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[Music] [Applause] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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he's all shimmy and no shake he is the captain thank you thank you thank you it's good to be seen and it's good to
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see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] today we are drinking speed wobbles from
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star review and that's enough of the beers all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some
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true crime [Music] thank you after a night of drinks and dancing on August 22nd 2009 29 year old mother and
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nurse Tony sharpless disappears after leaving a party in the early morning hours of August 23rd
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now let's get back to the house where Tony was last seen the people whom we know to be at the home that night
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according to Crystal Johns who was with her at the party police Lieutenant Frank Higgins said
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that they interviewed all the people at the house that night and I believe he said that all of them were Cooperative
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as well so this included Willie Green remember he's the owner of the house right and
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they all seem to back up Crystal's story that Tony left the home under her own power
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the police stated publicly that there was no indication whatsoever of Foul Play no one at the party was a suspect
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and there were no Persons of Interest that they had uncovered in their investigation I wonder if they let them
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search the property from everything that I have seen there was never a search of the property or
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the house specifically Lieutenant Higgins said quote nothing took place there that
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would lead us to believe that something happened there end quote so we don't know how in depth any of
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these quote-unquote interviews with the people at the house were it was Elaine law a private investigator
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on this case whom we discuss we'll discuss herb more in a bit she is under the impression that Willie
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Green basically told the cops that it was mostly just his family there that night and that they didn't really know
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anything and she says they weren't really questioned in this case to be clear as we pointed out just a minute ago
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Willie Green's home was not subject to any kind of search and none of the people at his house that night aside
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from Crystal have spoken about the events of that evening publicly which is I find ridiculous because this is her
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last known whereabout so search the property yeah so for many people interested in this case
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the quick dismissal of the party goers as potentially involved parties does not sit well and the failure to
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investigate a possible crime scene is I think inexcusable Willie Green we are told as you said he
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fully cooperated it does seem that the fact that a woman went missing after being at
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his home in a compromised state should warrant further investigation well there was a conflict as well
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right I always wondered if that conflict had truth or Merit to it or if it was something that that everybody was making
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up to cover up something else yeah so Tony's friend Gigi Hayes right she's the one who organized the Texas equiseearch
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search of the river yeah she regularly contacted the police demanding that Willie Green and all the
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others be formally questioned she is under the impression that Matt Greene somebody else who was at the
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party and the uncle of Willie and Matt Green both have criminal histories and she
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says these two should have been looked into very closely repeated attempts by private
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investigator Elaine law to contact Willie Green have been completely disregarded
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she did not even get a return call from his attorney if he is at all concerned about the fact
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that a woman disappeared from his home he certainly is not showing it so now let's ask the question captain
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is Crystal telling the truth she's the only one that we've heard speak publicly about
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what happened that night well I I think like you said earlier she's been pretty cooperative and she's also been very
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eager to talk and to get the story out there and as the years go by she's kind of
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now more reluctant to to talk about the case um is that fair to say oh agreed 100 and
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and here's here's the problem with Crystal it's hard for me to really get a a fix on her I I can't I can't
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figure her out because we have the situation as you said where early on in this case I mean we're coming up on 10
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years now she was at one point talking and very active and vocal about what happened
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that night and about her missing friend and yes that has tapered off over the years some of that might not be because
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she is hiding anything or because she isn't telling the truth she has taken a lot of flack on the internet a lot of
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people have gone after her yeah and it could just be for that I mean at some point when you're trying to help a
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situation you know you and I jokingly say it sometimes um no good deed goes unpunished right if
