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from their podcast debuted deep dive of the Adnan Syed case to their season 2 examination of the Joey Watkins case the
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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
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anytime you need support 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 in 1993 breaking news in the small
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northern Indiana city of Lockport always seemed to be from Chicago or South Bend
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nothing shocking ever happened in the poor with 22,000 people there was hardly a report of any serious crime that
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involved one of their own the community never worried about bad things happening
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not in their quiet picturesque corner of the world until March 1993 not since the turn of the 20th century
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had the city of La Porte talked so much about Murdoch back then local mother Belle Gunness had skipped town after
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burning her own property down in staging a body inside to look like her own it was believed that over a 20-year period
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she'd killed both her husband's all their children numerous boyfriends as well as all the
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witnesses an estimated 40 people in total all for the apparent riches of life insurances by March 1993 nearly 100
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years had passed since Belle Gunness shocked the community of La Porte Indiana but that spring they were about
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to experience something else they weren't prepared for [Music] the city of La Porte is located in La
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Porte County in Northwest Indiana an hour and a half east of Chicago that sits between the cities of Michigan
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Geary and South Bend unlike major cities Laporte is one of those places where the population hasn't
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grown much in the last 50 or 60 years hovering around 20,000 residents since 1960
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let's see outdoorsy with a passion and hunting and fishing community people are very friendly down-to-earth and caring
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Indiana is the smallest of the 12 Midwestern states for a small state and has more than 21,000 miles of fishable
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streams and rivers along with 452 natural lakes and 580 reservoirs and although the port city has its own large
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well-known lakes many prefer the solitude and peace of the more remote ponds outside the city quiet and
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peaceful locations where it's possible to sit alone fishing all day without seeing another soul on the morning of
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Friday March 26 1993 16 year-old Laporte high school freshman Reyna Reisen got up
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for school she played the clarinet the flute into the oboe and was a dedicated member of the Laporte high school
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marching band she was naturally clever where others around her worked hard for their grades Reyna seemed to just that
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the knack it wasn't just school that kept Reyna busy she had three part-time jobs as well her favorite one being at
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the local Pond Lake veterinary hospital where she would clean the kennels and feed the animals there was the dream job
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for Reyna because that's what she wanted to do when she finished school become a vet
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and to work with animals every day [Music] in the afternoon of March 26 1993 Reyna
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headed home from school to change for her four o'clock shift at the vet hospital which everyone called the
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clinic Reyna was working just a short two-hour shift and then she had a date with her
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boyfriend Matt Elsa Rainer and Matt had been going out on and off since sixth grade but they had broken up recently
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realizing they couldn't be without each other they had reunited and were both really excited for that day
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Matt was locked by rayna's family he was a good influence on earth when Reyna left home for work she was wearing blue
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jeans a sweatshirt black shoes and took with her Matt's high school letterman jacket a bomber jacket with the surname
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also embroidered on the shoulders Matt had given it to her as a symbol that they were together and she was barely
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without it walking out the back door of the house Reyna said goodbye to her youngest sister Wendy who was going to
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the movies that no-brainer then jumped in her trusty teen coloured Ford LTD and drove to work parking in the vet
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clinics carpark a thick fog settled over Laporte as dusk fell sometime around 7 p.m.
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Matt ulcer arrived at rayna's house to pick her up for their day Brenna's mother Karen and her father Benny were
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there but Raynor hadn't arrived home from work yet Benny invited Matt inside and after
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waiting a while Matt used the phone to call the vet clinic after getting no answer he drove down to see if Reina was
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still there when he arrived the clinic was locked up and there was no sign of Reina or her car
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as the next day I rolled on both Matt and Benny started to worry Reina was not the sort of girl to change plans and not
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tell anyone and she had been looking forward to her date with Matt all week Benny called Reina sister Lori who was
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10 years older than Reina and who lived across town with her husband ray McCarty
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brain has spent a bit of time there so they thought she may have decided to visit for some reason but Lori and Ray
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hadn't heard from her either when rayna's younger sister Wendy arrived home from the movies she walked
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into the living room and immediately knew something was wrong the air felt tense and everyone looked worried at
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10:30 p.m. Benny and Wendy headed down to the Laporte City police station Benny had considered just calling but he
