Warners lived. And by June, it was

17:45

already getting hot. So playing in the water

17:47

wasn't unusual for the girls. It was something

17:50

they loved to do. And ultimately because nothing

17:52

turned up in the water and because this

17:54

footprint was likely from the day before, it's

17:56

believed that the bloodhound had tracked an old

17:59

scent. not to say they completely

18:01

stopped checking the water, but more on

18:03

that later. So

18:07

recently I've been doing a lot of shopping

18:09

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18:12

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18:14

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18:18

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18:20

the heat that are comfortable and can be

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18:27

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18:31

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19:34

with no sign of Leanna anywhere,

19:36

no idea where she could be

19:38

the idea that she had just

19:41

wandered off and was somewhere around

19:43

the area seemed less and less

19:45

likely, even though it was extremely

19:47

difficult for them to all face

19:49

this reality. The idea that someone

19:51

had taken her that there was

19:53

some sort of foul play here

19:55

seemed more likely by

19:57

this point. Now weekend there was

26:00

and she told them that she did

26:02

that because she was afraid that monsters

26:04

were going to take her during the

26:06

night, which is also a very common

26:08

thing that most kids go through. I

26:10

mean, I definitely went through the monster

26:12

fear myself. I really want to give

26:14

them a lot of grace for this

26:16

because no one ever thinks that their

26:18

child is actually going to be abducted

26:20

or disappear the way that Leanna did.

26:22

And these are really common things for

26:24

kids to say, very common experiences. So

26:26

I just don't think there's, again,

26:29

any use in judging them for not doing

26:31

anything about it at the time. I mean,

26:33

she was five years old and like most

26:36

children, she had a wild imagination and

26:38

they just didn't think there was any truth

26:41

to the things that she was saying. But

26:43

like I said, now that she was gone,

26:45

they started thinking that maybe there was some

26:48

truth to some of the things that she

26:50

was telling them. I will say that police

26:52

did take these concerns very seriously, but at

26:54

the same time, they also said they didn't

26:57

find any evidence to suggest that Leanna had

26:59

been groomed, which doesn't mean she wasn't. I

27:01

mean, sometimes there's not always evidence for that.

27:04

But anyway, it was back to the drawing

27:06

board pretty much. So that summer, while investigators

27:09

were continuing to go through the sex offender

27:11

registry, another tip came in that caught their

27:13

attention. The call came from a woman who

27:15

lived right down the street from the Warners

27:18

and she said that they needed to look

27:20

into her son. It turns out that this

27:22

woman's boyfriend was using their family computer and

27:25

he found

27:27

CP, photos

27:29

of children. I'm sure most of you know what

27:31

I mean by that. But yeah, obviously,

27:34

this was very concerning to her and

27:36

she believed that these images belonged to

27:38

her son. And what's crazy is her

27:41

son, whose name is Matthew Curtis, actually

27:43

had already been interviewed by police a

27:45

few days after Leanna went missing. And

27:47

at the time he claimed to know

27:50

nothing about what happened to Leanna. But

27:52

with this new information coming to light,

27:54

the CP on the computer, several

27:57

red flags were raised, actually all the

27:59

red flags. were raised. So investigators got

28:01

a search warrant for his laptop and

28:03

ended up charging him in connection with

28:06

what they found. And of course, they

28:08

also heavily questioned him about Leanna. And

28:11

that was definitely the right move, considering

28:13

that he only lived a few houses

28:16

down from where she did. And just

28:18

to clear up any confusion, he lived

28:20

a couple houses down in the opposite

28:23

direction from where Leanna walked that day.

28:25

Anyway, though, he continued to deny any

28:27

connection to Leanna's disappearance. But he did

28:30

say something super, super weird, very

28:32

off putting and bizarre. And I've heard

28:35

people say things like this in the

28:37

past, but he said that

28:39

even if he did, they wouldn't be

28:41

able to find her which just irks

28:43

me so bad. I mean, why even

28:45

say something like that? And it makes

28:48

you look super guilty. I still

28:50

I don't know, I have my thoughts on

28:52

him for sure. But what makes it all

28:54

even worse is that he ended up taking

28:57

his own life. It was actually on the

28:59

day that he was supposed to appear in

29:01

court on the possession of CP charges that

29:03

his body was found in a gravel pit

29:05

with a plastic bag over his head. There

29:07

were some rumors that someone may have killed

29:09

him, but investigators conclusively ruled that he had

29:11

done it to himself. And what makes me

29:14

so angry, and I'm sure all of you

29:16

and so many others who have followed this

29:18

case is that he did this before he

29:20

was fully questioned regarding Leanna even though they

29:22

had searched his truck and found nothing to

29:24

indicate that she had ever been inside or

29:26

any other evidence linking him to what happened,

29:29

they still would have liked the chance to

29:31

talk to him about it more and close

29:33

that chapter officially if he wasn't involved.

