Morbid - Episode 474: Denise Huber- Part 1

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

On the evening of June 2, 1991, twenty-three-year-old Denise Huber went out to a concert in Inglewood, California with a friend. While driving home after the concert, Denise got a flat tire on the Corona del Mar Freeway, just a few miles from her home in Newport Beach. Two days later, the car was discovered abandoned and Denise was nowhere to be found.The disappearance of Denise Huber prompted a massive search operation in southern California and garnered considerable media attention, but their efforts turned up nothing. Years later, in 1994, a woman buying paint from a handy man in Dewey, Arizona grew suspicious of the man selling her the paint and reported her hunch to local police, including the man’s license plate number. When they ran the plate, it turned out the truck had been stolen. When they searched the vehicle a week later, investigators discovered a chest freezer in the back of the vehicle. Inside, they found the answer to a case that had stalled for years.Thank you to the talented David White for research assistance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening to a Movin Network podcast. Hey, Weirdos! I'm Alina. I'm Ash. And this is Movin. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to get it right. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to get it right. Yeah! It is morbid in here. It's usually this.

Yeah. It's always very morbid. It's your case, so I'm sure it's pretty fucking morbid. This case is a really sad one. It's gonna be in two parts. Ooh. Because I wanted you a little bit more to the second part, and I think it's just a lot of information to take in. Okay.

Um, this is the murder of Denise Huber. Um, I don't know if you guys have heard about, you guys have probably heard about this case. I remember hearing about it briefly, but I didn't know the details. That's pretty much where I'm at. When I got into the details of it, I was like, holy shit, this family.

I just want to like wrap my arms around this family because my goodness. Oh. This is so senseless and so fucked up. I know like, part of the end and I can't imagine what this family went through. Yeah, I really can, yeah. And I've been in like this,

like I had to like step away from it and I didn't help myself because this will be coming out like weeks after this happened but like the whole submarine thing, the missing submarine. Yes. I don't have to get too far into it but they just figured out that it was like a catastrophic implosion which is just like wild.

And I've been super hyper fixated on every detail of this thing just because it's like fast, the ocean is terrifying to me. Yeah. And the Titanic is terrifying to me. But so fascinating. But so fascinating. And it just took me on this ride of suddenly

like starting to, um, starting to research, like, free diving as a competitive sport, which I didn't know was a thing. You're the randomist person. Yeah, my brain goes into a lot of places. It does. One place. I can't even make fun of you though, because my brain is very chaotic.

Yours is just chaotic in such a different way. It's chaotic in like a very linear way. Like it just takes actually into that, like it goes forth and then it's like, put branch off and go to this one. It's kind of connected. And then from there, which free diving is like, you take a breath and you go down like 600 feet.

How is that possible? I take a breath and I go to the deep end of the fucking pool and I'm not okay. I just had to take a deep breath thinking about it. I don't know if you just saw that. I literally just had, and I couldn't. My lung capacity could never. No, I feel like I also know what you're gonna say next

and that makes me have to take a deeper breath. Yeah, because then I got, it's the road. So once I started looking at free diving and I started becoming an expert on scuba diving and free diving, because now I know everything. I started rolling into, because I got suddenly I came across something that was like, oh, have you heard of the Nutty Putty Cave incident? And I was like, got wrenching. Excuse me. Can I start it looking into it? I'm not going to explain it to you here, because I'm going to cover

it in an episode. Because the Nutty Putty cave incident and caves in general are a whole different set of nightmares to me. Caves? No. Spolunking is not for me. Spolunking is a no for me dog, but the descent was a great movie. I've also.

I've seen it. Did not help my aversion to spolunking. I don't want anything to help your aversion to it. I hope you stay averse. I mean, it's probably, it's the easiest thing to avoid, I feel like, so I think I'm okay. Like, I don't think I'm ever accidentally spolunk, but like, no, this really pushed me further away from it.

Yeah, I will definitely be covering that, but I just wanted to let you guys in on what I have been like, obsessively telling Ash and John about for days and Mikey. Mikey's also been privy to all of this. I walked in the house this morning and John was like, is she doing the same thing to you? And I was like, oh yeah, 100%. Oh yeah.

I was like, you were gone for a while yesterday. Yeah. I heard all of it. Yeah, you're like, oh, I've heard it for a day. And he was like, yeah, I'm back now and here I heard all of it too. And she doubled down on it. So, but I know you guys are the same way.

You've said that before that you've I've heard people message, they've messaged me before and been like, I do the same thing. Like I go crazy on things. But this was one of those cases that I'm about to cover the first part of that I could not stop digging into

because it's awful. Oh, no. And we always say like these, you know, the victims always, you're like, what the fuck? Like they would have done so much in this world. And Denise is one of those people that you were just like, ah, and it just makes it all the more. Like a light snuffed out. Yeah. Truly. So I want to begin this whole thing by talking about Denise Huber. Denise Huber was born November 22nd, 1967 in Modesto, California.

