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Phoebe Judge: The beginning of this episode has
depictions of violence and may not be suitable
00:00:05
for everyone.
Teri Knight: Hi, I'm Teri Knight, and two years ago
my children Sarah and Philip Gehring,
00:00:12
I don't know if you remember the case? They
were murdered. They don't deserve to be buried
00:00:18
on the side of a road. I don't deserve to
have them buried on the side of the road,
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and we need to find them and bring them home.
Phoebe Judge: In 2003, Teri Knight's children,
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14-year-old Sarah and 11-year-old Philip,
were murdered by their father, Manuel Gehring.
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Teri Knight and Manuel Gehring were divorced
and in the middle of a custody dispute. The two
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children were spending Fourth of July with
their father in Concord, New Hampshire.
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Instead of returning the children to their mother
at the end of the visitation, Manuel Gehring shot
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them and crossed several states before burying
their bodies. He was arrested one week later in
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California and confessed to the murders. He
began to try to help investigators find the
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children's bodies, but he didn't appear to know
exactly where he'd buried them. Law enforcement
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transported him in a van across the Midwest,
and Gehring tried to describe visual markers,
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but they weren't specific. Really just
'somewhere along the Ohio turnpike.' The search was unsuccessful, and Manuel
Gehring killed himself awaiting trial.
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Teri Knight continued searching for
the bodies of Sarah and Philip. She drove 650 miles on Midwestern roads through
Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois, pleading
00:01:35
with the public along the way to help her.
Stephanie Dietrich: She was asking for the
00:01:39
public's help in any type, any way they
could do it. Whether they were psychic,
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whether they could pour over maps,
whether they could drive that route... She would take any help she could get.
Phoebe Judge: This is Stephanie Dietrich.
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Stephanie has lived in Northeastern Ohio
her whole life. She knows the roads and
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intersections. And back in 2005, she read
about Teri Knight's press conference in her
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local paper. It was on the front page. And right
then, Stephanie decided she would try to help.
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[Music comes in.]
Stephanie Dietrich: I didn't know I was supposed to sign up for a search
group. I just thought you do what you can,
00:02:15
where you can. And that's what I did.
Phoebe Judge: Stephanie Dietrich speaks very practically about the whole thing. Teri
Knight asked for the public's help. And as
00:02:27
Stephanie put it, "Am I not the public?" Her own
kids were grown and had moved out of the house.
00:02:33
She'd been at her job at Acme Grocery for a long
time, and was starting to cut back on her hours.
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I asked if she told Teri Knight she was going
to start searching, and Stephanie said, "No,
00:02:45
I didn't want to disappoint her." I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal.
[Music up to full volume for a few seconds.]
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Initially, the FBI didn't release a lot
of information to the public about where
00:03:06
Manuel Gehring said he'd buried his children's
bodies. But when years passed and Teri Knight
00:03:12
had taken her plea directly to the public for
help, the FBI decided to release as much of
00:03:18
that information as possible, including a crude
map that Gehring had drawn of the location.
00:03:23
Stephanie Dietrich: Well, he gave them a
list of about 10 things that they would
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find on the property.
[Music fades out.] Like a pile of dried firewood. Some slabs of
irregular cement. Six-foot tall grass. There
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was a pump with a green handle. There was a
chain link fence. And when you get out and
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start looking for this stuff, it's amazing.
The places that have all these same things.
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Phoebe Judge: Stephanie thought these
markers sounded like they could be in a part of the woods outside Akron she knew
pretty well, off Copley Road. She'd often
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take her dog out there and walk around.
Stephanie Dietrich: Oh my God, this dog.
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Phoebe Judge: What was the dog's name?
Stephanie Dietrich: Ricco. He was a boxer Rottweiler.
Phoebe Judge: Big, or —?
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Stephanie Dietrich: Big.
116 pounds of pure muscle. Phoebe Judge: She convinced her family and
friends to go out with her and Ricco whenever
00:04:22
they could to help look. And she would
call the local police departments often,
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giving them tips on where to investigate,
pieces of land that she thought looked right.
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Stephanie Dietrich: In fact, the FBI did
send an evidence recovery team down there.
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And we went back that afternoon. I didn't
know they'd been there. And I was like,
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man, Ricco didn't run through here and
make all these tracks through here. And so I called them and they were like, "Yeah, we
were there today. It's not the right place."
00:04:50
And I was like, "But did you see this? And did you
see this?" And the lady was real snotty. And she
00:04:54
said, "We're telling you it's not the right place.
You're welcome to check it yourself." Click.
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And then I was pissed. I was like,
okay, I'm going to do this. So — Phoebe Judge: The police were giving you a hard
time. Why are you doing this, ma'am? This is —
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Stephanie Dietrich: Right, right. I mean, they
weren't telling me to get off of anybody's
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property. There was never any incidents like that.
