Secrets | Chapter 9

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This podcast is intended for mature audiences.
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Listener discretion is advised.
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Before Kelly Wilson vanished in nineteen ninety two, she had
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become really good friends with this local girl named Jennifer.
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Jennifer lived in Gilmer, Texas, just a few houses down
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from Kelly's family. Like Kelly, Jennifer was a senior in
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high school that year, but she went to a smaller
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school outside of town. When Kelly never came home from
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work on the night of January fifth, nineteen ninety two,
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Jennifer didn't even find out for a couple of days.
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When she heard the news, she hurried over to Kelly's house.
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One thing I do remember is that when I went
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to see her mom, Kathy, when I found out.
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That she was missing. I found out Tuesday.
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As I'm standing there talking to her mom, she's just saying,
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you know, Jennifer, they're saying that she's you know, they
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think she's just run away. She's like, there's no way
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she's run away. I mean she left her purse, she
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left her contact solutions, she.
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Left I mean she left everything.
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And she's like, and she left all this money she has.
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So she takes me in a room and she opens
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a drawer and she shows me just a lot of cash,
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a lot of cash.
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I'm just like, yeah, that's definitely weird.
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Jennifer had no idea what was Kelly doing with all
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that money.
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I think it's unusual that any of us would have
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a lot of cash. She worked it in TV. She
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would have gotten paid with a check.
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Are we talking like hundreds of dollars or more?
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I don't remember for sure, but it was significant.
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Joe Henry, the former video store manager, also said that
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Kelly was paid by never cash. Jennifer remembers another strange
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detail from the weekend in nineteen ninety two when Kelly vanished.
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The girls had gone out Friday night with another friend
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named Misty. I haven't been able to reach Misty. It
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was a quiet night in Gilmert Friday night.
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We just, I guess she could say, kind of wandering aimlessly.
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I think we did go out to some trailer house.
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Some guys lived out there, just you know, see what
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they were doing. It didn't we didn't stay long. I
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ended up happening to go home close to midnight or
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a little before, and her and Missy ended up staying
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out later.
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And so the next morning, you know.
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We kind of call each other or talking and kind
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of you know, recapping the night, and I'm curious to
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know if they ended up finding anything else to do.
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And you know, she's telling me, no, not really. You know,
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we stayed out another hour or so, and then we
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came home. And then as we're talking, she's like, you know,
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I think somebody came.
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To my window.
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Kelly's bedroom window was right next to a little side street.
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She's trying to sort out whether she's imagining this, she was,
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you know.
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Maybe a little drunk, couldn't hearing.
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Things or dreamed it, or it really happened.
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But as she's you know, kind of talking out loud,
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she's just saying.
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You know, well, no, I think there were somebody there.
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You know, there were taking one windows, saying hey Kelly.
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She I guess convinced herself that yeah, maybe there was
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somebody actually there because she heard the dogs blocky. She
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couldn't really say who, I mean, she didn't know, she
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just knew it would sound like a couple of guys.
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Jennifer was still talking to Kelly's mom, Kathy, when they
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were joined by James York Brown, the officer investigating Kelly's disappearance,
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the strange guys knocking on Kelly's window that seemed like
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a clue Sergeant Brown might want to know about.
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Near the end of our visit, Brown shows up and
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she introduces me to him, and she.
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Says, you know, why don't you tell him.
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About Kelly's thinking somebody came to her window the other night,
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And so I tell him, you're thinking like.
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The movies, like well, maybe they can fingerprint the window
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sill or you know, stuff like that.
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Nothing ever came a bit like you know, I guess
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I asked her mom later, did he check?
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You know?
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She's like, well, I think he looked, but they didn't
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really investigate that lead, I guess she could say. And
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I never got another I never I was never called
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about it, and I was never.
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Asked about it.
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And I think there's a lot of people her friend
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group that could say kind of like, yeah, there were
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a lot of kind.
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Of loose ends that weren't explored. So there was maybe,
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you know, another side to Kelly that some.
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Of us didn't know, or or just maybe on another side,
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but other things that she was involved in, perhaps.
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I remember going before that.
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Her injury and They were asking me all these questions
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about Kelly. They were asking me questionable things I didn't know.
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There were some pictures of Kelly naked that had circulated
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around the school. They asked me if I knew if
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she'd ever done cocaine. I was like no, and I
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mean we partied. I don't feel like she'd keep a
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lot from me, But I don't know because I've since
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learned things, you know, first hand.
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Things No one I've spoken to said they ever saw
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Kelly using any substances harder than alcohol and pot. But
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I heard something else that connects back to drugs. Kelly
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had this step cousin from Louisiana, where she'd lived before
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she moved to East Texas. The cousin didn't want to
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be recorded, but she says that Kelly confided in her
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during the fall semester of their senior year, when they
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took a campus tour of Louisiana State in Baton Rouge.
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She told me she wanted to move back to her
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dad's to get away from her ex. He was harassing her,
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demanding back gifts he had given her, wouldn't accept that
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they were done. She told me they broke up because
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he was dealing, and she was pissed because he tricked
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her into holding for him once when he was going
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to be gone for a weekend.
