True Crime with Kendall Rae - She Called 911 After Being Shot & There’s STILL No Justice: The Case of Rachel Hansen
Episode Date: September 26, 2024In 2022, 19-year-old Rachel Hansen was shot and killed in her home. Two years later, her family is nowhere closer to closure than they were when the shooting happened. They think she was targeted for ...some reason, but police have since been unable to come up with anything to give the family. Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Rachel's Rescue: https://rachelsrescue2022.com/ Silent Witness: https://silentwitness.org/cases/homic... Interview with Kim Hansen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/21FU... Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign... Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Rocket Money Quince Nutrafol - promo code: KENDALLRAE Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - kendall@INFAgency.com
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Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
I truly appreciate it and to anyone who is new, then welcome.
I'm so happy to have you.
Today I'm getting into a case here that is, oh my God, just so heartbreaking. I mean, they all are,
but just the story of Rachel Hansen's life
is upsetting in itself, everything that she had been through,
and then what ends up happening to her
is just beyond unimaginable.
And I feel so bad for her family.
They have truly been warriors in trying to get justice for her, but it's been very difficult
because law enforcement has really not stepped up in the way that they should have.
And also this case has gotten very, very minimal coverage and awareness is absolutely key because
they believe and I absolutely believe that somebody knows something.
In fact, I think you can confidently say someone has to know something. And yeah, there is
still no justice to this day. Rachel was only 19 years old and she was a vibrant, talented,
driven young woman who was so, so kind and her murder going unsolved is just not an option.
Now her story starts a little different than most cases that I cover and that's because Rachel,
who was born on June 12th, 2002, was actually born with the name Rochelle and the first six
years of her life started out in the care of someone other than the family who raised her.
And I don't think anything I can say about Rachel will be as well said as what Rachel's adoptive mom,
Kim has to say, which side note, I just have to say,
Kim, you are so amazing to me.
You are such an incredible mother.
Everything that you have done for your children
and your family, and you truly inspire me so much.
But anyway, Kim can definitely explain Rachel's early life
to you a lot better than I can,
so I wanted to read a paragraph
that she actually wrote for her daughter's eulogy.
It says, I wish with all my heart
that Rachel had been with us since birth, but she wasn't.
I always wish that I could have protected her little heart
from all the trauma that she experienced.
She went into the foster care system at an early age
after her birth mom left to buy milk and never came back.
When she was in kindergarten, she came home from school to find the person she lived with
deceased on the floor of their apartment. It was then that she was taken into the Child Crisis
Center before being placed with the foster family. She lived with them for several months as
severance proceedings took place and her case was transferred to the adoptions unit. By the grace of
God, we were notified by her case manager
because we had adopted her biological sister,
Grace Ann, a few years before.
She thought where she was would be her forever home,
so when our family was contacted about adopting her
and she moved into our home,
it was yet another abandonment in her eyes.
The only positive part of what happened
in Rachel's early childhood is that it made her strong,
determined, self-reliant, and fearless. Kim also wrote about the day that she got the call
about Rachel and it was just too beautiful not to share with you guys.
I will never forget the day I got the call about Rachel. We were at a store buying beads to make
necklaces in preparation for our daughter Lindsay's wedding. Having put our foster
care license on hold, I couldn't imagine why CPS was calling, but I knew I had to answer it.
