00:00:00
Hi Crime Junkies. The story I have for you today is so twisty, so unbelievable that you would swear it was straight out
00:00:08
of a movie and somehow it's all real. Even though this case has barely been reported on outside of Ohio, but when
00:00:17
our reporter started digging in, sources started coming forward with secrets that
00:00:22
they have kept for decades, tips that they have never told police and information that totally reshaped this
00:00:30
story. And that's the story of John and Shelly Markley. December 15th, 1995 is a cold Friday in
00:00:47
Bristolville, Ohio around the time schools are letting out for winter break. But when 15-year-old Ruth Markley
00:00:53
steps off the bus just after 3:00 p.m., she isn't having a happy start to her holidays. You see, one of her dad's
00:01:00
sisters just passed a couple of days ago and the service is tonight. So, being the eldest of five, Ruth's probably
00:01:06
planning to do everything she can to make this day a little easier on her parents, John and Shelly Markley.
00:01:12
Except, when she gets home, her parents aren't there, which never happens. I mean, even if they're 15 minutes late,
00:01:19
they call one of John's sisters who lives nearby to come over and wait for the school bus. And as she looks around,
00:01:25
other things feel a little off as well. Like now she's realizing that the door was unlocked when she came home. She
00:01:31
realizes that her dad's truck was gone. Her mom's purse is still there on top of
00:01:35
the fridge and normally she wouldn't leave home without it or her cigarettes and lighter, which are laying on the
00:01:40
counter. And honestly, more than even the purse, like that is a huge red flag for Ruth. Her mom smokes a pack a day,
00:01:46
she is never without her cigarettes. So, Ruth goes to check her parents' bedroom
00:01:50
and when she gets there, she finds that their clothes for the funeral service have been laid out on the bed. And then
00:01:57
she spots it, the thing that actually sends chills running down her spine. Her dad's gun cabinet is unlocked and
00:02:06
open. And in all her years, Ruth has never seen him open it. So, Ruth calls her aunt, one of John's
00:02:13
sisters, asking if she has seen her parents. Her aunt says no, but she tells her don't freak out just yet because
00:02:20
yesterday your dad mentioned that he wanted to buy a new suit for the funeral. So, you know, him and your mom
00:02:24
probably just went to the mall together. So, she tells Ruth, "Listen, close the door to the gun cabinet and the bedroom
00:02:30
so the other kids can't get up there and call me back if your parents aren't home
00:02:33
soon." So, Ruth hangs up and then she waits, trying to keep herself distracted with cleaning or cooking for her
00:02:41
siblings as they start coming home one by one. But their parents don't come home and
00:02:46
hours pass with no sign of John or Shelly. So, around 5:30 p.m., when everyone has
00:02:53
to leave for the funeral home, Ruth's aunt drives over to pick up the kids. They go to the service, it starts, it
00:02:59
ends and John and Shelly never show. And while we know there is cause for concern
00:03:05
now that you're hearing about it on a Crime Junkie episode, the family actually reasons away their absence.
00:03:12
John particularly had been devastated by his sister's death. I mean, they were twins and he said he felt like he lost
00:03:18
half of himself when she died. So, they think maybe a final goodbye was just too
00:03:25
much for him and he and Shelly went somewhere to clear their heads. So, in the meantime, the whole family
00:03:30
decides to go to John's house to stay with the kids until their parents come home.
00:03:35
But again, they don't come home. When midnight passes, no one can make excuses anymore. John and Shelly were dedicated
00:03:44
parents and they would never leave their kids for this long. So, around 12:30 a.m., Ruth's aunt
00:03:50
reports them missing. About 10 minutes later, police show up to the house to take statements from the family. They
00:03:56
want to know as much as they can about the couple and like the time leading up to their absence.
00:04:02
They learn that John is a long-haul trucker who owns a company, has a couple of employees and Shelly is a
00:04:06
stay-at-home mom. They've been married for 16 years. They have a solid relationship. I mean, at first like
00:04:12
Shelly's parents didn't approve of her marrying John so young, but the families get along like these days. So, Shelly's
00:04:18
dad even works for John now. So, kind of like how you didn't approve when Justin
00:04:22
and I got married at 20, but now you two are besties. Listen, it took me a minute.
00:04:29
I was probably more critical than your parents. But yes, yes, but it all worked out in
00:04:33
the end for me and Justin and you and for the Markleys. Yes. it. And listen, like John and Shelly,
00:04:39
they're normal. They have their arguments like any other couple, but there is nothing salacious to discuss
00:04:45
like within their home, their marriage, whatever. Neither one of them has a criminal record. The house is paid off,
00:04:51
though the original structure, worth noting, burnt down in 1993, but it doesn't seem like that was ever
00:04:56
investigated as like a crime or anything. And look, the family admits that John's made maybe a few enemies
00:05:02
over the years, especially running his own business. His brother told us John didn't start fights, but he would finish
00:05:08
them. Like he knew how to stand up for himself, especially when it came to his business or his money. So, he had had
00:05:15
some disputes with his employees and and even some recently, but even in that there was nothing that they can think of
00:05:22
that was worth hurting him and Shelly over. So, we've talked about this before. I used to work in the
00:05:27
transportation industry and I had to like remember all these trainings that I used to go to about
00:05:32
like trucking can be a really convenient cover for like a lot of shady activity,
00:05:38
especially things like drug trafficking. And we had to like learn how to spot it,
00:05:42
what to do about it, stuff like that. Like my mind instantly goes there when I hear about his company.
00:05:47
And he's missing, right? Listen, the team looked into the route that he drove. So, it was Ohio to Florida and
00:05:52
back and that's apparently a common route for trafficking by truck. And John's sister even brought up like the
00:05:59
drug theory to us. The family didn't consider it at the time, but in the years since, I mean, they've at least
00:06:04
talked about it. Like could John and Shelly have been involved in something shady like that that maybe led to their
00:06:09
disappearance? But ultimately, no, they don't believe John or Shelly were ever involved with
00:06:15
drugs as users, as traffickers and there is no mention in any court records or reporting that we looked at of any kind
00:06:22
of drug connection. Okay. Now, that said, I don't know if police ever like really vetted this and
00:06:29
checked this out. Like our FOIA request to the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office was denied, so we couldn't get access to
00:06:34
their case files and then we never got a response like to multiple requests for an interview that we put in. So, if they
00:06:41
ever fully vetted that or not, I don't know, but it doesn't seem like anyone's ever made a connection to that.
00:06:46
Mhm. Now, leading up to that afternoon, Ruth tells police that she and the other
00:06:50
kids woke up that morning and immediately begged Shelly to let them stay home from school before the
00:06:55
service. But Shelly wasn't having it and she even made a point to tell one of the younger
00:07:00
kids who had a habit of like going to the nurse midday and saying she was sick so her mom would pick her up, like today
00:07:06
is not the day. Like Shelly was super clear, she didn't want to get any calls from anyone or see anyone back home
00:07:13
before school was out. So, Emma mom, have a mom. This feels very much like a don't make me pull this car over
00:07:19
statement. Like I'm already a busy person, this is already a busy day. Don't go rogue.