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Kelly didn't mention any names to her cousin, And I've
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looked at several guys Kelly dated and I haven't heard
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about any of them dealing drugs.
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People are afraid, I think of just throwing stuff out
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there willy nilly, because there are a lot of decent
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people that were maybe mixed up in this, and then
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maybe some shady characters too. But you don't know, you know,
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so you just you don't want to be careless.
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Jennifer also addresses claims made in the last episode that
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Kelly might have been taking money for sex. This sort
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of thing couldn't happen in Gilmer, right.
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Well, on one hand, I'm kind of like, wouldn't we know?
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I mean, like we were partying with Kelly and we
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weren't like judging, I mean, we.
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Were all up to no good for the most part,
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just having fun. But why wouldn't she tell us?
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But then again, if that was actually happening and we
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didn't know, well, then there was this other side of
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things that was going on, and we didn't know about it.
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I don't know what other girls, though.
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Would have been participating in that. There was this circle.
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You know, if there were two or three or four
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girls that were getting paid to have sex with older men,
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who else would it be?
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I don't know.
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One more rumor has floated out there for years. In
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episode one, Kelly's dad Robbie said, the last time he
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ever talked to his daughter, Kelly said she had something
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to tell him. Here's Kelly's friend, Michelle.
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I honestly don't think that the pregnancy, what is the
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reason why she's gone? I just don't in my heart
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of hearts, I don't feel like that.
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Michelle thinks Kelly found out something she wasn't supposed to know.
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As a young girl, you start questioning, you might get upset.
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I can't get ready to turn somebody in. Or she
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witnessed she knew about who was doing drugs. She probably
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I mean, she could have made a threat or anything,
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because she was upset about what had transpired. And if
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the whole community gets scared that she's going to take.
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Them down, they'll handle it.
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So my fear is that it's something she got in
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way too deep, and she got in way too deep,
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maybe because she was pregnant and getting upset and things
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were starting to at Snowball.
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According to Michelle, the day before Kelly disappeared, she told
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a couple of her friends that she needed to tell
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them something. There's no way to know if this is
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the same something Kelly wanted to tell her dad, Robbie.
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And then Saturday she went to work and she told
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them come by later because I have something I need
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to show you or tell you. I feel like she
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wanted them to come up there. She needed to show
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them something up there at the video store. I mean,
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keep in mind, back then, we did not have cell phones.
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You can't send pictures.
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If you want to talk to somebody, you're on a
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landline where somebody could be let listening to you. So
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you're probably not going to have a real in depth
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conversation on a landline. That could be detrimental. So you're
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going to want to have those conversations in person. So
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she wanted them to come back and wanted to show
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them something. And then they had volleyball tournaments and got
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into light and said we'll just catch up with her later,
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and so they never.
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Did go to me.
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All this speculation, rumor, and peculiar details raised more questions
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than answers. A week after my first call with private
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investigator Amanda Gammel, she and I agreed to meet at
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the local library. Amanda brought along her husband, Ricky, just
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in case I turned out to be a weirdo. Amanda
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had learned some other stuff about Kelly, things that had
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never been shared in public. As the private investigator for
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Kelly's mom, Kathy, Amanda wasn't exactly on team Robbie.
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There was a point in time that he had put
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Kelly in a mental institution, but he didn't tell you that,
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didn't he mut at all?
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And we are we're working on getting those records right
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Neil to see why, what, what was his motive for that?
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Why did he do that?
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Later I called and asked Robbie whether he'd ever had
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Kelly committed. He turned it back on Kathy.
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She would go weeks from her mother, and I'd come
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home from work and I could tell immediately Kathy had
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called and talked to her. Her entire personality and disposition
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which would be different, be agitated and all that kind
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of stuff. But anyway, long story shore when she was
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when Kelly was the last time she was living with us,
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she went on one of these tears after Kathy had
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agitated her and she tried to run away, and so yeah,
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I put her in in a hospital just for no
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other reason, to keep her from going back to her mother.
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But she wasn't there but a wink or so if
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I remember right, and I think Katy came and got
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her out.
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She was she diagnosed with any kind of psychic psyched
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I don't.
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I don't recall that she was well.
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She might have been, but she was.
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She was just a very confused young lady that her
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mother just kept, like I said, just kept things stirred up.
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Like Kelly's friend Michelle Amanda believes that Kelly might have
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been pregnant when she vanished.
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As I've continued to investigate and the more that I
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have found out, there were a lot of I'm just
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gonna say it, there was a lot of sexual payments
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made to Kelly by judges, lawyers, police officers.
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So that's where we.
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Get into the part where I told you that if
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we're not careful, we could have lives and danger. The
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FBI does investigate correction, and it's very possible at this
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point that it's all going to be linked together, and
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it's all tied together.
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We are pretty confident that she was pregnant.
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I don't know how far along she did lock older men.
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We do know that.
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We're looking at.
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We're looking at some bad people, I mean, with data doubt.
