TRANSCRIPT 🔗
riverside edit 02 krystle krystle's studio (1): Hello and welcome to Unsolved Midwest and I am your host, Crystal Lay. And if this is your first time, thanks for checking me out. If you're returning, thanks again. Either way, please like and subscribe. And for those who have never streamed Unsolved Midwest, I started this podcast to bring attention and awareness to cases that have gone cold or aren't receiving attention for a variant of reasons. So if you've seen something or you know something when I drop a s episode, please contact that investigating body or please just let someone know. You never know, the smallest tip might blow a case wide open. And for that, that's why I am doing today's episode. So we're going to be doing something a little different. I'm going to be dropping two parts of the series today, of the case we will be covering. And for today's case, we will be discussing the mysterious death of Emily Stripe. And every case I research is important to me. So please don't get this wrong at all when I say this. But this case was special in the sense that I was able to connect with Emily's family. And I hope this episode brings them one step closer to finding out what happened to Emily. And I hope this brings them some peace. While this case still remains undetermined, investigators have her case listed as an ongoing investigation. And the investigating body that is responsible for her case is the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. And I have reached them for comment, but I have not re received a return call or any correspondence. And their address is 400 First Street, Hillsboro, Missouri, 63050. And their phone number is 636-797-5000. And as every episode, we know that my show covers violence and gore and assault and all of those things, but I always still provide trigger warnings. So this episode will contain references of physical abuse, relationship violence, substance abuse disorder. so if any of those things are triggering for you, please come back for another episode. And most importantly, if someone you know or if you are experiencing abuse, please utilize these resources that I will link in the show notes and you can reach these completely free and confidential 24-7. And you can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-Safe. Or you can text START to 88788. You can also reach the Illinois Domestics Violence Hotline and you can call or text 1-877-863-6338. And they actually offer language assistance over over 240 languages. Wow. And then the domestic abuse response team, also known as Dart, and their headquarters are at 1915 Olive Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63103, and they could be reached at 314-444-5385. And The host disclaimer. This is an open investigation. No one has been charged in relation to the death of Emily Strike, and all parties named again have not been convicted or charged at all in relation to her death. And the opinions stated on this program are not the opinions or statements or facts of
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the host. I will clarify when something is my opinion. So let's get into Emily's early life. Emily Striite was born May 30th, 1990 in Missouri to her mother, Charlene McLean of DeSoto, Missouri, and her father, Jim Striite. DeSoto is a city 45 minutes south of St. Louis, and will be referenced in this story a lot because that is ultimately where Emily's remains were found and where she was living at the time of her disappearance. While public records do not specify her exact city of birth, she spent much of her youth growing up in Belvet, Illinois, where her family moved when she was in middle school. In interviews of Emily's mother, friends, and family, she is described as a devoted mother, a loyal friend, and brought joy to those who knew her. Her favorite colors are green, and she was a social butterfly. And at the time of Emily's disappearance, she was living with an acquaintance. At the 900 block of 4th Street in DeSoto. Now, varying accounts say that there are multiple roommates, and then other accounts say that there was one roommate. And the name of Emily's roommate or roommates is not publicly available. And though some forums discuss that Emily may have experienced homelessness at one point, this account was never legitimized. And according to locals, even though Emily was not from DeSoto, she fit like it she fit right in, she'd always live there. And I will periodically refer to Emily as just to bring her human humanity back into the story. But from all pictures and just seeing the few snippets of readily available social things of Emily, she did look like she was the life of the party. She was a social butterfly and she did bring joy. So it it's really cool to see and then to hear her family and friends confirm those things. Now the disappearance. On April 12th, 2024, Emily planned a trip to see her three youngest children in Cahokia, Illinois. She discussed her plans with her mom. Historically Emily's ex-partner and her, the father of her three youngest children, would pick her up or coordinate a ride for her to see the children. By all accounts, they weren't a couple at the time, but co-parenting, and the relationship had a history of being contentious with occasions of partner violence on both sides. Emily was last seen on foot leaving an acquaintance home in DeSoto on the morning of April twelfth, and there was additional camera footage at a gas station and a restaurant and a few other local stops. But all the footage failed to provide a complete and accurate timeline of Emily's whereabouts and movements that day. Emily's mother Charlane officially reported her missing on April 20th, 2024, after not hearing from Emily and her ex-partner calling and checking in on Emily's whereabouts. This line of communication between her ex and her mom was not the norm. The odd communication between Charlotte and M's ex would become a landmark for the disappearance due to the increased odd texts from the ex in the months preceding M's disappearance, stating things about where her body could be found and who the culprit would be. And for privacy, I will not state their children's names, but the ex does have custody of the three minor children currently. As months progressed, in an interview with News Nation, Charlotte stated she knew Emily was no longer with us because of her failure to appear at family events. So Emily failed to appear at a child's birthday party. She did not appear to celebrate Mother's Day. And additionally, Emily and her mother were very close. So Emily wouldn't have gone that long with at least contacting her mother. And again, And I know we keep saying it, but she was devoted to those children. She wouldn't have missed one of her children's birthdays unless there was a reason that was preventing her from being there. Charlin theories were confirmed or her fears were not her theories, her fears were confirmed on September twenty-eighth, twenty twenty four, when a property owner discovered skeletal human remains in a heavily wooded area while checking fences along Fristle Road in DeSoto, Missouri. And That was only about two miles from where someone had said they lost seen Emily. And the property owner's name is not readily available. Authorities use dental records and medical records to positively identify the remains as Emily. And because the remains were skeletal, the local medical examiners noted that it was gonna take some time to officially determine a cause of death. And eventually it was undetermined. But They were able to confirm that she did test positive for illicit substances. and there are reports of injuries to Emily's corpse. Now, I just want to throw