00:07:25
Yeah. Just help me out here. Right. But I also have to like now that we're talking about this, like
00:07:31
did she know something else? Like was it more than like it's just please don't bother me. Was it like you can't you you
00:07:38
cannot be at the house today. Like something is going on. You need to stay in school. Well, Ruth said that it
00:07:43
seemed normal. Like not like something was up. Like just normal like don't go rogue.
00:07:49
Yeah, like we've just got a lot going on today. So, after getting their marching
00:07:53
orders, one of the kids went to John and Shelly's bedroom to kiss John goodbye. Then Shelly puts all five kids on their
00:08:00
buses and then they went off and they had a normal, uneventful school day all the way up until Ruth came home. And no
00:08:08
one else in the family has anything more to offer. Everyone else says that they didn't see or hear from the couple that
00:08:14
day. So, police have to move on to searching the house, starting with John and Shelly's bedroom.
00:08:20
There, they see what Ruth saw, clothes on the bed, but they also notice that the suit on the bed is new. So,
00:08:29
we they made it to the mall. Like that was the plan. They had already gone and come
00:08:34
back by the time they went missing. Right, but they don't know if that was that day or it could have even been the
00:08:41
day before. I mean, it's not like the aunt knew that they were going to pick the suit up that that morning, you know
00:08:46
what I mean? She was just like grasping for straws. wanted this, that maybe that's where
00:08:50
they went. Yeah, maybe that's why they're MIA. And I kind of think it happened before
00:08:55
that morning, but I'll get to that in a second just based on timeline stuff. Police note the gun cabinet in the room,
00:09:01
too, and then they see a small safe that John and Shelly usually kept in the closet is now lying open on the bathroom
00:09:08
counter. John and Shelly's important papers like their marriage license, kids' birth certificate, they're kind of
00:09:13
scattered across the sink. And police aren't sure what all of that means, but they ask Ruth if anything is
00:09:20
missing from the gun cabinet. Now, Ruth and other family members aren't sure. Like I mean, like I said, Ruth had never
00:09:26
even seen it Right. Just the oldest. Right. John never unlocks it, especially around the kids. But Ruth does think
00:09:32
that her dad had three guns and that two of them, a gun and a rifle, might be missing. And can't police figure out
00:09:40
what's missing through like registration records? So, Ohio doesn't have statewide
00:09:45
gun registration laws in 1995. In fact, they still don't now. We were sent some loan documents that
00:09:52
showed John owned at least three shotguns, but I don't know if those were all he
00:09:57
had or if any of those were the ones that were potentially missing from the cabinet. Right. And but there's also
00:10:03
this safe and all these papers spread out from it. Do we know if any of the like the documents or anything is
00:10:08
missing from there or even money? Well, John's sister mentioned he kept something like $2,400 in there, but
00:10:15
there is no cash when police find the safe, so maybe that was taken. But that's pretty much like all they see in
00:10:21
the room. So then Ruth takes police into the kitchen and shows them the personal
00:10:25
cigarettes that her mom left behind. And then she mentions the two coffee mugs that she found, but those are gone now
00:10:32
because the kids were trying to be helpful before the funeral, so they were like tidying up so their parents could
00:10:36
like come home to a clean house, just get going. So, you know, great kids, but downside is any evidence like
00:10:43
fingerprints or whatever that they could have gotten from those mugs are now probably long gone.
00:10:47
Well, and at this point the whole family's been in the house for like hours. I mean, this
00:10:54
if this was a crime scene, the investigation's already been like compromised. Completely contaminated, right. There's
00:11:00
honestly a good chance both of those cups were used just by John and Shelly. I think the key stuff in the house isn't
00:11:07
what was there, but the stuff that was missing. Like tarps that normally cover John's apple red Corvette in the garage.
00:11:16
John always was meticulous about his cars, especially this one. Like it is his pride and joy, it is his baby. He
00:11:23
would never leave it exposed like that. At least not voluntarily. And also still
00:11:28
missing is John's truck. But once police put an APB out on it, they get a hit almost immediately. Around 5:00 a.m. an
00:11:37
officer working the night shift stops for coffee at a restaurant about 20 minutes away from the Markley house.
00:11:43
And he finds John and Shelly's 1990 red Chevy Silverado sitting in this parking lot. Now it might not have stood out if
00:11:52
not for that APB because it's not like broken into or anything. The doors are locked, nothing about it is strange, but
00:11:59
he notifies other authorities and when police arrive, they see tarps like the ones used to cover John's Corvette
00:12:06
laying in the truck's bed. And when they get inside without the keys by the way cuz the keys
00:12:12
aren't there, they search the cab and they find a cell phone. A family advocate who spoke to us on behalf of
00:12:18
one of the Markley's children told us that the phone actually was Shelly's phone. And this hasn't been reported on
00:12:24
as far as I know, but the advocate said that police also found used cigarette butts and potentially other physical
00:12:31
evidence, though he couldn't speak to exactly what, but it was all found. Something was found in the truck. And
00:12:36
are the cigarettes the brand that Shelly smoked? That is a great question. I would love to know, but I actually
00:12:41
don't. So we did try and like check this, right? I mean, we couldn't get files or like interviews with people
00:12:47
actively working this, but we did get in touch with a former sheriff, a guy named
00:12:52
Tom Altier. And we actually got a completely different story from him. He told us
00:12:58
that there was no physical evidence found, not even fingerprints. So, who is right? Who's wrong? Hard to say. I mean,
00:13:09
police might not want to like play their hand yet or it's possible all these years later someone is mistaken. I mean,
00:13:15
I've seen law enforcement speak incorrectly about their own cases before, especially if it's been a long
00:13:20
time since they've been in it. So I don't know. Or maybe they had stuff but no longer do. The one thing I will
00:13:26
say is like it seems like there is some confusion and it seems to me like something law enforcement should clear
00:13:31
up with the family who deserves some real clarity around this like very important topic.
00:13:37
And it's worth noting, I mean, the family advocate is also hearing this second hand from the family, but I get
00:13:42
the impression that the family might actually know a lot because some of them showed up at that lot where the truck is
00:13:51
right after police did. They had actually figured out where it might be because a niece who wasn't as keyed in
00:13:57
to what was going on told them that she had seen it in that area, but she hadn't
00:14:01
said anything earlier because she hadn't gone back to the Markley house after the
00:14:04
funeral. And remember until then everyone thought that John was so distraught over his sister's death that
00:14:09
he just chose not to go. So she didn't even know anything was wrong with like the first time she saw the truck until
00:14:15
like hours after. And so then she raises the alarm bells when she learns that John and Shelly were officially
00:14:20
considered missing. And at that point the family starts going out in the last area she saw it looking for the truck.
00:14:26
But John's family told us that when they found it with police in the lot, police
00:14:31
let one of them go inside before processing it, which is to me wild. Yeah. And when I talk about like is
00:14:39
there was there evidence, was there not, the family isn't even sure that police ever even dusted for fingerprints. So if
00:14:45
that's true, sure you didn't find anything, but like you also didn't look. Right. And I don't know why you wouldn't
00:14:50
dust for fingerprints because they could tell someone's hands had been all over that truck as soon as they found it.