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wanted to talk face-to-face with the officers even though it was clear rayna's family had genuine concerns
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there was nothing the police could do it had only been a few hours since anyone had heard from Reina and they said it
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wasn't unusual for 16 year olds to change their plans without letting others know if she still wasn't home
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after 24 hours then Benny could return and file a missing-persons report the following morning Brenna's bed
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remained made from the day before the room sat untouched her car wasn't in the driveway and no one had heard from her
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Benny called everyone he could think of and soon teams of family and friends were driving around town to try and find
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a sign of Raynor or her car her marching band friends got together and jumping cars with others
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who had volunteered to drive out on the county roads Flyers were printed and taken around to local businesses but
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these search efforts came up with nothing with that amount of people searching the port police realized that
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they needed to step in it was looking likely that Reyna hadn't just decided to go off on her own accord after putting
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an appeal out to the public someone called in someone believing they might have seen Reyna around 6:00 p.m. on
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March 26 the night of rain is disappearance a man reported that he had seen a car pulled into the parking lot
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at the plan Lake veterinary hospital there were two males in the front and it seemed like one was having a lover's
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TIFF with a young girl standing outside the car the young girl fit rayna's description a
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second witness then came forward with a similar account with the knowledge that rayna's boyfriend Matt also had driven
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down to the clinic to look for her detectives immediately sought him out he was the logical person to speak to on
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Sunday morning March 28 while Matt was being questioned by Laporte police a call came in to the station someone had
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seen a tan colored Ford LTD parked on the side of a secluded Road nine miles northeast of Laporte Timothy short of
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the LaPorte County Sheriff's Department was dispatched to County Road 280 where he found the vehicle matching rayner's a
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license plate check confirmed it was hers Raina's car was pulled over on the side
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of the road with the hood propped up as if it had broken down her car was unlocked
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the keys were in the ignition and her purse was sitting on the passenger see the glove compartment was open and
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its contents strewn onto the passenger side floor on the ground outside the driver's door was a broken hair clip
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there were a lot of scenarios going through the minds of investigators had Reina broken down and someone stopped
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and offered to help but then abducted her had she been hit by a passing car and dragged the thing concerning them
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the most was her purse sitting in plain view in her unlocked car if she had broken down and accepted a lift or
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started walking to get Hulk surely she would have taken her purse with her police look under the hood and could say
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nothing unusual then they turned the ignition the car started on the first go there was no indication that anything
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was wrong with the car at all and after calling a mechanic out to make sure their fears increased the breakdown had
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been staged the search of the surrounding area came up with nothing there was no sign of a struggle and
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there was no further sign of Reno Raina's family insisted she would never have driven there alone on a foggy night
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there was an indirect route home from the vet clinic and was not the usual way she would have gone but if for some
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reason she did she would never have left her purse inside the car when Larry Mitchell the evidence
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technician for the city of Laporte Police Department examined rayna's car he found a note blood and two no other
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physical evidence that pointed to foul play in 1993 if DNA was found it would be checked the safer belonged to the
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victim if it didn't it would be checked against those known to the victim it was
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mostly used to rule people out the large databases and systems in place today to
00:12:00
check DNA evidence didn't exist back then but DNA wasn't going to be a factor in this case there was none evidence
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technician Larry Mitchell found wet newspapers and plant debris on the floor on the front passenger seat he believed
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to these may have been soaked by wet towel being placed over them there was no logical explanation for the papers
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and the debris to be there the location of the car was not near any water source
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and although there had been a fog there had been no rain in the glove compartment was a school signet ring
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that didn't look like it would fit a 16 year old girl the first person that approached about
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the ring was rayna's boyfriend Matt Elsa he confirmed here given Reina his class
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ring but the one that was showing him wasn't his his ring had his name engraved on it after taking another look
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at the ring the police was showing him Matt had a pretty good idea who might have owned it but he was puzzled at how
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they had found it in rayna's car jason Tibbs was a friend of rayna's she had dated him briefly in the seventh grade
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and although they hadn't been together for a few years they'd remained friends even though Matt