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she in fact is out there trying to help find her friend and she's getting [ __ ]
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on for it one can only take that one can only take that for so long you can only
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take so much [ __ ] and here's the other thing that makes it hard for me to get a real good handle on
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her is that in the beginning not only is she talking but she seems to be doing things that
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are helpful to the search for Tony sharpless she is one that is reported to have called and Report
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Tony is missing she is one that is reported to have helped the family print flyers and distribute Flyers looking for
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Tony right and this is also you're with your friend she might not even have known that Tony was going through these
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battles with her mental illness switching of medications uh she might not have known any of that well
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according to Crystal she said she did not know any of that right she didn't know that Tony was not supposed to be
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drinking and Crystal almost gives the suggestion that had she known had she been aware of what was going on in
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Tony's life that she likely wouldn't have asked her to go out dancing and drinking and partying with her then yeah
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she'll probably want to ask that and then when you go back to this party and there's a confrontation that's probably
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seems a little strange but again she's probably just going okay well we had a couple drinks but you would have uh way
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more knowledge about the situation then you get into the car with her and you get in an argument and she tells you to
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leave one you're probably not going to be letting her drive two you're not getting out of that car and let's be
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clear if you're drunk at a party or not drunk let's say you're tipsy at a party and you guys decide to leave but you're
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40 minutes away from where you know your safe area and your friend drops you off
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and they don't come back to get you you're going to be pissed and you have every right to be pissed and she she
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hasn't been and she's been championed to go hey we want to figure out what happened to my friend and she probably
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feels a little bit responsible because she didn't know about these things like you said she invited her out probably
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one enough uh probably would have invited to hang out with her but wouldn't have went to a party went to
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the club so she's been a champion to keep the story and the Limelight but you see this
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with like when Brian Schaefer went missing last person one of the last people to be with him is Clint he gets
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thrown under the bus and the Tyler Davis case you know his wife and his friend are now being thrown under the bus so
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you just become that part of the story so Crystal's being thrown under the bus and again how much [ __ ] can you take
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well and then you have the flip side of that same coin and on the flip side of that coin what do we see we see people
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that say Crystal went out of her way to make sure that she was one of the people that
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reported Tony missing that she helped create this story and helped to give Credence to that story by making two
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phone calls to Tony's phone so you're saying that people were saying that she's creating
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the narrative correct and Tony's friends Tony's long time friends they say they believe crystal is lying and they
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believe it's very strange that the police have put all of their trust into Crystal's story about what happened
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right but one of the reasons why they put their trust into her stories because she did something that we never advise
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and that is to ask for a polygraph so she takes a polygraph which I don't think any lawyer would tell you to do
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but I think she was pretty adamant on trying to clear her name yes I I have that she offered to take a
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polygraph did so and passed the polygraph test the polygraph examination the the other thing too is uh there are
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questions about what her relationship is with Matt Greene and there's still questions about what exactly went down
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at the party even if you believe Crystal or not that's just my opinion she was the first to call police when
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Tony failed to show up the next day as I pointed out she did help in the searches
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for Tony putting up the Flyers she did talk to Media I have a question for you I don't know if you can answer this
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because I couldn't figure it out are the initial reports when when they're talking about the events of that
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night or the initial reports are they talking about the conflict that happened at the house and why they left the house
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because it doesn't seem that clear and I always wondered what you know which came
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first you know um did they not talk about why they left and then once Crystal figures out that
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her friend was dealing with some mental issues is that when the story of the conflict
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came out because I just think that would be kind of telling no the story of of the conflict at the
