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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any time you need support
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please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website at approximately 7 30 a.m on wednesday
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july 18 2018 mobile alabama resident julie darks thomas received a phone call from an unfamiliar number
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a man on the other line said he had found a mobile phone that contained photos of a baby
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and he assumed the owner would want it back julie soon established that the phone in
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question belonged to her son's 25 year old girlfriend daniela vayenne julie thanked the man
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and asked if he could drop the phone off at daniella's workplace the asian themed restaurant chain pf
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changs in mobile's bel air mall [Music] julie wasn't alarmed by the call daniela
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had purchased a new car the day prior and julie thought she must have gone out to celebrate and had lost her phone at
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some point during the evening this wasn't unusual for daniela as she had lost other phones in the past
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julie assumed it would only be a matter of time before daniella showed up and would be relieved to know her phone
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had been found at 9 00 am julie called the building manager of daniela's apartment complex
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and asked them to have daniella return her call the building manager said that daniela
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wasn't at home so julie asked that they'd leave a note on her door saying that julie knew who had her phone
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later that day the founder of daniela's phone called julie again this time offering to
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meet her in person to hand it over julie repeated her request that he'd drop it at pf
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changs where the staff would keep it safe until daniella arrived for her next shift by 4 pm
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julie still hadn't heard from daniella she went over to her apartment only to find the note the building manager had
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pinned to the front door was still there daniela wasn't at home further supporting julie's theory that
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she must be recovering from the night before at a friend's house julie was certain she would either call
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at some point as she knew julie's phone number by heart or would turn up the following day
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daniela's four-year-old daughter cora had been visiting relatives for the past week
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and julie knew that there was no way daniela would miss her little girl's homecoming
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the next morning of thursday july 19 the man who found daniella's phone called again
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julie was growing irritated and a little confused as to why he kept calling her instead of dropping the phone at
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daniela's work like she'd requested as he seemed reluctant to do so julie told him to hold on to the phone
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and she would let him know as soon as daniella got in touch the men asked if they should be
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concerned to which julie assured him that there was nothing to worry about it struck julie as odd that this
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stranger was showing so much concern [Music] [Music] daniella nicole vayne was born in
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roswell new mexico on march 8 1993 to mother joy and a biological father she never knew
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when she was very young her stepfather bill vayne legally adopted her and she took on his
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surname bill was in the military and the family moved around often growing up daniela had a reasonable
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rapport with her stepfather but her relationship with her mother was reportedly tumultuous
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as a result daniella spent much of her adolescence cow chopping and staying with friends
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while the vains were stationed at the fort riley military base in north central kansas
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daniela later adopted the instagram username at former street kid in reference to her
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teenage years although it's unclear whether she was kicked out of home or was transient by choice
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fort riley is one of the largest and oldest military installations in the united states
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and is home to many families of service men and women it was there that daniella met julie's
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son tyler sean thomas who was a couple of years her senior the two had a lot in common both had
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grown up in america's bible belt region in military families who believed in god
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guns and patriotism their military upbringings had required them to move from base to base
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which meant constant disruptions and a loss of friendship tyres as such they had both developed the necessary
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resilience and ability to adapt like daniela tyler never knew his biological father and had been adopted
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by his stepfather patrick tyler as a baby although the military subculture brought
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them together there was no immediate romantic connection between tyler and daniela
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when tyler was 18 he married another girl but it didn't last long soon after tyler followed his stepfather's
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footsteps and signed up for the military taking on a communications role he was deployed to both iraq and
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afghanistan where he used social media to keep in touch with his old circle of friends
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particularly daniela the two found they had other things in common besides military life such as an
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interest in tattoos and were both artistically talented when tyler returned to the united states
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he hastily greeted his parents at their home in mobile alabama before making the three-hour trip to
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visit 18-year-old daniella their rekindled friendship quickly grew into a relationship
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and they officially started dating tyler returned to the military where he spent six
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months before being discharged as soon as he was finished he asked daniela to move with him to mobile
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mobile is part of america's bible belt an informal region in the country's southeast that encompasses more than a
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dozen states with a conservative culture the overall crime rate is 126 higher than the national average with
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violent crimes such as rape homicide and aggravated assault trending upwards over the past 10 years
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it has close to the highest crime rate of anywhere in alabama and almost double the national average
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murder rate in mobile individuals have a 1 in 17 chance of becoming a victim of any crime
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and a 1 in 132 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime mobile has a history of economic swings
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with much of its income derived from a robust domestic and international shipping industry through
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the mobile ports the western neighborhoods where tyler thomas's family lived were characterized by pawn shops payday