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and others close to Rana didn't approve Jason tibs was a school dropout and had been in trouble with the law it was well
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known that Jason wanted to be more than just friends with Rainer he wanted to get back with her and was trying to get
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her to leave Matt for him Matt didn't think he had anything to worry about but now Jason's ring had been found in
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rayna's glove compartment he started to wonder if there was something going on he was unaware of with a lack of
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physical evidence police focused on the circumstances leading up to rayna's disappearance and the people she was
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close to the other thing they had to consider was whether two people may have worked together to harm Rainer they now
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had three separate eyewitness accounts that placed another car outside the vet clinic around the time Rainer finished
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work all three witnesses saw two males in the front seat of this car and they all witnessed some kind of argument
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occurring had these two people followed reina when she left work or had she gone
00:14:22
with them willingly while tracing reina steps that evening police spoke to rayna's workmates Cheryl
00:14:30
Cheryl said that Reyna made a comment that evening she thought was unusual Rana said she didn't need anyone and
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could take care of herself Cheryl left work early that evening as she wasn't feeling well
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ordinarily she would have finished her shift at the same time as Rana six days had now passed and there was still no
00:14:53
breakthroughs with the local community deeply concerned and too many questions being asked of the police
00:14:59
Laporte police chief Jean Samuelson and police captain John Miller spoke to the press to ask for the public's help
00:15:07
Samuelson confirmed there had been no change in the status of the case and to that although Rana was still only
00:15:13
considered a missing person every day that passed made it more and more unlikely that she would be found alive
00:15:21
by this stage several agencies had become involved including the LaPorte County Sheriff's Office and the Indiana
00:15:28
State Police who brought in their helicopter the FBI had also been briefed a reward was announced for any
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information leading to the safe return of Rana the family had raised $1,000 and an anonymous donor had increased the
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reward to six thousand dollars hoping that a cash incentive would help draw someone out to give information
00:15:53
a wake after her disappearance brainers case was featured in a segment on America's Most Wanted and from that
00:16:02
another lead was called in an anonymous caller led police to fail Road a County Road two miles east of Laporte
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and six miles south of where rayna's car was found hanging in a tree about 20 feet from the road was a black leather
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jacket when officers approached and took a closer look they found - the name also
00:16:24
embroidered across the shoulders it was Matt else's jacket Raina's boyfriend there was hanging in the tree in a way
00:16:33
that suggested it may have been thrown from a passing car it was a wooded area and one that had already been searched
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the day before by a state trooper who confirmed the jacket wasn't there at that time when police at for another
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press conference to update the public on the developments in the case they also announced that a local bakery had added
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five thousand dollars to the reward fund and Charlie Finley the former owner of the Oakland A's baseball team who had
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retired just outside of town had added twenty five thousand dollars the reward for information had now hit 36 thousand
00:17:07
dollars the chief stated that it was his belief people in the community were keeping information from them he also
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confirmed that three persons of interest all from LaPorte County had participated
00:17:19
in polygraph tests logically the person police had in the spotlight was rayna's high school senior boyfriend Matt Elsa
00:17:31
he had arrived at rayna's house around 7:00 p.m. the night she disappeared almost an hour after she was last seen
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by the witnesses outside the clinic after arriving at rayna's house net spent the rest of the evening with her
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family and had no significant amount of time unaccounted for to have gone back and done anything if he was responsible
00:17:51
for rayna's disappearance there was a short window he had the work in but it was possible detectives asked Matt if he
00:18:01
was aware that Reyna had been back in contact with Jason Tibbs they were wondering whether Matt knew and was
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maybe angry about it leading to an argument Matt said he was aware Rana was in contact with Jason but he was
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comfortable in his relationship and it didn't worry him next on the list of people spoken to was Jason Tibbs
00:18:23
Raina's family and friends nuyen and Reina had only been together for six months back in the seventh grade and
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Rana had pretty much been with Matt ever since most people knew that Jason was still in love with Rana and he admitted
00:18:37
himself that he had sent her love letters since they had broken up she always knocked him back though and said
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she was happy with Matt despite Jason's failed attempts to get back with Rana they remained friends sometimes Rana
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would ask Jason to come to the vet clinic can keep her company while she finished her shift
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Jason had dropped out of school he had a criminal record and terrain his family he wasn't the type of guy they would
00:19:03
choose Rana to be friends with when questioned about the class ring found in the glove compartment of rayna's car
00:19:09
Jason didn't hesitate in saying it was his he said Rana had recently had problems with her cast area and had
00:19:17
asked him to fix it while he was taking a look his ring got in the way so he took it off and put it
00:19:23
in her cloth compartment so wouldn't get lost he freely admitted to detectives that he still had strong feelings for
00:19:30
Raina and that he was devastated by her disappearance he had been one of the first friends to volunteer to go out
00:19:37
looking for her it was Jason who drove out to search some of the county roads with a marching band friend of rayna's
00:19:44
Jason told detectives that the night rana went missing he was out at the mobile home park on fáil road north east
00:19:51