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house came out once it was known that that Tony was missing right so it came out right away
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it came out fairly early yes yes not to the general public but to the People to People searching for Tony
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but you know here's the thing while Crystal has put up publicly anyway put up a good front
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as being a concerned friend and maybe she is legitimately a concerned friend as you pointed out she did pass that
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polygraph and she has generally stuck to her story again it's the it goes back to social
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media and things that I've seen on the internet she clearly has not come out smelling like a rose during this whole
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thing Elaine law the private investigator who is searching for Tony she says She interviewed
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Crystal for four hours and her statement is is this she feels that while Crystal was not straight up
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lying about the situation she says that she believes that she is not being fully
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truthful either and it's interesting because you could take a polygraph test and
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and tell the truth but but be omitting things so the right and the thing here is that
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the private investigator basically believes that Crystal knows more than what she is saying to law enforcement
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and to the public and she cites that she really does not like the fact that Crystal refused to
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show her her phone records from that time period yeah the private investigators looking for confirmation
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of those the two calls correct she wants to line those up with what she knows about Tony's phone well I and I would
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also want to know who she called after that because she she claimed that she she calls Tony's phone twice
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doesn't get a reply then she is calling multiple people to get a ride I want to know who's just calling after that did
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she call Matt Green um I'd be interested in that but also maybe those two calls never happen but
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wouldn't they be able to get Tony cell phone records at some point oh they do have them the private
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investigator has them and so that's where I question are they only simply coming up as incoming calls right I
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doubt that I'm guessing that part of the reason why maybe police are really going
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on Crystal's story is two reasons one the other people at the party that night according to here's the other thing
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we don't really fully know a full list of the people at the party right all we have is the people that that law
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enforcement spoke to saying yeah what this is it this is all the people that were there that night
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and then on top of that they they may have Tony's record saying that it was in fact Crystal that called her on those
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two times six minutes apart around the time that she vanished and so that kind of backs up Crystal's
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story as well I think what Elaine law is saying here is exactly what you just said she wants to know what other
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activity was going on with Crystal's phone before those calls between those calls and afterwards who is she talking
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to and one thing that would would cause a big shake-up and a big Wrinkle in her story would be if in fact she did phone
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anybody that was still at that party at that time or believed to be at Willie Green's house at that time because that
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doesn't seem to gel with with her actions of what she said to the public you know that I called I called my
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friends my family looking for a ride home because I was dumped on the side of the road well again it's strange though
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too because we have the last person supposedly with her you wonder how much he was questioned
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when they when people were people are questioning how much people were questioning at the party
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how much was crystal question and she was the one that came forward and said well I'll take a polygraph test they
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didn't even ask her to she was the one willing to so then you wonder if they even how much
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they've checked her phone records or did they just go well we we talked to the cousin so we know that the cousin came
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and picked her up so I know that we're kind of spinning our tires on this here A bit but before
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we'll do whatever we want I want to make sure that everyone has their seats in the full upright position because this
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is where the story starts to get weird okay on September 14th this is about three
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weeks after Tony disappeared authorities in Pennsylvania got word that the New Jersey State Police had a possible hit
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on Tony's car on September 8th a stationary New Jersey state police vehicle parked in Camden
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had seen something an automated License Plate Reader mounted in the police car recorded the
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plate number on each car passing it a car bearing plate number dnd772 passed and was recorded
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the automated Plate Reader ran the plate and because Tony's car was listed as missing remember they reported it as
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missing it would have notified the Officer Manning the vehicle that it was possibly her car