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loans dollar stores fast food chains and billboards advertising no win no fee personal injury lawyers
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the most popular activities in the area besides hunting all typically involved water
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with the residents taking advantage of mobile bay the mobile river delta and the nearby
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gulf of mexico to take part in sailing fishing kayaking swimming diving or just hanging out on
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the beach daniela vayne didn't hesitate to move to mobile with tyler but as the couple had no money they
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moved in with tyler's parents julie and patrick and his brother pj from that moment on daniela only had
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sporadic contact with her own family preferring to blend in with the thomas family instead
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from the outset tyler into daniela's relationship was rocky tyler hadn't been the same since
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leaving the military he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and didn't respond
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well to conventional treatment instead he self-medicated with the drugs which culminated in a heroin habit
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tyler was no stranger to the police and was arrested for various felony and misdemeanor offences
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yet daniela and tyler loved each other they both designed tattoos and over time daniella required several including a
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mandala style flower on her left shoulder a grey outline of an elephant on her right wrist an outline of a heart
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a buddha and an american flag with a unicorn where the stars should be on her inside right thigh
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on her left collarbone she had a matching tattoo to tyler which was the image of two graveyard
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headstones sitting side by side inside the tombstones were the words to die by your side
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in early 2013 daniela and tyler discovered that they were going to be parents determined to provide a good life for
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their newborn they got their own apartment in mobile and prepared to become a family
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their daughter cora was born in late 2013 but for the first month she was placed
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into the custody of her grandparents julie and patrick daniela and tyler tried to make things
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work but it soon became evident that their own house wasn't a healthy environment
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in which to raise their daughter although daniela yearned to be a good mother she felt the only way to do so was to
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let cora stay at tyler's parents house most of the time tyler's heroin addiction continued to be
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a major issue resulting in several arrests and stints in rehab the couple fought constantly accusing
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one another of infidelity and their arguments sometimes turned into physical altercations
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daniela bounced around a number of different jobs in restaurants and bars around mobile she made friends
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easily enough but due to her busy work schedule her friends tended to be workmates
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in order to sustain herself through double shifts she sometimes turned to vivance a
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prescription amphetamine used to treat adhd similar to the better known adderall
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as well as increasing alertness and decreasing appetite vivants can cause the user to become
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jittery and anxious it is tightly controlled as it can easily be abused and cause
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dependence daniela didn't have a prescription but sourced the drug via other methods
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on march 25 2015 during one of the many rough patches in the couple's relationship
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tyler filed a petition against daniela for custody of korra in it he wrote i have been the sole provider for korra
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since she was born i am the only parent with a driver's license and the only parent with a
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steady work history i have gathered evidence of daniella using drugs around korra and evidence of her being unfit as
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a mother i have been doing everything in my power to have contact with my daughter
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and it has been denied i do not plan on keeping korra from her mother i simply need a way back into my
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daughter's life when the case came up in family court in october tyler failed to appear and the judge
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dismissed the application by this point cora was living with julie and patrick who started to discuss taking on full
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custody although daniela missed having korra with her all the time she knew the stability that julie and
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patrick could provide was in cora's best interests tyler's heroin addiction continued to
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worsen and in early 2016 he went to jail for breaking and entering during his incarceration
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daniela started dating other people but she and tyler reunited after his release
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despite the toxic nature of their relationship she told her concerned friends that
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tyler wasn't just her boyfriend and the father of her child but had also been her best friend
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for seven years he continued to spend time in and out of jail living with daniela in their apartment whenever he
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was released even when they weren't romantically involved towards the end of 2017 tyler was
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serving time for failing a drug test that was a condition of his probation he was then moved into rehab where he
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was allowed to spend one day a week out with daniela upon his release daniella announced that she was pregnant
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tyler was overjoyed and vowed to stay clean after they visited the doctor and established the time of conception
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however it became clear that tyler couldn't be the father nevertheless he told daniela he would
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support her throughout the pregnancy until she gave the child up for adoption by december daniela had started to show
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and tyler lashed out in anger and humiliation at being faced with proof of her infidelity
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the situation became untenable for daniela and she decided to try and reconnect with her mother
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joy who was living in north carolina daniella wanted to go back to college and work toward
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some sort of future for herself cora and perhaps the new baby she also wanted to get away from mobile
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and put some distance between herself and tyler cora stayed behind with julie and
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patrick while daniella traveled to north carolina but the move was short-lived daniela missed cora and tyler so she
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soon returned to mobile upon her return daniella started working at pf changs where one of her fellow servers
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hannah jakubowski took her under her wing when daniela told her she didn't have a car
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because tyler had erected some time earlier hannah offered her a ride home and the
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two were delighted to discover they lived just minutes away from one another [Music]
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they struck up a friendship and from then on hannah gave daniella a lift to and from