She was the oldest child of two children, born to Dennis and lone Huber. Very quickly, she displayed a love of learning and real, real intelligence. Like when she wanted to learn something, she absorbed it all. And it's kind of funny that you were just talking about that. They kind of made me think of her because she seems like one of those people that just love

to learn and would just eat up any kind of knowledge she could get. And she didn't just eat it up, she was able to absorb it and use it, which was just a really intelligent person. And she also loved making everyone around her laugh and was really like a, from a tiny age. And she was like a tiny little stand-up comic for the adults in her life. Stop that, reminds me of one of yours. Yeah, and she loved watching I Love Lucy and the three stuages,

and she would act out sketches from the show for her family and friends. That's adorable. I love that. And she was adventurous, too. And in the early years together, the hubers lived in Fair Oaks, which was a neighborhood in Sacramento. And while living there, she would usually bring her younger brother, Jeff, along on her adventures around the neighborhood. You know, like things that kids do, like searching for very treasure and all that kind of

stuff. Yeah. He later said, my sister was kind of a tomboy when she was a kid. That included her clothing right up until she went to college. She always wore jeans and a t-shirt, and she was very athletic, really good at baseball. Oh, cool. She sounds like such a cool girl. And in 1973, her father, Dennis Huber,

accepted a new job as a mortgage officer with a bank in the San Fernando Valley. So the family had to pack up and move. They did this a lot because he would have to be moved a lot for his job. Okay. So they moved five and a half hour south and that was to a neighborhood

where they settled into a house in Northfield, which was a suburban community just outside of downtown LA. Now, the hubers were religious, but not overly strict with their practice or beliefs. And they just believed in the practice of it. And Denise and Jeff went to school at Valley Presbyterian school, where their mother actually worked as a teacher.

And Jeff later described this saying, Denise did very well and I got passing marks. We couldn't get away with very much with mom teaching there. That's funny. So Denise continued to excel in her school work and she really took pride in it. She took pride in being a good student. And by the time Junior high rolled around, she was actually really interested in literature. And she just ate up books. She loved to write.

She loved to read. And she really fell in love with the work of James Harriet in particular. And one of his works was a book called All Creatures Great and Small. And it was about animals. And it actually inspired Denise to want to become a veterinarian when she got older. I love that. Now, Denise eventually transferred to Los Angeles Baptist School in seventh grade, and she stayed there until about the end of high school, actually. And according to her best friend in high school, Andrea Luda, and I believe it's pronounced, Denise was still a tomboy through high school. She never really got out of that phase.

Yeah. And really started expressing more of her passions, like nature, she loved being outside, hiking, hell yeah. And she loved sports especially. It sounds like she was so multifaceted. She was, that's the thing. Cause when you see her, she's like this cool tomboy girl. But she's like beautiful.

And like she has this brilliant smile, she's really smart, she's really funny. She loves the outdoors, she's in this school, but she's also a bookworm, Like, she hits everything on the list. She does, and she's a Sagittarius, so it makes sense that she's like an adventurer and like a wanderer. Always wants to find new things.

There you go. I think Sagittarius, people are really cool. Yeah. And she was also a star on the basketball and softball teams at school. Hell yeah. Starplayer. It honestly felt like she could excel

pretty effortlessly at everything she tried, but the reality is she also put in the hard work. She sounds like Mandy Stovick. Yeah, she really does, right? I was thinking that too. And it's like she made it look effortless, but it was just, she had natural abilities, of course, but she really worked hard for stuff.

Like she put in the work. Yeah. And outside of school, Denise also loved the ocean and swimming, like speaking of the ocean, which, and she was a very strong swimmer. Yeah. She had like really practiced at home. They had a pool at home and she made sure she was like, she was like, I could swim across the ocean if I wanted to.

Oh, yeah. Now, shortly after she entered her senior year at high school at Los Angeles Baptist, her dad, Dennis, actually his company wanted to transfer him to Richardson, Texas, which is a summer of Dallas. The move didn't really seem to bother her brother Jeff. He was like, whatever, that's fine. I'll move.

But Denise was devastated by the idea of moving away her senior year from her friends. That sucks. Yeah. And so the family disgusted among themselves, and although they were not super comfortable with the idea or happy with it, they eventually agreed to allow Denise to remain in California for her final year of high school and stay with a family friend who was the Claudia

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more but 50% off plus free shipping. So then they agreed like we will absolutely take her for the year. That's amazing. And like what good parents to make that decision even though they weren't necessarily comfortable with it. That's the thing. I'm sure it was really hard on both sides to be away from each other. Yeah. But like they did what was best for the other person

and like that, that's cool. That's cool. That they were able to like come to that decision. And have that kind of like love and respect for each other. That's the thing. It's a total, that seems like a respect thing. It is. Like the parent, like her parents respected her enough

to be like, I understand where you're coming from. Yeah. And they came up with a solution and although it was hard and not ideal, they went with it. Yeah. And it worked out. That's great.