I gave Lindsay my car to pay and went outside to take the call. As I learned of this little girl that needed a family, my heart began to pound in my
chest and tears began flowing down my face. There was not a moment of hesitation, doubt or question. Rachel was going to be our little girl. So I
went right back in that store and bought enough to make one more necklace for the wedding. This absolutely beautiful eulogy goes on into more
detail about when Rachel came into their lives. And I think what I really took away from it above
all else was just how resilient this little girl was. Rachel was first introduced to the Hansen family on February 14, 2009,
Valentine's Day, and exactly three months later, they adopted her. As I mentioned earlier,
when Rachel first came into their lives, she came with the name Rochelle. And I wanted
to tell you the story of how she ended up with the name Rachel because I thought it
was very cute and very touching. So there was one evening where Kim was making dinner and at just six
years old, she sits down in the kitchen and she asks her mom if when she was formally
adopted if she would get a new name. Kim explains to her that that decision was entirely up
to her and that her and her husband Todd would support her no matter what. Now Kim and Todd,
like I've said many times are are just amazing to me. And
that's because over the years, they had fostered upwards of a hundred children and by this
point had adopted, I believe, five children before Rachel. So they were much more prepared
to support her needs. And if that meant changing her name, then they had no hesitation about
it. And she did want a new name. Specifically, she wanted a name from the Bible like her
other siblings. So she chose the first name, Rachel, she wanted a name from the Bible like her other siblings. So she
chose the first name Rachel and the middle name Anne because she wanted to be like her biological
sister Grace Anne. Rachel truly hit the jackpot with her new family and she was so excited about
her adoption and her new name that I thought this was really cute. She invited her entire first grade
class over to celebrate by having a pool party. This is going to be very apparent
throughout this episode, but the love and patience that Kim and Todd offered Rachel
is something that I wish all children got to experience, especially children who have
experienced the levels of trauma that Rachel did from such a young age. In her eulogy,
Kim explained that when Rachel first came into their lives she was hyper independent
and not because she wanted to be but because that's all she had ever known. Kim gave this
one example of a time where Rachel had gotten out some type of you know juice concentrate
and started making mixing up her own juice and Kim offered to help her make a glass and
Rachel responded by saying,
I always make my own. Think about that. At just six years old, she is saying that she has always made
her own juice. And that may not seem like a huge deal, but it's just an example to show you how
she really did everything for herself in her early years of life. But eventually though, thanks to a
lot of love, support and patience from Kim and Todd,
Rachel was able to really be a kid again and experience the childhood that she always should have had.
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As Kim put it, she had finally found her forever home and knew that she was finally safe. But that being said, the trauma that she experienced really never went away fully. I am grateful to say though
that she found something at an early age that provided her with a deep sense of purpose and healing, and that was equine therapy.
Kim and Todd had been living in Gilbert, Arizona for about two and a half decades at this point.
And from what I can tell, they lived on a beautiful ranch style property.
And back in the day, when some of their older girls were growing up, they had had horses
at their house that the girls used to ride.
But since they were older and going off to college around the time that Rachel was adopted,
Kim and Todd had actually sold all of their horses and the barn was empty.
And Rachel would sit by the barn, sit on the fence, and talk about how badly she wished they
had horses.
And knowing the healing powers that horses have on a child, especially a child dealing
with trauma, they knew immediately that they needed
to get Rachel her first horse.
So Dixie came into their lives
and that was truly the beginning of Rachel's healing.
They would come downstairs as early as six in the morning,
look out the window and see Rachel out there with Dixie.
She would spend all hours of the day
outside brushing and bathing Dixie
and even learn to walk her up close to the fence line
where she would be able to climb up and hop on top of her.
Now I personally have never got to experience that bond with a horse.
I did some horseback riding early in my childhood and couldn't handle it because the barn was
too stinky, but I really wish that I would have because I know people now as an adult
who have amazing relationships, bonds with their horses, and they're such
incredibly smart creatures who are just so in tune emotionally. And I know that the bond between
horse and owner can be something incredibly special. And that's really what it was for Rachel and
Dixie. But Dixie was an older horse. They wanted to start her with an older horse. And as she got older, she wanted a horse that she could do more with.
So her parents bought her a younger horse who she rode as she was starting to get involved
with things like 4-H and rodeo games.
And over the years, Rachel was blessed to have several incredible horses.
But there was one horse in particular that her parents say was her sole horse.
And that was a mare named Dash. Dash was only four years old when they got her and Rachel was her sole horse. And that was a mare named Dash.
Dash was only four years old when they got her,
and Rachel trained her basically from the ground up.
She was so proud of the work that she put into training her,
and she's actually going to be part of this case later on.
But before I get into that, there are a few other things
I wanted to share with you about Rachel.
On top of her passion for horses, which I'd definitely say
was her biggest passion in life.
I think that's easy to say.
But she also just loved being outdoors.
Whether it was going for runs, working in the garden with her mom, or camping trips
with her family, Rachel just loved being outside.
One story that I loved hearing about Rachel was that in eighth grade, she wanted to join
the football team.
And she did, even though she was the only girl.
But let me tell you you she kept up with the
boys just fine and her mom said that she could even outrun a lot of them. Rachel's confidence
and drive is something that I have so much admiration for not to mention her resilience.