of Laporte he was tutoring two teenage sisters Jamie and misty in maths and science he
00:19:59
arrived at 6 p.m. and he was picked up by his friend to chat between 9 p.m. and 2:00 9:30 p.m. after that he played a
00:20:08
game of CB radio fox hunt with other local kids until midnight fox hunt is a game where one person would be nominated
00:20:16
as the Fox driving out to an undisclosed destination the Fox was not allowed to move from that spot the other players
00:20:24
would radio them every few minutes and the Fox would respond each player would check the signal strength of the call to
00:20:30
gauge whether the signal was stronger or weaker than the last call this went on until the Fox was found a couple of
00:20:39
things in Jason's alibi stood out to detectives the trailer park where he said he was tutoring the two teenage
00:20:45
sisters was in very close proximity to where rayna's car was found and on that note why was a high school dropout with
00:20:54
a criminal record not known for his academic abilities tutoring school students detectives immediately got in
00:21:02
contact with the teenage sisters to check his alibi and did they confirm he was there apparently
00:21:09
maths and science were subjects that Jason was good at when he attended school detectives then questioned the
00:21:16
local kids who had played the game of fox hunt that night and they confirmed Jason took part in the game his alibis
00:21:23
were checking out after the fox hunt game Jason's friend Scott took him to another friend's place where they
00:21:29
watched TV and played darts until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning when he got home his parents and sister were
00:21:36
waiting for him and he went to bed when he woke up his mother told him rayna's mother had called to say she was missing
00:21:45
Jason's whereabouts sink the bay accounted for the entire night the police did one final check that question
00:21:52
to Jason's friend Chad to confirm he had picked Jason up from the mobile home park after his tutoring session
00:21:59
initially Chad said no but then he changed his story confirming that he had pictured Aysen up that night Todd was a
00:22:07
teenager who was worried he was being implicated in the disappearance of Rena and to the police were used to hearing
00:22:13
the changing stories of kids that age everyone else had backed up Jason's alibi that night so police didn't find
00:22:20
it suspicious given witnesses had seen two males with a female outside the vet clinic police pondered the possibility
00:22:29
that it was Matt Elsa and Jason tibs there together into the three of them were all arguing with each other but the
00:22:36
idea didn't make much sense Matt and Jason weren't friends so it's unlikely they were traveling the same car
00:22:43
together Matt and Jason were key people in the investigation and they both voluntarily took polygraph tests there
00:22:52
was a third person who had taken a polygraph as well the police didn't reveal who that third person was but
00:22:59
some had their suspicions another thing that wasn't revealed to the public was that out of those three
00:23:06
polygraph tests one showed signs of deception as the week's went on Raina's parents left their porch light on every
00:23:17
night hoping that she would come home they continued searching for her everyday refusing to rest until she was
00:23:24
found by Tuesday April 27 a month after rayna's disappearance her case had appeared twice on America's Most Wanted
00:23:36
the city was dumbfounded to think there was literally no sign of her no evidence
00:23:41
at all to suggest where she was finally free from the winter Frost's it was a mild and sunny spring day and when
00:23:49
school was out 14-year old Tracy went fishing with her family at a pond near range road two miles from Laporte around
00:23:59
4:30 p.m. Tracy wandered off along the edge of the pond a little bored she saw what she
00:24:05
thought was a turtle in the water and went to take a closer look as she got nearer she realized it wasn't a turtle
00:24:12
it was a shoe on a decomposing body covered by a log and branches her parents went for help and called 9-1-1
00:24:25
two members of the police dive team recovered the fully clothed body from the water when they put her on the
00:24:32
stretcher they could see two rings on her left hand one engraved mat Elsa and at the other
00:24:38
brain a ricin the ricin family was notified and although she would need to be formally
00:24:45
identified there was little doubt it was Reina as her remains were transported for an autopsy at the Memorial Hospital
00:24:52
in nearby South Bend a copy of rayna's dental records were ordered the autopsy and dental records confirmed the body
00:25:01
was Reynes the cause of death was asphyxia due to cervical compression strangulation there were no wounds on
00:25:11
her body but they believed she may have fought with her assailant or assailants and been knocked unconscious prior to
00:25:16
being strangled Raina's death was ruled a homicide and the investigation moved from being a
00:25:23
missing persons case to a murder investigation Raina's younger sister Wendy was sitting
00:25:31
in her bedroom talking with her cousin they heard footsteps getting louder and louder until her aunt
00:25:37
burst through the door stopping their conversation in its tracks Raina's older sister Lori arrived too
00:25:44
soon after as the family fell apart open news they had spent the last month praying the Reina would come walking
00:25:51
through the door again but that day when they got the news they all knew their lives would never be the same again when
00:26:00
Benny ran his father spoke to the media he said parents hug your kids before you
00:26:06
go out the door believe me you don't know how much I missed that Raina's room had been left untouched in
00:26:16
the hope she would return it was filled with awards and ribbons she had received
00:26:20
going to music solo and ensemble competitions one of her most prized wins was for her solo at the state comp Music
00:26:29
was just in her brain in knew what she wanted from her life already opening the doors and paving the way to achieve her
00:26:36
dreams everyone who knew Reina loved her no one could understand who would want to do this to such a kind and generous
00:26:44
person on May 1st 1993 Reina Reisen was laid to rest at the rolling prairie United Methodist Church hundreds of
00:26:56
people piled into the church and spilled out the front her white casket trimmed in pink with brushed nickel hardware and
00:27:03
adorned with flowers sat in the front of the church as mourners still reeling from the shock looked on
00:27:10
a tattered baby doll from her childhood a teddy bear and a clarinet set nearby as a shrine one by one people stepped up
00:27:20
to the casket and placed an orange ribbon upon it as a sign of respect the risin family sat in the front rows
00:27:27
Raina's parents and the grandparents unable to fathom burying their daughter and granddaughter her sisters Wendy and
00:27:34
Lory her brother-in-law Laurie's husband Ray and her boyfriend made Elsa also rung out with emotions the police
00:27:45
although allowing family and friends time to grieve had their eyes wide open they were watching everyone reports vary
00:27:56
but during 1993 around 25,000 homicides were reported in the United States and one third of those homicides were
00:28:04
carried out upon people aged between 15 and 24 the great majority of those were carried out in major cities Chicago just
00:28:13
an hour away had a reputation for violent crime there were 850 murders on record in the city that year but not