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pf chang's nearly every shift even if hannah herself wasn't working the two women were
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similar in many ways and when hannah started attending cosmetology school daniela was only too happy to help out
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she let hannah try out hair colors and styles on her as she enjoyed changing her style often
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at various times daniela had blonde brown red blue green and even multi-coloured hair
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daniela worked almost every single day and often pulled double shifts in a bid to save
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money she needed enough to fund her upcoming maternity leave and also hoped to buy a car which would
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give her freedom and the ability to see korra whenever she wanted the father of daniela's unborn baby had
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no interest in raising his child but offered financial support if she wanted to bring
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the child up herself daniela decided to proceed with an open adoption which meant she was able
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to meet potential adoptive parents after screening through applications daniela decided on a married couple from
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mobile a teacher and a police officer on june 6 2018 daniella gave birth to a baby boy
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the adoptive parents joined her during the birth and she let them cut the umbilical cord
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hoping it would help form an immediate bond for the new family the adoptive parents were willing for
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the child to know who daniela was but she didn't think that was a good idea under alabama law the birth mother can
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change her mind for up to five days after the adoption but daniela and her son's adoptive
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parents established an agreement that she would have up to six months on the day of the birth tyler overdosed
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on heroin in his car but an ambulance resuscitated him with narcan which immediately negated the effects of
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the drug tyler proceeded to the hospital as though nothing had happened and it was there to support daniela
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through the birth of her little boy afterwards he turned himself in to be put back in
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jail for once again violating the conditions of his parole on the evening of the birth daniella
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sent a text message to julie to say she was sore but okay and that she hadn't yet seen her baby
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and wasn't sure if she wanted to she wrote a letter for her son which she gave to his adoptive parents to give to
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him on his 18th birthday she then left the hospital without holding her baby boy
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despite reassuring julie that she was in good health daniela had experienced complications
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during labor that continued after she left the hospital she was in a great deal of pain and was
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bleeding heavily but three days after the birth daniella returned to work determined to save money
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she pushed herself hard and didn't give herself time to heal instead she relied on
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norco a strong prescription painkiller similar to the better known vicodin which can cause drowsiness
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users are warned never to mix norco with the alcohol with the birth and adoption complete and
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tyler back in jail daniella seemed more motivated than ever to work toward a better life for herself
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and cora her main priority was buying a car as she didn't like being reliant on friends and
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tyler's family to drive her around on june 17 less than two weeks after giving birth daniella wrote a list of
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goals in her journal using fancy writing and illustrating the page with tattoo style pictures
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she had successfully saved up enough money to place a down payment on a car and was taking the
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necessary steps to secure the one she wanted her dreams and goals for what came next
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related mostly to korra daniella wrote that she wanted to get cora's bedroom together
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take her to school every day get her involved with a sport or dance and have cora sleep over 80
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percent of the time the other goals related to getting her finances under control
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by paying down her bank overdraft and credit card she also wanted to start school and
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focus on being more positive at the top of the page daniello wrote we need to see what the world could be
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not what it is on monday july 16 2018 daniela went to the pearl motors car dealership to purchase a dark blue
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2014 chevrolet cruise pearl motors was a buy here pay here dealership which meant it specialized in older used
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cars with high mileage for clients with a bad credit history buy here pay here dealers often provide
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on-site financing options for those who are unable to get credit elsewhere offering loans with higher interest
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rates the loan comes directly from the dealer who will often stipulate that the repayments have to be made in person
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in cash the car daniela wanted was worth around ten thousand dollars which required a down payment of fifteen
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hundred dollars pearl motors agreed to let her pay 1 000 of the down payment in cash with the
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remaining 500 to be paid by the end of the month however she had to pay for her insurance via a
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bank transfer which was a problem as daniela's bank account was overdrawn she didn't have enough money to pay the
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full amount owed to her overdrawn account as well as her insurance so she decided to deposit the cash into
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julie's account from which the insurance would then be paid perl motors required a number of
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documents from daniela including a letter of recommendation from her landlord stating she was reliable in paying her
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rent she burrowed julie's car and spent the day going back and forth getting all of the
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paperwork together so that she could pick up the car the next day when she finally got everything sorted
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she returned to the car to julie's house in the afternoon it was just six weeks since she had
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given birth and she was exhausted and still in pain daniella lay down on the couch and took her painkillers
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she was staying at julie's that night julie's husband patrick son pj and little cora were away visiting patrick's
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sister in selma about a three-hour drive north they had been away for almost a week and
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were due back in mobile on thursday july 19. julie and daniela discussed their upcoming plans
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the following day julie intended to drive daniela to the bank and then to pearl motors to pick up her
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car once daniela had the car she wanted to go shopping for some school supplies for
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cora including a tie-dyed backpack the little girl had previously admired after that daniela planned to meet up