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Amanda and I talked so long the library closed for
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the day.
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Do you want to grab Sam?
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We reconvened in the parking lot. I shared a few
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things with Amanda that I'd heard things about Kathy. In
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the last episode, you heard Sergeant Brown allege that Kathy
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wanted to end the search for Kelly. But according to Amanda,
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Kathy said no such thing.
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The only person that she really truly did not like
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was James Brown, and that's because she felt like that
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he was covering things up and hiding things. What she
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told him was, you're gonna bring somebody else in here
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to help investigate this. I want my daughter found, she said.
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I remember saying something about that. She said, but I don't.
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She said, it's like half of half of things are
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a daze for me. And I said, like you were
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on autopilot. She said yes, And she said, but I don't.
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I never went in there and told him he's going
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to close this case. Why would I tell him to
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close the case on my daughter. Then they started, you know,
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pointing the finger at Kathy, and they went through separate
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ways because Kathy said, I'm not I'm not doing this.
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I'm not gonna deal with this. I'm looking for my daughter.
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You're not gonna sit here and tell me that I
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killed my daughter through Amanda.
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Cathy also rejected the claim that she was already talking
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about funeral arrangements the day after Kelly turned up missing.
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Okay, squash funeral arrangement talk. I'm going to squash that.
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And it was not that day that they got there,
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she said. At one point, we did talk about a funeral,
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she said, and it's because we had not had.
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Where is she?
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We still don't know where she is.
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Months into this, Amanda had her own theory about what
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happened to Kelly.
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So basically, what I'm gathering is the abduction took place.
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Several men, up to four or five were out on
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this piece of land.
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They sexually assaulted her.
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And killed her.
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And buried.
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So that's what I have to prove. We have an opportunity,
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a true, true, opportunity to solve. God is working. God
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is working, and all of us are coming together in
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the right time. And I believe that that I am
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a very spiritual person, and I believe that if we
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play our cards right, and we do it the correct way,
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and we followed this path, We're going to find the answers.
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From Imperative Entertainment. I'm wes Ferguson. This is Deviltown. This
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is Chapter nine secrets. You know who probably has more
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information than anyone about the disappearance of Kelly Wilson. The
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00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:04.279
cops in theory, at least when I started reporting on
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Kelly's story back in the spring, the Gilmer Police Department
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was among the first places I called. Then I emailed,
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00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:15.399
dropped by, phoned, and emailed a few more times. I
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visited the station in person on two other occasions. The
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police chief was never around. No one ever responded to
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any of my interview requests. The Gilmer police froze me out.
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If they wouldn't comment, maybe I could look at their
294
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old reports see what they missed. I filed a request
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for public information relating to the case. The city of
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Gilmer fought my request.
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We feel this is the largest and most important unsolved
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case in the city, county, and possibly the state of Texas.
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That's from a letter the City of Gilmer wrote to
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the Texas Attorney General's Office asking to keep their records hidden.
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Their argument. To this day, police are still receiving and
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looking into leads about Kelly.
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It is the opinion of the department that any non
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law enforcement investigation may disrupt the ongoing investigation into the case.
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00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:11.319
The Attorney General sided with the Gilmer police. They were
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allowed to withhold the information from me. I had also
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asked for police files that related to the case on
308
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Joe Henry, the former video store manager. I got back
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one page of information with basically nothing useful on it.
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On one hand, I get it, you're in law enforcement.
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You're busy.
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00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:31.960
You don't want to deal with some out of town
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journalists poking around. But come on, they've had thirty years
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00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:38.559
to work the case. I tried a few retired cops.
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Most didn't respond or flat out decline to comment. There
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00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:44.279
was an important exception.
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My name is Richard Sprul and I was a volunteer
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00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:52.119
chaplain here and then I went full time police officer here.
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Richard Sprule still lives in Gilmer way back when I
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00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:59.000
was a newspaper crime reporter. I interviewed him several times
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about a bunch of unrelated cases. That's why Richard's name
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00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.119
jumped out to me when I was reading old news
323
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stories about Kelly Wilson and Sergeant James York Brown, the
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Gilmer caught falsely accused of killing her. It turns out
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Richard and James Brown were tight.
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We were pretty close. We're pretty good friends. He was
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a very good police officer. He watched out for a
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lot around town.
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Richard says he never doubted for a second that James
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Brown was innocent in Kelly's disappearance.
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There was no question in my mind.
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Some of the times that they were making accusations against him,
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I was actually with him during those times, so I
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00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.640
knew that there was no truth to some of that,
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And so because there was no truth to some of them,
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I just assumed there's probably very little truth to any
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of it.
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When the indictments.
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Came down, I was on the city Council and they
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called a special meeting executive session. So I can't tell
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you everything that was said in there, but it was basically,
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we need to fire him.
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We don't need this. Uh, we don't need this kind
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of stuff on the city.
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Uh.
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I think it was decided that we would uh suspend
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him with pay uh until further investigation.
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Richard thought the decision to suspend James Brown was such
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a huge mistake he resigned his city council seat and protest.
