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at the start of the fall semester in
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1995
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a 23 year old college co-ed tina bigger
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was reported missing
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she had been working on a research
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project studying the health risks of
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high-priced call girls in detroit
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but she soon discovered that prostitutes
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face more than health risks in their job
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they face the possibility
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of violence
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
00:00:55
[Applause]
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[Music]
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tina bigger was a 23 year old psychology
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major about to enter her senior year at
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oakland university outside of detroit
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she was raised in a military family and
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friends knew her as vivacious and hard
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working
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tina bigger was the all-american girl
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she came from a coast guard family her
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father was a coast guard commander her
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mother was a registered nurse the people
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who knew tina and who were closest to
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her knew her as a very fun-loving
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dedicated student
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well-liked by all her peers and
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colleagues
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and very much be loved by her family a
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great big sister a great daughter
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tina worked her way through school as a
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waitress at the rochester chop house
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and lived with her boyfriend todd
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nurnberger in an upscale apartment
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complex not far from school
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todd nurenberger was a student at the
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university of michigan
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the two had an on-again off-again
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relationship and friends weren't sure
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whether it would work out
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tina also had another side to her she
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could be distrustful she could be
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vengeful
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she had a temper at times too this was a
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tina that not a lot of people who knew
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her saw
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tina was conducting a research project
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for school entitled
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a survey of sexual history and health
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practices among women employed as
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escorts
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she wanted to find out if high-priced
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coal girls and street prostitutes had
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the same knowledge of sexually
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transmitted diseases
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she decided that she wanted to do her
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own study she thought it would help her
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get into a good graduate school and she
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decided to study high class call girls
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and their awareness of aids and then she
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was going to compare the two
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on august 23rd 1995
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todd left for work he said tina was
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still asleep when he left
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when he returned home that night
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she was gone
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todd immediately phoned police
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usually missing persons the case is
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wrapped up within
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a couple days
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maybe even a couple of hours
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usually phone calls could be made to
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determine where the person is or where
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they've been
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even
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but from the start
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this case was different
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tina's car was gone
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none of her personal belongings were
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missing from the apartment
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none of tina's friends had seen or heard
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from her
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and police also discovered that tina was
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planning to move into her own apartment
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without todd
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the fact that
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tina was looking to move to another
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apartment was actually in the process of
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looking to get into another apartment
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led me to think that there was something
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wrong
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that maybe i need to talk to todd a
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little bit further about what was
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happening in their lives
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maybe that there was something i was
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missing
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[Music]
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police learned that tina found evidence
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that todd was seeing another woman
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[Music]
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and in an unexpected twist
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police discovered that tina was hiding
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some secrets of her own
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23 year old psychology student tina
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bigger
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was a hard-working honor student who
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friends say had a promising career ahead
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of her
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she disappeared without a trace shortly
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before the fall semester at oakland
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university outside of detroit
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when her boyfriend todd nurnberger
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called police to report her missing