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with some friends and to go out for a celebratory drink on thursday when cora and the rest of
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the family were due back daniela would return to julie's to surprise her daughter with the backpack
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and stay overnight so they could cuddle up together as they discussed their plans daniella
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barely moved she apologized to julie for being so tired saying this medicine just makes me
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really sleepy on the morning of tuesday july 17 2018 daniella rose early all of the paperwork
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required to finalize her car purchase was in a large envelope that she shoved into her large
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satchel type handbag julie then drove daniella to the bank as planned so she could deposit cash into
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julie's account to pay for her car insurance just after 11am julie dropped daniela
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off at pearl motors and waited out the front as she signed the paperwork and picked up the keys
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ten minutes later daniela finally sat in her chevy cruise and got the final rundown on its
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features these included a global positioning system or gps that would be attached to the car to
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track all of daniella's movements until the car had been paid off this was designed to make repossession
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of the car easier if a buyer failed to make their repayments the gps plugged into a port under the
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steering column and would ping the car's location every four minutes when it was in motion
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and every four hours when the vehicle wasn't in use if it became disconnected the company
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would receive an alert and would go in search of the car daniella had signed an acknowledgement
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that the gps was there and that she would not attempt to remove it at 11 35 am julie waved
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daniella off as she left the car yard from there daniela drove the 24-minute journey to her home
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at the 701 south apartments complex on university boulevard she hadn't been going out lately but was
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determined to celebrate her new purchase although it was a tuesday daniella was optimistic she would
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find someone willing to go out for a few drinks as most of her friends worked in the
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hospitality industry in addition the 89th major league baseball all-star game was on that night and
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would be televised alive making it more likely that people would be out and about
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mobile was a baseball mad city having produced more baseball hall of famers than any other
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city in the us outside of new york and chicago daniela remained at home for several
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hours and in the afternoon she started making plans for the evening just before 4 20 p.m she texted her
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friend and co-worker hannah to ask if she was at work as daniela was thinking of heading over to
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the mall where pf changs was located to buy cora's school supplies hannah responded that she would be
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starting work at five o'clock a few minutes later daniela sent a facebook message
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to randy capps a former co-worker she used to work with at a bar called hurricane grill and
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wings as the bar was in the same area as her errands daniella considered stopping by for a
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drink randy responded that he was indeed working that night but he now worked at heroes sports bar
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and grill where she would be welcome to come by daniella responded but i don't like it
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going to a place i've never been before hurricanes is just along the way of whatever responsible things i have to
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get done so i can stop by and drink mid bill paying randy replied ella well i hear well i'm here
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not like you don't know anyone at 5 20 pm daniela left her apartment dressed casually in black leggings
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a dark colored shirt with a mellow mushroom pizza chain logo on the pocket and black high-top
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converse sneakers her ever-changing hair was currently dark brown with red tips around the
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fringe and she wore it up in a ponytail she also wore a pink baseball cap that had a cartoon donut sewn on the front
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the type favored by cartoon character homer simpson daniela stopped at a small strip mall on
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university drive before continuing to the shops mall at bel air at 5 50 pm a shopping center offering a
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mix of department stores specialty shops cafes and restaurants pf changs sits on the outside of the
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mall just to the right of the main entrance at the mall daniella bumped into a co-worker
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and the two had a brief exchange with daniela saying how relieved she was to finally have a car
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she couldn't stop the chat long because she was on a mission to buy cora a backpack for school
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after she was done shopping daniella made the 18-minute journey to hiro's sports bar and grill where her former
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colleague randy was on duty behind the bar at 35 years old randy was 10 years older
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than daniela he had a checkered past with previous arrests for drug possession possession of stolen property and
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driving under the influence just after 6 30 pm daniela settled in at the bar where she could chat to randy
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between him serving drinks heroes was a large sports bar with multiple televisions
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screening various sporting events the two chattered and before long two more of randy's friends entered the bar
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and sat nearby they were dense and white who was aged in his early 40s and mallory miller kenworthy who was in
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her mid-30s denson mallory and durandy all played on the same softball team there was supposed to be a game that
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night but it had been called off due to the rain so mallory and denson had decided to go to heroes to watch the
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all-stars game denson mallory and daniela sat together watching the game and chatting to randy
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while he worked behind the bar it was daniela's first time meeting danson but she and mallory
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had met before as they had friends in the same social circles mallory had a newborn baby and like
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daniela it was her first night out since giving birth six weeks earlier denson had just returned from a work
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trip away and had driven to heroes in his rental car he worked for apm terminals at the
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mobile port a busy dock where 1200 shipping containers went in and out on an average day
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denson was a deal maker who had received many honors for the business he brought
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into mobile at 7 14 pm daniela responded to a text from julie regarding some local gossip
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one minute later at 7 15 she messaged her friend and colleague hannah to say she hadn't seen her car near pf
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chang's when she stopped at the mall hannah responded that she was indeed working that evening