350
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Richard went on to tell me a story about a
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member of the grand jury, this guy who later regretted
352
00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:28.400
indicting James Brown. When he said, suddenly, this.
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Friend, she's done these people wrong. A strong guy presented
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any evidence.
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He had a big puppy with him. This really dogs
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00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:37.599
scrambled over to the countain where I was sitting.
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That's why I pat him, he said.
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And then they gave us a list of names and
359
00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:42.240
said these are the people that did it.
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And his statement was it got a little loud for
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a second, would you mind? He said? Uh.
362
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He said, they presented all the information about a black mass,
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about a sacrifice, and that we were so amazed and
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disgusted by all of this that if he had told
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00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:01.519
this Sam Claus had done it, we would have indicted
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Santa Claus. And the worst part about this, it could
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have been stopped at any time, and nobody was willing
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to stand up and say stop.
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Do you think anybody could have done that?
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Oh?
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Absolutely, I mean the county commissioners had appointed the special
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prosecutor and the special investigators. They could have said something.
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The district judge could have said something. There were several places,
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you know, the grand jury, if they had been instructed
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on how grand jury is supposed to operate and what
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they're looking for, they could have said something, but they weren't.
377
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So that's what led to this big miscarriage of justice.
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Richard was so outraged by the false charges against Sergeant
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Brown he actually joined the police department full time to
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do more see if he could make a difference.
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That was one of the reasons that I would decided
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00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:56.480
to go full time into law enforcement. That there was
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no reason that think should that that type of a
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miscarrier justice should ever happen with people watching it happen.
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00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:08.160
Do you remember what were the what was the most
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00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:10.440
promising lead of what actually.
387
00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:11.519
Happened, Kelly?
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00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:16.039
There were there were two or three rumors that were
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00:21:16.039 --> 00:21:20.119
going around. Sergeant Brown had investigated these as leads. He
390
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:25.000
could never get anything definitive, could never get probable calls
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00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.079
on either one. One of them was that she had
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00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:34.559
attended a rave basically had ended up because of overdose
393
00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:39.720
or whatever. That she died and the kids they're panicked, uh,
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00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:43.359
and went and hit her body. And that was that
395
00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:46.480
was one of them. That was that he was really
396
00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:50.559
strongly supporting the other one. Well, I don't know if
397
00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:52.240
I want to get into that part or not, because
398
00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:54.480
it involves a whole lot of other people that really
399
00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:58.200
had nothing to do with it. Uh No, not not
400
00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:02.599
so much. The curs as it was kell boyfriend at
401
00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:03.240
the time.
402
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.640
Since passed away. Well, that's again part of it.
403
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:12.359
She actually had a boyfriend that was in West Point,
404
00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:17.359
and while he was away in West Point, then she
405
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.440
was dating this guy that has since passed away. Here,
406
00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:28.119
the allegation was that when the gentleman from West Point
407
00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:31.680
was coming back for Christmas, that the guy she was
408
00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:35.559
dating here, she told him, you need to stay away
409
00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:38.000
and don't come around while he's here, because I have
410
00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.079
a lot better future with him than I have with you.
411
00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:42.880
So I'm going to be with him while he's home
412
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on leave during the Christmas vacation and we'll see what
413
00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:48.200
happens afterwards.
414
00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.839
And so when he went back her disappearance. I want
415
00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:52.960
to say he went back on the.
416
00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:57.279
Second of January and her disappearance were just a couple
417
00:22:57.319 --> 00:23:00.640
of days after that, and the idea was that the
418
00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:05.640
guy who has since passed away got mad and whether
419
00:23:05.799 --> 00:23:09.119
intentionally or accidentally, calls her death in some way.
420
00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:12.480
I was able to track down the boyfriend who went
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00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:16.039
to West Point. His name is Josh. He declined a
422
00:23:16.039 --> 00:23:19.960
phone interview, but responded to questions via email. Josh says
423
00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:22.559
he dated Kelly through most of her junior year when
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00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.559
Josh was a senior. After he moved to New York
425
00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:29.000
to attend the military academy, they stayed in touch, even
426
00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:32.839
though Kelly was dating other guys. Back home for Christmas break,
427
00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:36.400
Josh says he met up with Kelly just once. You
428
00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:39.799
might remember in episode one, Kelly's friend Michelle brought up
429
00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:42.519
the same meeting. It was the last time she or
430
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:47.160
Josh ever saw Kelly. During their last hangout, Josh says
431
00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:49.720
he and Kelly agreed to stay in touch and remain friendly,
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00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:53.640
whether they remained a couple or not. Josh was already
433
00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:55.440
back at West Point when he learned the news of
434
00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:59.039
Kelly's disappearance. He says he has fond memories of her
435
00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:01.759
and thinks about her off and the other so called
436
00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:05.440
boyfriend was Chris d'on. We mentioned him earlier in the series.
437
00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:08.680
Chris didn't did with cancer in his thirties.
