Missing in the Midwest: The Abduction of Angela Hammond

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It's late on the night of April fourth, nineteen ninety one,
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in Clinton, Missouri. Angela Hammond is standing outside the food barn,
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leaning against a payphone, talking to her fiance. It's a
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normal call, easy, familiar, the kind you don't think twice about.
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And then somewhere in the middle of that conversation, Angela
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notices something, a truck. She mentions it casually at first,
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just something passing through the parking lot, but then it
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comes back and then again, each time a little slower
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and a little closer. Now it has her attention because
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it's not just passing through anymore. It's circling her. And
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then it stops. The driver gets out, starts walking toward her.
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Angela stays on the phone, describing what she's seeing as
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it's happening. There's a brief interaction, a pause, and then
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a scream, and then Angela is gone. Hi everyone, and
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welcome back to Case Uncovered, where we uncover some of
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the most compelling and lesser known true crime cases. I'm
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your host, John Rivera, and this is Missing in the Midwest,
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a series where I cover unsolved disappearances across the Midwest,
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cases that leave behind questions uncertainty. There are thousands of
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missing persons cases across the country. Some receive national attention,
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but many do not, and every single one of those
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cases represents a life that was interrupted and a family
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that's still waiting for answers. Today's case takes us to Clinton, Missouri,
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a small town where a twenty year old woman disappeared
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while on the phone with her fiance. And what makes
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this case so difficult to sit with is that someone
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was listening as it happened. This is the abduction of
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Angela Hammond. Clinton, Missouri is a small town with a
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population of around nine thousand people. It's located about an
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hour outside of Kansas City. It's the kind of place
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where people grow up together, where families know each other,
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and where your life is often shaped by the same streets,
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same schools, and the same community that you've always known.
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That's the kind of place. Angela Marie Hammond grew up
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in Angela or Angie as everyone called her, was born
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on February ninth, nineteen seventy one, to her parents, Marcia
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and Chris. She spent her childhood in Clinton, surrounded by
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that same small town community, and by the time she
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reached her late teens and early twenties, people already had
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a sense of who she was. She was described as outgoing, popular, stylish,
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and independent. She was someone who stood out, not in
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a way that drew attention for the wrong reasons, but
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in a way that people noticed. She had a personality
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that made it easy to connect with and easy to
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remember her by. After high school, Angie made the decision
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to attend Central Missouri State University. Like a lot of
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people her age, she was trying to figure out what
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her next step looked like. But after about a year
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and a half, she realized that college wasn't the right
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path for her, and instead of forcing something that didn't
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feel right, she made a different choice. She decided to
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go back home and she went to work. Angie took
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a job as a night computer operator at Union State
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Bank in Clinton. It was a stable job, a routine,
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something that grounded her day to day life, and while
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it may not have looked like the paths she originally
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thought she would take, it was still a path forward.
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She was building something, just in a different way. In
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the fall of nineteen ninety, Angie started dating Rob Shaeffer,
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and this wasn't someone who came out of nowhere. Rob
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had grown up around her family. There was already a
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level of comfort and trust that you don't always get
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when you meet someone new. Rob was athletic, he had
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plans to join the military, He had a clear direction
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of what he wanted to do with his life, and
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the relationship between the two of them developed really quickly,
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not in a rushed or chaotic way, but in a
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way that felt really natural, like something that made sense
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for them. By early nineteen ninety one, their relationship had
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shifted into something more serious. Angie found out she was pregnant.
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She was due in September, and that moment could have
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gone a lot of different ways, but according to everything
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that's been shared about this case, it didn't create distance.
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It brought them closer together. Rob was really excited. He
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stepped into that moment and he decided to propose. Angie said, yes,
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they weren't just dating anymore. They were building a future together,
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planning a life, and preparing to become parents, and by
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all accounts, they were very much in love. That matters
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because when you look at cases like this, you have
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to understand what was at stake and the family dynamic.
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These weren't two people in transition or trying to figure
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things out. These were two people in the middle of
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building a life together, building something real, a relationship, a family,
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a future that was already beginning to take shape. And
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on April fourth, nineteen ninety one, that future still felt intact.