Personally I think that resilience is one of the greatest and most important qualities that someone
can have and Rachel had that times a thousand.
Her story is the epitome of turning lemons into lemonade.
And while of course that is hugely thanks to her parents who gave her the tools and
resources to thrive, she also worked very hard to be the best version of herself that
she possibly could, regardless of how her life may have started.
In fact, at just 16 years old, Rachel graduated early from high school.
Not just that, but she graduated
with a full ride scholarship
to Northern Arizona University.
She did, however, decide not to go at the last minute
and the reasons she decided against college
were pretty good ones, if you ask me.
And it really came down to two things that she realized.
One, that she didn't wanna be away from her family
because they're awesome, I totally get that.
And I understand why you wouldn't wanna be far away from them. And second, she realized that she didn't want to be away from her family because they're awesome. I totally get that. And I understand why you wouldn't want to be far away from them. And second, she realized that she
was ready to start her own business and really kick off adult life right away. So she created
her business AZ Hansen Horses, which to my knowledge was for riding, selling, and training
horses. Rachel also worked at boarding facilities all over the greater Phoenix area and had really
developed some great training skills. Plus she also wanted to expand her opportunities so she
ended up studying and getting her real estate license because her next adventure was going to
be buying and selling equine properties. So Rachel was obviously quite the entrepreneur and keep in
mind she's doing this at a very young age. She's still a teenager and I know I've spent a lot of
time talking about her and some people weirdly enough enough, get annoyed by that. But I think it's very important that we
remember people for who they were when they were alive and not just how they died. But obviously,
I am here to tell you about the devastating murder of Rachel Hansen, which brings me to June of 2022.
But before we get into that, we do need to talk about what was going on in her life
leading up to that,
because it's possible that those circumstances
played a role in what happened to her.
Sometime after Rachel decided against going to college,
rather than move back home,
she actually decided to get her own apartment.
And the apartment that she got
was less than three miles away
from where her parents lived,
which was a way for her to start her adult life,
but also be close to home if she ever wanted to see them
or needed help.
And when Rachel got this first apartment,
she thought that the strategic move
would be to get a roommate
so that she could cut her rent in half.
However, since it was a one bedroom,
having two people in there quickly became too much.
So at some point, the roommate moves out
and it's just her.
That is until she ended up getting an opportunity that seemed too good to pass up.
Rachel was offered a job at a newer ranch in the Queen Creek area where she would be
able to move onto the property, bring her own horse with her and work with training
the horses that they had brought in.
So she would live in a little casita with her horse Dash right outside while getting
to pursue her dreams of training. And of course, it seemed perfect. So in December
of 2021, she finds someone to sublease her current apartment, she moves out, and she
moves on to this property where she's going to start this new job. In January, she and
one other person drove a trailer to Montana where they picked up four yearlings, which
is just a horse between the ages of one and two years old, and they brought them back to the ranch.
And those four yearlings became Rachel's project.
And from what I know, for the first few months, she was really happy there and not just with
the new job, but also things were going really well in her personal life.
In January of 2022, her boyfriend, Joe met proposed to her and they were eagerly
planning a wedding for October of 2024, which is really sad to think about now considering
that's coming up here in the next two months. It's heartbreaking. Kim says that in true
Rachel fashion, she even picked out her own engagement ring because she wanted something
where the diamonds laid flat and didn't stick up on her finger because she didn't want it to get in the way of working with her
horses. So it seemed like in the start of 2022 things were really going good for her and by the
time April came around Rachel was also starting the process of breeding her horse Dash. She really
wanted to raise a foal from day one and the prospect of doing that was super exciting to her
especially because it would be her own horse's baby. Kim says that Rachel did all the research to find the
best stallion to breed her with and on May 1st is when she was officially bred. And obviously
it was going to take a while because the gestation period for horses is 11 to 12 months, but
you know, anything good is worth waiting for. So clearly she had a lot of good things going
on in her life, a lot to look forward to,
but sadly this is when things start to,
they start to not go so well in Rachel's life.
And I'm going to do my best to explain these circumstances,
which I do wanna just make a note
that it's a little hard to do that
because some of the details are a little fuzzy.
Starting at the end of May,
Rachel's employment at the ranch was terminated.
And it seemed like there were a few things going on that caused this.
But from my understanding, one of the reasons was because those yearlings that Rachel was
working with to train weren't quite where the owners wanted them to be in their training.