438
00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:11.759
He was once named publicly as the chiefs That's big,
439
00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:13.839
but they never could apparently get the goods of them,
440
00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:14.839
and even they were charged.
441
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:17.359
Police say Chris had a violent history.
442
00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:21.000
There was a guy walking down the street and Chris
443
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:23.920
stabbed him in the back as they drove by.
444
00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:29.279
But people who were friends with Chris and Kelly pretty
445
00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:32.640
much all insist that they weren't a serious couple and
446
00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:35.279
Chris had nothing to do with Kelly's disappearance.
447
00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:38.640
Bet your first easy target.
448
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.559
I've had a lot of long conversations with Chris and
449
00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.799
there in my mind there's absolutely no way he could
450
00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:48.680
have had anything to do with it that.
451
00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:50.640
I talked to Chris on this on that night, and
452
00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:53.480
I never understood why the police weren't interested in that.
453
00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:56.799
I went to the police station and told them, I
454
00:24:56.839 --> 00:25:00.119
know y'all are looking into Chris, but I was on
455
00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:03.079
the phone with that and not a one person ever
456
00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:03.880
talked to me about it.
457
00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:08.519
If it wasn't Chris Denton, the ex boyfriend. And then
458
00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:11.240
there's somebody out there who ducked it and murdered Kelly Wilson.
459
00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:16.640
Who's yeah, potentially after that, free to go out and
460
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:17.160
do it again.
461
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.240
All right, Back to my interview with Richard, there was
462
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:25.839
something else I'd been wondering, something weird involving the Gilmer cops.
463
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:29.960
What about the theft at the police department of the files.
464
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.359
I wasn't here when that happened, so I don't know
465
00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:34.119
that much about that.
466
00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.279
On Halloween Night in nineteen ninety four, someone broke into
467
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:41.119
the Gilmer Police Department and stole a bunch of the
468
00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:44.559
case files about Kelly Wilson. This was several months after
469
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:46.720
all the charges were dropped in the case against the
470
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.359
group of suspects that included the Kerr family and James Brown.
471
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:53.880
The break in went down between six point fifteen and
472
00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:57.599
eight fifty pm. The burglars came in through the sally
473
00:25:57.640 --> 00:26:00.559
Port door in the back of the station. They raided
474
00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:03.920
the patrol room and even the police chief's office, making
475
00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:07.599
off with a total of five boxes, including personnel records
476
00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:11.880
and old patrol logs. Remember Melvin Dodd, the charter member
477
00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:15.480
of the Justice for Kelly Wilson Committee. By random coincidence,
478
00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:19.160
Melvin took his thirteen kids trick or treating across the
479
00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:22.279
street from the police station around the same time police
480
00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:26.839
say the burglary occurred. Melvin's skeptical. He says, there were
481
00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:30.759
a Jillian trick or treaters around, someone would have noticed.
482
00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:37.039
It certainly didn't take place while tricker treating was going on, right,
483
00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:40.279
it would have been impossible for to that was that
484
00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:44.680
being detected. It was an inside job. There was too
485
00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:48.720
much information in there. So all kinds of records just
486
00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:50.319
disappeared from the face of the earth.
487
00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:54.640
The police wouldn't say how many documents were stolen, but
488
00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:57.920
they did say that none of the files were original records.
489
00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:03.359
They were supposedly just copies of documents provided a special prosecutor,
490
00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:07.400
Scott Lefford, during his investigation, which had ended nearly a
491
00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:08.200
year earlier.
492
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:11.519
Okay, I know what you're talking about, now, I don't
493
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:15.839
That was kind of you know, kept between the chief
494
00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:20.680
and Sergeant Brown as to what actually they were investigating on.
495
00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:21.279
That part of it.
496
00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:23.680
Who would have been able to do that?
497
00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:26.720
Who would have wanted to that? You know, why would
498
00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:29.039
you want to do that. The only thing that I
499
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:32.799
could think of was that they felt that the case
500
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:36.160
was leading in a particular direction toward a particular person,
501
00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:39.839
and they wanted to protect that person. Who Ever took
502
00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:42.039
the case file, why else would you want it?
503
00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:45.519
I really don't know. A news story in the Gilmer
504
00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:49.400
Mirror from nineteen ninety four states that police collected thirteen
505
00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.759
fingerprints from the break in, but I've never heard of
506
00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:56.480
anyone being arrested for it, and none of the news
507
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.960
articles clarify whether the back door had been left unlocked,
508
00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:03.200
or if someone had a key, or if the door
509
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:06.799
had been smashed in. You can speculate all day about
510
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:10.160
this one who knew enough about the police department to
511
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:13.759
quickly find Kelly Wilson's files when no one was around,
512
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:18.160
but someone who maybe didn't realize the files were just copies.
513
00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:22.319
It's yet another weird little wrinkle in the Kelly Wilson saga.
514
00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:25.599
I thanked Richard Sproule for his time.
515
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:29.000
Take care you.
516
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:31.640
Actually put who'd good time to come? Because that was
517
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:34.759
my son's dog. Our two dogs would have been all
518
00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:36.119
over you. They just love people.
