Up and Vanished - Case Evidence 10.31.16

Episode Date: October 31, 2016

Take a deeper look at the evidence as experts discuss new developments in the case.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The number is 770-545-6411. Here's the first question from one of our listeners. Okay, anyone with a brain in their head can determine that the GBI and police department are obviously covering up for Marcus. are obviously covering up for Marcus. With that being said, if that is indeed the case, who can investigate this outside of the GBI and the police department to determine that? Because obviously the GBI and police department keep investigating the same stuff that's going to keep coming up that no one can figure out what happened to Tara. But outside of them,

if an outside agency came in to investigate them, who would that be? That's a good question. And the answer is us. People like you and me. This kind of goes back to what I was saying in episode six about the Georgia Open Records Law. As a citizen, we're allowed to check on the government. We're allowed to request different records or documents to assure that they're accurate and haven't been mishandled. But in this case, unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. The Georgia Open Records Act has a specific exemption in place for open investigations. So for now, unless we get a hold of the case files from the GBI,

we kind of have our hands tied. I have been listening every two weeks to the podcast, and the fourth one left me with a couple of questions. If the remains under that house were truly animal bones, why did they have underwear buried with them? What animal wears panties? Not only that, but if there was lime on the bones, why would someone take the time to cover an animal with it before burying it? I have no earthly idea. That's exactly what I was thinking, too.

I don't know anyone who would bury a dog, or really any other animal for that matter, under the crawlspace of their own house. But in this case, apparently it happened. The GBI never told me or the press what kind of bones they were either, just that they were animal and not human. But I definitely would like to know. The only other scenario I could think of is that maybe someone buried an animal there before the house was actually built.

I guess it's possible that maybe 15 or 20 years ago before the house was built, somebody buried a dog on the property. And then now, 15, 20 years later, we're just now finding it. Either way, I have to agree with you. It's extremely strange. I was just listening and I was curious if anyone ever interviewed Marcus's mother about that email she sent her. Because I find it very odd that she would email his mom with all this personal relationship stuff. So I was just kind of interested in what kind of relationship she had with his mother, and maybe if the mother had any details. Back when Tara went missing, Marcus Harper's mother, Nancy,

was definitely interviewed by the GBI. Now, I don't know the specifics of the interview questions, but I'm almost certain the GBI also had access to those emails. So you would think that those questions surely came up in the interview. In my opinion, Tara sent the emails to Marcus's mom out of desperation and to sort of win Marcus back. Marcus and Tara both agreed not to talk at that time, so in a way she could still communicate with him through emailing his mom.

And also, has any of her best girlfriends been interviewed? Just to give some more insight on her relationships that she had with the different guys that were in her life? Actually, yes, I have. Recently, I've talked to several of Tara's closest friends. They've all been very helpful, and I have a lot more insight now on everything. I plan on sharing several interviews with you guys very soon in future episodes. Okay, so back in episode one, on my first phone call with Maurice Godwin, came of, like, why did that man tell you not to go into this town alone? Okay, so back in episode one, on my first phone call with Maurice Godwin, he told me at the end of the call to be careful when I go to Osceola.

Whenever he first went down there to investigate in 2006, he was really pressed to find answers. He interviewed tons of people and conducted a very thorough investigation. During that process, though, I'm sure he had to ruffle some feathers. He was very persistent, and I'm sure he probably asked uncomfortable questions for people who were close to Tara. Whenever an outsider comes into a small town and starts stirring things up about a very sensitive subject, some people aren't going to take that very well. But the bottom line is, he was just doing his job. In a way, I've experienced similar things myself, and that's probably why he told me to be careful. But overall, Osillo to me has been pretty receptive, which I'm definitely thankful for. My first question is, was Michael Lankford's DNA checked against the

glove found in Piera's yard? Think of the last time you bought something to wear, something to decorate your house, something for your family or friends. What if each time you made a purchase, you got a little something back? With Rakuten, you can. You can earn cash back on just about anything you buy from over 750 stores. If you've ever bought electronics, home decor, fashion and beauty, or booked a trip, well, you could have got cash back. But don't worry, it's not too late. It's free and easy to use, and you get cash back deposited into your PayPal account or sent to you as a check.

Earn cash back at stores like Sephora, Old Navy, and Expedia. It's the smartest way to shop, plain and simple. Start your shopping at Rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. From what I've gathered, Michael Langford did submit a DNA sample and was also interviewed by the GBI. I don't know the extent of what they asked him, but his DNA was tested, so I'm assuming that it didn't match the glove. My next one is Heath Dice didn't mention seeing the glove because the person or persons have came back and dropped it after Heath had been there. That's very possible, yes.

Maybe Heath Dykes didn't see the glove on the ground because it simply wasn't there yet. It's possible, yes. But if that's the case, it means that somebody put it there between Sunday night around 1 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. Monday morning. I'm Brianna Stone. I grew up in Fitzgerald, Georgia, and I currently live here. I'm in the Air Force, and I'm going to school to be a.m. Monday morning. I'm Brianna Stone. I grew up in Fitzgerald, Georgia, and I currently live here. I'm in the Air Force, and I'm going to school to be a FBI detective. However, my question is that I have for you is kind of more so personal. I don't know if you believe in superstition.