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By the time April fourth came around, Angie and Rob
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were moving through a part of their relationship that felt
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really steady and exciting. They had fallen into a good
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rhythm together, spending time with each other, being around family,
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making plans for what came next, and that night followed
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that same pattern. Earlier in the evening, they had gone
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to a barbecue at Angie's mother's house. It wasn't anything
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out of the ordinary. It wasn't a celebration or an
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event that would later stand out in a really significant way.
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It was simply just times spent with family, the kind
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of evening that blends into so many others when you
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look back on it. Later, they talked, They ate, They
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were surrounded by people who knew them, people who were
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part of Angie's everyday life, and nothing about that time
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together suggested that anything was about to change. And around
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nine pm they left Angie drove Rob home the way
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she had likely done many times before, the way that
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felt routine. At that point. Rob wasn't planning to go
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out again right away. He was going to stay home
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to babysit his younger brother and wait for his mom
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to get back home. The plan between them was simple.
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She would go on with her night and he would
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stay home. Once his mom returned, they had plans to
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meet back up again. There was no urgency in that plan,
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no tension, no reason to think it wouldn't happen exactly
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the way they expected. And that's what makes this part
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so important, because when you look back at cases like this,
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there's often a moment where everything'still feels normal, where nothing
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has shifted yet, and where no one realizes they're moving
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towards something that will change everything. And this was that moment.
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After dropping Rob off, Angie didn't go straight home. She
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continued her night in the same way she normally would have,
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without any indication that anything was out of place. At
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some point, she went to spend time with her best
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friend Kyla, and that detail is important more than it
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might seem at first, because it reinforces how ordinary this
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timeline really was. Angie wasn't rushing from one place to another,
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she wasn't distracted, she wasn't dealing with anything unusual. She
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was spending time with someone she loved, she trusted, and
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someone who knew her well, someone who would have noticed
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if something felt off. But nothing did. There's nothing in
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that part of the timeline that suggests fear, concern, or
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even hesitation. And eventually Angie left. She got back in
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her car and continued on with her night, still following
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the plan she had already talked about with Rob. At
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approximately eleven twenty four pm, she made a phone call.
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And this is where the timeline becomes incredibly specific, because
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from this point forward everything is anchored to that call.
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Angie drove to the intersection of Jefferson in Second Street
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in downtown Clinton, near the Food Barn grocery store, which
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was about seven blocks from Rob's house. And even though
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it was technically in town, this wasn't an area that
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stayed active late at night. Most people who were out
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would have been closer to the Courthouse Square, not here.
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At that hour, it was really quiet and there were
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two phone booths at that location, so Angie pulled in,
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parked her Ford Mustang facing the booths and got out
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of the car. Then she walked up to make the call.
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Angie called Rob to let him know she was tired
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and that she wasn't going to meet back up with
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him like they had originally planned. Instead, she was going
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to go home, take a bath, and call it a night.
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It's a simple detail, but it matters because it tells
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you exactly where she was mentally in that moment. She
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wasn't distracted, she wasn't upset, she wasn't dealing with anything
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that would have pulled her attention elsewhere. She was just
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winding down, ending her night in the most ordinary way possible.
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And this is where context becomes so important, because today
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that moment would look completely different. But in nineteen ninety one,
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there were no cell phones, no texting, no quick way
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to check in with someone while sitting in your car.
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If you wanted to talk, you used a landline or
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a payphone. So Angie being there, standing at that phone
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booth talking to Rob wasn't unusual, it was routine. It
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was completely normal. And then while Angie's on the phone,
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something changes. As she continues talking to Rob, the conversation
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doesn't immediately change in tone, but her attention begins to
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shift in a way that's subtle. At first, she mentions
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a truck, not with urgency or fear, just something she's
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noticing while she's standing there, looking around, passing time, the
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way anyone would in that situation a green pickup had
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driven by. At that point, it doesn't stand out as
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anything more than a passing observation. But then it comes back,
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and then it comes back again, and now the pattern
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starts to take shape, because this isn't a truck that
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passed once and moved on. Now it's circling, moving through
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the same area repeatedly enough that it breaks the natural
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rhythm of that space, especially at that hour of the
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night when very little else is happening. And that's when
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Angie starts paying closer attention. She begins describing it in
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more detail, not because she's alarmed yet, but because she's
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trying to understand what she's seeing. Rob asks her what
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it looks like, and she tells him it looks like
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his truck, a ford, older, green, worn down, the kind
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of truck that stands out not because it's new, but
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because it looks like it's been around for a while,
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and then she notices something really specific, something that shifts
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this from casual observation into something more intentional. There's no
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front license plate, and in Missouri there should have been one.