00:28:21
Laporte ask anyone from Laporte how many murders occurred in their city in 1993 and you'll likely hear of only one
00:28:31
Raina's murder took over the city residents feared that the murderer could be anyone in their friendly neighborhood
00:28:37
it was constantly spoken about in every cafe store and home police remained focused on solving the case they were
00:28:48
adamant that Rayna knew her killer or killers believing she had gone willingly to the rural area where her car was
00:28:54
feared they were confident that someone in LaPorte knew something and it was just a matter of time before they got
00:29:01
their break thank you for listening we'll be back shortly today's episode is brought to you by
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after Rainer disappeared Brenna's brother-in-law ray McCarty who was married to rayna's older sister
00:32:02
Laurie walked into the Laporte City police station detectives were not surprised the scene
00:32:09
when first investigating rayna's disappearance they had visited ray and Laurie's house to see if they had any
00:32:15
information that might help the investigation what was unknown to the public was that detectives had serious
00:32:22
concerns over Ray's whereabouts the night rana went missing and he was the third person who had participated in a
00:32:29
polygraph Ray was on probation at the time and although his probation period was nearly over the reason he was on
00:32:37
probation had set off serious alarm bells at Laporte City Police Station just over two years earlier ray had
00:32:45
pleaded guilty to the class D felony of child sexual molestation and he had served a three-year suspended sentence
00:32:52
the child he had sexually assaulted was Reina when Reina was just 11 years old 24
00:33:01
year-old ray McCarty who was already married to rayna's older sister Laurie at the time began the ongoing sexual
00:33:07
assault of Reina until she turned 13 in 1991 Rayner attended a clinic to terminate a pregnancy the father of her
00:33:16
child was listed as ray McCarty Ray was sentenced to serve three years on probation and complete counseling
00:33:24
records showed he had not completed the allocated counseling sessions but further concern to investigators were
00:33:31
the reports at the time that outlined a threat ray had made to Reina her parents
00:33:35
and Laurie if they ever told the police about the sexual assaults he would kill Reina
00:33:43
despite his crimes Laurie and Ray stayed together living on the other side of town his probation was nearly up and
00:33:50
they were trying to get their lives in their marriage back together they were working on it
00:33:55
the whole rice and family were working on it rayma cardi first spoke to detectives
00:34:03
when Reina went missing six weeks earlier his alibi then was that he was in the neighboring city of South Bend at a pig
00:34:10
farm to collect some money this concerned detectives South Bend was northeast of
00:34:17
Laporte and where Reina was found was more or less along that route but when Rey first gave that alibi Raina's body
00:34:24
hadn't been found yet so when it was discovered along that route detectives were extremely suspicious during a
00:34:34
second interview only days later Rey admitted to police that he had not told them the full story he wanted to add
00:34:41
that later that evening had been distracted by picking up a female hitchhiker and instead of going home he
00:34:47
drove her to the state line he then allegedly called Lori from a motel on Indiana State Road 39 later that night
00:34:55
he said he didn't tell them about the hitchhiker earlier because he didn't want Lori to find out and be upset on
00:35:03
May 7 1993 a search warrant was issued for the home of Rey and Lori both of their cars were impounded and sent to be
00:35:11
forensically tested a 44 magnum handgun ammunition and a stun gun were taken from the house on may 11th as lab tests
00:35:21
were being carried out Rey voluntarily walked into Laporte police station and wanted to change his story again he
00:35:28
confessed that he hadn't told them the entire truth about the night Reina disappeared around 5:45 p.m. that
00:35:37
evening Rey admitted he had stopped by the vet clinic to see Reina he said he was looking at a house for
00:35:44
sale across the street from the clinic he saw an his car in the parking lot and thought she might know where Lori was so
00:35:51
he went in to speak to her Reina told ready to go home as she was about to finish her shift and go on a date with
00:35:57
Matt Brase said he left straightaway into their conversation only lasted half a minute when Rey gave this third
00:36:06
version to police a further witness had come forward who stated they saw ray McCarty's car he
00:36:11
the same area that rayna's car was found the night she disappeared according to reports during the police
00:36:19
interview with Lori she said that following rayna's disappearance Rey had asked her an evacuee at the back of his
00:36:25
car although Lori later retracted this statement when reports came back from the lab after the search warrant was
00:36:33
executed it was revealed that the back of Ray's car showed evidence of blood but any hopes of a breakthrough were
00:36:41
quickly squashed when further testing revealed it was a deer blood Rey was a keen hunter despite Rey's changing
00:36:50
stories of his whereabouts that night and all the circumstantial evidence they heard police didn't have enough for an
00:36:57
arrest over a year went by his police continued to try and gather enough evidence for an arrest they felt they
00:37:09
were looking at the right people it was just a matter of the last puzzle piece falling into place it looked like that
00:37:16
puzzle piece came in early November 1994 a year and a half after Rana was murdered although it didn't have
00:37:24
anything to do with the people they were looking at police in nearby Grant County
00:37:31
had pulled over a VIN a man by the name of Larry Hall was being monitored by numerous jurisdictions he was known to
00:37:40
travel all over the Midwest to Civil War reenactments and the police wanted to question him in relation to two
00:37:45
attempted abductions in Georgetown and Illinois the young girls had given a license-plate number registered to Larry
00:37:52
Hall policing Grant County had spotted it and now they had him stopped along with the attempted abduction there were
00:38:02
also concerns that Larry Hall was involved in the murder of Illinois girl Jessica Roach whose body had been found
00:38:08
across state lines in Indiana after pulling the van over and confirming the driver was Larry Hall
00:38:14
police immediately arrested him on suspicion of attempted kidnapping after his arrest
00:38:21
Laporte police got a phone call when the back of Hall's van was searched police found a newspaper clippings of several
00:38:29
missing or murdered girls in women among the clippings were some about the disappearance of Reina ricin then they
00:38:36
found a bottle of prescription birth control pills with our ricin typed on the label when questioned Larry
00:38:44
Hall confessed he had abducted and murdered Reina the port police had that breakthrough Larry Hall further
00:38:54
confessed that he had killed more women than he could possibly count stating that they all looked the same and he
00:39:00
found it hard to distinguish one victim from the other but then he withdrew his confessions this process repeated
00:39:09
several times all confessed then recanted his confessions but for now they had him in custody on the attempted
00:39:17