It worked out because after she graduated, she went to Texas and moved in with her family. So they get all worked out. And so that just kind of shows you what kind of family this is and who these parents are. And Denise then did two semesters at junior college and then applied and garnered acceptance to Covenant College in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While there, she met someone who would become a very close friend of hers, Debbie, Debbie D'Atar, and Debbie later said about Denise, it was very easy becoming friends with Denise because she had such a bubbly personality and everyone liked her. And their closeness led them

to become roommates as well. They were rarely seen without the other. And she said whenever I needed her, she would always be there. Well, yeah. She just sounds like a really fucking awesome girl. Right, it's just like, damn. Like, these are always the ones where you're just like, I want to know you. Yeah.

Like, I want to know you more than like, because of what happened to you. Exactly. And like, I'm pissed that the world's is such a gross disgusting place that animals walk among us. Exactly. And like I'm pissed that the world's is such a gross disgusting place that animals walk among us. Exactly. Now after two years at Commonin College, Denise went back to live with her family who by then had actually moved back to Newport Beach, California, because of another transfer for Dennis' company. Oh man, I must have been really stressful for you.

I know. And Denise had no trouble like falling right back into Southern California life. Sweet. But once settled there, she didn't really know, she had wanted to be a veterinarian, but right now she was kind of like, I don't know. On the fence, I don't know if that's what I wanna do. She had a passion for animals still in nature. Like she still loved all that.

But she was like, I don't know if I wanna like make that my job. Yeah, I think. It's hard when you're 18 and people are like, Hey, what do you want to be for the rest of your fucking life? You're like, I have no idea. And so she was just trying to figure out what her purpose was. So she had also been dating a young man named Stephen Horricks

and was just settling in. So she enrolled at the University of California in Irvine to finish out her degree. And she got a job as a waitress at the old spaghetti factory. Oh, I think that place is haunted. I think it is. I think, didn't we talk about that with M? We did, and that's why we drink.

Go listen in, that's why we drink. I think we talked about the one in Canada. I think we did, you're right. It was like an old train car or something. Yeah, you're right, this one is an Irvine. And she continued working there until the summer of 1991. 1991 was the year that the hubers would find their lives turned upside down. On Sunday June 2, 1991, Denise had tickets to see Morrissey perform.

Oh, so she's the coolest ever. The coolest thing. Yeah. And he was performing at the forum in Inglewood, and she had gotten two tickets weeks earlier for her and Steven, her boyfriend. And unfortunately, Steven couldn't get out of work to go at the last second. And although Denise was bummed, of course, she offered that, because he was like, give the ticket to someone else. Yeah, like someone else.

You'd go. So she offered the second ticket to a coworker of hers, named Rob Calvert. She was friends with him, like they got along really well, and he was psyched to go with her. And later actually said about her, she was everyone's dream date. And he said he knew they were just friends, and that was fine with him, but he was just happy they could hang out together. What a compliment, right? Like she was everyone's dream date. What a nice thing to say. And Denise picked Rob up at his apartment in Huntington Beach, and they drove to the theater. And they didn't want to pay for all the stuff inside of the venue because

it's crazy expensive. Yeah. So they just drank vodka and orange juice in the parking lot before going inside. I got the amount of time. It's called pre-gaming. It's called pre-gaming. And during the show Rob went and bought a 20-ounce beer for the two of them to share. And now they had a fun, like dancing, singing, having a re-time. And they didn't want the night to end after the concert was over. They were like, this is too much fun. And now we got to like download and like debrief about the concert. You know, you always have to do that.

Oh, absolutely. Because you're on such like a high. Yeah, like we have to talk about everything. Like the ghost concert, poor John, after that, I just debriefed him the entire way home. And he was like, I was there. Home by myself after that. And I was just, it was a wild experience.

Yeah, it was a wild experience. So I felt very quiet. You did. And that was like, turn it on again. I was like, I think I'm gonna queue up some Harry. Yeah. But Denise found a restaurant in Long Beach and they stopped in for a couple

more beers and it upstained till closing time. Just chatting, hanging out, eating some food, just reliving a probably a great show. And after the bar had closed to Denise drove Rob back home, dropped him outside his apartment a little after 2 a.m. Okay. The next day, lone hubber, her mom discovered that Denise had not returned home. No. So she was concerned. And she called her friend Tammy Brown to ask if she knew where she was.

And Tammy called around to their friends, including Rob Calvert, and none of them had seen or spoke into her since the night before. Obviously this was very distressing to her parents and now to her friends too. Great. So later that evening,

Tammy actually decided her friend decided to retrace the route that Denise and Rob would have taken to get to and from the forum in Englewood. Wow, what a good friend. Yeah. And as she's doing this around 10 PM, Tammy came across Denise's 1984 Honda Accord. Oh, yeah.