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but the police car was parked and no one was in it so no one noticed the license
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plate number hit until a week later right now it's worth noting that I have read that these license
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plate readers are not 100 percent 100 percent of the time I've seen some people point out things that they're
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more likely closer to 90 percent accurate the other thing that we got to keep in
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mind too is it's possible that it was not Tony's car that was seen But simply a car with the
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license plate number dnd772 right was in Camden on September 8th the the plate was on a different
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vehicle now private investigator you have that idea but you also have the other idea
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that you can have the same license plate number but a different state hmm so so Elaine law who is working on this
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case the private investigator yeah and who I spoke with briefly for this episode she
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she actually is the one that told me to cover this case I approached her about a
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different case that she was working there there's a case out there and I won't go into specific specifics about
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it because the family ask that we not cover it the victim's family it was a case that I had wanted to cover
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for some time there's very little information out there in the newspapers and in the public about it and I saw
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Elaine Law's name in one of the newspaper articles so I contacted her thinking well if we're going to learn
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anything about that case we need to get it from her to which she says look the family doesn't really want it to be
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covered um why don't you take a look at and she tossed out a few other cases that she
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had been working on that really need the Public's help and and really need a voice thrown out there and the story
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told one more time in hopes that it hits the right ears so she told us that a Camden police officer
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this is a little this is a little off the Record here that a Camden police officer told her
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that a car with Tony's plate number also got a parking ticket in the city around that same time period but he
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didn't go into further detail about that whole situation I could not find that anywhere so it seems like at least that
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plate number has popped up twice on Camden police radar so the New Jersey State Police says both
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that they and the Camden Police scoured the area but never found any other trace
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of the car with that plate on it now Lieutenant Higgins of Lower Marion Township Police Department says quote
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cars don't usually disappear entirely at some point in the future they turn up whether it's a junkyard or somewhere
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else end quote but we know Tony's car has never turned up and the idea that her car may have been
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in Camden in an area riddled with drugs prostitution and crime has led to a predominant theory of what possibly
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could have happened to Tony now we also have private investigator Elaine law she
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talked about tips that came in and also about possible sightings of Tony so about a month after well six weeks a
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month and a half after Tony vanished yeah a former Detective uh private investigator Elaine law
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offered her services to the family for one dollar she saw Tony's case on the news and felt
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that it was something that there was possibility based on the amount of sex trafficking in the area
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and tips about possible sightings of Tony that Tony was still alive and possibly either involved in drugs and
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prostitution or she had been trafficked so Elaine started a website to gather tips she met with both Crystal and the
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family tried to contact Willie Green held a town meeting about the case she kept Tony's picture in the media even
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going around Camden with a picture of Tony asking pimps dealers working girls and residents if they had seen her right
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because you have a individual that again is struggling with mental illness shouldn't be drinking but was drinking
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has had some struggles with addiction in the past is it possible that this uh she
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gets in this conflict that kind of pushes her over the edge and when she leaves her friend uh she doesn't really
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know where she's at but then she goes hey you know uh maybe I can get some drugs by going to Camden and if if you
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go there then who knows what bad things could happen Elaine says that she has gathered 50
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plus tips the track Tony from initial sightings near or in Lancaster where she worked to
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Camden and then to Philly saying it's almost as if Tony was being moved around some of these tips Place Tony in the
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presence of a large black man and a skinny Hispanic man with a goatee and there was a sighting of a woman having
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very dark under eye circles almost raccoon eyes something that apparently Tony struggled with since her teen years
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and then one guy said he had seen Tony four times in Camden and that they had the same heroin dealer another tip came