kidnapping charges until they had time to build their case on the other crimes he was suspected of committing including
00:39:23
the murders of Jessica Roach and Reina ricin there were actually dozens of unsolved cases involving missing and
00:39:30
murdered women across the Midwest and police discovered many of those cases tied in to when Larry Hall was in the
00:39:36
area for Civil War reenactments tracing the Civil War reenactments and plotting them against the countless
00:39:44
murders abductions and attempted abductions they had on file police built a comprehensive picture of halls habits
00:39:50
and travels but no matter how hard they tried they couldn't place him in LaPorte
00:39:56
Indiana in March 1993 it just didn't add up Brina fit his preferred type of victim but unlike
00:40:05
halls other suspected victims Reyna was not raped or sexually mutilated there was the evidence of the news clippings
00:40:13
the recanted confession and of course the birth control pill bottle found in halls ban but after investigating every
00:40:20
pharmacy in the greater area not one pharmacist could verify the prescription being rayner's no pharmacy had
00:40:27
prescribed those pills toreno and many believed the label seemed too crudely taught to be authentic they briefly
00:40:35
entertained the idea that all abducted Reina in a joint effort with Rey McCarty but they just couldn't reconcile it
00:40:42
Larry Hall went on to sign a confession for the abduction and murder of Jessica Roach and three other girls but he
00:40:49
maintained his innocence in Reina reisen's case in June 1995 Paul was sentenced to life
00:40:57
in prison without the possibility of parole although he admitted to killing only four it's believed that number
00:41:04
could be well over 50 but the pieces just didn't fit in reign of reisen's case they realized that Hall was using
00:41:12
the newspaper clippings and the fake prescription pill bottle and rayna's name to fantasize about rayna's case he
00:41:19
enjoyed claiming her as one of his victims but she wasn't police could prove he wasn't in LaPorte when she was murdered
00:41:27
after what looked like a significant breakthrough police were back to square one police continued to investigate and
00:41:39
build a case against who they felt was the prime suspect ray McCarty in May 1998 five years after rayna's murder it
00:41:49
was finally agreed that there was enough evidence to take to a grand jury the grand jury was tasked with determining
00:41:56
whether there was enough evidence to indict ray McCarty for rayna's murder after reviewing all of the evidence and
00:42:03
witness testimonies and after issuing subpoenas for more evidence documents and sworn testimony the grand jury voted
00:42:10
to indict ray McCarty for the murder of Raynor finally the breakthrough everyone had
00:42:17
been waiting for Rey was formally charged and sent to jail awaiting trial he entered a plea of
00:42:24
not guilty after spending 15 months in jail awaiting trial newly elected LaPorte County prosecutor Robert Beckman
00:42:35
reviewed the case in August 1999 Beckman's review cited insufficient evidence to convict Rey and all charges
00:42:44
were dismissed Rey was free to return home an affidavit submitted by the prosecution read quote at no time has
00:42:57
any witness presented direct evidence that Raymond McCarty was involved in the disappearance and murder of Reina ricin
00:43:04
nor has anyone come forward with any admissions by Raymond McCarty that he was involved in the disappearance or
00:43:10
murder of Rona Reisen Raina's family has strongly asserted McCarty's innocence since day one
00:43:18
given his history many was shocked by the fact the rice and family didn't believe Ray was guilty the port police
00:43:26
were devastated they were sure they had their man and he was allowed to walk out
00:43:31
the door they were back to square one again coinciding with the 10 year anniversary of rayna's murder in 2003
00:43:43
the case was reinvigorated as part of ongoing reviews of cold cases but nothing new came to light until 2008 15
00:43:53
years after the murder and five years into the reinvestigation the port city police got a phone call an inmate at an
00:44:04
Indiana Correctional Facility who is imprisoned for an unrelated murder wanted to speak to investigators in
00:44:09
relation to the murder of Reina ricin Ricky Hammonds originally from Laporte told police he wanted to clear his
00:44:17
conscience of something in you he had spent some time thinking about his niece and thought that if something ever
00:44:23
happened to her and somebody knew anything about it he hoped that someone would come forward detective Williamson
00:44:31
of the Indiana State Police and detective airy from the port police went to interview Ricky Ricky stated he was
00:44:38
giving this information because he believed it was the right thing to do he didn't want to trade he didn't want any
00:44:44
benefit at all a recorder was switched on as Ricky began talking about that evening 15 years earlier in 1993 Ricky
00:44:57
was only 14 years old and was living on his parents farm in LaPorte on the evening of March 26th he had snuck into
00:45:04
the barn on their property and climbed up into the rafters alone to smoke a joint not long after his sister
00:45:12
Jennifer's silver Buick backed into the barn its rear end facing him he recognized the sisters boyfriend Eric
00:45:20
freeman driving Eric lived with him on the farm in the passenger seat was a friend of Eric's Jason tibs the high
00:45:29
school dropout who had been desperately trying to get back with Reina the two got out of the
00:45:35
car arguing and Rikki was sure he heard Eric yelling at Jason what the hell haven't at that point Eric opened the
00:45:43
trunk of the car where Ricky saw the body of a girl he didn't recognize lying face-up
00:45:48
she had no color in her face and she wasn't moving she was partially covered with a dark-colored jacket or blanket
00:45:57
during the argument Jason said to Eric I know what to do with her Ricky kept hidden in the rafters as Jason and Eric
00:46:05
got back in his sister's car and to left the barn it wasn't until Ricky saw the newspaper
00:46:11
and a photo of Rainer that he recognized who he had seen in the trunk of the car
00:46:18
Ricky said that he never confronted either Eric Freeman or Jason tibs about the incident
00:46:23
they were both older than him and he was scared they would kill him if he said anything he had kept the secret for 15
00:46:30
years he hadn't told another soul until now police tracked Eric Freeman to South
00:46:41
Carolina and detectives Arian Williamson went to speak to him they knocked on his
00:46:47
door and asked if you would like to answer a few questions Eric noted curious to say what they
00:46:52
wanted to speak to him about but as soon as the detectives mentioned rain of ricin Eric's demeanor changed and he
00:46:59
refused the talk the prosecutor at the time felt that with no confession or concrete evidence there simply wasn't
00:47:06
enough for an arrest they had the statement of Ricky Hammonds but inmate statements were notoriously unreliable
00:47:13
there was almost always an ulterior motive but the detectives kept pushing the prosecutor
00:47:21
if Ricky Hammonds was telling the truth then it appeared that Eric Freeman wasn't responsible for rayna's murder
00:47:28
ricky said Eric seemed to be arguing with Jason about it they believed if they could bring Eric in and confirm he
00:47:36
wasn't actively involved in the actual killing then they might be able to offer him immunity if he gave them the full
00:47:41