29:35

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29:37

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29:53

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29:55

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29:57

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29:59

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30:02

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30:04

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question several people, including a 24-year-old who

31:22

lived down the street, whom they charged

31:24

with child care. All the

31:26

agencies that worked on the case would like

31:28

to have followed up with Matt to try

31:30

to determine what, if any involvement he had.

31:32

But unfortunately, that ended when he took his

31:34

own life. Was that the

31:37

best lead that ever came forward? In my

31:39

opinion, yeah. Anyway, in October of that year,

31:41

they ended up partially draining Longyear Lake with

31:43

the hopes that they could find something that

31:46

they missed earlier. But even

31:48

doing that turned up nothing. And unfortunately,

31:50

because the winter was approaching and things

31:52

were starting to, of course, freeze over,

31:54

the search efforts were paused. Not to

31:57

mention, none of the tips that they

31:59

were following up on were... panning out

32:01

in any way. So as you can

32:03

imagine, the Warner family is really at

32:05

a low point at this

32:07

time. And of course they at this point want

32:10

to get any coverage, any awareness that they can

32:12

and bring in even more tips. So they end

32:14

up getting the opportunity to go on the Montel

32:16

Williams show and of course they wanted to do

32:19

it. And this really pisses

32:21

me off. I just cannot

32:23

believe this actually happened to them. But

32:25

when they were on the show, they weren't

32:27

even warned that this was going to happen.

32:29

But they bring out a

32:31

psychic to speak to them. And

32:34

this is a popular psychic actually. Her name is

32:36

Sylvia Brown. I'm sure many of you have heard

32:38

of her. She is also

32:41

known for incorrectly predicting that

32:43

or confidently saying, might

32:45

I add, that Amanda Barry

32:47

was dead. Who ended up being

32:50

found years later. I'm sure

32:52

many of you have heard of that case. I have

32:55

covered it before. But like I said, they had

32:57

no idea that she was going to be on

32:59

the show. She comes out in front of a

33:01

whole studio audience, and this is later aired on

33:03

TV, and tells them that

33:05

their daughter was dead and that

33:07

they could find her in a

33:09

yellow car. Now, I know that

33:11

the use of psychics when it

33:13

comes to these cases is very

33:15

debated. People have different thoughts. I've

33:18

actually heard some FBI agents talking

33:20

about how it can be really

33:22

helpful in some cases. I think

33:24

the general consensus among law enforcement is

33:26

that it's not. But I

33:28

have heard of successful predictions happening. So

33:30

I don't want to completely exneit. But

33:33

in my opinion, it's really especially inappropriate

33:35

to bring someone like that out without

33:37

the family's permission in front of all

33:39

these people and tell them something so

33:42

dramatic. So as you can imagine, this

33:44

was a horrible, horrible

33:46

experience that just made everything worse

33:48

for this family. And all of

33:51

that pain, anger and trauma that

33:53

Kalen was going through sort of

33:55

cumulated one night in October when

33:58

Kalen actually got killed. an argument

34:00

with Chris and hit him

34:03

with her car. Now she didn't purposely

34:05

do this. Chris explained that they had

34:07

gone to a convenience store together. They

34:09

started arguing in the parking lot. He

34:11

gets out of the car and she

34:13

was backing away and accidentally

34:15

backed into him. Now he didn't

34:17

want to press charges. She felt

34:20

horrible. I mean she's no longer with us

34:22

now but from her interviews in the past

34:24

she explained how this was just such a

34:26

low point in her life. She was in

34:28

complete despair and feels terrible that this happened.

34:31

But like I said he didn't want to

34:33

press charges but the police had no choice

34:35

and they did end up pressing charges. She

34:37

ended up pleading guilty to a gross misdemeanor

34:40

and served two years probation and Chris actually

34:42

says that despite what happened that it was

34:44

a turning point in their marriage. This whole

34:46

thing helped her realize that she needed to

34:49

seek therapy for her depression related to her

34:51

daughter's disappearance and she ended up getting the

34:53

help that she needed. But now I want

34:55

to jump forward to the one year mark

34:58

since Leanna disappeared. By this point the Warners

35:00

are still working with a private investigator and

35:02

he was coordinating and conducting searches as well.

35:04

He helped to expand the search radius from

35:07

five miles to 12 but even

35:09

with the help of volunteers and search and

35:11

rescue dogs nothing turned up. So once again

35:13

this case sort of hit a lull. That

35:16

was until 2005 when a serial killer

35:20

was arrested and they found Leanna's

35:22

name mentioned in his online diary.