00:15:05
I am popping on to start a conversation about a case I cannot get it out of my head. A true mind bender. A huge twister
00:15:13
way. You got check all your assumptions. Cuz this is a case that starts like so many before.
00:15:20
Hi Crime Junkies. John's sister told us that when that niece initially saw John's truck, she
00:15:29
was at a Walmart across the street from where the truck was later found. And that's where she first saw it in that
00:15:34
parking lot, Walmart parking lot. Again, didn't stick out to her at first. Now when she saw it, the truck was covered
00:15:41
in a film of dirt, just like really, really muddy. So knowing how John was about his cars,
00:15:49
this niece wrote a message. Like you know how you like draw on the back of the car, it was like "Hi Uncle John."
00:15:54
She was trying to kind of rile him up thinking that he and Shelly were probably inside shopping. And when she
00:15:59
ended up leaving the store, the truck was gone. So again, she like just assumed they went home, everything was
00:16:04
fine. But now it's gone as in someone moved it. Right. And probably just across the
00:16:10
street to the lot where it's eventually found. And John's brother-in-law said that he thinks whoever moved the truck
00:16:16
is involved in John and Shelly's disappearance and that it was moved because that person got scared when they
00:16:23
saw the message that John's niece wrote. Like they didn't think someone would clock the truck as John and Shelly's so
00:16:29
soon. And because it's still only been a day since they were last seen, John's brother-in-law gets on police to check
00:16:36
surveillance footage from the Walmart. Yeah. I mean, like this person is probably on there.
00:16:41
But by the time they do, the tape has been recorded over. A restaurant and a hardware store by the other lot had
00:16:50
their cameras turned off that day, so nothing is on there either. So with the truck leading to nothing but dead ends,
00:16:58
police have to switch gears. They look into John and Shelly's finances to see if there has been any activity. They
00:17:05
learn that on December 14th, the day before John and Shelly went missing, they took out a loan. Not from their
00:17:12
bank, but from a consumer lending company. And it's not a huge amount, a little over $1,600,
00:17:19
but they put down a lot of collateral, like lots of furniture, three of John's shotguns that we mentioned, a lawnmower,
00:17:26
a TV and its accessories. And interestingly, just two and a half months earlier John took out a loan from
00:17:33
the same company, though he didn't put down nearly as much collateral at the time. According to a local Ohio paper
00:17:39
called The Morning Journal, a detective said that the first loan was taken to buy new tires for John's semi. We were
00:17:45
told that John was recovering from a back injury that made it hard for him to work. But John and Shelly seemed to be
00:17:50
keeping up with the payments on his treatments. They always paid off their credit cards on time. And according to
00:17:55
another Ohio newspaper, The Plain Dealer, John also sold their above ground pool recently to help pay for his
00:18:01
sister's holistic medical treatments in Mexico before she died. But even that seemed to be paid off, too. So police
00:18:08
aren't finding any eye-popping debts. But this second loan, no one can figure out why John and Shelly took that one
00:18:17
out or where the money went. Cuz from what we were told when police go through recent transactions in John and Shelly's
00:18:24
checking account at local bank, there are no big deposits that we know of after they get that loan. But there is
00:18:30
an interesting withdrawal. At 10:36 a.m. on the day they went missing, a $1,000 check was cashed from
00:18:40
their account leaving $1,800 in the checking. John's sister said that the check was made out to self, like a
00:18:47
personal check to them that was cashed. So it had to have been one of them who was on the account who cashed that. But
00:18:55
the weird thing was is it wasn't cashed at the branch that they normally go to, which was only like 3 minutes away from
00:19:01
their house. The branch where it gets cashed is about 10 minutes away, which isn't far or anything.
00:19:08
goes missing, even the smallest things that are out of the norm become yeah, become like super suspicious. Yes. So
00:19:15
when police go to this branch and they talk to the teller who cashed the check, they find that she actually knows John
00:19:20
because she works at both locations. And she tells them that that morning John drove up through the drive-thru teller's
00:19:27
window in his pickup. Shelly was sitting next to him. And she signed the check before handing
00:19:33
it to John to put in the carrier. Which for people who are too young to have like used anything other than
00:19:39
mobile banking, that's like a little bucket thing that you It like literally didn't even cross my mind that we had to
00:19:43
explain what that is. Do people not know that you have to like use the tube? I don't I I think that's the thing that we
00:19:49
need to explain. There's like a little tube that goes shh. Anyways. Carriers, you got it. So, anyways, they
00:19:55
send this check and as the teller took it, she looked into John's truck and she saw
00:20:00
that Shelly was sitting between John, who's in the driver's side, and another person, a man, on the passenger side.
00:20:08
And she couldn't see this other guy super well. Just said that he was slim with dark hair, but she said,
00:20:15
"You know, John was acting kind of weird." Like when she handed John the envelope full of cash, he just looked
00:20:20
straight ahead as he drove off. And normally, he would be super friendly to her. Like they would maybe joke around,
00:20:25
but he didn't even say goodbye before he drove off, which to her was odd. And this checkbook, like that they wrote the
00:20:31
check out of, was back at the house or was it found in the truck? Neither. John's sister said the checkbook is
00:20:37
still missing to this day, as is John's wallet. Wait. I know this is the '90s, but banks are
00:20:44
like the one place that has had security cameras since the Stone Age, like forever. And they
00:20:50
usually like pretty good systems for that. This other dude, he has to be on camera, right?
00:20:55
Well, no. So, former Sheriff Altier told us there was surveillance footage from the
00:21:00
bank, but it wasn't clear enough to identify whoever this mystery man is. And so, this this, you know, witness
00:21:09
account from the teller is the last time that John and Shelly Markley are ever seen alive. And where their truck went
00:21:15
after this is unknown. But, John's brother told us that he's got a theory. After news of this sighting spreads,
00:21:28
another relative, John's brother-in-law, realizes that he actually saw John's pickup pass his house a little after
00:21:36
John and Shelly cashed that check. And this brother-in-law lives near a dirt road, which when he hears this, makes
00:21:42
John's brother think about how dirty that truck was when it was found. Dirtier than John would have ever let it
00:21:49
get. So, maybe that is where the pickup truck was driven before his niece spotted it.