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police were naturally suspicious
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the two had an on-again off-again
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relationship
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[Music]
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a few months earlier
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tina found a suggestive greeting card to
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todd from another woman
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and realized that todd had been
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unfaithful
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people had seen them fight sometimes he
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was very devoted but sometimes they had
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a very combustible relationship he spent
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more time with her than anyone else he
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probably knew her better than anyone
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else he would seem like a natural
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suspect
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despite their differences todd
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nurenberger denied any involvement in
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tina's disappearance
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tina worked as a waitress at the
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rochester chop house
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did tina bigger show up for work last
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night when todd called to see if she had
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reported to work
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he was told
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that tina had quit her job
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four months earlier
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okay
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thank you
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tina said nothing about quitting her
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waitressing job and had continued to
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launder her waitressing outfits as if
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nothing had changed
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todd searched their apartment looking
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for some clue as to where tina might
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have gone
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[Music]
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todd found a duffel bag he had never
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seen before
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inside
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were condoms
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thigh high stockings lingerie sexual
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lubricants credit card slips and
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envelopes addressed to the la escort
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service with the name crystal in the
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upper left hand corner
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hello
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do you have a girl that works for your
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name tina bigger
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the owners of the la escort service said
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they didn't know anyone by the name of
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tina bigger
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but they said that crystal was the name
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of one of their more popular escorts
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escort services operate in most large
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cities and offer female companionship
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demand in return for fees ranging from
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150
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to 300 per hour
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among the services provided is usually
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sex
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todd now began to suspect that tina had
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been living a secret life
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as a high-priced call girl
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she decided she was going to do a study
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of high class call girls and their
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awareness of aids and she began
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contacting services asking if she could
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talk to girls she started doing that and
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i think in the process became sort of
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enamored with what they were doing i
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think in part it was the money she was
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broke she had maxed out her credit cards
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she needed a new car she had to pay for
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school the money they make is a lot more
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than you make working at a steakhouse at
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one point she was making 250 dollars for
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an appointment maybe women have a little
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fantasy about themselves
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maybe all women do and maybe she lived
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it out
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i think she had a fantasy about herself
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i think she wanted more attention in
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kind of a distant way and being a call
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girl she was getting it because that's
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the kind of attention you get
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maybe it gave her power
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hi
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i'm crystal
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after initially denying it the escort
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service eventually admitted what todd
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already suspected
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that tina beggar worked as an escort
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with the professional name of crystal
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they also revealed that tina worked for
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two other escort services and had dozens
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of clients
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that also meant
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dozens of possible suspects
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[Music]
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the investigation into tina bigger's
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disappearance revealed a dark secret
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for the past year
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tina had been working as a high-priced
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call girl
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it was probably very important for tina
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to keep this information or what was
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going on her life
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away from her boyfriend
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because she was living with him
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he knew so much about her
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but at the same time if if he had
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determined that she was involved with an
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escort service actually working for one