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That detail doesn't feel accidental, it doesn't feel like something
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you ignore, and now, without fully saying it, the tone
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of the moment begins to change because she's no longer
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just noticing something around her, she's starting to question it.
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At some point during that call, the truck pulls into
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the parking lot, and this is the moment where everything shifts.
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The movement stops being something she's watching from afar. Now
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it's immediate, it's close, and the driver gets out of
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the truck. Angie begins describing him as he approaches. She
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tells Rob he's a white male, that he has black hair,
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that he has a beard, possibly a mustache. She notices
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he's wearing glasses, a dark baseball cap, and overalls. She
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makes a point to say that he looks dirty. That
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detail comes through clearly because it's not just about what
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he's wearing, it's about how he appears, and that's something
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people instinctively notice when someone enters their space unexpectedly. He
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walks up to the phone booth next to hers, not
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past her, not at a distance, right next to her,
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and he uses the phone and for a moment, everything
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slows down because now there's proximity, Now there's a shared
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space between the two, and now there's an interaction that
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didn't exist just seconds before. Rob is still on the phone,
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listening to everything as it unfolds, trying to piece together
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what's happening based on what Angie's telling him. At one point,
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he suggests that she asks the man if he needs
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to use the phone, maybe thinking the line isn't working,
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trying to make sense of the situation in a practical way,
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so she does. She asks him, and the man responds
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calmly that he'll try again in a minute. There's nothing
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aggressive in that response, nothing that immediately signals danger, and
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that's what makes this moment important because for a brief second,
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things feel like they could return to normal, like whatever
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this is might just pass. The man then walks back
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to his truck, and for a moment there's space again distance,
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but he doesn't leave, and that's what keeps this moment unsettling,
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because instead of driving away, he stays. After the man
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walks back to his truck. There's a brief shift in
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the atmosphere, the kind that's hard to explain but easy
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to feel. For a second, Angie could breathe, and it
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may seem like it might not be such a scary
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situation after all. And at that moment, it would have
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been easy to assume that whatever felt off was over,
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that the man would give his truck and leave, that
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the situation would return to what it had been just
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minutes earlier, quiet, uneventful, and forgettable. But it doesn't, because
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instead of getting into his truck and driving away, the
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man continues to stay. He remains there near his vehicle,
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not moving, not lea but lingering. And then he does
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something that shifts the tone again. He takes out a
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flashlight and he starts moving it around the truck, across
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the ground, around the vehicle, as if he's looking for something.
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At least that's what it appears to be. But the
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movement doesn't fully make sense because there's no urgency to it,
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no clear purpose, just slow, deliberate motion that keeps him
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there longer than he should be. And this is where
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the moment becomes even harder to rationalize, because now there's
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a pattern he had been circling. He approached, he interacted,
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he returned to his truck, and now he's staying watching, lingering.
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And even then, Angie and Rob continue talking, because that's
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what people do in moments like this. They try to
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normalize what feels off. They try to keep the situation grounded.
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They tried to convince themselves that whatever's happening isn't what
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it feels like. The shift from tension to action happens
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without warning. There's no gradual escalation, no clear signal that
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gives Angie time to react. One moment, she's still on
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the phone, still talking, still aware of the man near her,
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and the next Rob hears her scream. It's immediate, sharp,
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the kind of sound that doesn't leave room for interpretation.