It was pulled off to the side of the road on the Corona Del Mar Freeway just before the Newport Beach exit. Oh, I really hate that. That's always so haunting. Yeah, just the car. Oh, I hate it. The car's tire was flat,

and there were skid marks where it appeared Denise had likely come to a sudden stop after kind of blowing a tire. Sure. But there was no sign of Denise still being there at all. So she was nowhere around, and Tanny went right to the Huber Home, told them what she had found, and they immediately

called the police. Yeah. So Costa Mesa police officers were dispatched to the scene where Denise's car was located, and there wasn't really a lot to tell them what happened. Right. The keys weren't there. Denise's belongings weren't there in the car.

There was no sign of a struggle or anything of that nature that they could tell. And looking around, they saw that the area was well lit. There was several emergency call boxes around, like within walking distance. Oh, wow. So if an emergency had occurred, there was really no reason Denise wouldn't have been able to, like, quickly and easily call for help. Right. Officers also noticed a large opening in like a chain link fence and it was bordering the freeway, but it was behind like there was like a gravel slope that led down to the street. Okay.

Outside of this hole, and basically you could have gone down there and gotten to several gas stations, hotels, restaurants, like somewhere to get help. Oh, wow. Okay. So they looked at the whole scene and they were like, something just feels off here. Like where is she? What happened? Right. So they were concerned

that she didn't take any of these obvious avenues available for help and then like just sat back at her car. And so days later, police captain Tom Lazar actually told reporters, we have feelings about these things and this one doesn't feel good. Oh no.

So that night they brought sniffer dogs like bloodhounds and they were able to track Denise's scent several yards beyond where her car stopped. But then it just stopped suddenly. Okay. To them, this indicated that she most likely got into another vehicle and was taken away. Yep. Now as it turns out, Denise was not the only woman to go missing in the area that day. So shortly before Denise disappeared, another woman had dropped her children off with her ex-husband and then just disappeared. So the next idea was that Denise may be ran away.

But almost immediately that idea was dismissed as highly unlikely. And yeah, it just seemed very unlikely that she would have run away. There was no reason. There was no reason. She didn't show that was like a pattern of behavior at all. She wasn't fighting with her parents.

She wasn't, you know, like she had a boyfriend. She had a life like. And clearly, like she and her parents could talk about things if she didn't want to do something or go somewhere. Exactly. We have evidence of that. That's the thing.

And I think it's showcased really well with what happened in her senior year of high school. It's like she obviously has a very open line of communication with them. Exactly. And they respect her, her thoughts and feelings. Exactly. Detective Ron Smith also agreed. He told reporters later, I guess it's possible, but we don't see any dyspondency.

She seemed to be, by all accounts, a very reliable young woman, steady in her employment. It's so sad. And detectives began investigating Denise's disappearance as a missing person's case. But there was a very little evidence to work with and almost no leads. It was just a car. So strange.

With nothing really to tell you about anything, they were able to trace her movements up until she pulled off the freeway. But after that, it was like she just went poof. Like vanished. And just vanished.of. Like vanished. You just vanished. That's really so scary.

Yeah, that's the thing. It's like, because usually you'll see something, you know, blood evidence, like evidence of a struggle. Anything. Just anything, but it's just her car. Something left behind even that like, why'd she leave that behind? Yeah, and it's like she just dropped her friend off.

Like, he was like, I didn't see anything wrong. Like nothing was a rye. And without anything else to go on, investigators tried to actually post a car near the area where Denise's car was discovered. And the officer in this posted car just sat and wrote down license plate numbers of commuters that they saw. And then they later contacted these people to see if they had seen anything the day that Denise went missing because they take that road saw. And then they later contacted these people to see if they had seen anything the day

that Denise went missing because they take that road. So if they saw anything of note. Meanwhile, Denise's parents started their own search campaign from their house in Newport Beach. They were calling Denise's friends, people she had known before, people in different, everywhere, states to try to talk to them

and see if they knew anything. Just try to, and also just to try to get the word out about. Like the sc going on. Yeah. Deez is missing. Be on the lookout for her. I apologize if you can hear a lawn mower in the background. It will, it will stop in a second, but our neighbor is mowing their lawn. They were just trying to get the word out that Denise was missing. Just get eyes on what was happening. So from the moment that Denise was officially considered missing, the investigators were

very honest and upfront with the hubers about the likelihood of finding her. Well, that's so awful. I don't have to hear that and to have to deliver that news. Exactly. But they refused to accept that any odds were against them. In fact, her dad, Dennis Huber, told reporters, we have put the pressure on. And in the three weeks since Denise had disappeared,

her parents were working 24-7 to keep everyone aware of this case. Calling television and radio shows, raising remote reward money, and distributing thousands of flyers, they were talking to people, they were calling people, they were like, everything they could do. And after all their hard work, they did make stuff happen. Okay. Their commitment to their daughter and her case

got them featured on America's most wanted. Oh, and that's exactly where they needed to be. The program started generating tips immediately. And they actually, as far away as like Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, but none of them really produced any leads. The family also got a lot of psychics calling them and claiming to know where Denise was. Dennis was not super into that part of it.