35:24

So this man is named Joseph

35:27

Edward Duncan and he is a

35:29

terrible disgusting filthy excuse for a

35:31

human and in 2005 he

35:34

was caught after he abducted two little kids

35:36

and killed their parents and older brother. Out

35:38

of the two he kidnapped only the little

35:40

girl survived and she was the one who

35:42

told police that he had killed others before.

35:44

Not just her family but he told her

35:47

there were others too. When they were investigating

35:49

him for those crimes they ended up finding

35:51

his blog and in January of 2004

35:54

which is only about a year after

35:56

Leanna disappeared they found a post that

35:58

mentioned her name. and it reads, just

36:00

found out that a five year old girl

36:02

went missing from Chisholm, Minnesota on June 14th,

36:04

2003, this

36:07

year. I did not even

36:09

know until today that this happened, so I

36:11

tried to figure out what I was doing

36:13

on that day since I'm always afraid of

36:15

getting accused when something like this happens, dot,

36:17

dot, dot. So he's basically saying he's scared,

36:19

he's gonna be blamed for what happened to

36:22

her, which is strange considering a lot of

36:24

his other posts talk about wanting

36:26

to hurt humanity. Now, here's

36:28

what's strange though. When investigators were looking

36:30

into him, they found a GPS device

36:33

in his car, and it provided really

36:35

detailed data points about where Joseph had

36:37

been and when. And

36:40

based on that data and the fact that

36:42

he had a rock solid alibi, there was

36:44

just no way that he was responsible for

36:46

what happened to Leanna. And so things

36:49

went cold once again. And they stayed

36:51

cold up until 2007 when

36:54

investigators got a call from Bruce

36:56

Christensen saying that he was

36:58

responsible for what happened to Leanna.

37:01

And if you remember, Bruce Christensen is

37:03

the one who threatened to kill Leanna's

37:05

mom, Kalen. He ended up going to

37:07

jail on some unrelated charges, and while

37:09

he was there, he called up investigators

37:12

and said he was ready to talk.

37:14

Now, of course, this brings up a lot

37:17

of emotion. Her

37:19

family is feeling positive,

37:21

like they might actually get some answers,

37:23

but also scared of what he might

37:25

have to say. But this

37:27

just ended up being a false confession.