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And then, almost just as quickly, he hears something else,
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the man's voice clear enough to understand, calm enough to
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be unsettling. I didn't need to use the phone anyway,
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and then silence. The line goes dead. There's no transition,
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no explanation, and no follow up, just a moment that
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begins and ends in seconds. And on the other end
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of that call, Rob is left with nothing but what
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he just heard. Trying to process it, trying to catch
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up to something that has already moved past him, Because
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in that moment, before anything else is confirmed, before anyone arrives,
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before anything is understood, he knows something has gone very wrong.
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Rob doesn't hesitate. He drops the phone and moves immediately.
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There's no pause to question what he heard, no delay
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to think through what it could mean. He knows where
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Angie is, he knows exactly where she had been standing,
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and he drives fast, straight toward the location. The distance
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between them is short, only seven blocks minutes at most,
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and that detail is so difficult to sit with because
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Rob isn't far away. He's not trying to piece together
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where she might be. He knows exactly where she's at,
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and when he arrives, it's not long after everything happened.
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The moment is still fresh, it's still unfolding, and as
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he pulls into that area, he sees it the same
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green pickup truck leaving moving away from the scene, and
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in that instant something clicks into place, not as a
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guess or as a possibility, but as instinct. This is
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the truck, This is connected, and as it passes him,
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there's a moment that confirms it, a voice coming from
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inside the truck calling out Robbie, and that moment is everything,
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because she's there, She's alive, She's close enough to be heard,
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close enough to know he's there, close enough that for
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a split second, it feels like he might be able
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to reach her. And he turns around immediately and follows
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the truck. He pushes forward, closing the distance, trying to
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catch up and trying to get close enough to see,
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to stop it, to do something, anything, and for a moment,
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it feels possible like he might actually catch up with them,
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like the distance between them is small enough to close.
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But then everything changes again. His transmission fails right there
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in the middle of the chase. The truck gives out,
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and just like that, he loses momentum, he loses distance
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and loses the ability to keep going, and the green
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pickup truck continues forward, driving away, taking Angie with it.
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After his truck fails, rob is left there on the
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road in a moment that doesn't fully register right away,
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because everything that just happened moved way too fast, From
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the phone call to the scream, to the drive to
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the chase, it all unfolded in a matter of minutes,
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and now, just as quickly it's over. The truck is gone,
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Angie is gone, and what's left is the realization of
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how close he was, close enough to hear her voice,
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close enough to see the truck, and close enough to believe,
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even if just for a moment, that he might be
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able to stop it. And now there's nothing left to chase,
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nothing left to follow, and the reality of what has happened,
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and the understanding that whatever comes next is going to
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look very different from everything that came before it. There
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is something about this case that stays with you in
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a different way because Angie wasn't in a situation that
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felt dangerous. Yes, she wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary.
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She was making a phone call, talking to someone she trusted,
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standing in a place that at the time felt completely normal,
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and within minutes everything changed. That's what makes cases like
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this so difficult. They don't begin in chaos. They begin
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in moments that feel safe, moments that are familiar, that
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are routine. And that's why being prepared matters, even in
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00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:29.480
moments that don't feel like they should require it. Safely
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for real life situations. The Safely Sidekick is something I
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personally carry. It's compact, it attaches right to your keys,
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and it includes a personal alarm, a flashlight, pepper spray,
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and a glass breaker. It's something you can carry with
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your order. Thank you to Safely for spot answering today's episode.
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Now let's get back to the case. After the chase
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ends and the truck disappears, everything again shifts. Rob is
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no longer chasing, he's no longer moving. He's left with
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what he just experienced and the reality that Angie is gone.
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From there, the response begins. Law enforcement is contacted and
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officers arrive in the area where Angie had been just
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minutes before. And what they're stepping into is not a
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scene filled with answers. It's a scene defined by absence.
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Angie's car, her Mustang, is still there, harked exactly where
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she left it, facing the phone booths, everything that happened
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took place outside of the car, in that small space
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between where she had been standing and where the truck
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pulled in, and that detail becomes one of the most
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important parts of this case because it tells investigators that
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whatever happened happened so quickly, and it happened right there.