00:21:54
So, John's brother drives out to that dirt road. This is about 20 minutes from where the truck was found. And he thinks
00:22:01
the mud that he finds there matches the mud covering the truck. The road's also surrounded by a remote wildlife reserve
00:22:08
area. So, I mean, is this where John and Shelly wound up? Did someone take advantage of
00:22:15
the winter weather to dispose of them when there weren't many people around? If it sounds like by now, the Markleys
00:22:22
are starting to go a bit rogue and like taking the investigation into their own hands,
00:22:27
well, that's because they are. They haven't been impressed with the investigation so far. Yes, police have
00:22:33
pulled some banking records. Yes, they've talked to some neighbors, put out an APB on the truck, but there still
00:22:39
hasn't been a real ground search for John and Shelly yet. And they feel like police don't view John or Shelly,
00:22:45
blue-collar parents, as important enough to search for. So, they start organizing searches of
00:22:51
that area themselves. And not just that area, local lakes, forests, parks. They're doing it all on their own. But
00:22:57
despite all their suspicions about that dirt road, about that remote area, nothing is found in that area or
00:23:05
anywhere else. And Christmas comes and goes without new developments, good or bad. Though,
00:23:12
after Christmas, there is a strange development. It's around 8:00 a.m. the morning after Christmas Day, and John's
00:23:21
brother-in-law, Gene, wakes up to John and Shelly's home phone ringing. He and his wife, another of John's sisters,
00:23:28
have been staying at their house taking care of the kids. That's why they're there that morning. So, Gene's still
00:23:33
half asleep when he picks up the phone, but he hears a man with a muffled, raspy
00:23:38
voice on the other end asking to talk to Ruth. And he tells this guy like, "No, Ruth is asleep." And so then the man
00:23:45
asks for John's sister. Gene obviously assumes this man is talking about like his wife, but she's asleep, too. So, he
00:23:52
offers to pass along a message. Like, "I'll just tell her when she wakes up." But the man threatens to hang up if Gene
00:23:58
doesn't wake up either his wife or Ruth. And in that moment, Gene is like, "Okay, whatever, dude." And he hangs up
00:24:06
before falling back asleep thinking like, "Yes, what happened was weird, but like nothing more."
00:24:12
And nothing else happens the rest of that day. Like he probably doesn't even think about it a ton. But 3 days later,
00:24:17
on December 29th, around the same time, like 8:00 a.m., Gene gets another call at the Markley house from what sounds
00:24:25
like this same man. This call is short. This guy doesn't ask for Ruth or his wife again, but he tells Gene that John
00:24:32
and Shelly are alive and being held in Toronto, and he can bring them home for $10,000.
00:24:40
So, This guy who's now called twice, he's saying that these pretty normal parents from a small town
00:24:48
in Ohio are being held for ransom in Canada. Another country, yeah. Like I'm not I'm
00:24:54
not buying that. I don't know if Gene knows what to believe, but like this is over his head. So, when this guy says
00:25:00
he's going to call back with more information and hangs up, Gene immediately calls 911.
00:25:05
Police tell Gene that they'll get him a recording device to tape any future calls. And basically like, you know, if
00:25:10
anything happens between now and then, just like write everything down. And almost as soon as Gene hangs up with the
00:25:16
police, two more calls come in from this same man. On the first call, the man tells Gene to sell John's Corvette,
00:25:23
which is still in the garage, to raise the money, or John and Shelly are going to be moved to another location the next
00:25:29
day, and he won't keep them safe. Then on the second call, the man claims that on New Year's Eve, John and Shelly
00:25:36
are going to be sacrificed by a cult. Ooh, this escalated. Like Canada, cults, we're everywhere. Yeah,
00:25:44
so what? I know. And I don't know like the details of this or like what exactly he
00:25:49
says about said satanic cult because these calls aren't recorded. But it does seem like this is the first time a cult
00:25:55
comes up, like comes straight out of nowhere. But I bet it freaks him out. And like I think he's really trying to
00:26:01
figure out how he could come up with this money because the next day when the man calls again, Gene tells him,
00:26:05
"Listen, I can't sell John's Corvette. I am not the owner. I don't have the title." But he says,
00:26:12
"Listen, I do have the money. You're going to get it. Like it'll be no problem." Like and I guess the guy is
00:26:16
okay with that. I mean, it doesn't matter I guess how you get the money as long as you do.
00:26:20
And so, this guy calls again the next morning. This is now New Year's Eve. And at this point, police have dropped off a
00:26:28
recording device. So, all of this is on tape. And this guy is asking if Gene has
00:26:33
the money. Now, Gene doesn't actually have the money, but he bluffs. He says yes, and
00:26:39
the man gives him instructions for how, where, when to deliver it. Now, we don't
00:26:45
have the tape of this call, but we do have transcripts of the call that, Brit, I'm going to have you read for us.
00:26:56
Caller. Hello. You have 1 hour to make it to Rally's in front of the Eastwood Mall.
00:27:02
In the coin return, there will be a note. You will follow that note to a T. If I
00:27:07
see anyone following you or see any law, or if there's anything else, the deal will be done and that's it. Cuz at 8:00
00:27:14
tonight, it's all over. Gene. Well, what about John and Shelly? Caller. They will be You will be
00:27:23
inaudible within an hour after you start this. I'm going to run you around a little
00:27:28
bit. Make sure you ain't being followed. After that, you will have them. I got them away from the people last
00:27:35
night. They're in an abandoned house not far from you. Follow me to the T. You will have no
00:27:40
problems. In the coin return, there's a note. Follow the note to the T. You will have
00:27:46
exactly 1 minute from the time you pick up the note to, as you read it, to the time you make the first point.
00:27:52
After that, you will have 2 minutes to the next point. And you will follow it to a T.
00:27:58
inaudible I walk away. I go away. inaudible This is your last chance. You understand?
00:28:08
I know. So, was this like we know this was being recorded. We don't have that, but do we
00:28:14
know if this guy was using any sort of like voice changer or anything when he called?
00:28:20
No, it's not what you would like probably imagine where it's like the Like the woo woo woo woo.
00:28:23
Yeah, no. Um besides like muffling himself, he didn't have anything else as far as I know. And I'm assuming that
00:28:28
Gene didn't like recognize this guy's voice at all. He didn't, no. And according to court
00:28:33
records, there is another family member who at one point thought it could have been a former employee of John. So, like
00:28:39
obviously they're letting everyone hear this. But like long story short, we were
00:28:42
told that that guy was in the hospital when John and Shelly went missing, so he couldn't have been involved.
00:28:47
So, police do try and trace this call, but they can't pinpoint an exact location. All they know is that the call
00:28:56
is made from a town about a half an hour away from John and Shelly's house. So, their best bet at this point is to catch
00:29:04
this guy in the act at the money drop on New Year's Eve. Police get a team ready
00:29:10
to go help Gene in what is probably the wildest sting operation any Ohio PD's ever planned. Gene meets up with police
00:29:17
at a restaurant near the mall that they've decided on as a meeting point. And an officer goes and gets that note
00:29:24
from the change return. Why doesn't Gene get it? Well, I think police want to make sure
00:29:30
this is all legit. Like I don't know if they have questions about Gene at this point, but they want to make sure Gene's
00:29:36
not like hiding the note in his hand or something. Right, like Gene doesn't like find the note because
00:29:41
he had it the whole time. Exactly. I mean, you got to remember, too, this is like a small town sheriff's department.
00:29:46
All of this is probably sounding so unbelievable for them. Like you got to rule out sometimes like the most like
00:29:52
simple things. But they have an officer do it and sure enough the note is there just like the
00:29:59
caller said it would be. According to the Plain Dealer this note is written on ruled notebook paper in like block
00:30:06
letter handwriting and it's full of misspellings. But it gives the next steps which again
00:30:12
I'll have you read for us. Go to Kaufman's entrance next to mall entrance. Park in front next to sidewalk.