Like maybe there wasn't as much progress with them made
as the owners were wanting.
Another thing was that Rachel had completely shattered
one of her fingers during an accident
when she was loading a horse into a trailer,
which sounds so, so painful.
And obviously that really impacted her ability to ride.
Now, Kim says that her daughter
was definitely pushing the limits
and doing a lot more
than the doctor said she should be doing,
but even with what she was doing,
it did impact her ability to work.
And then there was one more thing,
and I think maybe this was sort of
the biggest problem possibly,
and it had to do with a horse brokering deal
that Rachel was facilitating.
I guess there was some deal where this one horse
was being either sold or traded for two horses and a foal so
One in exchange for three
but when this trade happened the mare or the female horse and
Her foal just never showed up and I will actually be coming back to this but it seemed like
That issue combined with some of the other issues I mentioned resulted in her termination
combined with some of the other issues I mentioned resulted in her termination.
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and develop her skills there.
But the problem was the person who was subleasing the apartment was still living there.
So she ends up giving them a few days notice to pack up and leave the apartment.
And in the meantime, she goes and stays at her parents house.
Now for the sake of transparency I do have to say that around this time Rachel's mental health
really started to decline. In this transition period from leaving the ranch to moving back into
her apartment she'd actually ended up checking into a mental health facility and Kim says that
Rachel was just riddled with anxiety about her future and it really had pushed her
to the point where she needed professional help.
The thing is though, while she was there,
something really awful happened.
On May 31st, while she was in treatment,
her dad, her fiance, and some of her brothers
were actually at the ranch,
moving all of her belongings out of the casita.
They had taken a huge haul of her stuff
and dropped it off in the garage of their family home and all that was left was for her dad to hook up the horse trailer and go back and pick
up her horse Dash. Because when they terminated Rachel they made it super clear that she needed
to take everything with her and it all needed to be gone right away including her horse. Now just
listen to how messed up this is. Once Todd had hooked up the trailer and started to drive over there,
he just texted the owners being like,
hey, I'm on my way back for Dash.
We will have her off your property per your request.
Not those words exactly,
but something super cordial and simple along those lines.
And then right after he sends that text message,
he gets a text back from the owner
that says something along the lines of no need to come. The horse has been removed from the property, here's the number for our attorney.
Which keep in mind, he had just been there getting all of Rachel's stuff, so in between the time
where he left and brought it back to their place, unloaded it, hooked up the trailer,
and was heading back there, these people had the horse removed. Very sketchy.
And what's worse is they wouldn't even tell Todd
where Dash was and to this day,
they have no idea where they had put her.
Thankfully, they did end up getting her back,
which I will explain later on,
just to put anyone at ease here.
But yeah, very, very strange that they wouldn't tell them
where they were keeping the horse
and still haven't to this day
I mean what so as you can imagine when Rachel finds out about this she went absolutely ballistic
she was so angry so upset so scared and
You know, she's dealing with a very turbulent mental health at this point and to get this news on top of that just made everything worse
She did end up getting out of the facility the next day
on June 1st, and as soon as she left,
she spent the entire day and the next few days
actually looking for Dash,
not only asking for help from people in the community
to try and find her,
but also posting all over social media
to share what happened.
And what happened was these people
were holding her horse ransom,
and they told the Hansen family that they needed to
pay $5,000 in order to get her back. And in the meantime, they weren't even allowed to know where
she was. And this is the part that's a little fuzzy, but I guess that money is what these people felt
that they were owed due to that horse trade that didn't go as planned where the foal and the mare
never showed up because they never had got them. They
felt that the $5,000 would cover what they were worth. And then there was also a stud fee that
they felt Rachel owed them for breeding Dash, which I believe was $950. Now for any person,
this whole experience and just the way that it was handled would be very traumatic and
it definitely was for Rachel. But thankfully she of course had the support of her parents.
Her dad was on the phone with the attorney nonstop trying to figure out how to get her
horse back and her mom who actually was in Indiana babysitting her grandkids was reassuring
Rachel from there that they would pay whatever it took to get her back home. And these people even ended up raising the ransom from $5,000 to $7,500 and still Kim
and Todd were willing to pay whatever it took because they knew how much Dash meant to Rachel.