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From the beginning, the focus of the investigation was clear,
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find the truck, find the man, because there is a description,
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and not just a general one, A detailed one. An
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older model green Ford pickup late nineteen sixties to early
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nineteen seventies, possibly two tone, with a distinctive mural or
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decal across the back window, described as water or a
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fish jumping out of water. Possible damage to the front fender,
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no front license plate. That level of details important because
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it gives investigators something specific to work from, and they do.
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They begin searching, running records, following leads, looking for anything
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that matches that description. At one point, over sixteen hundred
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trucks are investigated and still nothing leads to a confirmed suspect.
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And that's one of the most frustrating parts of this
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case because this wasn't vague, this wasn't unclear. There was
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a vehicle, a description, a timeline, and yet it was
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never found. As with many cases like this, the investigation
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didn't just stay focused outward. It also turned inward toward
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the people closest to Angie, and that included Rob. He
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was the last person to speak to her, the one
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who heard what happened, and the one who chased the truck,
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and in any investigation, that level of proximity is going
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to be examined. He was questioned, looked at closely, his
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timeline was reviewed, and his actions were examined, and that's
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part of the process because investigators have to roll out
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every possibility. But ultimately Rob was cleared. There was no
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evidence tying him to what happened, and his account remained
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consistent from the moment of the call to the chase
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to everything that followed. And that leaves the focus where
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it started, on the truck and the man inside it.
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As the investigation continued, other witnesses began to come forward.
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Two women, Michelle and Jennifer, reported seeing a truck that
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matched the description, a green pickup with a mural on
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the back window, in the same general time frame. But
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even with those additional sightings, nothing definitive came from it.
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No identification, no location, no suspect, just more confirmation that
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the truck existed and then disappeared. Over time, investigators and
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the public began looking at whether Anngie's case could be
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connected to others. Two names that came up in those
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discussions are Trudy Derby and Cheryl Ann Kenney. Both cases
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involve women who were abducted under different circumstances but within
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a similar time frame, and while no official connection has
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ever been confirmed, the similarities have raised questions about patterns,
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about possibility, about whether the person responsible for Angie's disappearance
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could have been involved in something else, but without a suspect,
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without a vehicle, those connections remain unanswered. Years later, in
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two thousand and six, another theory emerged, one that suggested
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Angie may not have been the intended target, that herb
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may have been a case of mistaken identity. The theory
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centered around another woman named Angela, someone whose father had
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been a narcotics informant. The idea was that the wrong
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Angela may have been taken, and while that theory added
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another layer to the case, it ever led to a
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confirmed answer. It introduced possibility, but not resolution. More than
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three decades later, Angela Hammond has never been found. Her
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case remains unsolved. And what makes this case so difficult
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is how much was there? The phone call, the description,
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the witness, the chase, the voice heard in real time,
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so many pieces that feel like they should have come together,
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and yet they never have. For her family, this isn't
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something that exists in the past. It's something they continue
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to carry every single day. A moment that never ended,
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a night that never made any sense, and a question
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that still hasn't been answered. What happened to Angie? If
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you have any information about the abduction of Angela Hammond,
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please contact the Clinton Police Department at six six to
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00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.880
zero eight eight five two six seven nine. No detail
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00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:18.720
is too small and any information you might have could
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lead to getting this case solved. Thank you so much
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for joining me for today's episode of Case uncovereds Missing
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00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:31.400
in the Midwest and for listening to Angie's story. Make
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00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.960
sure to follow the show wherever you're listening to podcasts
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00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.440
so you don't miss when I post new episodes every
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00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:39.799
Tuesdays and Thursdays. And the best way to support the
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00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:42.400
show so I can continue bringing you cases like this
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00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:45.720
every week is to leave a five star rating and review.
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I do see the reviews and read them, and I'm
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00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:51.200
so grateful for those who have already done so. It
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00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:53.799
really does help push these episodes out so more people
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00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:57.119
can listen and find them, and you never know, it
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00:25:57.160 --> 00:25:59.960
could lead to somebody who knows something about the cause.
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00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:04.039
So learn more about my real life advocacy work through
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00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:07.640
my nonprofit, The Reignited Project. You can visit the Reignited
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00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:13.599
project dot com And until next time, stay curious, stay vigilant,
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and stay safe out there.