00:30:19
Once inside door, go left to sweatshirts with penguin bird on them. Put package between shirts and leave by
00:30:27
same door. Then drive to back of JCPenney entrance. Go into telephone next to restrooms.
00:30:34
Wait 15 minutes. If no law is seen, a boy will give you a note with the address. If any law or anything doesn't
00:30:41
look right, go back and get package because no deal. One I can like close my eyes and see this mall and see the
00:30:49
JCPenney entrance and the and the telephone and everything, but I also love that penguin sweatshirts are the
00:30:54
landmark here. I know. So wait, it sounds out of nowhere, but they're actually a mascot
00:31:00
for a local university. But yeah, still it's it's this everything about this is odd. This is what we're saying. So
00:31:06
police tell Jean to do as the note says. So he walks into the store, leaves this
00:31:11
brown bag full of not money, but dish rags in the middle of a display of penguin sweatshirts. And police staking
00:31:20
out the place watch and wait. A few people come like a teenage girl and they stop and look at the bag, but
00:31:27
no one picks it up. So somehow police make contact with Jean and they tell him to get the bag and
00:31:33
just try this whole drop again. But again, nobody comes to get it. But that's when
00:31:40
police get a call on their car phone from Jean's wife. Apparently, the man just called her and
00:31:48
he's pissed. He knows that Jean brought police, but he's willing to give Jean another
00:31:55
chance to follow his instructions. He wants Jean to leave the bag in the bathroom of a nearby gas station now
00:32:01
instead. So police regroup with Jean and they move the operation over to this gas
00:32:07
station. I'm sorry, this guy's mad because Jean is working with the police. Like are the police even trying to make
00:32:14
it like I don't know what it sounds like out of nowhere, but they're actually a mascot for a local university. But yeah,
00:32:18
still it's it's this everything about this is odd. This is what we're saying. So police tell Jean to do as the note
00:32:21
It feels like they're like about to drive Jean to this gas station. Like he's very very clearly working directly
00:32:28
directly with them and and like it feels obvious because they're like they're like hey, try dropping it again. I don't
00:32:33
know how like covert they're being. But at least in this like when they're headed to this gas station, they do try
00:32:39
and coordinate surveillance and make sure the officers and the cars, especially the one that the caller might
00:32:44
have seen in the mall a lot aren't parked anywhere near the gas station. You know, like
00:32:49
stakeout 101. Super secret, got it. They are somehow watching though, so they're
00:32:53
not that far away. And they're watching as Jean pulls up in front of the bathroom's door,
00:32:59
goes inside with the bag, comes back out and drives away. And they wait. And just a few minutes later, a white
00:33:07
car pulls up with two people inside. The passenger gets out, goes in the bathroom, but police can't see what they
00:33:14
look like because they have a hood pulled over their head. Now when they come back out, they're empty-handed.
00:33:20
This time though at least with the hood down. And what they notice is it's a teenage girl. Except it's the teenage
00:33:27
girl that police saw earlier stopping to look at the bag by the penguin sweatshirts.
00:33:33
Wait, what? Yeah, and they are sure this is the same girl because like the girl at the mall, she is very pregnant. And
00:33:41
when the white car pulls around to pick her up, police recognize the driver too.
00:33:46
They saw him at the same store with the girl when she came back a second time to
00:33:51
look at the bag. And this was less than a half an hour ago. So the girl gets into this man's car, then police
00:33:57
surround it to arrest them both. They identify their suspects as 45-year-old Steven Durst and his 18-year-old
00:34:05
daughter Deanna. It turns out Steven has a history with the Markley family and it isn't pretty.
00:34:12
Police learn that Steven was one of John's employees at the trucking company. He and two of his younger kids
00:34:18
actually lived with John and Shelly for a few months while he was going through a divorce. Per a court order, if the
00:34:25
Markleys hadn't taken them in, Steven would have lost custody of his kids because he was on the road so much. But
00:34:31
he ends up getting kicked out and fired after this money dispute. John may have like withheld some of his last paycheck
00:34:38
because he suspected Steven of selling off some fuel on a truck route which Steven denies. He claims he left the
00:34:45
house on his own when he got another job. And how recently did all this go down? So Steven lived with the Markleys
00:34:51
from October of 1993 to June of 1994. And police learned from the family that Steven had come back to the house a few
00:34:59
times asking for either his job back or for the money that he thought John owed him. And John's sister told us that one
00:35:05
of those times the argument spilled from the house to the garage and Steven threatened to beat John with a 2x4 that
00:35:13
he found there in the garage. So when like hearing all this, police probably feel like they have a clear
00:35:20
motive when they charge Steven with extortion. And does Steven's voice match the mystery caller's voice?
00:35:27
If you ask one of John's brothers, yes. And does he happen to look like the guy that the bank teller saw in the truck
00:35:35
with John and Shelly the morning they went missing? because I don't think they ever get
00:35:40
around to showing her a photo. What? Yeah, so this is like a kind of side thing, but remember how I said that some
00:35:46
of the Markleys started going like kind of rogue during their investigation? Yeah.
00:35:50
Well, some of the family told us that one of their like brothers-in-law paid that bank teller a visit and implied
00:35:56
that she knew more than she was saying which like freaked her out. So then she stopped speaking to police and then a
00:36:02
few months later she moved out of state. And so I don't think police ever followed up with her and we tried to
00:36:07
reach out to her, but like we haven't heard back from her yet. So everything is still suspicious like
00:36:12
teller ID or not. And it feels like they have a strong case against him for extortion,
00:36:19
but do they have him on abduction? TBD. Big your question mark. Police question Deanna who tells them
00:36:27
that she didn't know anything about being involved in an extortion plan. She just did as she was told by her dad.
00:36:34
Police seem to believe her because they end up releasing her and focusing their case on Steven. On January 3rd, 1996, he
00:36:42
pleads innocent to his extortion charge and he gets out on bond. And he agrees to take a polygraph for police
00:36:48
ostensibly to try and clear his name. Okay, but like what's his story? Like he just happened to be in both places? Yes,
00:36:56
basically, yeah. Steven says that he takes his kid to the mall every weekend and New Year's Eve was no different and
00:37:02
then after that Deanna had to use the bathroom, so he pulled over at the gas station where they ended up getting
00:37:08
arrested. So yeah, him being there is just one big weird coincidence. Got it. And if I were police, I wouldn't buy
00:37:16
that. Like if Steven's lying about the extortion, then like what else is he lying about? So they're probably hoping
00:37:22
that this polygraph, the one he agreed to, will solve John and Shelly's case. So here's what they asked. I actually
00:37:30
have like the questions and answers. I put it in your folder. Okay. He was asked, were you involved in
00:37:36
John and Shelly Markley's disappearance in any way? He says, nope. Did you see John and Shelly Markley
00:37:44
after they were reported missing? Nope again. Do you know where John and Shelly are
00:37:49
now? No. Did you know in advance that John and Shelly Markley had disappeared? Last answer, no. Okay. And
00:37:59
Drum roll, please. Steven fails miserably. The polygraph indicates deception on each answer. Oh, so not like
00:38:13
Oh, no, no, no. In like he answered no, but like question marks on if it was deceptive.