519
00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:43.119
I love dogs, so would have been okay, okay. After
520
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:45.920
leaving Richard's house. I drove out of town into the
521
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:49.920
country on the Cherokee Trace. Remember the Trace is the
522
00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:53.039
old winding road where the Kerr family lived when they
523
00:28:53.079 --> 00:28:56.799
were wrongly accused of killing Kelly Wilson. Although many of
524
00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:59.400
the Kurrs are dead now, a few of the family
525
00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:02.079
members still claimed to live in a little house out there,
526
00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:06.119
according to the State Sex Offender Registry. I pulled into
527
00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:07.240
the unpaved driveway.
528
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:09.119
I'm outside the curves.
529
00:29:10.839 --> 00:29:15.279
There's a bunch of no trespassing signs, so I hope
530
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:22.119
this goes okay.
531
00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:26.119
No one came to the door. I drove back into town.
532
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:30.119
Except for my interview with Richard. My reporting trip felt
533
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:33.200
like a bust. I pulled over beside the railroad tracks
534
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:36.200
and opened my laptop. I was sitting in the driver's seat,
535
00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:39.200
scrolling through my spreadsheet of people I still wanted to
536
00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:43.440
talk to, wondering what I should do next. Then out
537
00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:46.000
of the corner of my eye, a man walked up
538
00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:48.880
from behind my car. It was the same guy with
539
00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.559
the dog from Richard Sproule's house. He waved, so I
540
00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:58.519
rolled my window down. This is what he said. I
541
00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:11.799
know what happened to Kelly Wilson. So I'm parked by
542
00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:13.880
the tracks in Gilmer when this guy walks up to
543
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:17.279
my window and he drops this bombshell about Kelly Wilson.
544
00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:20.160
I'm trying to think fast. I asked if he wants
545
00:30:20.200 --> 00:30:22.400
to get in my car. He comes around to the
546
00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:23.240
passenger side.
547
00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:28.119
Now what I heard three black men whom he had
548
00:30:28.200 --> 00:30:31.559
arrested for drug possession and they got off on their charges.
549
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:33.880
If they killed her because she was pregnant with his baby,
550
00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:36.720
and all three of them raped her, beat her, killed
551
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:38.039
her in credit to the hogs.
552
00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:40.799
I know for a fact I've heard from all three
553
00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:45.680
of the guys. You're fucking kidding me. No, swear to God. Okay,
554
00:30:46.039 --> 00:30:46.319
so I.
555
00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:48.960
Was pregnant with the baby and it would have ruined
556
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:49.599
his marriage.
557
00:30:50.039 --> 00:30:51.839
He named a well known person in Gilmour.
558
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:53.440
Are these guys still around?
559
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:56.079
Two of them are in prison now for other charges,
560
00:30:56.119 --> 00:30:58.160
One of them is still around, One of them still sells.
561
00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:01.799
Out here and down Really, well, what do you think
562
00:31:01.799 --> 00:31:05.160
would happen if I tried to talk to them?
563
00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:08.119
I don't know. I don't know.
564
00:31:09.880 --> 00:31:13.039
They're great uncle is a very good friend of mine,
565
00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:15.200
and he's the one who told me what happened and
566
00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:17.759
told me how they did it, where they did it,
567
00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:20.799
why they did it, And all three of the guys
568
00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:22.599
at one point or another, we're at a barbecue at
569
00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:23.359
his house and we're.
570
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:24.680
Like, yeah, yeah, that was us. I was like, no
571
00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:25.319
fucking way.
572
00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:26.799
I was like, why don't you say something about it
573
00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:27.279
to somebody?
574
00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:29.480
You know, just that y'all know what happened to her? Yeah,
575
00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:30.759
And they were like, oh no, we're not get in
576
00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:31.359
trouble for it.
577
00:31:31.559 --> 00:31:32.000
Ain't no way.
578
00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:36.119
Now do you mind telling me their names? I can't
579
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:42.920
do that, really, no, I can't. Who who else would
580
00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:47.079
I talk to you? That Mike might know more? If
581
00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:48.119
you go into.
582
00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:50.519
The park Vinegar Hill?
583
00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:52.920
Do you know where that is? Okay? Shut over here?
584
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:58.079
There were people around, just start asking if they've heard anything.
585
00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:01.799
It's kind of of where the dope houses are and everything.
586
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.440
And she was on heroin, real bad. They all sold heroin.
587
00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:11.200
She was also tricking for money she was tricking with
588
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:12.559
when she got pregnant.
589
00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:16.000
Would you mind showing me where Vinegar Hill is?
590
00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:20.599
It turns out this guy's name is Jared. He's Richard's son.
591
00:32:20.839 --> 00:32:24.920
Following Jared's directions, we drive through downtown across a highway
592
00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:27.640
and come to a more run down neighborhood on the
593
00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:31.920
edge of Gilmour. There's overgrown brush everywhere, the streets narrowed
594
00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:35.240
to a single lane like tunnels through a leafy forest.