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obviously that would have caused a great
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deal of havoc in his life
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and their lives together
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he naturally was despondent at one point
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he even uh considered killing himself
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with a gun that he had but he called
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some friends they talked him out of it
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and he decided basically that he was
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going to do whatever needed to be done
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that he owed it to tina to get to the
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bottom of what had happened to her
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records from the escort service revealed
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numerous requests for tina's services
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from a man named ken tranchita
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their first meeting took place at the
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bluebird motel just 12 days before
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tina's disappearance
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among tina's personal items found in her
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apartment was a love letter from ken
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dear tina my heart is yours for you to
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keep
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your love will lift me off my feet
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you came to me your love so willing i
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know it's worth all our waiting
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love can
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when police entered ken tranchita's
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apartment
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they noticed the name crystal on some
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artwork attached to his refrigerator
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a local car dealer said tina was with
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ken tranchita looking at new cars
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together
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[Music]
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you like it yeah
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[Applause]
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and that ken had offered to loan her
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money for the car
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i love it
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ken tranchita was a 42 year old
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ex-convict with a history of passing bad
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checks forgery fraud embezzlement and
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theft
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he was not the wealthy businessman he
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portrayed to tina
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sort of a drifter a loner he
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was a petty thief and a
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petty con man
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type of a person
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he
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held down some menial jobs
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but not for very long
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i thought he was just like kind of a
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little weasel really i don't know how
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else you would describe him he had kind
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of a little voice and he he was sort of
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pathetic really he just
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was a guy who probably
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thought tina was going to be his
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girlfriend or something
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tranchita admitted meeting tina bigger
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whom he first knew as crystal through
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the escort service
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he said they later met without the
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agency knowing and the tina stopped
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charging him for their sexual liaisons
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since the two had become friends
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he told police that he had driven tina
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to the airport just one week earlier for
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a flight to ohio where she was going to
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service a client
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a check of flight log showed
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no record of tina bigger on any flight
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to ohio
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ken said tina left her car with him for
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safekeeping while she was away
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when police asked to inspect the car
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tranchita willingly obliged
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inside
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police found names and addresses of more
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escort service clients along with
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directions to their homes
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we had learned through
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paperwork found in her car
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and through the escort service that she
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actually had contact with people that
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were living out of the country
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they were living out of state
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so it was possible that she could have
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just taken off gone someplace
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although the trunk was filled with
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debris
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a preliminary search found no evidence
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of foul play
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research shows that most first-time
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killers dispose of their victims bodies
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in locations the killer is familiar with
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so police used cadaver dogs to search
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areas near tranchita's home
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michigan state trooper richard hetu
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works with kai a veteran cadaver dog
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trained specifically to find human
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bodies
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to train the dogs the troopers hide a
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small sample of human tissue or fluid in
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their wooded training area the dog isn't
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rewarded for finding animal remains but
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they're rewarded for finding human
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remains
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so they're going to dig along a lot
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harder and look a lot harder because
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they're working for that reward
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trooper hitu and kai