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from a security guard that placed an abandoned dirty scraped up black sedan with tinted windows so a vehicle
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matching a similar description to Tony's under the Ben Franklin Bridge between Philly and Camden shortly after she went
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missing it had no plates in the Camden Police never disclose whether they followed up on that vehicle
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siding or the sightings of possibly Tony now of course we also have no idea whether any of these tips are correct
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and if Tony was actually seen and many of these tips do come from people that I would consider to be less
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than reliable and if it was Tony that was seen then you have other things to wonder
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about was she abducted or did she go willingly yeah it's and it's very hard to I feel for this whole situation because
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of her struggles with the mental illness if she hits a point of manic state and then she's using drugs the drugs
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could can you know have her continue to stay in a manic state and it and and who knows where she's at
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so one thing I do know though too is that police they say that they looked into whether Tony ever purchased drugs
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in Camden they came up with nothing regarding that and they also said that there is actually no evidence at all
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that she even knew anyone in that area the other thing too if it was drugs that she went after that night or or if
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that's the reason that kept her away it seems a little strange to me it seems like there would have been a lot of
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other places closer to home to make that score the case did start to grow cold after
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these tips were coming in these were pretty early in the investigation pretty early in Elaine laws investigation
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I do want to get to some other interesting tips in this case Okay a call that was made to West Brandywine
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Township Police Department this is a call where a man claimed to be from the Canadian Security intelligence service
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this is an agency similar to the CIA in Toronto the man said agents found a car parked
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on their lot and traced the car to Tony and the Agents also found someone who they believed to be Tony matching her
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description the man provided an email address and a phone number where he could be reached
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and requested photos of Tony the address and phone number however turned out to be a fake
00:28:17
Chief Warner said police called the Toronto police department and was told the call must have been faked Chief
00:28:24
Warner said that the caller was quote the guy had all the right answers he was talking the police lingo and he knew
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what to say end quote several days later an officer in West Brandywine Police Department's radio
00:28:41
room took a call from a sheriff's deputy in South Dakota the deputy claimed that officers found
00:28:48
Tony's car there the man promised to fax information over but never did officers contacted the man's alleged
00:28:56
Department but personnel there had no knowledge of the vehicle or of the man who made the
00:29:03
call we have Chief Warner again who says look we got a copy of that recording and he
00:29:10
says it was the exact same guy that he talked to the the guy that claimed to be from Toronto
00:29:16
he said that the reason why he could identify the caller as being the same is he described this man as having an
00:29:24
interesting voice it was something about the way that this man sounded the chief
00:29:28
Werner was able to believe that the caller was in fact the same the thing though that's weird
00:29:37
here and just kind of really blows my mind is why would somebody bother to Stage these
00:29:45
two hoaxes this is four years after Tony went missing [Music] all right we're back you filthy animals
00:30:07
stay filthy you animals well you know we were talking about this on Saturday at our
00:30:13
presentation Meetup whatever you want to call it is um being a true crime lover is becoming a
00:30:21
little more acceptable in society so we're becoming less filthy animals of the True Crime Kingdom It Ain't Easy
00:30:29
Being greasy yes or cheesy uh in late 2013 something happened that could give us a
00:30:40
significant Clue Into Tony's disappearance private investigator Elaine law received
00:30:46
a letter at her office the one-page unsigned letter postmarked in Trenton New Jersey on November 29th
00:30:54
arrived in her mail December 1st she didn't initially notice the letter in the pile of mail and she was shocked
00:31:03
when she observed the return address it was from Tony sharpless now Tony is typically spelled
00:31:14
t-o-n-i on the return address it was t-o-n-y sharpless now here is the text of the letter
00:31:25
dear Elaine law the police in PA do not have a tip line I tried calling the Philly police where
00:31:33
I live but they said it was not in their jurisdiction one of the detectives pulled me aside and gave me your name
00:31:41
and address in the last few days of September 2009 a friend in Camden called me and offered
00:31:49
me money to move a car from Brooklawn New Jersey to Boston Massachusetts he told me he would pay me five thousand
00:31:58
dollars Cash Plus I could have the plates he asked if I knew any 127 or 29 that wanted to paper trip so he gave me a
00:32:09
social security card I drove the car a black four-door Pontiac Grand Prix and drove to an auto
00:32:17
body shop outside of Boston Massachusetts I took off the plates and with a black
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Magic Marker wrote down the last five digits of the VIN number and cleared out the glove box
00:32:31
I came back to Camden a day later and he told me that the car was not stolen but
00:32:37
missing he said a friend of his a cop in Camden got into a fight with a girl she died
00:32:44
and he needed to get the car out of Jersey about a month ago my daughter was playing in the garage and found the box
00:32:52
with the plates and social security card I had forgotten all about it the plates are DND
00:33:00
7772 the social security card and this is where sharpless's cell phone number was written in this spot
00:33:10
and the last five digits of the VIN are the person wrote the last five digits of