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at 7 36 pm daniella messaged hannah again saying i'm drinking happily at a sports
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bar to which hannah replied hell yes taking advantage of the freedom daniella mallory and denson made plans
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to move on to dublin pub and eatery just half a mile down the road it was an irish themed bar that had
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opened two months earlier with live music and a lot more atmosphere than heroes they agreed to meet randy at a third bar
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ollie's mediterranean grill when he finished work later that night ollie's was another former workplace of
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daniela's and was closer to her apartment randy expected to finish work around 11
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pm and said he would text them when he was leaving at 8 25 pm daniela sent a text
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to hannah that read okay i'm going to drive now but should i i don't know she had consumed a few drinks while at
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heroes but didn't appear to be drunk however it's possible that she may have taken a couple of her norco
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painkillers which could result in serious side effects when mixed with alcohol at 8 57 pm daniela and
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denson became facebook friends and denson sent daniela an invitation to a party at his house that was to be held a
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couple of weeks later at 9 12 pm daniela hugged randy goodbye and she denson and mallory left heroes
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for their next destination as soon as daniela was outside she sent two facebook messages to randy but he didn't
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respond to either at 9 16 pm she attempted to call hannah who was still working and didn't answer
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at 9 46 p.m daniela sent hannah a short video via the messaging app snapchat of her
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sitting alone in the driver's seat of her car the clip contained nothing out of the
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ordinary although hannah did notice that daniela appeared to be a little intoxicated
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as is the case with snapchat messages the video played once before being automatically deleted
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hannah tried to call daniela shortly afterwards but there was no answer according to the gps records in
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daniella's car she left the hero's car park at 10 05 pm nearly one hour after exiting the bar
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it isn't known whether she stayed in the car park by herself the entire time or caught a lift to dublin's earlier
00:38:18
with denson or mallory before returning for her car later at 1008 pm daniela's car pulled into
00:38:27
dublin's where she continued socializing with denson and mallory at some point mallory announced that she
00:38:36
was going to a pool hall called the runway bar to catch up with friends and would meet up with daniella denson
00:38:43
and randy later at ollies however denson said he had decided to go home instead of continuing on
00:38:54
at 10 44 pm randy sent daniella a facebook message to let her know he was about to finish
00:39:02
work and would head straight to wally's one minute later at 10 45 pm daniela denson and mallory each left to
00:39:13
dublins in their separate vehicles randy arrived the dollies three minutes later
00:39:22
unable to find the group he called denson at 10 57 pm but there was no answer so he settled in to wait for the others
00:39:33
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wherever you get your podcasts the drive from dublin's to ollies was only 2.8 miles
00:44:14
and required a left turn out of the car park denson's house was in the opposite direction and required a right turn
00:44:23
according to the gps data from daniella's car upon leaving the car park she also took
00:44:30
a right turn which was odd given she knew the area incredibly well and was fully aware that ollie's was in
00:44:37
the opposite direction mallory saw this maneuver and noted it as strange but continued on to the runway bar to
00:44:45
meet her friends without giving it much thought denson later said he wasn't aware that
00:44:52
daniela was following him until 15 minutes later when they were passing through a quiet industrial area
00:44:59
and she flashed her lights to indicate she wanted him to pull over although there were open gas stations at
00:45:06
a waffle house nearby at 1105 pm the two cars pulled into a dark closed shell gas station at 3550
00:45:16
government boulevard in mobile once they stopped daniella told denson that she had lost her mobile phone
00:45:26
at 1107 pm the gps in her car made its final location call the gps installed by pearl motors was
00:45:37
plugged securely into an outlet underneath the steering wheel and was highly unlikely to come out
00:45:43
accidentally the fact that it made its final signal at 1107 pm indicated it had either been unplugged
00:45:52
or that a fuse had blown either coincidentally or because it had been tampered with
00:45:59
after this it stopped sending locations back to the base denson then called daniella's phone via
00:46:08
facebook messenger it is unclear why he did this instead of dialing her number but the most likely reason is that
00:46:17
daniella had a habit of losing and changing phones and hadn't yet memorized her own number
00:46:24
it would have been even more difficult for her to remember if she was under the influence
00:46:30
meanwhile mallory had arrived at ollie's after a short stop at the runway bar and was sitting with randy waiting for
00:46:37
daniela to arrive at 11 17 pm denson called randy explaining that daniella had lost her
00:46:47
phone and he was going back to dublin's to look for it at 11 24 pm both daniela and de denson's car drove out of the
00:46:58
shell gas station and turned towards dublin's daniela followed denson for a while
00:47:05
before making a turn towards a more populated part of town just over 10 minutes later at 11 37 pm
00:47:14
denson sent mallory a text message from dublin's that contained a selfie of him standing at the bar
00:47:21
underneath the photo he wrote getting phone just got back here but somehow lost to daniella
00:47:32
a server at dublin's had found daniela's phone on the back of a car and placed it behind the bar for safe
00:47:38
keeping denson retrieved it from the bartender and at 11 52 pm he called daniela via facebook
00:47:47
messenger it's unclear why he tried to do so considering he had her phone and she presumably had no way of
00:47:55
answering the call when there was no answer denson wrote daniela a facebook message
00:48:02
that read call me dublin had your phone at approximately midnight denson drove to wally's
00:48:12
where randy and mallory told him that daniela hadn't shown up at 1204 and then again at 12 33 am
00:48:22
denson attempted a video calling daniela via facebook messenger when there was no response he asked
00:48:30
randy what to do with the phone randy suggested that denson take it to pf chang's the next day
00:48:38
where daniela could be reunited with it on her next shift denson agreed and left the dublins taking daniela's phone
00:48:47
with him at 7 30 the next morning of wednesday july 18 hannah sent daniella a text message
00:48:58
asking if she was okay assuming her friend had had a big night out hannah didn't expect to receive a
00:49:06
response right away and after sending the text she went about her day at the same time julie thomas received a
00:49:16
phone call from denson to say he had found daniela's phone he gave no indication that he knew
00:49:23
daniela personally or had been with her the previous night julie was under the impression
00:49:29
that he was a complete stranger she told denson to drop the phone off at daniela's workplace
00:49:36
but he didn't follow this suggestion instead he called julie twice more throughout
00:49:42
the course of the day she eventually told him to just hang on to the phone and that daniella would be in touch once she
00:49:49
reappeared on thursday july 19 julie's husband patrick son pj and granddaughter cora returned
00:50:00
home from their week-long visit to see patrick's family over lunch cora told julie all about the
00:50:08
trip away as the afternoon wore on julie anticipated daniela would walk through the door
00:50:15
at any moment although daniela was often late for her visits julie expected that she would have
00:50:22
turned up in time to welcome cora home after a week away and couldn't help but be annoyed by her tardiness
00:50:32
when thursday night rolled around and there was still no word from daniela julie started to worry
00:50:40
cora had been tucked safely in bed without a good night kiss from her mother which was highly unusual
00:50:48