story of what happened that night the prosecutor caved and allowed the detectives to bring Eric in for
00:47:49
questioning Eric was uncooperative he denied having any knowledge about the murder of Reina
00:47:55
he claimed he had never even heard of her before the detectives made it clear to Eric that they had information which
00:48:02
contradicted what he was saying and they put immunity on the table but Eric continued to claim he knew nothing he
00:48:11
was released and allowed to return home but the detectives kept working on him finally after several months of pressure
00:48:19
Eric Freeman caved and agreed to give a statement in exchange for immunity but there was a problem the detectives
00:48:31
didn't have formal approval to offer Eric Freeman immunity they petitioned hard to get immunity granted but the
00:48:39
state was not going to make any rash decisions there had been huge swings in rayna's case over the preceding 15 years
00:48:46
there had been what looked like - sure thing prime suspects one a convicted serial killer one a relative
00:48:54
of rayna's who had assaulted her and threatened her in the past and gave three different versions of his
00:48:59
whereabouts the night she disappeared the state wasn't about to get excited over a jailhouse informant claiming to
00:49:06
know who was responsible if anything this was the least likely of the three scenarios so they took their time
00:49:13
considering this new twist in the case before making a decision on immunity they really took their time they spent
00:49:22
five years deliberating on whether or not to grant Eric Freeman immunity finally in July 2013 immunity was
00:49:31
officially granted and Eric freeman gave his account of what happened on the night of March 26th 1993 the
00:49:39
investigators held their breath as the recorder was switched on this was the information they had been waiting 20
00:49:46
years to hear the first thing Eric Freeman did was confirmed the account of Ricky Hammonds he then told his story on
00:50:00
the day Rana Reisen disappeared Jason tibs contacted Eric in the afternoon and asked him to pick him up and drive him
00:50:07
to the veterinary clinic so he could say Raynor Jason had previously introduced Rana to
00:50:13
Eric as his girlfriend so Eric thought nothing of it Jason told Eric they had stuff going on
00:50:19
and he wanted to try and work things here so Eric took his girlfriend's car and went to pick up Jason when Eric and
00:50:28
Jason arrived at the clinic Jason went inside to speak with Rainer and after a short time the two of them walked back
00:50:35
outside together that's when Eric noticed they were arguing Jason told Rainer how much he wanted to be with her
00:50:42
and he didn't want her to be with anybody else but Rana didn't want to talk to him
00:50:47
she was looking forward to her date with man Jason begged her to get in the car he told her that Eric would drive them
00:50:55
and they could just talk Rainer agreed and she got into the back seat of Eric's girlfriend's car Eric drove off and
00:51:04
Jason continued pleading with Rana that he wanted her back but Rana didn't want to borrow of it at one point at a spot
00:51:14
out of town on fail road either Rainer or Jason asked Derek to pull over he couldn't remember who it was Erik pulled
00:51:22
off the road and Jason and Rana got out of the car continuing their argument as they walked
00:51:26
to the rear of the vehicle Eric looked into his rearview mirror and saw jason punch reno causing her to fall to
00:51:33
the ground Eric got out of the vehicle and sought Jason on top of Rayna his hands around her neck strangling her
00:51:43
Eric yelled at Jason to stop saying you're going to kill her but it was too late
00:51:50
Rana wasn't moving Jason turned to Eric and told him to pop the trunk Jason put Rainer in the trunk
00:52:00
and told Eric to drive to his girlfriend's farm where Eric was living with his girlfriend his girlfriend's
00:52:06
parents and his girlfriend's brother Ricky Hammonds Eric driving to the barn and if they didn't know that Ricky
00:52:15
Hammonds was hiding up in the rafters during the argument between Eric and Jason in the barn Jason said if I can't
00:52:24
have her then no one can when they left the barn Jason told Eric to drive back to the vet clinic Jason drove off in
00:52:35
rayna's car and Eric followed in his girlfriends Buick with rayna's body still in the trunk Jason drove out to
00:52:43
the pond where rayna's body would later be found and with the help of Eric they dumped her in the water
00:52:48
Jason weighed her body down with logs because she kept floating to the surface Eric's description of the dumping of
00:52:56
rayna's body matched details the police had kept from the public in the hope that one day someone's testimony would
00:53:02
match those details and to now had heard from there Eric went home and Jason went
00:53:10
his own way later that evening Eric found the black letterman jacket belonging to rayna's
00:53:17
boyfriend and that also it was still in his girlfriend's car they had forgotten about it so he called Jason to come and
00:53:25
get rid of it when the tape recorder was switched off the detectives knew they had probable cause to arrest Jason tibs
00:53:39
on August 23rd 2013 over 20 years after rayna's murder police approached the house of Jason Tibbs the same house he
00:53:50
lived in in 1993 he was now 38 years of age into married with kids as he walked onto East driveway he was approached by
00:54:01
officers restrained and placed under arrest for the murder of Rana Reisen there was no damning DNA evidence no
00:54:11
swamp or wall of fluid tested in a cutting-edge crime lab they've got the breakthrough there was someone with
00:54:17
information who finally decided to come forward [Music] Raina's parents Benny and Karen risin
00:54:26
were at home in the Laporte house they have lived in since Rana was alive when the phone rang
00:54:32
Benny answered the detective on the other end delivered the news Benny had been waiting two decades to hear
00:54:39
Raina's family knew who Jason was they knew he was a friend of rayna's in middle school they were aware they had
00:54:46
dated as youngsters and they knew Jason was involved in the search for Raynor from the first morning she was missing
00:54:53
who was Jason who had been one of the kids to volunteer to drive others around one of rayna's been mates had driven out
00:55:00
of town with Jason that morning looking for her the Jason turned to the car around before getting too close to the
00:55:06
area where rayna's car would later be found regarding Eric's immunity Raina's family agreed that the police needed to
00:55:14
do whatever it took to solve their daughter's murder and if that meant giving immunity to an accomplice then so
00:55:21
be it at least they would have answers and the ability to understand what actually
00:55:26
happens that night the news of Jason tibs arrest spread like wildfire through a port a city which had never forgotten
00:55:35
Rana Reisen was now coming to terms with the fact that someone from their own community was responsible someone from
00:55:42
rayna's world who had continued to live amongst them throughout the following two decades people were glad to see some
00:55:50
resolution and dances it had been a bizarre case from the beginning when most cases grow cold there is barely a
00:55:58
suspect to point a finger at or maybe one that police just can't find enough evidence to arrest but in rayna's case
00:56:05
there seem to be more suspects than the investigators knew what to do with all seemingly with motive or means or both
00:56:14