But when you get a man detective they're like,
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"Why are you doing this? Are you
a prison junkie? Did you write to him in prison? What interest do you have in
doing this?" They just didn't understand it.
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A lot of people don't understand it. I just
think it's the way that some people are wired.
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[Music comes in.]
People that understand it, understand it. And people that don't, never will.
Phoebe Judge:
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She started seeking out tips and information from
the internet, and would print out any articles she
00:05:42
could find. She put them in a folder and kept
them in her car. And these tips, combined with
00:05:48
her knowledge of the area, guided her search.
Stephanie Dietrich: I went out to what I thought
00:05:52
was going to be the place and pulled in. And
I looked around and see these no trespassing
00:06:00
signs. And that didn't really bother me,
and got out with Ricco and just started
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walking around because it was property that
was owned by a construction company. And
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it was just, there was nothing on at the
time. We could just poke straight in there.
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And basically, I was there so often that
the man from the towing company across the
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street from that property pulled in in his
tow truck one day and asked me if we had
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bought it, bought that property.
Phoebe Judge: How big of an area were you searching?
Stephanie Dietrich:
00:06:33
Well, it was probably an acre, a few
acres. But I only stayed in, I mean, maybe a two-acre area.
Phoebe Judge: And when you
00:06:43
would look, would you let Ricco lead you on
the leash or would you be digging around?
00:06:48
[Music fades out.]
Stephanie Dietrich: Ricco, when we would go for walks and stuff, not just looking for these
kids, but — either he's watching out for me or I'm
00:06:57
watching out for him, but we don't ever both just
wander off. I can't explain it, but I could just
00:07:06
wander anywhere I want to and know that dog had
his eye on me. So, I felt safe where I was at.
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I would follow anywhere he wanted to go to.
Phoebe Judge: And when you were walking around,
00:07:21
would you carry a shovel with you?
Would you be digging, or would you just be looking down at the ground?
Stephanie Dietrich: I would only dig a
00:07:29
couple shovel-fulls. I mean, I have
a note where I stuck it in a hole, that says, "Please don't fill in this
hole." And then I gave them the website for,
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"If you don't believe what I'm doing here, check
this." And I came back and there was a dirt bike
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had ridden over my note, but —
Phoebe Judge: Because you didn't, you wanted to not have to retrace your steps.
Stephanie Dietrich: Right. But I didn't want to
00:07:50
leave somebody's property with
big holes in it either. But. Phoebe Judge: Why did you think that
Ricco could search? [Chuckles.] I mean,
00:07:59
was he trained in any way to do this?
Stephanie Dietrich: No, he just always went
00:08:01
everywhere with me. I mean, everywhere I went,
Ricco went. And so, it just made sense that
00:08:08
if I was going to be out outside, you know...
Phoebe Judge: You weren't hiding the fact that you
00:08:12
were looking. Your mother knew, your friends knew.
Did everyone know that you were out doing this?
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Stephanie Dietrich: Yes.
Phoebe Judge: Did anyone ever say, "What in the world are you doing? Why are you spending so —?"
Stephanie Dietrich: Well, I mean, I pretty much
00:08:29
do whatever I want to anyhow. And it works out
for me. I don't get into too much trouble. But
00:08:35
I don't want to offend people. And I don't like, when I go stomping through, breaking down
branches or climbing your fence or snipping your —
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I try not to leave any trace I was here.
Phoebe Judge: They didn't make, no one made
00:08:54
fun of you or got creeped out and said,
"Hey, yeah, that's enough. Stop it." None of your family or friends?
Stephanie Dietrich: Well,
00:09:00
they were a little worried I was obsessed
with it, but... Phoebe Judge: Were you?
00:09:05
Stephanie Dietrich: Oh yeah. Yeah.
[Music comes in.] Phoebe Judge: Stephanie began spending more and
more time searching on Copley Road. Sometimes she
00:09:16
would take her book and a lawn chair out to a spot
she was searching and just sit there for a while
00:09:20
in between her digging, letting Ricco roam around.
She started giving away her work shifts at Acme
00:09:26
Grocery, so she'd have more time to search.
Stephanie Dietrich: I can remember calling, I
00:09:32
would call... I was supposed to be at work
at like 10 a.m. And we went out there eight
00:09:36
o'clock in the morning. I already had my work
clothes on and stuff. I called my manager, Jeff,
00:09:42
I said, "Jeff I'm coming in, but I got to go down
the FBI first. Okay?" And he's like, "Okay."
00:09:47
Phoebe Judge: By November, she'd been looking
for four months, and she started to slow down.