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sharpless's vehicle's identification number in this spring no I think some of this stuff was actually
00:33:22
reported or public knowledge but I think it's definitely that VIN number would be
00:33:29
hard to get the writer goes on to say because of Hurricane Sandy I had to visit Jersey to
00:33:34
help friends clean up I decided to drop you this letter what happened to Tony I don't really know all I know is that she
00:33:43
had a run-in with the police and I was paid much needed cash to get the car to a shop in Boston again the the letter is
00:33:52
not signed it's a one-page letter and as you said Captain yes the we do know that
00:33:59
the plate number was readily available this was not only I mean it was on the internet plus it
00:34:06
was on Flyers looking for for Tony because her vehicle was missing as well the the difficult thing as you said are
00:34:14
the five digits of the VIN number and we could speculate day and night how difficult it could have been or how easy
00:34:21
it could have been to get Tony's cell phone number that may have been difficult we do know that it was a
00:34:28
relatively new phone I don't know if that came with a new number um but we should point out the VIN
00:34:35
number and the cell phone number were both correct they were Tony's Now Elaine turned over the letter to the
00:34:43
West Brandywine police and also notified the New Jersey State Police and the New
00:34:49
Jersey attorney general's office she also gave the letter to the media in hopes that it would keep Tony's case
00:34:56
alive later she learned that police believe the letter to be a hoax probably because
00:35:03
it was sent in close proximity to the two hoax phone calls she's not certain why they came to this
00:35:11
conclusion but that's what they have said publicly that this letter is is a hoax what are you feeling about this
00:35:18
letter because you're your captain Letterman we will cover every case that involves a
00:35:26
strange letter yeah so I have a lot of questions about this letter I think that most of the information in
00:35:36
so this is not the same as like the Zodiac who who kills Paul Stein and then provides you a bloody torn off piece of
00:35:44
his shirt right in a letter this is very different this is somebody who is claiming to have done something been
00:35:51
paid by somebody else possibly limiting their involvement limiting their involvement and then my proof of you to
00:35:59
believe my word is I'm going to provide you with these three things these three pieces of
00:36:06
information and they could have obtained these in the exact manner that they said that
00:36:12
they took the plates they wrote down the VIN number they cleared out the glove box that easily could have obtained all
00:36:18
these things from that exact action however I believe that somebody could have got
00:36:26
this information if they looked and spent a little bit of time on it I don't think it would have been extremely
00:36:32
difficult to find all three of these things and provide it one thing that I find interesting is that when with the
00:36:40
claim of having the Social Security card this individual then provides her cell phone number
00:36:48
and in place of what what he or she probably should have put the social security number Brian
00:36:54
so that makes me wonder well why have a hoax why why write this letter well those are things that point to me
00:37:03
point to me that it could be a hoax okay before we move on I do want to clear one
00:37:07
thing up because some people might be asking themselves this of some of the wording in the letter
00:37:13
when he says that he was asked if anyone if I knew anyone 27 or 29 that wanted to
00:37:21
paper trip so he gave me a social security card what they mean by this is somebody that
00:37:28
wants to steal an identity to to take somebody else's information all right right yeah that's that's the paper trip
00:37:35
that he's talking about or she um so here's where I have a different issue with it
00:37:44
where I question the validity of of the letter I'm also a bit horrified and terrified by the letter
00:37:57
there's something very strange going on here if there were to be three hoaxes and then we have the
00:38:05
the one of the police officers the chief of police saying he believes just by listening with his own ears that
00:38:15
the the caller of those two calls were one in fact the same so if though if the two calls that come
00:38:22
in that are hoax that try to put Tony in her vehicle in Toronto and then the other call tries to put Tony's vehicle
00:38:30
somewhere in South Dakota and now this letter is stating that hey I live in Philadelphia right
00:38:39
um somebody from Camden hired me to do this uh I had to move the car from Brooklyn New Brooklyn New Jersey to
00:38:45
Boston Massachusetts we have six different cities named in three different hoaxes and then on top
00:38:53
of that if it's not that big of a leap to go okay well if the same person made those phone calls did then the same
00:39:00
person write this letter and that's where I get horrified and terrified at the same time there's
00:39:06
there's something very strange there if one person is responsible for all of these communications yeah but to me it's
00:39:16
like what is the hoax trying to prove it's trying to prove that she left the area that she was last seen by her
00:39:25
friend that's to me what these are trying to prove so that draws like it's trying to steer
00:39:33
the direction of the investigation like throwing them off the trail if they were
00:39:38
in fact that's that's the other problem I have with this whole thought it's four
00:39:42
years later the only conceivable reason that I can come up with that somebody would would
00:39:48
make these communications would be just that to throw them off the trail but but we're under the belief that the case
00:39:56
had gone cold by this time so there is no Trail what trail are they on were they even on a trail at the time right
00:40:03
but maybe I'm just saying if something happened bad at that party that they're still
00:40:11
you know they feel guilty um they they've uh felt paranoid maybe they're creating this hoax for that reason
00:40:24
let's keep you away from thinking about that party unless you because they don't know the
00:40:30
leads but again that doesn't make a lot of sense to me because you'd think unless the cops were constantly beating
00:40:38
down their door and asking for information why would you involve yourself anymore why not just
00:40:46
stay away right and if you had nothing to do with it why it involve yourself at all that's
00:40:52
why I'm saying it's all weird man it's all weird and and then then you if you weren't involved you I don't think you
00:40:58
would create the hoax I'm saying but again the other possibility that I haven't really thought about till now is
00:41:06
the idea of when when she says crystal said well she I thought she would come back for me and it's like
00:41:15