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searched wooded areas around ken
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tranchita's rented home as well as the
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grounds of a nearby monastery where
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tranchita often walked
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although they searched hundreds of
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wooded acres
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they found nothing
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with no evidence to hold ken tranchita
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he was released from police custody
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it was a mistake police would soon
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regret
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after police questioned ken tranchita
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about the disappearance of tina bigger
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he was released because of a lack of
00:15:08
evidence
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even though they suspected he knew more
00:15:13
about her whereabouts than he had told
00:15:15
them
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it was clear
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that ken's relationship with tina was
00:15:20
more than just business
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since a love letter from ken was found
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in tina's belongings and ken had
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promised to loan tina the money for a
00:15:29
new car
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was he going to help her get a car he
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made promises he was probably telling
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her things
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to maybe make her hang on to him maybe
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she was making him think that they were
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friends just to kind of get some of
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these things taken care of
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with no other leads police decided to
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take a second look inside tina's car
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to their embarrassment what they first
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thought were coffee stains on the side
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of a cup
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now appeared to be blood
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and when they peeled back the trunk
00:16:03
carpet
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they found a pool of blood on the right
00:16:07
hand side
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dna tests revealed the blood belonged
00:16:12
to tina baker
00:16:14
the investigation was already being
00:16:16
looked at as a homicide more so than
00:16:18
perhaps another case might have been but
00:16:20
once they found that blood there was
00:16:21
really no question
00:16:23
the amount of blood in the trunk pointed
00:16:25
to murder
00:16:26
and since the car had been in ken
00:16:28
tranchita's possession since tina's
00:16:30
disappearance
00:16:32
he was the prime suspect
00:16:34
but by this time
00:16:36
ken tranchita had vanished
00:16:40
police finally got a break in the case
00:16:42
one month after tina bigger disappeared
00:16:45
ken tranchita's brother suggested that
00:16:48
police search a deserted home once owned
00:16:51
by his aunt
00:16:52
the home was just 10 miles from
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tinabigger's apartment
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in the woods in the backyard
00:17:00
police found the badly decomposed body
00:17:04
of a young woman
00:17:06
since there were no pools of blood near
00:17:08
the body
00:17:10
this told forensic scientists that the
00:17:12
murder had taken place
00:17:15
somewhere else
00:17:17
an analysis of dental records later
00:17:19
revealed the body was that
00:17:21
of tina bigger
00:17:24
since the decomposition started in the
00:17:26
neck area the coroner suspected tina had
00:17:29
been strangled
00:17:31
since decomposition begins in the areas
00:17:33
where there is bleeding at the time of
00:17:35
death
00:17:36
it was a unnatural cause of death there
00:17:39
was no fracture anywhere even in the
00:17:41
head area
00:17:42
so neck has to be a
00:17:45
place where the event happened and we
00:17:47
call it a neck trauma i could not
00:17:49
identify specific if neck was slashed
00:17:52
she was strangled she was smothered i
00:17:55
cannot say that but it has to be a neck
00:17:57
injury and that was the conclusion
00:18:00
a nationwide manhunt for ken tranchita
00:18:03
was now underway
00:18:04
tranchita was eventually spotted in a
00:18:07
run-down neighborhood in downtown
00:18:09
detroit
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police closed in
00:18:12
ken made a weak attempt at slitting his
00:18:14
wrists in the bathroom before giving
00:18:16
himself up
00:18:18
after several hours of police
00:18:20
interrogation
00:18:22
ken tranchita finally admitted
00:18:25
that he and tina had an argument over
00:18:27
money you don't have the money to loan
00:18:29
me do you of course i have the money i
00:18:31
don't believe you the money is coming
00:18:34
they had struggled and tina fell hitting
00:18:36
her head and died
00:18:38
[Music]
00:18:42
but x-rays of tina's skull
00:18:45
contradicted that scenario
00:18:48
she did not have any skull fracture
00:18:49
anyway
00:18:50
if she bleed inside of the skull i would
00:18:53
have seen some blood staining inside of
00:18:55
the skull which was not present
00:18:57
although tina may have suffered a head
00:19:00
wound as evidenced by the blood found in
00:19:02
tina's trunk
00:19:04
the wound was probably not fatal
00:19:07
when tranchita was confronted with this
00:19:09
information
00:19:11
his statement
00:19:12
shot police
00:19:13
what he said was tina
00:19:16
was just so miserable in those last days
00:19:18
that i made a sudden decision to end it
00:19:21
for her and put her out of her misery
00:19:24
the minute the police heard that
00:19:25
statement they thought
00:19:27
holy jesus i thought guilty of your
00:19:29
honor
00:19:31
ken tranchita accepted a plea bargain
00:19:34
and pled guilty to second degree murder
00:19:38
tina's family reluctant to have tina's
00:19:40
double life made public
00:19:42
agreed to the deal
00:19:46
prosecutors believe when tina discovered
00:19:49
ken had lied to her about having the
00:19:51
money to buy the new car
00:19:53
the two fought
00:19:55
tina struck her head and was later
00:19:57
strangled or smothered to death
00:20:04
ken placed tina's body in the trunk of
00:20:06
her car then dumped the body in the
00:20:09
woods near his aunt's home
00:20:11
[Music]
00:20:13
it was a tragic end
00:20:15
to an unfortunate story
00:20:19
ken tranchita was sentenced to life in
00:20:22
prison
00:20:24
ironically
00:20:25
while tina was living a life of
00:20:27
deception
00:20:29
she too was deceived by ken tranchita
00:20:33
a con man offering the promise of a big
00:20:36
loan
00:20:38
if tina was brought into this double
00:20:40
life under some kind of illusion that it
00:20:43
was going to be like a scene from pretty
00:20:45
woman
00:20:46
and richard gere was going to come
00:20:48
rescue her and you know bring her
00:20:50
wonderful gifts and she was going to
00:20:51
fall into this opulent lifestyle
00:20:54
that that's not the reality of the call
00:20:56
girl world
00:20:57
you can meet up with some very desperate
00:20:59
characters and some very bizarre
00:21:01
characters
00:21:02
in this case unfortunately the person
00:21:04
that she met up with was not richard
00:21:06
gere it was ken
00:21:07
and
00:21:08
[Music]
00:21:09
where tina ended up lying in that field
00:21:12
is more the reality than the movie i
00:21:15
think
00:21:17
she
00:21:17
[Music]
00:21:18
chose to cross the line
00:21:21
and
00:21:23
she paid the ultimate price
00:21:26
which is
00:21:28
what all of us as parents guard against
00:21:31
and fear the most i think for our
00:21:32
children
00:21:34
and i believe by telling tina baker's
00:21:35
story
00:21:37
that
00:21:37
we sent a message
00:21:39
to other girls who might be in the
00:21:41
business
00:21:42
to other young women who might be
00:21:44
thinking of going into the business
00:21:46
to young women who might think they can
00:21:49
tease or play a little bit with a world
00:21:51
that they don't belong in
00:21:53
i think that sends a message that you're
00:21:55
asking for trouble
00:21:56
that you could end up in a situation
00:21:58
that you can't handle that you can end
00:22:00
up dead
00:22:02
[Music]
00:22:12
[Music]
00:22:33
you