37:30

Turns out that Bruce had actually stabbed

37:32

someone in jail and was now facing

37:34

an additional 30 years behind

37:36

bars. And in an attempt to get

37:38

outside one last time, he lied about

37:40

killing Leanna. He literally went out with

37:43

a team of investigators and led them

37:45

to an unmarked grave. And

37:47

when they dug up this grave, it ended up just

37:49

being the remains of a cat. It

37:52

was all just a ploy that he used

37:54

to get outside one last time at

37:56

their expense, which is

37:58

just infuriating. believe people

38:00

actually do it, but it really shouldn't

38:02

surprise me, right? But afterwards, he admitted

38:04

to lying about the entire thing, and

38:06

once again, investigators are back to square

38:08

one. So following this and following years

38:11

of disappointment and sadness, the Warners ended

38:13

up selling their home in Chisholm in

38:15

an effort to try and move forward

38:17

as best as they can. I mean,

38:19

by no means were they giving up

38:21

on Leanna at all, but being

38:23

in that home was a constant reminder that she

38:25

was not with them, and truthfully, it

38:27

no longer felt safe or like home to

38:29

them. And I totally get that. Caitlyn really

38:31

struggled with the decision to move and was

38:33

afraid that if her daughter really did come

38:35

home one day, that she wouldn't be there

38:37

for her. But the daily

38:40

reminder of being in that home was

38:42

finally enough to make them want to

38:44

leave. Year after year, though, this family

38:46

never gave up. They continued to push

38:48

for answers and always really held on

38:50

to that hope, which I think is

38:53

really incredible. Now, Chief Vern Manor, who

38:55

has worked the case since 2003, says

38:57

that every year they get tips and

38:59

some are better than others, but they're

39:01

continuing to this day to follow up

39:03

on everything they receive. Even 10, 15,

39:07

and now 20 years since Leanna

39:09

disappeared, her family, the community, and

39:11

law enforcement have never given up

39:13

hope and have never closed

39:16

the case to this day. Chris says

39:18

that the support they continue to receive

39:20

has meant the absolute world to them,

39:22

and they feel that even after all

39:24

this time, it's clear that nobody has

39:26

forgotten her. If you remember, it was

39:28

Father's Day weekend, when his daughter disappeared,

39:30

and I can't imagine how

39:32

hard Father's Day is for him

39:34

every year. And when this episode goes

39:37

up, I believe Father's Day has just

39:39

passed. And I'm sure it was

39:41

just as hard for

39:43

him as it has always been. He has also talked

39:45

about how hard it is to look at that age

39:48

progressed picture of her. I mean, he's

39:50

super grateful that it's out there. It's a very useful

39:52

tool, but I can see how

39:54

it would be really hard to look at

39:56

your child and see them the way

39:58

that they possibly would be. today and think

40:00

about all the years you've missed out on,

40:02

I truly cannot imagine what

40:05

that would be like, how painful, I

40:07

mean painful doesn't even seem like

40:09

enough, how gut-wrenching,

40:12

devastating, just horrific

40:14

that would be to go through. Now

40:17

obviously these pictures which were created by

40:19

Nekmek are instrumentally important in cases like

40:21

this. I mean we know that Liana

40:23

definitely looks a lot different now as

40:25

anyone would after aging 20 years and

40:27

so the idea is to get the

40:29

best possible age progression out there to

40:32

people in case someone recognizes her as

40:34

she is now. Regardless of all the

40:36

pain that this family has been through,

40:38

Chris says that they are still not

40:40

giving up. There is a quote from

40:42

him and it says, if I were

40:44

to let myself fall apart and not

40:47

move forward and she was to come

40:49

home tomorrow, what would she come home

40:51

to? That was a big driving factor

40:53

for me to get back on my

40:55

feet. You never forget, you never truly

40:57

move on, you just figure out how

40:59

to live with the hand you've been

41:01

dealt. Liana's sisters, Carly and Whitney, have

41:03

also been very outspoken, very active in

41:05

the case as well. They work closely

41:07

with Nekmek and really try to be

41:09

the voice of justice in Liana's case

41:11

even after all these years and they

41:13

became even more active after their mother

41:15

passed away. My sister vanished when she was

41:18

five years old in 2003 and we are

41:20

still looking for her every single

41:23

day. She's been gone for 21 long long

41:25

years. She said, I'm going to my friend's

41:28

house and that was it. Like that was

41:30

the last time I saw her. Five o'clock

41:32

comes around, um my mom is saying that

41:34

she doesn't know where Liana is, can I

41:36

go look for her? I'm crying, driving

41:38

my little bike all around time, screaming her

41:40

name and it's just, it was a lot

41:42

but I remember all of it. Imagine yourself

41:44

being nine and ten years

41:46

old when your sister's kidnapped and

41:49

then it's just become a part

41:51

of your entire being. Your whole life,

41:53

your adolescent years, your young

41:56

teenage years, every single growing

41:58

up portion of your life. life and framing who

42:00

you are as a person to then

42:03

we're, we're taking on a

42:05

missing child's case for our

42:07

mom. Like that's a, no

42:10

one in the world can prepare us

42:12

for this. No

42:15

one could tell us what

42:17

to like expect to happen or you,

42:19

you, what to do in the situation

42:22

that we're in. We're sisters, you know,

42:24

there's something so different about a sister

42:26

bond. You need the closure as a

42:28

family. I think even the state of

42:31

Minnesota, the iron range, everybody that's ever

42:33

followed her story needs the closure. Like

42:35

I mentioned earlier, Kaylin did pass away

42:37

due to cancer. That happened in December

42:40

of 2022 after being very suddenly diagnosed

42:42

and she dedicated nearly 20 years

42:44

of her life searching for her baby

42:47

girl. It makes me so sad to

42:49

know that she never got those answers.

42:51

And all I can hope is that

42:53

wherever her soul rests now, that maybe

42:56

she has peace and maybe

42:59

even answers. I mean, who, who really

43:01

knows? Right. I have lots of memories

43:03

of Leanna. She was

43:05

a feisty one. Very

43:07

feisty. Sisterhood is a

43:09

bond never broken. I was eight, she

43:12

was five. So, um, we

43:14

always were fighting, but then I just

43:17

remember the constant love and appreciation

43:19

that I had for her and

43:21

she had for me. On June

43:23

14th, 2003, Whitney Shepp's younger sister,

43:25

Leanna Warner, disappeared. Now 20

43:28

years later, their family is still

43:30

fighting for answers and grieving another

43:32

loss. Shepp's mother, Kaylin passed

43:34

away in December after a short

43:36

battle with cancer. We didn't know

43:38

how intense it was until my

43:40

mom was gone, obviously. And

43:43

all the burdens that she was taking on

43:45

handling a lot of this stuff by herself.