the investigation had gone full circle back to Jason Tibbs but they now had to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he
00:56:22
was the one responsible during the pre-trial hearing evidence was produced to which discredit adjacent
00:56:30
tips original alibis Chad his friend who supported Jason's alibi by stating that
00:56:37
he had driven out to the mobile home park to collect him that night after tutoring admitted that Jason had told
00:56:43
him to say that another friend of Jason's who had told police he was with Jason that night came forward and said
00:56:50
he had actually lied he was at work and had no idea where Jason was the two teenage girls who Jason said he was
00:56:59
tutoring were really interviewed and they said they had no recollection of Jason tutoring them that night it was
00:57:07
clear what the defense strategy was from the beginning they were going to try and
00:57:11
paint ray McCarty as the killer the prosecution sought to have the evidence regarding Rae McCarty's grand
00:57:18
jury indictment excluded from Jason's trial as well as evidence of his changing alibis and his threats to kill
00:57:24
reina according to law such evidence can be excluded if its value is outweighed by unfair prejudice confusion of the
00:57:33
issues or the potential to mislead the jury also before evidence of a third party being responsible can be
00:57:41
introduced the defense must show some connection between the third party and the crime after the defense and the
00:57:49
prosecution both made their submissions the judge ruled that Ray McCarty would be exempt from testifying about his
00:57:55
arrest and charge for rayna's murder but he could be questioned over the sexual assault of Reina and the threats that
00:58:01
kill her when the trial began 39 year old Jason Tibbs was escorted into the courtroom at LaPorte County Circuit
00:58:13
Court Raina's family sat together determined to see every moment of the trial through
00:58:18
determined to face the man who once said he loved Raynor who had continued to live in their
00:58:24
community in rayna's community all these years it was a trial with no forensic evidence to dissect no scientific proof
00:58:35
just folders full of eyewitness statements both credible and not so credible the prosecution case hinged on
00:58:44
the testimony of Ricky Hammonds and Derrick Freeman two convicted criminals coming forward with eyewitness testimony
00:58:50
after two decades the first words the prosecutor said in his opening statement were if I can't have her nobody can
00:59:00
quoting what Jason Tibbs was alleged to have said after rayna's murder he then told the jury that they would hear how
00:59:08
Jason Tibbs arrived a train has worked that evening to tell her not to go back to mad also but to date him instead when
00:59:16
Rana refused he told her to get into the back of their car under the pretense that they would just talk about it
00:59:22
instead he took her to a remote location and murdered her the defense stuck to their strategy of
00:59:32
taking the focus off Jason and putting it on terrain McCarty they also hammered away at Ricky Hammonds statement a
00:59:39
statement from a convicted murderer who simply decided to come forward after 15 years because he thought it was the
00:59:46
right thing to do defense attorney John Tompkins mocked the state's case by saying quote that was a good story
00:59:54
problem is it's not true ray McCarty took the stand and agreed he had changed his alibis for the night rana was
01:00:05
murdered but with good reason he also agreed he had sexually assaulted Rainer as a child but denied he threatened to
01:00:14
harm her or her family if they went to the police as Jason's alibis were knocked down one by one the jury began
01:00:23
to see the picture of a teenage boy scrambling to get people to back him up his alibis which hold up in 1993 no
01:00:31
longer did the game of fox hunt joined the list of Jason's faltering alibis the game did happen that night with many
01:00:40
of the local kids tuned into their CBS but no one actually saw Jason they only heard his voice on the radio he could
01:00:49
have been anywhere when Jason's alibis fell down the defense were quick to remind of the jury the Rae McCarty had
01:00:57
lied about his whereabouts that night the defense continued to hammer the jury with details about the sexual assaults
01:01:05
Rana suffered from Rae her aborted pregnancy to Rae and finally as a last effort to sway the jury
01:01:12
the defense held up the police statement made by Rainer against Rae in 1991 quote
01:01:19
Rae said that if I didn't do as he asked of me he would hurt me and he said that
01:01:24
if I ever told he would kill me on November 7th 2014 the jury sat for over five hours to deliberate their verdict
01:01:38
the courtroom packed with the Ross and family on one side and the Tibbs family on the other felt the weight of the
01:01:45
coming conclusion two families from the same community both forever changed the crowd hurried back in to hear the
01:01:55
verdict guilty the Tibbs family sought to loudly as the risin family cried quietly hugging each
01:02:05
other and hugging the prosecutor and police officers involved in the case one month later on December 19th 2014
01:02:15
Jayson Tibbs was sentenced one by one each member of the risin family told Jason Tibbs face-to-face of the pain and
01:02:24
anguish he had brought upon their family Raina's father played a mix up of home videos showing rayna's vibrant life from
01:02:32
beginning to end he finished by telling Jason that all he had left were the memories because of
01:02:38
what he had done quote hopefully now my family can find some semblance of peace from what we've
01:02:45
been through for the last 20 years Laurie Raina's older sister looked at Jason tibs directly in the eye and said
01:02:53
she would have no problem flipping the switch or pulling the trigger on him the defense quickly objected to that
01:03:00
statement but the judge allowed it when it was rain is younger sister Wendy's turn to get up she asked Tibbs if he
01:03:08
loved her so much why did you kill her she said it was because of her faith in God that she could forgive him
01:03:16
but she would not forget the prosecution requested a sentence of 55 years but the
01:03:25
judge gave a sentence of 40 years with a minimum period of 20 years Jason Tibbs will be eligible for parole
01:03:32
in 2030 for the defense immediately lodged an appeal they said that excluding ray McCarty's
01:03:40
indictment for the murder of reina as well as other evidence against ray was unfair to Jason
01:03:46
they also alleged that Ricky Hammonds had received the benefit in exchange for his testimony
01:03:51
despite the prosecution saying he had not the defense claimed ricky had received a reduced sentence
01:03:59
the court held an evidentiary hearing on the two motions and they denied both the
01:04:07
risin family set up a music scholarship in rayna's named the Reina rice and Memorial Scholarship the fund gives one
01:04:14
being member of scholarship every year the details can be found in the show notes in an interview with a local news
01:04:23
station Brenna's father Benny expressed the loud what all those who loved Erina were
01:04:27
thinking quote it really hasn't changed that much we can't hold her in our arms anymore we can't bring her back but
01:04:37
knowing that he will be put away so we can't do this to some other family is relief don't give up don't give up it's
01:04:47
not often you have a case that's 20 years old they get solved but you know tomorrow is a new day and that could be
01:04:54
the day that their cases are solved [Music] you [Music]