this out there because I don't want everybody coming for me in the comments. I will say things, unfortunately, that were Hard parts of Emily's life, but I'm not doing this to dog Emily by any manner or means or anything at all. I am literally doing these things to lay context for her story. Because no matter what Emily went through, Emily was a good person, and Emily was just going through a hard time. And she deserves zero judgment. And that is not what I'm trying to do at all when I state the facts of Emily. Story, so I just want to get that out there so everyone knows, okay. Now obviously Em's friends and family were devastated and there's a Facebook page in memory and just community chats regarding Emily's death and just memories of Emily and I will link that in the show notes as well. And the Facebook page is called Justice for Emily Strike. Please go check that out. I really think everyone who is invested in this story should go check it out because it will definitely provide more context and it will give you more information that I am not readily or Let me say that I'm not ready to disclose at this moment because this these two episodes are the beginning of something. I will be releasing another episode about Emily's story. So in the wake of the discovery, family and friends and community
members they shifted their efforts from a missing person search to a plea for accountability. They've held candlelight vigils at the fairgrounds in Hillsborough, Missouri, where attendees were green. Emily's favorite color, and Christy, I'm giving you a shout-out and a wink if And this is all to honor her life and an attempt to keep her name in the public eye. The family also worked with the search organization Equisearch Midwest, and they were very helpful in helping coordinate searches and to help look for Em's body. Now there again, this story and Emily's locations are also complicated between the fact of the Illinois and Missouri connection. So her children and her growing up and living in Illinois, but being discovered in Missouri, and I'm just adding that for additional context, I think has also caused a layer of Confusion in this case as far as where was her body actually at the whole time that she was reported missing. And again because Another delay could have been caused because they thought she was traveling en route when she went missing to Illinois to go see her children when ultimately she was discovered in Missouri. Now, allegations of abuse. Emily's family and friends have publicly stated that she had been in an on on again and off again tumultuous relationship with her ex. And Emily's mother publicly shared suspicions regarding his involvement, alleging that he sent Text messages about Emily's whereabouts before her body was found. And in another interview, she disclosed that a few of Emily's exes, ex the exes of Emily's ex apologies, reached out to her confirming instances of abuse, but they preferred to remain anonymous. Investigators have disclosed that Emily was badly dis decomposed and that a cause of death couldn't be determined. And again, the toxic did test positive for substances such as methamphetamine. And her bones did show damage to her left femur and additional skeletal anomalies, but these are varying accounts regarding the state of her bones between press releases and confidential sources. And this is typical if their mode of homicide Was not some type of trauma and they can't confirm. I get it that they are going to go to an undetermined mode of death, but I'm going to later in the episode, I am gonna provide my opinion about the state of her body because I have a few questions, and obviously Christy and Amanda have some questions, but were not able to actually find a definitive answer for those questions and an overdose and choking weren't ruled out. Things that might have biased Emily's investigation. So unfortunately, in Emily's case, we can't rule out that the investigation into her death wasn't biased. She did have a history of law enforcement for DWI resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance, and threatening a public official in a violation of a protected order, and an arrest in Florida for a drug-related charge in 2023. And while law enforcement has not confirmed that Em's investigation was biased, investigators do get their theories off of patterns and habits of the deceased. And did the patterns of arrest create a theory that Emily would turn up on her own or that her disappearance was of her choosing? Either way, Emily had a pattern of not missing major family events from the accounts I was provided. And I if they would have thrown those into the rhythm or the pattern of Emily's life, then maybe we could have discovered something more, what would I say, something to help close and provide her family the closure that they deserve. Now, this is where I will provide some of my opinions on the case. I don't think Emily was at the fristle road the entire time that she was missing, just because the state of her body. So from all accounts, she was obviously decomposed, but mostly intact. And when I say mostly intact, they were able to collect her bones and decayed clothing. This does not track with me. If she was there the entire time, those entire months from April to September, she would have been exposed to literally every season, or not every season. She would have been because in the Metro East, you get those like last minute, like cold days. But what I can confirm is through that whole window, she was missing, she was exposed to extreme elements of like the spring showers and the extreme Midwest heat and humidity. So I would have ascertained from that that there would be I'm surprised they would have even found anything because the animals and the elements and birds and rodents and just the insect activity would have degraded her body to the point would we have found anything, would have s bones and everything would have been dragged away. So I don't really believe that she was there. My opinion is if she was murdered, that she was murdered somewhere else and her body was moved at some point. Now My other reasoning again, like I said, I hate to queep keep beating a dead horse, but the other months maybe, but July and August, if you're in the St. Louis or Illinois area. They're brutal. And I did some research just to see what the temperatures were then. Now it was a cooler year when I say that, but when I preface it that it was cooler, the peak day in July for heat, it was one hundred and ten, was the hottest day of July. So again, I'm honestly shocked that her body was ever discovered. Now To provide more context and to just give Emily more of a voice, and for you all to know more about Emily. The next episode, I will be interviewing her best friends, Christy and Amanda, to provide context, backstory, and background about Emily and her relationship, and just where they stand with investigators and how the case is going, and just like how everyone is doing and how. Everyone is feeling how everything has been handled. So I'm going to do a slideshow of all the photos of Emily's story, and then we are going to transition into the next episode. So when this ends, please stick around because there'll be another episode uploading. And just listen. And again, if you know something, say something because this is solvable. And Emily deserves justice and her kid. Are growing up without a mother and they don't know what happened to her, and they deserve that they deserve some peace, and her mother of all people deserves some peace. So, again, please stick around. I'm just gonna show some photos, and then we will transition into the next episode. I appreciate your time so far. Thank you.