43:47

Shepp says she and her other sister, Carly,

43:49

have received a lot of help and support

43:52

from Missing Children Minnesota, an advocacy group. Executive

43:55

director Teresa Latka says continued advocacy

43:57

for Missing Children is vital. Until

44:00

we have answers as

44:03

to what happened to Leanna, I

44:05

believe everybody deserves to have that space held

44:07

for them. I believe that

44:10

every family deserves answers. I believe that

44:12

every missing person deserves to be found.

44:14

Latke says even though it's been 20 years, there's

44:17

always the possibility for new information about

44:19

Leanna's disappearance to emerge. I absolutely have

44:21

hope that she's still out there. We

44:24

want her home. We need her to come home

44:28

and we're gonna do whatever it takes to try

44:30

to get answers, to get her home. 20

44:33

years missing, but never forgotten. Now,

44:35

before I wrap up today's episode, I

44:37

want to once again, draw your attention

44:39

to the age progressed images provided by

44:41

NACMIC because they really are absolutely critical

44:43

in cases of long-term missing children. And

44:45

if you're watching this episode, you've already

44:47

seen the pictures on screens several times

44:49

by now, but they have created a

44:51

handful of these images of Leanna over

44:53

the years. And if you are listening

44:56

to this episode, you can

44:58

type in her name and quickly be able

45:00

to find these. There are three different age

45:02

progressions that have been done over the years.

45:04

And getting these photos out there could mean

45:06

the difference between this case remaining cold or

45:09

potentially being solved. So if you're

45:11

able to, as always, I ask

45:13

that you share these photos or

45:15

share this episode or share any

45:17

coverage on Leanna's case because the

45:19

more eyes that see Leanna's face,

45:22

the better. In a 2022 article

45:24

on NACMIC's website, they've shared that their forensic

45:26

artist team has completed more than 7,500 age

45:28

progressions and

45:31

that 1,800 of those children have

45:33

actually been recovered. And in some of

45:35

those cases, it's directly because of the

45:37

age progressed photo. So that just tells

45:39

you alone how crucial these age progressions

45:41

really are. I'm so grateful for the

45:43

work that NACMIC does. I mean,

45:46

I've said it so many times, but their team is

45:48

incredible. I mean, getting the honor to go out to

45:50

their headquarters and really see them in action and meet

45:52

so many of them and just

45:54

see how passionate they are about the

45:56

work they do was super inspiring. And

45:58

so that's why this... This week I

46:00

wanted to make an additional donation to NACMEC

46:03

in honor of Leanna. She deserves to

46:05

be found and her family deserves to

46:07

finally get those answers before another 21

46:09

years has passed. Leanna

46:13

Marie Warner was approximately 3'2 and 50

46:15

pounds when she went missing. She is

46:17

Caucasian with brown eyes and dark brown

46:19

hair that was cut into a short

46:21

bob at the time of her disappearance.

46:23

She was wearing a blue denim dress

46:25

with an attached belt, orange Hanes underwear,

46:28

a flower-shaped earring and had no shoes

46:30

or socks on. Leanna also has a

46:32

mole above her left ankle and a

46:34

dimple on the back of her left

46:36

shoulder. If you have any information on

46:38

her disappearance, no matter how small you

46:40

may think it is, it could

46:43

be the tip that cracks this case wide

46:45

open. So if you do, please call the

46:47

Chisholm Police Department at 218-254-7915 or NACMEC at

46:50

1-800-THE-LOST. And

46:56

once again, I encourage you to check out our

46:58

NACMEC collection. One hundred percent

47:00

of the proceeds goes directly to

47:02

their life-saving work and I

47:04

would really appreciate it. I know they would

47:06

really appreciate it. And once again, thank you

47:09

to everyone who has supported our campaign so

47:11

far. I wish so badly I had more

47:13

to share on Leanna's case that there was

47:15

more solid leads or, you know,

47:18

anything more than what we have. I mean,

47:20

it's really frustrating the amount of dead ends

47:23

that they have been through and how much

47:25

trauma this family has been through throughout these

47:27

years. And I just really feel for them.

47:29

My heart truly goes out

47:31

to the Warner family. That

47:36

is going to be it for me today, guys.

47:38

Thank you for joining me for another episode. And

47:40

make sure you follow the show on Spotify and

47:42

Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If

47:45

you want to watch the video version of this

47:47

show, you can find it on my YouTube channel,

47:49

which will be linked, or you can just search

47:51

Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode

47:53

soon, but until then, stay safe out there. Some

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people just know the best rate for you

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Not a rate based on Terry who keeps and

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no, they're about to... Save

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with DriveWise and the Allstate app and only pay

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48:34

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