And like I mentioned earlier, they did end up getting the horse back, but unfortunately
Rachel never got to be reunited with Dash because before they got her back an even worse tragedy happened.
Only a few days after Rachel left the mental health institution on June 4th, someone broke
into her apartment and shot her. Despite being shot in the abdomen and having several organs
punctured, she actually managed to survive long enough to call 911. And even if I had access to
that call, which it is not released, I wouldn't play it for you.
But we do know from the recently released transcript
that she said, I've been shot.
Someone broke in and shot me.
The operator asked if she had any kind of clean towel
or shirt that she could use to apply pressure to her wounds.
But Rachel responded, no.
Her call came in at 2 07 AM.
And while she was able to cling on to life until
first responders got there, ultimately doctors were unable to save her. Only four hours later,
officers from the Gilbert Police Department were knocking on her parents door to notify
them of what had happened. And because Kim was in Indiana at the time, Todd was the only
parent home to answer. So he had to learn the news
of what had happened to their daughter by himself, which is just heartbreaking to think about. No
parent should ever have to go through that. Todd and Kim had actually adopted a few more children
after Rachel, who were still living at home at the time. So he had to be the one to break the news to
them. These people were so amazing. We actually had nine kids in total.
I mean, you guys are just superheroes.
But then of course, Todd had to do something
even more difficult and make that call to Kim
and tell her the most heartbreaking news
that she had ever received.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Kim and Rachel
were talking on the phone late into the night,
which is something that they did quite often.
And she had no idea, neither of them had any idea
that that conversation the night of June 3rd
would be their last.
The last thing that Kim remembers saying to her daughter
was that she loved her and that she would be home on Sunday
to help move her and the rest of her belongings
into her apartment.
And Rachel responded with, I love you, mom.
I said, I'll be home on Sunday and help you move in
and get everything set up and she just said,
I love you mom.
Everything was good.
There was nothing indicating anything was ever going to go wrong.
And because Rachel was such an independent person, she wanted to get back into her apartment as quickly as possible,
and she actually didn't want to wait until the 5th when her mom was back to go ahead and move back in.
So between June 1st and June 3rd, while in the midst of trying to get her horse back as well,
Rachel managed to move her bed and box spring into the apartment so that she could at least start staying there again.
Joe Met had also been with her for those few days, and he was helping in any way that he could both physically and emotionally.
And he was actually with her just hours before her murder and I want to be so clear here because I know
where a lot of people's minds are probably already going, but the Hansen family does not believe
whatsoever that he had any involvement in her murder. Jomet is really
like a son to them. He had always been nothing but wonderful to their daughter and they do
not suspect him whatsoever. But like I just said, he was with her hours before her life
was stolen from her. That night they had a totally normal night. They had watched a movie
together at her apartment, but because he had to get up early to work with his dad,
he ended up leaving right around midnight.
And I guess Rachel had fallen asleep before he left,
and as he was leaving, he woke her up to tell her
that she needed to lock the door behind him.
And this is a key part to the case.
After Rachel had asked the girl
who was subleasing her apartment to move out,
her and Jomet decided that they should change
the locks in the apartment.
I'm going to explain this a little bit more in depth later on, but basically the girl
who was living there before seemed to have a lot of people coming in and out of the apartment
at all hours of the day and the night.
And I guess some of the neighbors had issues with her and there was speculation that she
possibly could have been selling drugs.
Totally unsure on that.
But a lot of the neighbors had believed that was the case
because the apartment often smelled like weed inside
and outside.
So just to be safe,
because so many people had been coming and going,
they make the smart decision to change the locks.
And according to Kim,
the lock that they installed locked from the inside.
So when Jomet was leaving, again,
he asked Rachel to wake up and come and lock the door after he left. And she responded
twice that she would. And unfortunately, she never did. And just two hours later, someone
entered the apartment through the unlocked door, physically kicked down her bedroom door and shot her.
And as of recording this episode,
it has been two years since her murder
and we still don't know who was responsible and why.
Their family knows just about as much information today
as they did back on June 4th, 2022.
And that absolutely has to change.
And the Gilbert Police Department
has really done an awful job here.
They have done a massive disservice to Rachel and her family. And I think we can all agree that
they deserve answers and justice. So let's get into what theories the family has and also what
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So one of the theories that the Hansen believe could be the reason for their daughter's murder
has to do with what was going on with Rachel's horse Dash.