But he said, I don't put too much stock in that. But even though he didn't necessarily believe them, he always passed their information to the Costa Mesa police for follow-up. Because there's like, although I don't put stock in it, who knows? What if I didn't? What if I don't pass it on? Exactly. So any information could potentially be valuable,

and they recognize that. The Hebrews were very aware of that. And the Hebrews even convinced, and this was really impressive, they convinced the local chapter of the Adam Walsh Resource Center to aid in the search for Denise. Holy shit. And the thing is, this organization typically works on cases of missing children, right? But in the case of Denise, they were willing to make an exception. And Denise was 23 years old.

Oh, wow. Yeah. And the center director, Linda, said, she's still their daughter. She's still their child. Oh, that. Yeah. And the center director, Linde, said she's still their daughter. She's still their child. Cool. That's true. Absolutely. Now, the search continued throughout the summer. And by September, nothing was really coming up. No investigators were not close to finding Denise. God, that must have been the longest summer of their entire lives. And even after all they had done, like the America's most wanted, the Adam Walsh Resource Center, like they did all the right, they put out all the flyers, they did the searches,

and they weren't finding anything. It's like she just disappeared. It's so scary that that can happen. It's so scary. And the attempt to contact commuters on the Corona Del Mar Freeway, that produced several tips, but according to Detective Jack Archer, quote, all the ones we've got in, they've either been the wrong week or the wrong location. Because it's hard.

Yeah, I don't remember. I don't remember. I, any days that I'm driving, I wouldn't be able to help. We've said that before. And the lack of new leads, any information, anything moving forward was really discouraging for investigators who are becoming less and less hopeful of finding Denise alive at this point. Detective Archer told reporters, unfortunately, that's what history has shown, but you can't give up hope. We've got to keep working

on everything. If we're fortunate, we'll find her. Now, the hubers really kept hope alive that they would find Denise, but they were also really disappointed with the lack of progress that was happening. No, it thinks so. Lone, her mother actually told the LA Times, I know the police are still working on things, but nothing really solid has come up. They are never really very specific about anything, but they do say they're working on leads.

And that's hard too, because the hubers aren't getting a lot of information or communication, because a lot of times victims families get shut out of these things. Yeah, a lot of information or communication because a lot of times victims families get shut out of these things. Yeah. A lot of times. And by the fall, the hubers had actually managed to raise $10,000 as a reward fund from private donations.

Wow, the fact that they did that just like themselves. Yeah, incredible. And I mean, the story was in the news. It was on national programs like Inside Edition. It was everywhere. And even despite their best efforts, leads were nowhere to be found. It's nowhere. In early September, Dennis actually had to return to his job at the bank too. But he found it

incredibly difficult. How do you go back and just just had to go back and do like just had to go back to regular life and alone actually said she was nowhere ready to return back to work. She told one reporter that she was, quote, just kind of existing, taking one day at a time and surviving. I, exact, that's the thing.

It's like how do you put your mind elsewhere and be able to perform like you did before? Yeah, your job. Exactly. Like nothing's important anymore. No. Like nothing would feel important at all. No, everything would feel actually so much less important.

Yeah. And once it became October, and the investigation had pretty much stalled at this point, just hit a wall. Yeah. The hubers hired a private detective named Logan Clark, who they were hoping that maybe just a different set of eyes could look at it from a different angle. Yeah, fresh set.

And the, so the theory that had developed from the investigators in the case was that Denise had pulled off the road when her tire blew out and she was abducted by a stranger as she walked possibly to the call boxes. Now, this would account for why the dogs lost her scent right near her car. But Logan Clark, the special private investigator, he thought something totally different. He said that Denise was not a victim of random circumstance. He said that she was abducted by someone she knew in his opinion. And why did he think that? He said she was abducted somewhere other than where her car was found, and he believed that she had been murdered. And that her abductor abandoned the car on the side of the road,

on the side of Corona Del Mar Freeway to throw investigators off the trail. And like slash the tire. Yeah, had like made it look like she had pulled off, so that they, he said, he thinks that they were making it look like this was the crime scene, so they would only focus on this scene and never look somewhere else. I mean, it does kind of seem that way. Now that you say that. He was quoted as saying, if it happens to be the wrong scene of the crime, they'll never solve it, right? Now Logan Clark's theory was based on something that was a little tenuous.