However, I was wondering if you ever considered reaching out to a medium that specializes in missing people. I know it's crazy. I know it's a big leap. But if this was one of my family members being missing for 11 years, I would have definitely contacted one just to see what the possibilities might be so I could keep my faith up. So Tara's family never personally reached out to any mediums or psychics, but they did reach out to them. There was a show several years ago called Haunting Evidence,

and two psychics by the name of Carla Barron and John Oliver both traveled to Osceola and did their own investigation on Tara, but no new evidence or leads ever came of it. I personally don't think it's a reliable tool, but like you said, if it was my family member, I'd probably try anything. If it makes sense in the future, I may consider bringing on a medium just to see what they have to say, but I won't be relying on anything like that during my investigation. Okay, well, I'm from Osceola, and I've grown up my whole life learning about Peregrine's Dead. So I just want to know, like, if you ever think that the case will be solved.

I personally think this case is solvable. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to be easy or that it's going to happen anytime soon, either. But you hear about it all the time in the news, 20 or even 30-year-old cases being solved. So it's certainly possible. You just never know. We could break the case next week, or it could be 20 more years. All I know is I'm going to give it everything I got, and I hope at the very least we have more answers than questions by the time I'm done.

I had a question. I was listening to episode four of Snapdragon. I had a question. I was listening to episode 4 of Snapdragon. When you guys were talking about the time when you guys had found the bones or found the potential remains underneath that house, you said that there was bones and underwear. Did anyone do a DNA test on the underwear just to get DNA off of it? Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that. All I know is what they released to the press, that the bones were not human and they were

animal. As far as the underwear goes, I don't know for sure if they tested it, but I certainly hope so. Hey, Payne. This is Buck from Austin, Texas. Just finished listening to the episode titled Suicide, I believe episode six, and was thinking about how her mother was so worried so soon after the barbecue, she couldn't get in touch with her. And maybe it's, maybe she just has a really close relationship with her daughter, or maybe they just talk that much.

But it seems to me like she leaves the barbecue around 11, and her mother is freaking out so much near the middle of the night that she's calling the neighbor, and she's calling this police officer in another town. police officer in another town. And I'm just wondering if, I don't know if maybe they were keeping a closer eye on her because of the, because of how she'd been acting or if she had had a conversation with officer Dykes or what, but it just seems like, you know, maybe she could have been asleep and,

or either that, or maybe her mother had been trying to contact her a lot before then. Uh, when, when we knew where Tara was. And for some reason, she didn't want to talk to her mother. I don't know, but it just seems like not a lot of time between when she had left the barbecue around 11 and when her mom is freaking out enough to be calling the neighbors and Officer Dykes having him drive over there so soon after. I just wanted to hear what your thoughts were on that. My other question is about Officer Dykes. I'm wondering if it's possible, or just play devil's advocate on this one, you know, you talk about a suspicious scene there. I'm wondering if he pulled up and he sees her car there and he looks around a little bit and doors locked, cars there. It's midnight.

It's pretty plausible that she'd be asleep in her bed. And maybe he's thinking, you know, yeah, they couldn't get a hold of her at 11, but it's a school night. She's a teacher and he thinks she's probably asleep and maybe that's why there's just a casual leaving the business card. Okay, some very good points here. Just to clear that up a bit, Tara left the barbecue on Saturday at around 11 o'clock, but Tara's mom wasn't concerned until the next day on Sunday, sometime in the afternoon. I recently learned that Tara was supposed to meet up with her mom on Sunday, and she wasn't answering all day, and when she didn't show up, Tara's mom was concerned. That's when she was prompted to call Heath Dykes to go check on her, sometime in the late evening.

So when Heath Dykes pulls up to Tara's house, it was on Sunday night, 24 hours after she was last seen leaving the barbecue. And like you said, you could definitely speculate that maybe Heath Dykes just thought she was inside asleep. But one thing you should note is that Tara's house was really tiny, only 800 square feet to be exact. Just one floor, and her room was very close to the door. So even if she was inside passed out asleep, she would most certainly wake up to a loud knock on her front door, or at least enough for her to roll over and check her phone and see all these missed calls. You could speculate a lot of things about Heath Dyke's visit that night, but to me it just seemed strange. If I called someone all day and haven't heard from them, then drove an hour and 15 minutes to their house, when I get there, see their car in the driveway, I would probably think they were home asleep, like you said. But then after I knock on the door several times and no one comes, I would definitely start to get a little worried. And if I was a police officer,

I'd probably look around a little bit just to see if I saw anything. And that's when the glove comes into play. Either the glove wasn't there yet and he didn't see it when he looked around for a minute, or he drove an hour and 15 minutes just to leave his business card in her door. Thanks guys for listening to Case Evidence. The podcast will resume with Episode 7 on Monday, November 21st. In the meantime, you can follow us at UpAndVanished on Twitter and Instagram for updates. Our handle is at UpAndVanished. If and Instagram for updates. Our handle is at UpAndVanished. If you're enjoying this podcast and you want to support,

you can go to UpAndVanished.com slash donate and send a donation of any size. It all goes straight into the production of this podcast. Thanks, guys, and I'll see you again November 21st.