00:38:18
Each one. A clear sign to police that he's likely a liar, but still not enough to charge him with
00:38:25
the abductions. And even by the time the extortion case goes to trial, police still haven't
00:38:30
found any solid evidence connecting him to John and Shelly's disappearance. They
00:38:34
also still haven't found any sign of Shelly or John. Even by the time Steven's convicted of extortion on
00:38:41
August 29th, 1996. And he gets sentenced to four to 10 years in prison. Steven has always maintained his
00:38:50
innocence in John and Shelly's disappearance and on all charges including extortion. He still claims
00:38:57
that he just happened to be in the wrong places at the wrong time. But this is where things get a little spicy. A
00:39:04
source sent us recent audio of a man. This source claims that man is Steven, but we have not been able to confirm.
00:39:13
And in this audio, this man seems to be admitting to extortion. On the recording, this guy says that he got
00:39:20
four to 10 years because he threatened a couple for money he claims they owed him.
00:39:26
But he doesn't mention a ransom plot or actually say John and Shelly's names specifically. I have a feeling you can't
00:39:33
tell me this, but who sent us this audio? You're right, I can't. They only would talk to us on the condition of
00:39:39
anonymity. And they did give us the audio though, and it is wild to listen to. He may owe me $10,000.
00:39:48
And it went on for like 4 years and he didn't pay me. So, finally I got Then you know, I'm
00:39:56
going to get paid or I'm going to break his legs. So, about another 2 or 3 months went on
00:40:03
and I told him I was coming over. So, I came over and I told him again, "I'm going to
00:40:10
break his [ __ ] legs. I'm going to break his [ __ ] legs." And he recorded it. Okay.
00:40:17
That is wild, but I know. He never mentions the Markleys. I know. And And listen, that was just a clip of
00:40:25
it. The source actually asked about them specifically and the man being recorded
00:40:31
says, quote, "That's part of it." end quote. But then he goes on to claim that police
00:40:38
framed him for the ransom plot because they didn't have any leads or suspects. Now, it's interesting when our team
00:40:46
looked at at Steven and like who he was then and now because he has racked up a few criminal charges over the years.
00:40:55
Right. Now, to be fair, a lot of them are traffic citations, but three of the more serious charges occurred right
00:41:01
before John and Shelly disappeared. Rape, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. Now, the rape charge seems to
00:41:10
have been dismissed the complainant failed to appear in court, but more recently in 2019, Steven faced a
00:41:17
domestic violence charge. We reached out to Steven and his family members for a response to these allegations. He ended
00:41:24
up serving just 4 years of his sentence, so he is a free man, but we haven't gotten a response from anyone and we
00:41:31
couldn't speak to DeAnna, who I had the most questions for because she passed away in 2022. But did police ever circle
00:41:39
back to her or talk to anyone else around him? Like, where was Steven the day that John and Shelly went missing?
00:41:49
What's his alibi? Was anyone willing to talk after he went to prison, like while
00:41:54
he was locked up? That's what I'm saying. I have all the questions for DeAnna, who we know was with him.
00:41:58
Yeah. At least on the day of the extortion. I know police definitely tried to talk to her over the years, but
00:42:04
without success. And because current investigators didn't speak with us or share the case files, we don't know what
00:42:11
their investigation into Steven looked like beyond that, besides that they ultimately weren't able to charge him
00:42:16
with anything except for extortion. So, just to be clear, none of this means Steven had anything to do with John and
00:42:23
Shelly's disappearance. And just because he was found guilty of one crime doesn't
00:42:28
mean he's guilty of another. But it tells you why John's family and many others are suspicious of him or at least
00:42:37
some family members are. Others actually think he's not the most likely culprit.
00:42:44
On December 3rd, 1998, Shelly's mom ends up writing a letter to Steven in prison
00:42:52
telling him that she believes he's innocent. Let me read it for you. To tell you the truth, I really believe
00:43:00
you have been made someone's scapegoat. I do not trust the Markleys at all and feel they are behind this whole mess. I
00:43:08
talked to the sheriff, she's talking about Altier, a few days ago and he said he feels I am 100%
00:43:15
correct. She goes on to say that the Markleys have done a lot to their side of the
00:43:22
family, like keeping them from seeing the kids. Cuz after Shelly and John disappeared, John and Shelly's families
00:43:28
sort of turn on one another. I think in large part because of the lack of answers in this case. I mean, they don't
00:43:35
know what happened to their loved ones and without answers to fill in the gaps, it leaves a lot of room for you to try
00:43:41
and fill them in yourselves. And I've seen this in more than one case where like when a couple goes missing, like
00:43:47
there just ends up being this huge divide. Now, when we asked former Sheriff Altier if he ever investigated
00:43:53
members of the Markley family, he told us that he checked out a few theories, but that nothing came of that, at least
00:44:01
while he was on the case. So, when Shelly's mom says that Steven is innocent, is she thinking like of
00:44:09
everything? In her mind, yes. And for the time, at least, John's family begins to suspect someone else entirely.
00:44:17
They begin to suspect that the person behind this all is Shelly. I'm sorry, what? I know. And they
00:44:25
suspect this after learning that her marriage to John may not have been as solid as they all thought.
00:44:34
John's brother told us that right before she and John went missing, Shelly came over needing to talk. And she confessed
00:44:42
that she wanted to leave John. She wasn't happy anymore, but she didn't feel like she could. John's sister said
00:44:48
that may have been because when Shelly told their mom the same thing, she warned Shelly that if she tried to leave
00:44:54
with the kids, John had enough money to fight her until she had nothing left. So, some Markley family members wonder
00:45:01
if Shelly worked with Steven to get rid of John so that she could start a new life. Okay, then where is Shelly?
00:45:11
Well, according to members of John's family at the time, potentially being hidden by other family members. His
00:45:18
brother-in-law told us Shelly's dad, I guess, drove down to Florida right around when she and John went missing
00:45:25
and that felt strange to him. Like, why wouldn't you want to be close as this investigation is unfolding kind of
00:45:31
thing? Mhm. But again, I think your mind is just looking for any kind of connection
00:45:35
and in that moment, even sometimes logic can go out the window when you're just like desperate for answers. But the
00:45:41
other thing that felt a little off to him, too, is John's brother told us that in 1999, he visited Shelly's brother's
00:45:48
condo. He lived out in Vegas at the time. And in '99, he's like trying to explore
00:45:53
this this theory, right? Like, did did her family help her disappear? So, this is the specific reason he goes.
00:45:59
Right, but like Vegas is iconically not Florida. No, he lives out west, but again, like,
00:46:05
did she go to her her parents and then go there? Like, looking for anything at this point.
00:46:09
he says when Shelly's brother let him in, he was surprised to see this bachelor's place spotless.
00:46:18
Which is kind of like old school thinking, like men can be clean, too. But he's thinking in his mind, like he
00:46:23
knows Shelly was super tidy and apparently her brother took 15 minutes to let him in. So, John's brother had
00:46:31
this feeling that Shelly's brother was hiding something. Or someone. Exactly. Now, we got to talk to Shelly's
00:46:39
brother. He remembers this visit, too, and he told us that theory is ridiculous. Of course, Shelly wasn't
00:46:45
there. And he's like, "I can clean a one-bedroom apartment perfectly fine on my own, thank you very much." And in the
00:46:52
years since, most of the Markleys have let that theory go. Mainly because they always knew Shelly to be the best mom.