595
00:32:37.799 --> 00:32:39.519
This park on the left is Vinegar Hill.
596
00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:44.079
Here, everything around this is called Vinegar Hill.
597
00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:46.880
Okay, And do you think like later in the day
598
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:48.200
they people just kind of hanging.
599
00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:49.599
Out there when we hang out all around there about
600
00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:50.200
three o'clock.
601
00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:58.119
Uh huh, okay, let me just make all.
602
00:32:57.079 --> 00:32:57.799
Save it on mine.
603
00:32:58.359 --> 00:33:02.079
Matt Jared have only been like seven years old when
604
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.960
Kelly disappeared. The rumor he'd always heard was that someone
605
00:33:06.039 --> 00:33:09.559
he knew sold drugs to Kelly and she overdosed.
606
00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:12.960
And the rumor that I've heard for years was that
607
00:33:13.079 --> 00:33:16.559
she od dope and that she was buried underneath the
608
00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:19.640
floor of the church. But I was told by the
609
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:22.920
friend that's Mike, that's the that's by guy's great uncle anyway,
610
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:23.440
that that's.
611
00:33:23.319 --> 00:33:27.960
Not what happened. Can we go see the uncle he
612
00:33:28.119 --> 00:33:29.680
just left. He was at the house when you were there.
613
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:33.240
Really but no, I mean, he's not gonna talk about it.
614
00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:39.160
As he talked, Jared started kind of nervously squeezing this
615
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:42.799
disposable water bottle in his hands. That's the crinkling noise
616
00:33:42.839 --> 00:33:43.160
you hear.
617
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:46.160
The three guys and the great uncle are the only
618
00:33:46.200 --> 00:33:48.039
ones they've ever said anything Jimmy, and they're the ones
619
00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:49.920
who did it, So I don't know if anyone else
620
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:53.839
who could really say anything like that. I had never
621
00:33:53.960 --> 00:33:56.640
even heard anything the rumors or anything about that until
622
00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:57.400
he told me that day.
623
00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:00.200
And then about three months after that, there was a barber.
624
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:03.599
And I met the first one and he was, you.
625
00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:05.960
Know, just kind of nonchalant. Yeah, that's what happened, but
626
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:06.880
didn't go into detail.
627
00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:10.639
I have to say, from the moment Jared sat down
628
00:34:10.760 --> 00:34:13.960
and started talking, I was skeptical. Some of his details
629
00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:17.519
were off. Plus here in the American South, blaming random
630
00:34:17.559 --> 00:34:20.360
black guys for violence against a white woman is a
631
00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:22.920
little on the nose. But Jared knew a lot about
632
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:25.880
the case, and even Kelly's friends think she might have
633
00:34:25.960 --> 00:34:29.079
been pregnant. According to Jared, the slash tire was part
634
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:30.199
of the murder plot.
635
00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:32.880
Flushed her tires so that she didn't have any choice
636
00:34:32.920 --> 00:34:35.760
but to go out with someone else that were like
637
00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:40.320
email presents, and supposedly she came to them a couple
638
00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:42.599
of years ago and said that she couldn't hold it anymore,
639
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:44.719
and they said if she said something, they would kill her.
640
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:45.519
Hmm.
641
00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:48.039
And that was the last tired about that. But I
642
00:34:48.039 --> 00:34:49.880
don't know who she was. Oh, you don't know her
643
00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:51.519
name or how to find out who she was.
644
00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:54.760
No, but I know that she's the one who got
645
00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:55.840
Kelly to come out with him.
646
00:34:55.840 --> 00:34:58.239
That not Oh my god. And she's had to live
647
00:34:58.280 --> 00:34:59.079
with that ever since.
648
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:01.400
She knew what they were going to do to her,
649
00:35:01.559 --> 00:35:03.760
she knew they were hired for it, everything like that,
650
00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:07.760
and she did it for the dope. They gave her
651
00:35:07.800 --> 00:35:09.519
some dope for getting Kelly out of the house and
652
00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:10.360
get them to come with her.
653
00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:17.159
So, just to be clear, you're one hundred percent certain,
654
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:17.880
Oh yeah.
655
00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:18.400
That's what happened to ude.
656
00:35:19.320 --> 00:35:21.840
This person would not have said anything unless that's what happened.
657
00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:23.800
I mean, we're talking about a seven year old man.
658
00:35:24.440 --> 00:35:26.559
He's not just going to be talking rumors and gossip.
659
00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:29.559
And it was just straightforward, this is what happened. Don't
660
00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:31.400
even talk about the rumors that you heard because they're
661
00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:31.800
not true.
662
00:35:32.679 --> 00:35:35.920
I was like, oh, okay, can you think of anybody
663
00:35:35.920 --> 00:35:37.519
else who might be able to add something.
664
00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:42.920
Like I said, go to Vinegar Hill anyway. All right, man,
665
00:35:42.920 --> 00:35:44.280
it was nice to meet you, Ed, Jared, nice to
666
00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:50.039
meet you. I really appreciate you. Huh, take care well.