despite any other issues going on in daniela's life she was loving and reliable when it came
00:50:54
to her daughter julie tried privately messaging daniela on facebook which was daniella's preferred method of
00:51:03
contact she kept checking to see whether there was a response but the message hadn't been viewed and
00:51:11
facebook indicated it had been two days since daniela was last active unsure what else to do
00:51:20
julie posted a message for daniela on her public facebook feed asking her to get in touch
00:51:28
when daniella's friend hannah arrived at work that evening one of her colleagues asked if she had
00:51:34
spoken to daniela as no one had been able to get a hold of her hannah realised she had never received a
00:51:42
response to the text message she'd sent to daniela the previous morning she texted her again via phone and
00:51:50
facebook messenger but received no response sensing something was wrong hannah messaged mutual friends to see if anyone
00:52:00
had heard from daniela one person responded that on tuesday night daniela had mentioned
00:52:07
she was going to hero's sports bar and grill hannah called heroes and asked the manager to check the car park for a dark
00:52:16
blue chevy cruise but there was no car there matching that description the manager offered to check who had
00:52:24
been working on tuesday night to see if anyone recalled seeing daniela he called hannah back shortly after to
00:52:34
say that the bartender on duty randy capps confirmed that daniela had been at heroes and had been hanging out with
00:52:42
denson white and mallory miller kenworthy hannah didn't know danson but was able
00:52:53
to track him down through facebook at 9 17 pm on thursday july 19 she sent him a
00:53:01
facebook message that said hey i'm daniela's friend we haven't heard from her since tuesday
00:53:08
night and we are all very concerned if you know where she could be at or have any information
00:53:15
please message me back later that night denson called hannah to say that he hadn't seen daniela since
00:53:24
tuesday night but he had her phone and had been trying to return it to her afterwards hannah drove to daniela's
00:53:32
apartment but found no sign of her there she sent another message to daniela on facebook
00:53:40
that said hey what's up everybody's worried the next morning of friday july 20 hannah drove by daniella's apartment
00:53:51
on her way to cosmetology school but it was clear that she hadn't been home daniela was scheduled to work at 10 a.m
00:54:01
shift at p.f chang's so hannah dropped by the restaurant to see if she had shown up
00:54:08
realising she hadn't hannah called julie and then messaged denson to let them know that there was still
00:54:15
no sign of daniella julie hannah and denson exchanged a flurry of calls and text messages and decided it was time to
00:54:26
report daniela missing although it wasn't unusual for the fun-loving 25 year old to be out of
00:54:34
contact for a day or two the fact she had missed work and hadn't shown up to greet her daughter
00:54:40
were both major red flags julie and denson arranged to meet at the police station on airport boulevard and
00:54:49
doors where julie could file a missing person's report and denson could hand over the phone and
00:54:55
make a statement once there they were instructed to go to the office on government street where
00:55:02
the missing person's liaison unit was located on the way julie called hannah to ask if
00:55:10
she knew the six-digit number to unlock daniella's phone hannah advised that it was daniela's employee number
00:55:19
and she gave this number to julie once julie had unlocked the phone she read through
00:55:26
all of the text messages daniela had sent and received during the past week and also listened
00:55:32
to her voicemail by the time julie arrived at the missing persons liaison unit denson had provided his statement to the
00:55:42
police hannah also arrived to make a statement about how out of character it was for daniela to
00:55:50
be out of contact for so long and not to show for her shift when she needed money the most
00:55:58
julie provided as much information as she could and surrendered daniella's phone to the
00:56:04
police an officer later accompanied her to daniela's apartment where a crime scene officer met them to
00:56:11
conduct an assessment but nothing seemed to be missing or out of the ordinary [Music]
00:56:22
when julie returned home she logged on to her computer where daniela had saved the login
00:56:28
details for her various social media accounts she signed into daniella's facebook
00:56:34
account where she noticed several missed calls from danson white at 11 11 pm on the night daniella was
00:56:43
last seen just minutes after the gps on her car pinged for the last time denson's
00:56:51
facebook account had left a voice message to daniella's account it appeared to have been left by
00:56:58
accident and featured rustling noises accompanied by a female voice believed to be
00:57:05
daniella's warning some listeners may find the following audio clip distressing i remember even having a double ear
00:57:35
a minute later another seemingly accidental voice message was left from denson's facebook account to
00:57:42
daniella's featuring much of the same rustling noises as well as a muffled male voice
00:57:48
speaking to the female and instructing her not to touch something oh careful down there
00:58:03
you don't want to touch that julie called the police to tell them about the voice messages
00:58:21
and they advised her not to log back into daniella's facebook account in case it tainted evidence
00:58:29
when julie inquired about cctv footage that may have been captured at the various locations daniela had visited
00:58:37
the police told her no such footage had been found julie was therefore shocked when a news
00:58:44
outlet reporting on daniella's disappearance featured cctv footage from the shell gas
00:58:50
station where the last confirmed sighting of her had taken place the footage was dark and grainy with
00:58:59
poor visibility but it showed a car pull in at the shell at 1105 pm seconds later another car pulled in
00:59:08
beside the first a couple of minutes later the second car left and then immediately after another one
00:59:17
pulled in given the poor quality it was impossible to tell whether the second car had a left and
00:59:24
returned or if a different third vehicle drove in after the second car departed no people were visible in
00:59:33
the footage due to its poor quality julie called the police demanding to know why the footage was being aired on
00:59:42
television when she was told that no footage existed rather than responding law enforcement
00:59:50
officials contacted the news station and demanded the footage be removed the news outlet complied but no further
00:59:59
explanation was given for the police action on tuesday july 24 less than one week
01:00:11
after daniella was last seen julie and her husband patrick attended court to finalize
01:00:17
custody arrangements for cora this process had already been going on for several months prior to daniela's
01:00:25
disappearance with daniela's full cooperation and a majority of the paperwork had already
01:00:31
been signed and filed the plan had been that daniela would give julie and patrick full custody of
01:00:40
korra until she could get her life in order it was clear from daniela's journal entries about
01:00:47
organizing cora's bedroom and having her sleep over 80 percent of the time that she hoped to
01:00:54
regain custody sooner rather than later daniella had always planned to attend the court hearing
01:01:02
but as she didn't show up julie and patrick were awarded custody of korra the following day tyler was released
01:01:12
from jail and returned to the apartment he shared with daniela he immediately took the few items of
01:01:20
value that daniela owned including her video gaming system and television and pawned them when julie found out
01:01:29
she bought the items back that same day the mobile police confirmed that the case had been handed
01:01:38
over to the homicide squad they also released a statement clarifying that while homicide
01:01:44
detectives were involved there wasn't any evidence to suggest that a homicide had occurred
01:01:52
as the gps device was no longer functioning on daniella's car perl motors hadn't been able to track
01:01:59
its location and there had been no reported sightings of the chevy cruze anywhere
01:02:08
investigators were monitoring daniela's bank account activity and were alerted that her visa debit
01:02:14
card had been used at a gas station however this was linked back to tyler who had found the debit card when he had
01:02:21
gone through the apartment hannah had been a frequent visitor to daniela's apartment
01:02:28
and on friday july 27 tyler gave her a key and asked if she noticed anything unusual or out of place
01:02:38
hannah noted that all of daniela's possessions were still there including her makeup clothes and
01:02:44
her phone charger it was not the scene of someone who had chosen to run away the police also searched the apartment
01:02:55
daniella kept a whiteboard with a record of her goals and to the amount of money she had saved
01:03:01
so that she could keep track of her progress based on the figures on the board daniela had around
01:03:08