And when you look at the way that everything went down, clearly there was some anger and
animosity going on.
And to this day, they probably will never understand the full extent of it.
But whatever happened between these people and their daughter was enough for her to be
fired and kicked off the property really, really quickly.
Obviously, we went over some of the reasons for her termination earlier, but you have
to wonder, and I know Kim and Todd do, if there were other reasons that they didn't
know about.
Is it possible that the people who held their daughter's horse for ransom had something
to do with her murder, which let's not
forget that happened five days after Rachel was forced off of the property. However, when it comes
to this possibility, the Gilbert Police Department says that there was no real reason for these ranch
people to kill Rachel and therefore they've basically said they investigated the lead and
they will not be looking into them any further.
But it's frustrating, of course,
because they're not giving Rachel's family any real reason
as to why they have been ruled out.
To my knowledge, the police basically told them
that they have plenty of money, a lot of money,
and that's why they think they didn't do it.
As if that makes any sense,
and maybe they have more information
that they haven't shared, I don't know why they think they didn't do it. As if that makes any sense, and maybe they have more information that they haven't shared.
I don't know why they wouldn't, but yeah.
If it were my daughter,
that would not be a good enough reason
to rule someone out in my book.
And believe me, and I wanna be really clear here,
the Hansen family is not trying to make them be guilty
if they aren't.
They just want a legitimate reason
for why they've been ruled out.
They want answers,
and the answers that they're getting are kind of bullshit.
So that's one theory they have and then another theory,
and I'm sure a lot of you are already thinking this, is about the person who was subleasing her apartment.
Basically, when Rachel decided to sublease her apartment, her parents were skeptical.
They weren't sure if she was technically even allowed to,
but Rachel assured
them that it would be fine and they just trusted that that was the case. To my knowledge, she ended
up finding this girl on Facebook to live in her apartment and like I said before, I guess she
wasn't the best tenant. Basically from the way it's been reported, it sounds like there's some
concern that she may have been dealing drugs or at least possibly was associated with people who were. And I guess when Rachel started moving back in she had to do a
ton of cleaning because the place absolutely reeked of weed which of
course weed is legal in Arizona but that doesn't mean it was the only drug being
sold if it was being sold. And so the theory here is that this tenant had got
into some sort of altercation with someone related to drugs,
and then that person had broke into the apartment, killing Rachel thinking that she was the other
girl. Because keep in mind, Rachel had asked her to move out in just a couple of days.
So it hadn't been that long since she was living there. And in Rachel's parents minds and I completely agree, I think
it's a very real possibility that someone had broken in thinking that Rachel was this
other tenant.
But when it comes to this theory, it sounds like a similar situation to how the police
handled the ranch lead.
They looked into it, they say that there's nothing there.
And as far as I'm aware, there wasn't a really good reason given as to why they have decided to rule this theory out.
And it's really frustrating to think about because it just makes you wonder how thoroughly they actually looked into it. And I'm sure a lot of you agree this Being just a random homicide seems very unlikely and truly just doesn't make any sense
Not only are homicides committed by a stranger way less common
But in what world does someone enter a gated apartment complex walk up to the third floor and then walk to the unit all the
Way in the corner and commit murder That honestly just sounds like a logistical nightmare for someone who is just trying to
commit a random act of violence.
And so to me, to this family, and probably to a lot of you guys, this seems intentional.
Now, there is one more theory, but I do just want to say there's very little information about it,
and it has to do with Joe Metz dad. So according to the podcast
Truth Be Found with Justin Yentis where Kim was interviewed and I will have it linked below if you would like to take a listen
for yourself.