00:09:53
Stephanie Dietrich: We had all been together for
Thanksgiving the week before. And somebody asked
00:09:58
me at Thanksgiving if I was still looking for
those kids. And I hadn't been out in a while.
00:10:01
And I said, "No, but I got to find them."
Phoebe Judge: She'd exhausted every inch of
00:10:05
the woods off Copley Road. She searched
other places in the area, but had no luck.
00:10:11
So she moved her search to a new location
in Hudson, Ohio, off Terex Road. Stephanie Dietrich: This arctic air was
moving in, and the ground was going to freeze,
00:10:20
and I remember my mom called and they were in
the middle of a movie. She was like, "Can you
00:10:25
come help me?" I said, "No, mom. I've got to find
these kids. Because the ground is going to freeze
00:10:29
and we won't be able to get to it."
Phoebe Judge: And will you describe how the new location looked the same or different from
Copley? Was it the same idea, a couple acres?
00:10:40
[Music fades out.]
Stephanie Dietrich: They both had the six-foot, this grass that grows in Ohio. It's over six
feet tall. And then as the fall comes on,
00:10:52
it gets brown at the top. And almost like
wheat's in it or something. I don't know.
00:10:59
And I thought it looked pretty good, so I
called Hudson Police Department and then the
00:11:03
next morning, I wondered if they were out there.
Like, man, did they go out there and check that
00:11:07
out? That's why I went back up there, which was
to see if they were doing it. And if they weren't
00:11:11
going to do it, I was going to do it myself.
So, they weren't there, so we pull in and park
00:11:15
and whenever we go, we go back to a hundred
yards and we start looking around and just the
00:11:24
look on his face. Like, dig right here. And so
I went and just stood over him where he was at.
00:11:30
And I knew that the branches to the tree reached
down toward the ground as opposed to stretching
00:11:36
up towards the sky. The father had said that.
And I looked at this big branch over Ricco and
00:11:42
all the little branches on it were snapped
off. And I thought, well, that's too high for
00:11:46
deer to have nibbled those off. Somebody broke
those off so they could work in this spot.
00:11:50
And the father had said that there will just
exactly room for one vehicle to have backed
00:11:57
in. And I was like, "Oh, Ricco." Just the way he
laid down. So I get my little shovel and I dig
00:12:08
in once and my shovel breaks. So we go back the
hundred yards to the car and I get another shovel,
00:12:13
and we go back there again. And I dug
two good-size shovel-fulls of dirt out, and it was like clumped together. It was all real
heavy clay. And I see black plastic and duct tape.
00:12:30
And I don't know if it goes to the left or if it
goes to the right, so I move one to the left and
00:12:34
it's still going. There's still black plastic
and duct tape. And I move one to the right,
00:12:37
and there's still black plastic and duct tape.
[Music comes in.] And I was like, "Oh, Ricco. We got to go get
help." I didn't look for anything else. It was
00:12:48
like you know, when you know, when you know. And
so we go back down the hundred yards and now it's
00:12:52
getting dark and the snow is starting to come
in. And as we get to the car, here comes the
00:12:59
Hudson police officer across the
opening. And I was like, "Oh my God, an angel from heaven." And I'm trying to talk
to him real fast, and I'm wiping snow off the
00:13:07
back of the trunk of my car. And I've got
all these papers that I've copied on.
00:13:10
Phoebe Judge: They walked back to the site
and the officer cut a hole in the bag,
00:13:15
which further confirmed what Stephanie thought.
Stephanie Dietrich: He called for supervisors,
00:13:19
and they didn't want me to go back there
again. And I didn't find it out until later,
00:13:23
but when the supervisors got there
they cut the plastic a little more and they saw a little boy's boxers.
Phoebe Judge: After five and a half
00:13:34
months of searching, Stephanie Dietrich had
somehow managed to do what no one else had been
00:13:40
able to for the last two and a half years: she'd
found the remains of Sarah and Philip Gehring.
00:13:48
How did you feel on that ride home — or when you
knew that you had found them — how did you feel?
00:13:56
Stephanie Dietrich: I was probably
just pretty at peace with it. It's the only thing in my life I've ever
started out to do and finished. I swear to God,
00:14:07
I never finish anything.
[Music fades out.] And it never occurred to me, I never got
discouraged or disgusted, or — it never
00:14:18
occurred to me that I wouldn't find those
kids. Ricco just — if I hadn't have had him,
00:14:25
I'd probably, I wouldn't have gone out like
that. I mean, I give Ricco all the credit because
00:14:32
he was the reason I was outside,
spending time with my dog. He was a little stressed out. In fact, he
threw up in the car but — I always told him
00:14:42
what a good boy he was.