00:47:02
And, you know, if that theory is what happened, like the whole goal would be that so she could be with the kids,
00:47:07
right? Like hasn't had any contact with the kids in how long? Like 30 years. They're like, "There's no
00:47:13
way she would ever ever do that." Especially if her goal in all of this was to get the kids.
00:47:20
get the kids. Right. Okay, so the family like isn't on the Shelly train anymore, but are they
00:47:25
still like back to side-eying Steven or do they think like a secret third option
00:47:31
is what happened? So, yes to side-eying Steven. Like, he is and always has been the Markleys' prime
00:47:38
suspect, even when their theories have gone a little off the rails. And like I said, now, I mean, apart from a few
00:47:43
outliers, most of them don't suspect Shelly any longer. Like Like I said, too much time has passed without us hearing
00:47:48
the kids or whatever. But just because they're not all pointing the finger at Shelly, that doesn't mean the family
00:47:55
finger-pointing has stopped. Because when we asked Shelly's brother what he thought happened, he gave us a
00:48:03
whole new theory. And like I We were really keen to ask him because like his family hasn't been in the press nearly
00:48:09
as much as John's side. And it was so interesting, this is where like this huge rabbit hole opened up because he
00:48:15
didn't point the finger at Steven. He didn't point the finger at the Markleys. Instead, his theory gave way to an
00:48:23
entirely new suspect. But for you to understand that, you have to get the history lesson on their
00:48:31
family that he gave us. So, tell me if if anything gets confusing cuz I'm about to like drop some like family
00:48:36
connections and names. Okay, got some lore coming up. Yes. So, when he and Shelly were kids, their
00:48:43
mom had an affair with I'm going to go slow here, their aunt's father-in-law. Okay.
00:48:51
the aunt's husband's dad. So, not Yeah. Not blood related in any way, Right. but very very messy. Oh, yeah.
00:49:03
So, back in the day, their mom is having this affair. Mom was planning on leaving
00:49:09
their dad to be with this guy. But on November 19th, 1977, said father-in-law, who she was having
00:49:18
an affair with, yeah, he is found dead inside his car parked on these railroad tracks, shotgun blast
00:49:25
to the head. Now, Shelly's dad gets convicted of the murder and their mom divorces him while he is like away
00:49:38
in prison. Except he might have been wrongly convicted. What? I know. Because Shelley's brother claims that this other
00:49:48
guy, father-in-law, right? Affair guy. His own son killed him. And he claims that he did this because
00:49:56
the son didn't want to lose his inheritance if his dad left like their family for Shelley's mom.
00:50:05
So he shot and killed his own father. Is is the claim. Wait, so how does he know this? Because
00:50:14
the Okay, so guy who allegedly killed his dad his son Grandson of Of affair guy.
00:50:21
Of affair guy. He told Shelley's brother in like this drunken confession. So this this
00:50:28
grandson or son, whatever, like the one who's telling brother, he claims that one night he was at home or whatever. He
00:50:34
heard what he thought were fireworks in the garage. But when he went to look, he
00:50:38
saw his grandfather's body sprawled out on a tarp. And he says basically his dad framed
00:50:45
Shelley's dad. Okay. And at the time when he first hears this drunken confession, Shelley's brother
00:50:51
thought it was drunken nonsense. But then years later, he says his mom got a hold of the court records.
00:51:01
And she claimed that they had been tampered with. Like any mention of affair guy's son had
00:51:08
been taken out. Shelly's brother doesn't know exactly how or why they had been changed, but he
00:51:15
remembers that his mom only like noticed this because she still had original documents to compare the new ones to.
00:51:22
So she could see that there had been like the documents had been like doctored or changed.
00:51:27
are discrepancies, yeah. And he said that made him go back to like thinking about that drunk confession. Like wait,
00:51:35
maybe that was real. So that's that's the family history. Shelley's brother believes that his mom may have shared
00:51:44
her theory about all of this with Shelley. And if she did, did John overhear? Did Shelley tell John?
00:51:52
Basically John could have caught wind of that and then maybe convinced Shelley to
00:51:57
extort the real who they're saying is the real killer. So I know. We thought that this very normal
00:52:07
Midwest couple, parents had originally been abducted and held for ransom by a cult in Canada.
00:52:15
In Canada. Forgot about that part. That's how wild it was. But now we think And like in the middle of that there's
00:52:22
also an an extortion plot. But now we think that John and Shelley were also extortionists? Oh yeah, I
00:52:31
didn't even like layer that on top of one another. Well I don't know if I don't know if we think it like There's
00:52:37
like extortion inception right now. Shelley's brother thinks it's a possibility. Okay.
00:52:44
Because he says here's the thing. So he says he remembers John as someone who would do anything to get ahead,
00:52:50
especially financially. And that Shelley kind of went along with anything he asked her to do. And he's not the only
00:52:56
one who thinks John wasn't totally above board. A source close to the family mentioned
00:53:03
that there has been speculation. Remember I mentioned that their like original house burned down like back in
00:53:09
the day? Yeah. So there's some speculation that that wasn't an accident, that maybe the
00:53:14
fire was set intentionally. Like insurance fraud. Yes. So to Shelley's brother this theory doesn't feel like a stretch,
00:53:26
especially after he alleges bank records showed a $30,000 withdraw from his uncle's account at some point. Okay.
00:53:37
Actually honestly this feels like a whole other episode. It feels like a limited series.
00:53:43
Like it I I am trying to make this as simple as possible, but nothing about this case is simple. And I'm sure a ton
00:53:49
of this might be able to be cleared up in the police records, but like We don't have them. We don't have police records.
00:53:55
We don't have I don't even have the bank records to verify anything that like that there were these big withdraws. And
00:54:00
the uncle and the cousin, so like son accused of killing his own dad. Mhm. And then his son who drunkenly like
00:54:10
opened up this can of worms, yeah. They're all gone. As are Shelley's parents. So I can't even talk to them to
00:54:17
try and like run this down. Okay, but I need you to break some of this down for me. Like if this
00:54:24
$30,000 withdraw happened, where did it go? Like it It's not like it went to John and
00:54:32
Shelley. They were taking out like these like consumer loans and like kind of frequently it seems.
00:54:39
The only thing like if I like the only thing I can think of is like because they weren't in a bad financial spot
00:54:45
like I don't know if police dug in enough to see like oh, I see you paid your credit card bill and I see that it
00:54:49
came out of your checking. Like were was everything paid off and they were in such a good spot because they
00:54:54
had an influx of money and then that was going away and they were like trying to
00:54:58
get more. I think but none of the theories really explain the loans. Well that's what I'm saying. Like the
00:55:03
only way the loans are explained to me is if like the $30,000 they'd run out of that.