667
00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:50.360
Shit.
668
00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:54.360
I waited till three pm, then drove back to the park.
669
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.360
It was deserted. I went back again and again every
670
00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:02.239
time I was in Gilmer last summer. I never saw
671
00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:05.440
any grown men hanging out, just some kids playing basketball.
672
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:09.320
Once Jared had actually given me the guy's name, I
673
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:11.599
found a nearby address for him, but it was an
674
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:15.239
abandoned shack. I also called another guy, the one who
675
00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:18.639
was accused by Jared of dealing drugs to Kelly shortly
676
00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:19.639
before she vanished.
677
00:36:20.360 --> 00:36:22.559
He told me, I mean, and he told me some
678
00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:26.639
stuff that is just pretty wild. You had sold drugs
679
00:36:26.639 --> 00:36:28.880
to Kelly on the day that she died? Did that
680
00:36:29.079 --> 00:36:29.679
spring and Bow?
681
00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:34.480
This individual insisted he never sold drugs, and beyond that,
682
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:37.199
was off to college the year Kelly disappeared.
683
00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:41.559
Yeah, so he's just like completely off base. So you
684
00:36:41.559 --> 00:36:48.599
you have no knowledge of what happened to Kelly?
685
00:36:48.639 --> 00:36:52.840
His answer, not at all. So I don't know. When
686
00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:55.480
Jared told me what he'd heard about Kelly, he didn't
687
00:36:55.519 --> 00:36:58.159
seem like he was high or hallucinating at the time,
688
00:36:58.360 --> 00:37:01.119
but I have to say he didn't really strike me
689
00:37:01.159 --> 00:37:03.800
as the most credible person either. I reached out to
690
00:37:03.880 --> 00:37:06.960
Jared again the other day. It had been several months
691
00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:09.159
since he knocked on my car window and we drove
692
00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:11.679
around Vinegar Hill. I wanted to see if he stood
693
00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:12.440
by his story.
694
00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:14.800
Hey, Jared, thanks for calling me back. How you been.
695
00:37:16.199 --> 00:37:16.599
How are you?
696
00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:18.000
Oh, I'm good.
697
00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:23.320
I just wanted just double check that you know you
698
00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:26.159
had said that, you know your older friend had told
699
00:37:26.199 --> 00:37:28.119
you that it was those three guys.
700
00:37:29.480 --> 00:37:29.719
Yeah.
701
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:33.559
I was not able to get in touch with with
702
00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:36.639
any of those people. I went by that park several times.
703
00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:40.599
I'm not given a name, but I've told you that before, and.
704
00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:41.519
Your older friend.
705
00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:42.960
You don't want to give me his name either.
706
00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:46.480
No, No, just chick because he would be very mad
707
00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:47.400
that I haven't said anything.
708
00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:48.280
M hm.
709
00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:54.280
It was said to me in the complehensive anyway.
710
00:37:54.679 --> 00:37:58.199
Thirty minutes after my conversation with Jared, he called me back.
711
00:37:58.719 --> 00:38:01.400
This time he had a prop. If I would give
712
00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:03.800
him one hundred and fifty bucks to pay off a ticket,
713
00:38:04.280 --> 00:38:07.760
he tell me all the names and share their phone numbers.
714
00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:08.920
I won't lie.
715
00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:12.760
Part of me was kind a tempted, you know, I'm
716
00:38:12.760 --> 00:38:15.280
not sure about the ethics of that as a journalist.
717
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:16.920
I'm okay, well, that's fine.
718
00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:18.159
That's just the only way I could do it.
719
00:38:19.239 --> 00:38:22.559
I'm sad, but I'm gonna have to decline that that's fine.
720
00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:24.320
I know what it's like to be in a.
721
00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:26.480
Jam, though, so I feel you.
722
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:26.960
You're cool.
723
00:38:27.239 --> 00:38:28.159
I was just gonna let you know.
724
00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:34.840
So, yeah, I don't know about Jared. After this, we're
725
00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:38.000
down to the last episode of Deviltown. I want to
726
00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:40.760
take a closer look at Chris Denton and also check
727
00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:43.920
in with Amanda the Private Eye. There's been a shocking
728
00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:47.480
development in Kelly's case, one I haven't even had time
729
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:49.960
to mention yet. We're going to take a two week
730
00:38:50.039 --> 00:38:52.400
break to give me time to get out there and
731
00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:56.239
do some more important reporting, and hopefully we'll have more
732
00:38:56.320 --> 00:39:07.000
answers by the time we're back. Deviltown is a production
733
00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:09.760
of Imperative Entertainment. It was written and created by me
734
00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:14.039
Wes Ferguson. Executive producer is Jason Hoak, Audio engineering and
735
00:39:14.199 --> 00:39:17.800
editing by Shane Freeman and Jason Hoak. Original score is
736
00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:21.960
by Robert Ellis, recording by Austin Sisler at east Side Studios.
737
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:24.480
If you like the show, leave a review, and don't
738
00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:26.599
forget to tell your friends thanks for listening.