He was based on a gap in time between one Denise dropped Rob Calvert off at 205 AM. And the earliest report of her car being seen by commuters on the freeway, which is a little after 5 AM. That's like a gap. Oh, that's a big window. It was during that time gap that he thought that Denise was abducted and murdered, and then the car was dumped on the freeway later to be found by Tammy Brown. Detective said that they welcomed his cooperation in the search, but they stopped a little short of confirming any of his assertions.

Okay. Sergeant Ron Smith told reporters, my approach is to not go chase theories, but to concentrate on facts and keep an open mind to all possibilities. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's the best thing you can do. Exactly. Now, as of the month's went by, leads were becoming fewer

and fewer at this point. It was like, this happened and then nothing. After this theory, there was nothing to back either one up. And it was starting to look less and less like they were going to find Denise alive. And at the one year anniversary of Denise's disappearance, lone huber said, you want to keep that hope, although I feel realistically the chances are pretty slim. Well. And after a year of constant endless searching, media appearances, family and friends, like helping everything,

they were still rallying around the hubers, and they were still as determined as ever to find their, they were not resting. It's not like they were just resting and being like, well, we haven't found her, so we have to like just go back to our lives. You can never go back to your lives. They were going back to their responsibilities

as best that they could, but they were dead set on us. This was their main focus. And Denise's coworker actually said, as long as you don't know, you can't say that a person is dead. But it's like giving up if we say to Denise isn't alive. So Costa Mesa detectives kept pursuing any of the now fewer and fewer leads that were just trickling in at this point,

but it was really getting tough because they were hitting a lot of dead ends each time. And in disappearances like Denise's, there's usually some evidence if there is a homicide, or like sometimes there's an attempt to extort the family for money or just something. There was just virtually no evidence in this. It's like banished.

And that must have been maddening for her parents. Like maddening. You just want one thing, just something. Anything. But Sergeant Ron Smith remained committed to finding Denise and remained committed to the idea that she didn't disappear voluntarily. He was like that because people kept going back to that.

That must have been so frustrating, especially when you know what your child and you know your family members. That's the thing. And luckily, this guy, Sergeant Ron Smith, said, everyone pretty much sees her as an innocent victim in this. There's a high emotional involvement

on the part of detectives. Yeah. So for his part, the private investigator Logan Clark and his team of private investigators kind of gave up at this point. Oh, so they weren't on this for very long. Their theory that Denise was abducted and probably killed by acquaintances was also connected to them saying that she was probably killed by acquaintances in the rock music industry. Okay, so it's giving like the devil made me do it. It's giving like rock music made someone murder her. Yeah, I don't think so. I don't usually think that's the case. Strangely, they were never

able to bring any supporting evidence for this theory, so he just turned the case back over to detective, so it was like, I'm good. That's the thing, because I was like, well, what makes him think it was someone she knew? Like, what is telling you that? I think it was, to be honest, and this is just me speculating. I think it was like, he was looking at what the police were doing and saying, what is the exact opposite?

Right. Because we haven't looked at that side yet. Which I guess can be a good tactic. I think it's a good, hey, you might as well look at it. Exactly. And I guess he's doing the right thing by saying, I have no evidence to support this, so I should just hand it back a good day. You might as well look at it. Exactly. And I guess he's doing the right thing by saying I have no evidence to support this, so I should just hand it back over.

Yeah. But later during the trial, his theory, which again relied very heavily on that time gap of two to five a.m. It was further undermined because a newspaper delivery person testified that she saw Denise's car on the side of the road at two 25 a.m. Oh, wow.

So she went missing very closely. Very closely. A one-team minutes after dropping him off. Yeah. Yeah. And he made him sound like he was good. So as one year turned into two, the leads had become basically nothing. They weren't even coming in at this point.

No tips, nothing. It was really becoming inactive. And that's the sad thing, like these cases take up so much, like tension right away and then like fizzle out and then it's like everybody does for guests and that's like it's family does that. That's the thing that family lives with it every day. Right. And to make matters worse in the fall of 1992 lone hubo was diagnosed with breast cancer. Oh my god. And had to undergo very aggressive treatment for it. She told the LA Times, whatever's gonna happen to me is gonna happen.

And she said of the breast cancer in comparison to what we've been through, it's no major thing. She must have just felt like life was just knocking her over and over again. And it was a tough journey. And she found herself, it was an emotional toll that was a very harsh reminder

that their beloved daughter Denise was not there for this, like was not there to be an emotional support for it. A comfort, you know? And her kind and loving voice was silent and something like this made it even more apparent. Because they said she made people feel better. Like I wanted her there to make me feel better. I mean, she was a caretaker,

she wanted to be a veterinarian. And Lone said, as time goes on, I realize Denise is probably not alive. Just to know and not have to wonder, constantly wonder what happened would be easier to handle than this mystery. Yeah, because your mind fills in the blanks and it's... With the worst. Exactly. I was just going to say, our minds are the scariest thing we have.