[Music comes in.] I have a dog now, she's just a dog. It's
terrible to have a good dog first and then
00:14:50
just have a dog.
Jeff Strelzin: My name is Jeff Strelzin. I'm a senior assistant
attorney general and chief of the homicide unit at
00:14:59
the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.
Phoebe Judge: He was the lead prosecutor on the case.
Jeff Strelzin: I was able to
00:15:04
meet Stephanie out there at the spot where the
children were buried. I have a picture in my
00:15:09
office I'm looking at right now, of myself and
the dog Ricco and Detective Flanagan. And we're
00:15:13
both kneeling down at the spot where the children
were found with Ricco. And I remember that day
00:15:18
extremely well. I was just, I was amazed that
someone had that capability to carry through
00:15:23
with it like she did. And then when I met her, it
really made perfect sense to me that she'd be the
00:15:28
person to help us bring Philip and Sarah home.
Phoebe Judge: Have you ever heard of a citizen
00:15:32
committing this much time to finding a body?
Jeff Strelzin: You know, I haven't. Typically,
00:15:36
people just read stuff online and don't
really do things. This is — Stephanie did it. She got out there and then
she put her feet to the ground.
00:15:43
She didn't just read stuff online. She
actually got out there and looked at places,
00:15:47
and I think that's pretty unique.
Phoebe Judge: Do you remember Teri Knight's reaction when the bodies were found?
Jeff Strelzin: Relief. Relief because as terrible
00:16:00
as it sounds, people can tell you and we certainly
told her why we very much believed that Philip and
00:16:05
Sarah were dead, but until you know for sure,
there's that lagging lingering doubt in the
00:16:10
back of your mind: could they be somewhere
else? Could he have taken them somewhere?
00:16:14
[Music fades out.]
And as much as logic tells you that's not possible, giving her closure was important. We
were able to bring her home some personal effects
00:16:23
from the children. And I think that really finally
allowed her to have some measure of closure.
00:16:29
[Music comes in.]
Phoebe Judge: After word got out that the Gehring children
had finally been found, the national media
00:16:37
swooped down on Hudson, Ohio. Stephanie says
news cameras were lining her street. Ricco was
00:16:44
given an official K-9 collar by the FBI. And Teri
Knight, the children's mother, came to Ohio to
00:16:50
meet Stephanie. She brought a big rawhide bone for
Ricco and sat down on the floor to greet him.
00:16:57
We reached out to Teri Knight,
but she didn't respond. She did say at the time, "Stephanie Dietrich is
the amazing spirit of what we hope people are."
00:17:08
She's now remarried with twin girls. As for
Stephanie Dietrich, she still works at Acme
00:17:14
Grocery a couple of days a week. Ricco died
two and a half years ago. Throughout our entire
00:17:20
conversation, I kept trying to understand what
she was thinking all that time, but she doesn't
00:17:27
think she did anything that special. As she said,
she knew the area and thought she could help.
00:17:36
Criminal is produced by Lauren Spohrer, Nadia
Wilson, and me. Audio mix by Rob Byers. Alice
00:17:48
Wilder is our intern. Special thanks to Russ
Henry. Julienne Alexander makes original
00:17:53
illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You
can see them at thisiscriminal.com, or on Facebook
00:17:59
and Twitter, @CriminalShow. Original music in
this episode comes from Blue Dot Sessions.
00:18:04
Criminal is recorded in the studios of North
Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud
00:18:11
member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collection
of the best podcasts around. Shows like The
00:18:17
Heart. The Heart is a show about
how love and intimacy intersect with our lives every single day. Right
now, they're in the middle of a new
00:18:25
series about what exactly we're talking
about when we say someone is feminine or
00:18:28
masculine. The series is called "Pansy."
[Music fades out and new music fades in.]
00:18:31
[Montage.]
Speaker 1: I love the idea of being able to, like on a hot summer's
day, wear a skirt. Speaker 2: If I want to wear
00:18:42
a big chunky necklace one day, I will wear
it. If I want to paint a nail, I'll do it.
00:18:46
Speaker 3: If it were socially acceptable for
me to wear eyeliner, I would absolutely wear
00:18:50
eyeliner. I just like the way it looks.
Speaker 4: I would describe myself as an impassioned mother hen who
identifies very strongly as male.
00:18:58
Speaker 5: I do twirl.
[End of montage.] [Music fades in.]
Phoebe Judge: Go listen. Radiotopia from PRX is supported
by the Knight Foundation and MailChimp,
00:19:10
celebrating creativity, chaos, and teamwork.
And thanks to Adzerk for providing their
00:19:16
ad-serving platform to Radiotopia.
I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. [Music ends.]
Jingle: Radiotopia, from PRX.