She briefly talks about an altercation that Rachel had with Joe Metz dad. Kim prefaces by saying that she knows very little
about what happened but says there was some kind of altercation where Jomet's dad made violent statements against Rachel. And it was like six weeks before her murder. And I guess in this
altercation, he actually physically pulled her out of a car, yelled at her and told her that if he
ever saw her again, he would kill her. And the police were called that night. So they knew about
this incident. And when Rachel was shot and called 911, they knew within 10 minutes that this was the same girl who was involved in that
incident six weeks prior. But honestly, guys, that's really all we know. And without more
information being released to the public and without knowing where her family stands with
him, that's all I'm going to say about that. But I did feel like it was important to mention,
especially because Rachel's mom has brought it up. I also think it's important that we talk about
safety features or lack of safety features when it came to Rachel's apartment. The thing is where
Rachel chose to live was generally considered to be incredibly safe. Her parents had no concerns
whatsoever that she could possibly be in danger by living there. That being said though,
they did learn some things after the fact about this apartment complex that is
really upsetting to hear when it comes to safety. The main thing being lack of security cameras,
which I know we talk about this all the time,
but what's really frustrating is they said they had security cameras and it turns out they didn't. Kim and Todd have spoken to people who live there and they say
that they have been begging the complex to put in security measures such as cameras and
even after years of asking they just never did it. And I guess one detective even flat
out told Kim that the cameras they do appear to have are fake. So that's great. And I'm
sure a lot of you are thinking,
well, what about ring doorbell footage?
That's incredibly useful in so many cases.
And you'd imagine that investigators probably went
door to door asking people if they have footage, right?
Well, I guess at one point Kim had posted something
on a community Facebook page and someone replied
who was living in the apartment complex and
said that they lived on the same floor as Rachel and that they had security footage
and at no point did police ever ask them to see that footage.
Now maybe it's possible.
I hope they have asked other people and maybe they have footage from someone else's security
camera but they haven't released that information yet.
But I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that the Hansons have
repeatedly been made to feel like Rachel's case just isn't a priority.
And I wish I could say that this is a one-off failure for this department,
but that couldn't be further from the truth.
It turns out that they have recently come under a lot of fire for how they have
mishandled and quite frankly swept other murder cases under the rug. There's one case in particular I wanted to mention and that's the case of Preston Lord who was a 16 year old boy who was murdered by
a gang of other boys called the Gilbert Goons on Halloween in 2023. And after looking into that
case it's definitely a case I wanna cover in the future
if you guys are interested and I'm sure that you are.
But yeah, the community is really upset
with the Gilbert PD for how it's been handled.
And as we can see from Rachel's case,
clearly they are not learning from their mistakes.
And of course, this family is rational.
They were not expecting for an arrest to be made
within 24 hours of Rachel's murder or anything like that
They fully recognize that justice does take time, but it has now been two years and they have absolutely
Nothing not even confidence in the people who are investigating all they are really asking for is
Transparency from the Gilbert Police Department an ounce of respect and for this case to be treated as a priority
And this really pisses me off.
I don't understand how you get into this line of work and not just know to do this
or care enough to do this, but the police chief still has not reached out to them to
offer any kind of condolence or anything.
And there was even one instance where the main detective on the case had a meeting with Kim and this was right around the holidays and he told her that he had blocked Todd's
number and Kim was obviously like, why did you block my husband's number?
And he said that he couldn't handle Todd texting him at all hours of the night.
And to be clear, Todd was not texting him at all hours of the night.
And what's even more infuriating is his last text
to this detective was actually a thank you message
for helping to try and get justice for his daughter.
That's it.
Not to mention that after more than two years,
they still haven't even gotten a clear answer
on what kind of gun was used to kill their daughter.
At first they were told it was one thing,
but every time they've tried to ask questions about it, they feel like the detectives aren't giving them a clear
answer. And for what? Of course, their family knows that not all information can be shared with the
public to protect the investigation. But at some point, this feels less like protecting the
investigation and more like protecting themselves. It feels like straight up deceit. In February of
this year, 2024, the
Gilbert Police Department turned the case over to Silent Witness, where they encouraged the public
to come forward with any information or tips on the case. At the time, a $2,000 reward for information
was being offered through Silent Witness, but today that amount actually stands at $7,000.
And the department has also released this statement. Rachel Hansen's homicide is actively being investigated by our criminal investigations
division. This case continues to be of the utmost priority for the Gilbert Police Department
and we understand how hard lengthy investigations can be on families of victims. We can tell
you that all tips and leads related to this investigation have been pursued. In addition
to the posting today, in February of this year, in partnership with Silent Witness,
we have requested the public's assistance with any tips and information that could help
us solve the case.
We would appreciate any help that we can get with sharing information on the Silent Witness
tip line at 480-WITNESS and how tips and information related to this case can be submitted.