Unfortunately, in this case, the reality is probably worse than what her mind could come up with. Oh, God. Now, more than a year after this would pass, but for the mystery of Denise's disappearance would be brought to light. And the story was more heartbreaking and bizarre than anyone could have imagined. Now, on a hot afternoon in early July, Elaine, Canalia, and Jack Court had an appointment with a man named John, who was supposed to be selling them some paint color in, that they had hoped to resell

through their paint manufacturing business. Random. So they drove out to a new housing development and do a Arizona to meet him for this paint. Elaine had actually met John several weeks earlier at an outdoor market and that's when they got to talking and he told them that he had some product back at his house that he wanted to get rid of.

And if they were interested in coming by to see it, he had a for sale. This is just what they did. Like, you know, to reach out. It's so sketchy. And when they reached Jon's house, Alain immediately questioned her decision to come out that far to buy something from this man. Yeah. There wasn't anything specific.

She said that made her like a little uneasy. Just a gut feeling. And it was just a weird feeling that something about the situation was off. But always listen to your gut. But they carried on and when they got there, John led the couple back to the back of the house where he had a large rider truck, like a rider rental truck, parked out back. And it was covered a little bit by a blue tarp. Creepy.

And around it were unlabeled paint cans. And they noticed that there was also an extension cord running from the back of the truck into the house. What? So immediately they were freaked out. They were like, this is just a little fucking weird. But Elaine was like, you know what? Let's get these fucking paint cans here.

Let's get them in the truck, let's leave. Right. So they do. And as they're pulling out of the driveway, Elaine noticed that the rider truck had what she originally thought were Massachusetts plates. Oh, shit. And although it was, you know, it was common that a moving truck would have plates from

out of state. Yeah. Renters have to return the vehicle to the company when they're done with it. That truck looked as though it had been there for several months. She's like, that was not a new truck. Like, that was sitting in that spot for a long time. So, like, she's like, did he steal this? And I guess when they got in there, Jack, her,

said, I'll bet the dog on thing is stolen. And I guess he said it like very like off the cuff. Right. And apparently they had dealt with some theft recently. So Elaine was like sensitive. She was like, that causes a lot of stress and aggravation being a victim of theft. So like, I'm gonna help these people out. So she grabbed a piece of scrap paper and she jotted down the license plate number of the truck and any

words that were on the sides, any numbers. That's my fucking girl right there. And she took , she took charge. And she was like, I'm gonna mention this to the authorities. Like, I'm gonna make sure. Now, once they were back at the warehouse in Phoenix, she dropped the paper on a desk and kind of forgot about it a little bit. Cause she went back to like working and all that. But a few days later, a friend of theirs who happened to be a detective with the Phoenix police

Oh shit. Came in the store to buy some paint. And suddenly she was like, oh, and she gave the scrap paper to him. It was like, here's the license plate. I think it might be stolen. If this is what breaks the fucking case, Elaine Forever. Elaine Forever.

And just like how kismet and in-same. And she trusted that gut. She said something's not right about this. I'm gonna write down the information. Maybe it's nothing, but maybe it's something. Proof and evidence that you should always trust your fucking gut. Yeah. So Elaine passed the information to Detective Steve Gregory,

who later followed up with the local writer agency to see what was up with this. Now at first, the agent at writer was like, yeah, I don't have any information about that. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. So Detective Gregory was like, can you just double check if this is one of yours? So a few hours later, the agent called back and said, actually, that vehicle had gone missing, it was stolen from Orange County, California.

Okay. California. Uh-huh. Now for some reason, he said the agent was like, this it apparently went unnoticed by writer at first. Like it wasn't reported stolen, they just didn't know it was gone. That's kind of wild.

Like a whole last truck writer. Like what the fuck? You guys must have a lot of trucks. But Detective Gregory reported the stolen vehicles to deputies at the County Sheriff's office. And deputy Joe DG-A-Como, I believe it's how you say it, was dispatched to investigate the truck and speak to the man named John, who was the homeowner.

Yeah. So Deputy DiGiacomo drove her on the neighborhood where the truck had been seen, and eventually he saw one in a driveway, but the vehicle had Maryland plates. Okay. And he was like, huh, I thought they were supposed to be mass cheesers.

So he was like, I don't want to like, unnecessarily disturb a family if I don't need to. So he called Detective Gregory and like reiterated the information. And he was like, and Gregory asked what we all probably are asking right now. Wasn't it possible that whoever stole the truck had switched the plates? So that could also be possible.

Yeah. Or she got it wrong. Like Marilyn, Massachusetts. Yeah, similar. So did you come up was like, yeah, it's probably a pretty decent possibility because he was like, should I bother these people? Like you need to treat this as it.