twelve hundred dollars cash left in savings but if that money was in the apartment
01:03:14
there is no official record of it being found tyler was unable to maintain the apartment's rental payments
01:03:23
and was soon evicted the building manager wouldn't allow julie in to collect daniella's possessions instead dumping
01:03:32
them unceremoniously on the pavement outside and letting julie know she could come
01:03:37
and collect them julie went directly over to pick up everything daniela owned then she and tyler examined all of
01:03:47
the items but they found no clues as to where daniela might be on friday september 14 almost
01:03:58
two months since daniela's disappearance mobile police responded to a complaint of unlawful imprisonment and sexual
01:04:06
abuse at a home in the town of theodore 14 miles south of mobile three people were detained and a man
01:04:15
named jason corey dykes was arrested on charges of domestic violence strangulation assault and unlawful
01:04:23
imprisonment jason who was julie dark's thomas's nephew was accused of locking a former
01:04:31
girlfriend in a room where he beat and raped her according to multiple sources the
01:04:39
alleged victim claimed that jason had said something threatening about daniela vayenne
01:04:45
however a raid of the property turned up nothing of interest in the vayane investigation
01:04:51
and police determined that jason's alleged crimes were unrelated to daniela's disappearance
01:04:59
the allegations were later proven to be false and jason was cleared of all charges and
01:05:06
ruled out as a person of interest in daniela's investigation daniela's loved ones were frustrated by
01:05:14
the lack of progress in the case julie set up a gofundme campaign to raise money
01:05:21
which she used to print out flyers that were handed out and put into letterboxes in the area
01:05:29
she also had billboards mounted that featured daniela's photo and details about her disappearance
01:05:37
just before christmas a frustrated hannah left a one-star review on the mobile police department's
01:05:44
facebook page writing daniella vayne has been missing for five months five months her
01:05:53
baby girl hasn't seen her mum five months daniela hasn't gotten to hold her daughter
01:06:00
five months her family has had to sit around and wonder when we will all get answers
01:06:06
the mobile police department knows who she was with last but they say they have run out of leads
01:06:14
it's crazy that mobile police will post about robberies stolen property and post surveillance
01:06:20
videos asking for help but not for daniela they post about awards police officers are receiving
01:06:28
but can't post one missing picture of daniela they should hand out awards to police
01:06:34
officers that find missing people not stolen property daniella was stolen a person was stolen
01:06:44
not some groceries a person i have lost all faith in the mobile police department
01:06:52
i have hope that some way or another daniela and all the missing girls from mobile
01:06:57
will be found but it won't be from the help of the mobile police department they sweep the missing under the rug
01:07:08
daniela's friends and family maintained pressure on the police to ensure they continued
01:07:13
the search several vigils had been held since daniela's disappearance and on march 8
01:07:20
2019 20 of daniela's loved ones gathered in medal of honor park to commemorate what would have been her
01:07:28
26th birthday julie purposefully kept cora away as she didn't want the young girl to associate
01:07:37
birthdays with sadness although all the local news outlets were informed only one member of
01:07:44
the media attended a prayer was said and then candles were lit on cupcakes as daniela's friends and family
01:07:53
sang happy birthday months continued to go by without any reported sightings of daniela or her car
01:08:06
and no further clues emerged realised how important it was that cora received as much support as possible
01:08:15
and stepped up in his role as parent he stopped using drugs and focused on getting a job
01:08:22
so he could provide for his daughter with his love for korra motivating him to make
01:08:27
better decisions many theories were put forth by those who knew daniela and by internet sleuths who became
01:08:37
obsessed with the unresolved case the theories ranged from daniela running away to start a new life
01:08:45
to accidentally driving her car into a body of water to ending her own life the more sinister
01:08:52
theories suggest that she was the victim of a botched carjacking that she went to score drugs and was
01:08:58
attacked in the process or was deliberately targeted to settle a debt one of the more extreme theories was
01:09:07
that she fell victim to the sex trafficking trade no evidence emerged to support any of
01:09:15
these one of the most astonishing details of the case was that daniella's car hadn't been
01:09:23
spotted as it had only been purchased on the day of her disappearance it didn't yet have permanent license
01:09:31
plates and still bore the dealer tags while this would have made it easier to spot
01:09:37
it also may have made the car an attractive target for thieves who could give it a new identity
01:09:43
in a chop shop the individuals who were last seen with daniella denson white malory miller
01:09:50
kenworthy and randy capps all cooperated with the police but elected not to provide any
01:09:56
statements to the media one day julie and to the now five-year-old cora were driving in the car when korra
01:10:06
suddenly asked has mummy passed on julie was surprised and asked korra where she heard such a thing
01:10:17
cora replied i've been having dreams about mummy i have dreams about her all the time
01:10:25
mummy said that she's passed on but she'll still come to see me all the time julie said she was unable to answer the
01:10:36
question but reassured cora that they would keep looking for daniela no matter what although cora seemed
01:10:44
content with understanding that her mother wasn't coming home julie was determined to get answers for
01:10:50
the young girl so she didn't spend her whole life trying to find out the truth of what
01:10:56
happened life went on with the julie continuing her efforts to find daniela by searching online and
01:11:08
contacting media outlets including case file case file became involved in the story
01:11:15
in december 2018 and had ongoing contact with several of daniela's family members
01:11:21
friends and associates who provided information that led to the creation of this episode
01:11:30
in the last week of april 2019 nine and a half months after daniella went missing
01:11:37
an off-duty sergeant for the mobile police department dive team was mapping out areas for
01:11:42
training exercises at the bayou sarah river in saraland approximately 17 miles north of the
01:11:50
shell gas station where daniela was last seen the bayoucera is a long wide and gentle
01:11:58
stream that expands out from the mobile river the main access point to the river is
01:12:04
via the bayou sierra boat launch a public park in a quiet residential area that's popular with locals for fishing
01:12:13
boating swimming and other water activities the park is surrounded by tall trees
01:12:20
shrubbery and grass with a long wooden footbridge extending along the banks of the water
01:12:28
towards the drop-off of the bayou sera public boat launch where the water reached between 20 and
01:12:34
30 feet deep the sergeant noticed something unusual he marked the spot using a gps
01:12:42
recognizing it as a training opportunity for the dive team to investigate further
01:12:49
on thursday may 2 2019 the sergeant returned to the area along with the dive team
01:12:56
and additional equipment they quickly identified the submerged item to be a vehicle
01:13:03
and notified the police department that they had located what was most likely a stolen car
01:13:10
upon further inspection it was determined that the vehicle was a dark blue chevy
01:13:16
cruze with pearl motors tags and that there were human remains inside due to the sensitive nature of the crime
01:13:27
scene the vehicle and body were left underwater as investigators consulted experts to determine the best plan of
01:13:34
action to retrieve them while preserving evidence in the meantime the mobile police
01:13:41
department stated they would be treating the case as a homicide until an autopsy could confirm for
01:13:47
certain on friday may 3 the vehicle was retrieved from the murky water and drained on site there was damage to
01:13:58
the front panels on both sides but other than that the vehicle was in relatively good condition
01:14:06
the car and remains were then transferred to a secure facility to be thoroughly examined
01:14:14
in a press conference mobile police chief lawrence batiste revealed that the vehicle belonged to
01:14:20
daniela vayne but that due to the level of decomposition it could be weeks before the body was
01:14:27
formally identified he did confirm that the body belonged to an adult female but couldn't say how long the vehicle
01:14:36
had been in the water or whether it had been pushed or driven in when asked if the body was in the
01:14:43
driver's seat chief batiste said he couldn't confirm the exact position it was found in
01:14:51
he added that given the amount of time the car had spent underwater it was unlikely that investigators would be