But again, I just have to wonder how much is actually being done. For over two
years, their family, the public, even several news outlets have made requests for information
to be released. And only recently, as I mentioned earlier, did they release the 911 transcript,
but they also released body cam footage from that night from the responding officers. But even
all of that has been heavily redacted.
Heavily blurred video blocking the date and time.
Some of the records are blacked out completely,
maybe redacting the answers the Hansen family
has been hoping for.
We were hoping that there was more information.
Gilbert police have now released heavily edited records
more than two years after 19 year old Rachel Hansen was murdered. Her mother, Kim,
still wondering who killed her daughter. Though we're grateful to have
something released, we're surprised at what was released. Rachel was shot at
her Gilbert apartment on June 4th 2022. A transcript from that night reveals Rachel called 911 telling a dispatcher.
Hi, I've been shot.
Someone broke in and shot me in
Rachel's last minutes alive.
A roughly six minute phone call.
She begged first responders.
Please hurry, please hurry.
She even used the word please as
Rachel would do. Even in a time like that.
The video shows 23 Gilbert police
officers arriving too late to save Rachel.
Simply the sirens of the first officers
that were called and headed there.
That was hard, although the
videos show officers arriving
to Rachel's apartment.
It's unclear how long they
waited to go inside and what
they found once they did.
That's because it's heavily redacted.
This video alone has 10 minutes
of blacked out footage. A
little more information,
a little more understanding of the investigation of what's been done, where
they're going, anything new, anything more than we have had in two years.
So obviously the hope here is that whatever is being redacted is being redacted for good
reason, and will eventually lead to
an arrest in the future.
But based on how badly Kim and Todd have been treated and how little investigators seem
to care about the case, obviously their family is concerned that that won't happen.
And without having any idea of why this happened, who did this, their family understandably
is not able to move on. They're not able to get
any type of closure and that's why they are continuing to ask for help from the public.
They feel strongly and I agree, I think we all can agree that someone somewhere knows something and
it's just going to take one person to come forward to solve this case. And so it's really important
that people know about Rachel's case and what happened to her. The Hansons do believe that one day their daughter's case will
be solved, but they do have very little confidence in the investigation. Thankfully though, I do have
a bit of good news. A private investigation firm did end up taking on this case pro bono, so I have
hope that they're going to be able to help this family. They have also printed dozens of flyers
which they've passed around Gilbert
in hopes to get Rachel's name and face out there
as much as possible.
And I'm going to have a link available
where you can download these flyers too
if you're interested in printing them out
and putting them up where you live.
They also have a GoFundMe,
which of course I will have linked below.
And if you are able to donate to them,
I know they would greatly appreciate it.
Any amount helps.
And they're currently raising funds
for any costs associated with her case getting solved.
And before I wrap up today,
I did wanna share something that kind of ends us
on a little bit of a high note,
something that the Hansons have done in Rachel's honor
that I thought was really, really special.
And that was starting Rachel's rescue.
As we all know by now, Rachel's love of animals
is ultimately what defined her.
And growing up, she'd always talked about wanting
to open her own rescue for puppies and dogs.
So in her honor, her parents have created Rachel's Rescue,
which is a nonprofit to do exactly that,
rescue and rehome puppies and dogs.
This nonprofit not only helps the animals,
but it allows Kim and Todd to have more conversations
with people about their daughter.
Since it was founded on June 1st, 2023,
they have helped rehome more than 200 puppies and dogs.
And if you are living anywhere near Gilbert
or willing to make the trip out there
and you're interested in rescuing,
please consider doing it through them.
And I, of course, will also provide a link for that.
Rachel's whole family misses her.
Jomette misses her.
Kim says that she feels the presence of her daughter all the time
and has conversations with her where she feels that she's still there in some way. Also having
her horse Dash, a big piece of her, has helped them all feel close to her still. And since then,
her horse did have her baby and they named her Dainey, which actually
holds a lot of meaning to them. I thought this is really cool, really cool way to honor Rachel.
The D of course is for Dash and then A-N-N-E is Rachel's middle name Anne and then the Y
is for the horse's father. So I just wanted to mention all those things because I think
it is really special the way they have maintained and
honored Rachel by keeping her memory alive in ways that she would have loved. They have really
captured her spirit in so many ways and I just hope so badly for this family that one day they
will get the answers that they need that they will get justice. That is going to be it for me today
guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify
and Apple podcasts.
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If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel,
which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae.
I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.