So he went to the property and he checked the bin number on the truck and it did match for the vehicle stolen in Orange County. There you go. Now with another share of Step Beauty by his side, did Giacomo came up to the house and knocked on the door, but no one came to the door. Okay. Now he looked around the property and he was like, huh, they both thought that this could

maybe be some kind of like drug lab or some other like hub of illegal activity because it was very rundown and covered in empty paint cans and a lot of debris. It just, to them, it looked like there was something weird going on here. It's giving meth lab because they also didn't't know that he had anything to do with painting or professional painting. So they're like, what is all this paint cannon like paint thinner and shit? Right. So what are all these chemicals doing on your property?

So the deputies got back up from the Dewey area narcotics team, which is called Pant, who arrived at the house around 115 in the afternoon. And they found no evidence of drug-related chemicals or paraphernalia when they went. But the truck appeared as though it was there for months. And the extension cord coming from the back of it suggested that there was something weird going on in there. Yeah, like what the fuck is that about?

Unfortunately, the back of the truck had a padlock on it as well. So they needed to wait for a warrant to get into it. Now, smartly, deputy Dijia Colmo had planned ahead. I just had a feeling he was a smart guy. I just kind of felt the way. By the time the warrant arrived on the scene, he already had a lock smith ready to remove the lock from the door.

Like sitting there with the button, a bolt cutter is just waiting for the word to come through and then he was like. Like, sitting there with the button, a bolt cutter is just waiting for the word to come through. And then he was like, Let's go. Inside the truck, investigators found a large number of paint cans, other contracting materials. They followed that extension accord, and they found a large chest freezer

pushed all the way back to the back of the cab. And it was on. The freezer also had a padlock on it. And there were tons of pieces of heavy tape placed at the point where the lid met the top of the free at the bottom of the freezer. That's fucking weird. That's not suspicious at all. And sorry, is the chest one, it's like the long one. Like horizontal one. Yeah, gotcha. So they carefully removed the tape and detective Mike Garcia opened the freezer. Immediately they were hit with the very recognizable odor

of decay coming from something that had been wrapped in black garbage bags and placed in the freezer. Oh my God. The bags were covered in frost and had kind of obscured whatever was in there. So detective Garcia gently reached inside and felt along the outside of the bag before pulling his hand away and saying, it feels like a human arm.

Oh, God. Now, immediately additional officers and a forensic team were called to the scene to help with this whole thing. And while officers were trying to get anybody from inside the home because they felt like somebody was in there. And clearly not answering on purpose. Yeah, others were removing the contents of the freezer and cutting away the black garbage bags. After opening the bags,

they unfortunately revealed the nude body of Denise Uber. No. Her hands were secured behind her back with metal handcuffs. Oh my god. With the body removed from the freezer, they could also see what was, quote, apparently, frozen blood, body fluids, and ice crystals on the floor of the freezer.

The frozen fluids and lack of any blood spatter, anywhere else they could see, suggested that whatever happened here happened somewhere else, and she was placed in here, right, kind of later, after she was killed. Okay. Also, Denise's body did show some signs of decomposition, which indicated that she had been dead

for at least a few hours before she was placed in the freezer. And the truck and all of its contents were towed to a forensic lab in Phoenix and Denise's body was taken to the medical examiner's office for autopsy. And she had been missing for years at this point. Yeah, she was in that freezer. This was three years at this point.

What the fuck is this person keeping her in a freezer for three years? So they did come to the conclusion that no one was inside the house at the time. And so they went next door to talk to the neighbors and they confirmed that the truck had shown up about six months earlier. Okay. And while they had seen a man going in the outside of the house, they didn't know his name. So officers ran the plates on the white dodge parked alongside the rider truck and it belonged to John

Fomolaro. Okay. Just as they received that information, John pulled into the house in a Jeep shitting himself. Oh yeah, and a Jeep driven by his mother. Wow. And he was immediately placed under arrest for felony theft of the truck, which would be enough to hold him while they investigated the unidentified at this point. Body found in the

freezer. Oh my God. And that's where we're gonna leave you for part one. You're fucked up. I would like to tell you that part two is, I mean this is very disturbing anyways, but we're gonna go into the autopsy stuff and what happened to me Denise is fucking awful So and it doesn't seem like she knows this person. No So we will be getting to that and stay tuned for part two and Yeah, this is a Devastry. Wow, I knew about the freezer, but I didn't know the strange logistics Nope, like why did it just show up there six months? That's what I Wow. Isn't a real tough one. I knew about the freezer, but I didn't know all the strange logistics.

Nope. Like, why did it just show up there six months? That's what I... The whole thing is like, so upsetting. And when you find out more about, you know, there's a lot of things that were found in his house, like, he kept a lot of connections to this. Really? Like, a lot of trophies, a lot of, yeah.

And do we know, can I ask, is this the only person that we know that he's killed? I think, yeah, I believe so. Wow. Yeah. What the fuck? Okay. Well, yeah.

We hope that you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. I, yeah, not that weird. Oh, no. Nope. That's beyond weird. I'm not that weird. Nope. Nope. That's beyond weird. Oh my God. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen

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