01:14:58
able to determine where the body was originally positioned when it entered the river
01:15:09
investigators had scoured other bodies of water during previous searches for daniella but never
01:15:16
in sarah land caseval spoke to daniella's friend shana hayden who had been involved in the search from
01:15:23
the outset shana said there was absolutely no reason for daniela to be in the sarah
01:15:30
land area and she was therefore convinced fair play was involved shana said daniela wouldn't have driven
01:15:38
that far without her phone as she wasn't familiar with the area she believed someone had either driven
01:15:46
daniela's car out there or rode in the vehicle with her another theory is that her car could
01:15:53
have been towed to that location when speaking to the press shana said i don't think daniela drove her car 20
01:16:04
some odd miles north of mobile and a drove into a boat launch she loves cora and never would have done
01:16:12
that it's not plausible even though it does bring some closure it just kind of brings up this
01:16:20
whole other box of what ifs and hows and whose we are content with knowing what has
01:16:26
happened and now we just need to find out who did it it'll only be a matter of time before
01:16:34
the truth does come out a co-worker of daniella's named christy meisner told the press that daniela viewed the
01:16:44
purchase of her new car as the start of her new life but that quote it wound up being a curse
01:16:52
which is really hard for a lot of us to wrap our brains around the person who did this is not going to
01:16:59
get away with it we won't stop just as hard as we were searching for her they will come down it will happen
01:17:11
a resident of the bayou sarah area voiced her opinion to local news station nbc 15 that given the amount of boat
01:17:20
traffic fishing and swimming that occurred in the river there was no way the vehicle had been
01:17:26
there undetected for over nine months she said that locals didn't notice anything out of the ordinary
01:17:34
and that no skid marks or tire tracks were ever reported on the boat ramp on sunday may 5 julie dykes thomas told
01:17:44
the press that although the family was still waiting for the results of dna testing
01:17:50
she believed the body found in the car was daniela she stated it's just a numbing
01:17:59
realisation that she's really gone that's what you've been working for for so long and striving for
01:18:07
and begging for and praying for when you finally get that it's not closure [Music]
01:18:17
on the evening of friday may 10 one week after the vehicle was found a candlelit vigil was held at the bayou
01:18:25
sarah boat launch for members of the community to lay flowers and pay their condolences to
01:18:30
daniela's friends and family a friend told those gathered everyone here has prayed for this and
01:18:40
granted it's not the outcome that we wanted it was our prayers and our pushing that got
01:18:46
us here help us figure out what happened so we can get justice and she can rest peacefully
01:18:57
i don't think that her car ending up 17 miles from the last place that she was seeing is an accident
01:19:05
um yeah you have to get in your car and either drive down the interstate or drive through town to
01:19:12
a whole nother town or suburb city of mobile and then go back through this winding
01:19:19
neighborhood you know over railroad tracks making this curvy road that kind of goes back and forth
01:19:25
and tucks into this neighborhood it's not an area that's just right off the road that you would you know
01:19:30
accidentally drive into you kind of have to know where you're going to get there
01:19:36
you know it's not a real publicized area that you know gets uh gets a lot of attention i mean a lot of
01:19:44
people know about it but it's just kind of one of those like hidden spots tucked away you know
01:19:49
you know of it because you grew up there or you know somebody took you there or whatever it's not
01:19:54
it's not a place that you just get in your car and accidentally drive to it's just
01:20:02
just that night overall i mean i do think that it's possible that there was an accident that happened that
01:20:08
night but i don't think that her her and her car ending up the water miles from where she was last
01:20:15
known to be um was an accident and also you know i don't know if other people will will really understand
01:20:24
it but fair land here um is like one of those places that you you don't drive through
01:20:30
if you're messed up um you know how they're like you know but you shouldn't drive when you're drunk
01:20:35
but you know how there are places that you just know to avoid if you're doing something
01:20:39
wrong i mean whether you're drinking or whatever it may be center land is kind of one of those
01:20:43
places like they have that kind of police force that just doesn't really it kind of takes no [ __ ] so that that's
01:20:50
kind of the other thing with us is you know for her not only to have driven from
01:20:55
the show to the launch but to have driven through stairland in the shape that we heard her in on the
01:21:02
audio and not having a path of destruction or anything from from a to b is i'm not saying it can't happen but it's
01:21:12
just it's pretty i mean you'd think that something would have happened up until then you know she
01:21:17
sideswiped a guardrail or a car or you know a mailbox or whatever drove through somebody's yard especially on
01:21:22
that road leading back to the launch because it literally is like a snake i mean you
01:21:27
come off of 43 you go over some railroad tracks it snakes to the right a little bit snakes to the left you
01:21:33
go straight for a minute and then you snake back to the right through a fork in the road that goes three
01:21:38
different ways you know what i mean and one of those is the dead end and the other two comes to a stop sign or then
01:21:43
you have to take a left to go to the launch so it's just a lot to it more than just getting in your car and
01:21:51
driving down the road [Music] on may 14 mobile police confirmed the body belonged to 25 year old daniella
01:22:01
vayanne and announced that the evidence indicated her death was the result of an
01:22:07
accident early investigation had revealed that certain manipulations to the inside of
01:22:14
the vehicle indicated that daniela had been alive when her car entered the river the vehicle was in
01:22:22
park which they believed daniella had done in a panic when her car hit the water
01:22:30
daniela's family were told that she was found in the driver's seat with no seat belt on
01:22:36
according to sources the keys were still in the ignition but the car was not turned on
01:22:43
the emergency brake was set all the doors were locked and the rear window on the driver's side
01:22:50
was down about two inches buttons that enabled the driver to lower any one of the
01:22:57
vehicles four windows were located on the driver's side door with a button to unlock all the doors
01:23:04
located in the center of the dashboard this raised the question that if daniela was in the driver's seat
01:23:12
and conscious at the time her vehicle entered the water why hadn't she attempted to unlock the
01:23:18
doors or open her window preliminary autopsy results didn't reveal any trauma to her body
01:23:27
but given the level of decomposition and amount of time she had spent in the water
01:23:33
the official cause of death was unable to be determined [Music] similarly the results of toxicology
01:23:41
testing later came back inconclusive police chief lawrence batiste told nbc 15 this is still an
01:23:52
active investigation but everything that we have found to this point indicates to us or appears
01:23:59
to us to be an accidental incident he clarified that the people of mobile had nothing to worry about and that the
01:24:10
police quote are not looking for someone who is going around abducting women a statement released by daniela's
01:24:20
biological mother joy said daniela's father and i still have hope in the homicide division
01:24:28
due to the fact that they have not closed the case and it's still ongoing [Music]
01:24:35
daniela's chevy cruze was later auctioned off presumably by the relevant insurance
01:24:41
company and was shipped to the ukraine to be used for parts the auction notes mentioned that the
01:24:49
vehicle had sustained flood damage and that it came without keys photos included with the auction
01:24:57
documentation showed that the back passenger seat belt had been completely removed
01:25:04
investigators have never made any mention of this [Music] the mobile police department has been
01:25:12
reluctant to publicly release any further details about daniela's death they have confirmed to the family that
01:25:20
the investigation is open but not being actively worked on many of daniela's loved ones believe
01:25:28
that her death was not an accident as many unanswered questions and inconsistencies remain
01:25:36
in the months following the discovery of daniela vyanne's body those close to her distributed science
01:25:43
around mobile demanding justice for daniela around the start of 2020 several of the
01:25:51
signs began disappearing julie and shana continue to seek answers and hope that those who may know
01:26:01
something of importance will come forward [Music] [Music] you