00:55:08
And they needed to like get more money. So they're getting the loans. What if they went back, tried to extort for more
00:55:15
money and this person realized that like oh, this is never going to end. I mean this is all this is such like a
00:55:21
stretch. I'm just like trying to make sense because you're right. Like if you if you got $30,000, why are you taking
00:55:25
out a $1,600 like payday loan? After like a $1,000 Like there was another loan before that, too.
00:55:32
But I always come back to like what is the Occam's razor in this story? The most likely answer is probably the
00:55:38
truth. And yeah, we have we still have Steven, the guy who was convicted of extorting the family
00:55:45
with an abduction scheme after they were likely killed, at least in the minds of
00:55:51
their families. Because they lose hope of finding them alive. And on April 28th, 1999, John and
00:55:58
Shelley are declared legally dead. And while sporadic searches continue whenever a tip is called in, nothing
00:56:05
ever ends up panning out. Though I think a few of the tips are interesting, at least worth like talking about a little.
00:56:11
According to FBI documents in April 2005, a quote reliable source calls law enforcement claiming that John and
00:56:19
Shelley were buried in a stretch of wildlife area. Interestingly, the same wildlife area
00:56:26
off that dirt road that John's brother checked out in those very early days. And on October 24th, 2006,
00:56:35
it says a source, could be the same one, but all the documents are like pretty heavily redacted. But a source gives
00:56:41
more detail on the burial. Though we I don't know what that detail is specifically. And in the days that
00:56:47
follow, FBI cadaver dogs scour the wildlife area leaving no stone unturned. And even though both dogs have a strong
00:56:55
reaction to some area in there they don't end up actually alerting on human remains. And because everything is
00:57:04
redacted, we have no idea who called in this tip. We don't. The family advocate we talked to has a guess though. They
00:57:13
think it could have been Diana because police seem to have spoken to this source multiple times. But again, so
00:57:20
much redaction, I don't know for sure. We did get some screenshots from a source who sent them on the condition of
00:57:26
anonymity. I'm like all this cloak and dagger is just like So much, I know. But we got some screenshots of messages with
00:57:33
a relative of Diana's from 2015. And this relative claimed to our source that Diana was having
00:57:40
like this crisis of conscience then. And she admitted that while she just did as
00:57:45
her dad asked initially with like that bag pick up, she realized after the extortion saga that he had done quote
00:57:53
something really bad. Something he had planned. Something he had premeditated. And she was so scared for her life and
00:58:00
her child's life that she kept quiet all these years. But then she called in this tip in 2005,
00:58:07
basically saying that she believed John and Shelley were buried somewhere in the
00:58:10
woods behind this cemetery. Now our source did make sure that this information got reported to police in
00:58:17
2015. And it seems like police looked into it because they said publicly that there were updates in the case that
00:58:23
year. And former Sheriff Altier confirmed that Diana came forward to police a few times with information they
00:58:29
investigated. Although he said he couldn't elaborate on what exactly. But she always ended up ghosting or
00:58:37
backtracking. And when we asked if that information was consistent with the suspicion that Steven was involved in
00:58:44
John and Shelley's disappearance Sheriff Altier said yes. Okay, but then where are they?
00:58:52
That is the question police are constantly chasing. It's like when one lead fizzles, another one will pop up.
00:58:59
Like in 2006, they get another tip that sends them to a rental property that belongs to one of John's sisters and her
00:59:06
husband. And the husband, who would be John's brother-in-law, he told us that a neighbor saw him like digging there
00:59:14
around at the time that John and Shelley went missing. And so she told her friend
00:59:17
who worked as a dispatcher at the sheriff's department. So then police came and like dug around their septic
00:59:23
tank. They didn't find anything. But they dug around the septic tank. Did they look inside the septic tank? No,
00:59:30
they didn't actually look inside the septic tank. I don't know why, but it stood out to other people because
00:59:37
recently in 2024 police went back to that property with the sister and the husband's permission to do just that.
00:59:44
Again, didn't find anything. And when we asked former Sheriff Altier if said brother-in-law was ever a suspect, he
00:59:50
told us that some names came up that police worked to eliminate, but that was all. Now, family members
00:59:57
told us that John had disputes with his brother-in-law, some involving land, which one sibling describes as like
01:00:05
not disputes, but they describe it as a feud. But they also said like in the same
01:00:09
breath that they don't believe the brother-in-law had anything to do with John and Shelly's disappearance. And
01:00:13
when we talked to him directly, John's brother-in-law told us that yeah, like him and John had their spats,
01:00:18
but overall they actually had a good relationship. And he swore to God on his life, on his kids, and his family that
01:00:25
he did not kill John. He claims that one of the officers gave him inside information during one of those searches
01:00:32
they were doing. He was told that they got a tip about Steven saying that a few years after John and Shelly went
01:00:38
missing, a family member came forward saying they drove Steven out to that wildlife area to move John and Shelly's
01:00:47
pickup truck, likely to the Walmart where that niece saw it. Wait, this is a family member of Steven's or family
01:00:54
member of John and Shelly helped move it? A family member of Steven's. Okay. And John's brother actually heard
01:01:01
something similar though, like he hadn't even reported it to police. About a year
01:01:05
ago, his ex-wife called him and said that she had started hearing rumors around town because
01:01:10
she actually lived in the town where Steven was from. And the rumor she was hearing was that
01:01:14
day John and Shelly went missing, Steven asked a friend for a ride home from somewhere. She didn't know exactly
01:01:19
where. And when the friend got there, Steven was covered in blood and said that he needed help moving the pickup.
01:01:26
So, the two of them moved it back to the parking lot where it was found. And whether he's friend or family, maybe
01:01:32
this guy could potentially also be the source of those tips that led to that 2006 search
01:01:38
of the wildlife area. Which is great if he is, don't know if it changes anything
01:01:44
if he isn't, but John and Shelly aren't in the wild wildlife area. I don't even I don't know if I I don't
01:01:53
know if you can say that with like as much certainty. No, they have not found them in their searches, but like so much
01:01:59
of rural Ohio, the area we're talking about is huge. Like it's like rural Indiana. We're
01:02:05
right next door. Like it can be really, really vast. Yeah, and they can't search all of it,
01:02:10
which is why what police are asking for, what they need, are tips to narrow down
01:02:15
a search area. And it's possible they already have something. From what we gathered from our FOIA denial, we were
01:02:22
told there are active updates on the case. I don't know what those are exactly, but the more information that
01:02:28
can be shared with law enforcement right now, the better. Cuz this December will
01:02:33
mark 30 years since John and Shelly went missing. And even though a lot of people
01:02:37
we've mentioned in this episode are gone, someone out there listening knows something. Something that could bring
01:02:43
closure to five kids who have been waiting way too long for their parents to come home.
01:02:48
Nothing is too small to share. Like even if you saw the red Chevy Silverado truck
01:02:53
that John and Shelly drove in the Warren, Ohio area on December 15th, 1995, or maybe you spotted something off near
01:03:02
their house in Bristolville, you could help solve this case by contacting the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office at
01:03:09
330-675-2540. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website
01:03:17
crimejunkiepodcast.com. You can also follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast. We'll be back next
01:03:23
week with a brand new episode.