what if at some point Tony did come back and she went back to the party without Crystal hmm you know this is not you
00:41:24
know we're just basing off of if the cops might believe Crystal and she might be telling the truth about that but that
00:41:32
does not mean that Tony didn't go back to the party yeah and uh but you know if we haven't
00:41:38
done any search of this property I I just don't know how again and we also don't know how many individuals uh
00:41:46
were at that house so is it there but I do know there was enough individuals that something bad could have happened
00:41:52
and somebody could have disposed of her car it would appear that something happened
00:41:58
to this car and actually Tony's car going to a Chop Shop out of state makes some sense why her car has never
00:42:06
been located yeah after this point I I do want to throw this information out there and I have
00:42:15
names here but I've I've purposely removed them because I question how how true this this information is
00:42:28
this is um but but it does cite several of the things in the letter that we just talked
00:42:34
about so an estranged wife of an ex-camden police officer okay remember in the letter the
00:42:43
the letter writer claimed to have been paid by somebody that said that that Tony had a run-in with a police
00:42:50
officer right so an estranged wife of an ex-camden police officer who was fired after falsifying reports in order
00:43:00
to get this estranged wife arrested this wife comes forward talks with the private investigator Elaine and tells
00:43:10
her that her ex who lived in Brooklyn I keep wanting you to say Brooklyn it's Brook Lawn New
00:43:18
Jersey right again the town mentioned in the letter also ran an auto business where he would
00:43:25
repo cars and resell them including the area of Boston she claims that at one point she saw a
00:43:36
black four-door Pontiac with tinted windows in their driveway one day and assumed it to be one of these vehicles
00:43:44
one of his cars that he repossessed or that took possession of to resell so again
00:43:54
that's information that was provided to us yeah it's it's always difficult when you have these these marriages that go
00:44:02
south that go way bad so the hell goes south it's tough to whether or not you get a divorce that's a different thing
00:44:10
but they all go south it seems like he was definitely up to no good because we do have the Camden Police Department who
00:44:17
claims he was fired for falsifying reports yeah you're a liar right I mean that's and
00:44:23
I want to believe the letter it seems like it makes sense it seems like just with the VIN number it's not the full
00:44:30
VIN number right it's just part of the vid number five numbers the last five but it's enough for me to go okay that's
00:44:36
information that's not easy to get my issue with it is if you're gonna come forward with
00:44:46
this letter why not just come forward all together because do you see how I mean like I feel like
00:44:58
by sending this letter whoever paid you could come after you could come after you and if you don't go and tell them
00:45:07
your full story then you've offered yourself no protection from that person right it's not like you know it's like
00:45:13
oh yeah well they but they didn't put their identification in the letter well no but no but the person but the person
00:45:20
it's real the person that paid this person like he knows where you are according to the letter it was like a
00:45:27
person he there was a middle man right so right so the police officer if in fact the letter is correct may not
00:45:37
exactly know who ultimately was paid to move the vehicle who ultimately wrote the letter right but it it's for sure it
00:45:46
won't be that hard for him to figure it out right it wouldn't be that hard for him to
00:45:52
figure that out so I are you ready for another twist here Captain sure all right on May 15 2014 Tony's mother
00:46:02
Donna received a check in the mail from the Department of Revenue state of Indiana for just it was
00:46:10
a little over a thousand dollars this check this was a tax refund check what's notable is
00:46:19
that the check was made payable to Tony Lee sharpless and Robert E Morales husband and wife
00:46:28
this Tony and Robert apparently filed joint State Returns on earnings of forty six thousand six hundred and twenty five
00:46:37
dollars from Johns Hopkins University Tony's occupation was listed as a nurse and Roberts as a doctor
00:46:47
a bogus phone number was on the return now this is mind-boggling for many reasons but mainly because a
00:46:57
man named Robert E Morales went missing from Phoenix Arizona two weeks before Tony did on August 8 2009 he is still
00:47:07
missing to this day you can see his Charlie project page on their website I wonder if somebody is
00:47:15
trying to scam the system and going hey let's put these two missing people together
00:47:21
you know but how would you file a tax return so the the private investigator Elaine
00:47:29
contacted the Department of Revenue in Indiana and she said that she learned it was a
00:47:35
legitimate refund check and that the tax returns and Tony and Robert's joint names had been filed electronically
00:47:42
as for why the check was sent to Tony's old address instead of the address listed on the return
00:47:52
Elaine said she was told that whenever the address is less than one year old that they just send it to the former
00:48:00
address who knows how this happened but significantly someone had stolen Tony's identity
00:48:09
and yeah but they could have nothing to do with or disappearing it could have nothing to do with the case but then you
00:48:14
also wonder if in fact that person had access to her social security card and we know that the anonymous letter writer
00:48:22
mentioned that he had the card uh Donna her mother believes that Tony kept her social security card in her
00:48:31
wallet which of course has never been found but this is what drives me just absolutely insane about these
00:48:40
missing person cases the investigation should have been harder on these people at the party they
00:48:47
should investigated that property period did the cops know did law enforcement know that should be going missing for
00:48:53
the rest of her life that would be sitting here 10 years later wondering where she's at no
00:49:00
but you got to start by assuming that you need to assume that the worst case scenario is going to happen and you need
00:49:06
to make sure that you do your due diligence don't be a piece of [ __ ] right well here's here's the thing
00:49:14
I I see two things kind of going on here there are points in this investigation where me on the outside looking in it
00:49:23
appears to me that they are doing their due diligence that they are working the case hard but there are other times
00:49:31
where I have a completely different feeling and this is not a small case this is an
00:49:37
investigation that's been 10 years now how many how long and good have they worked on it through the course of that
00:49:43
time is certainly up for the for debate and and my own opinion is at times it was not good on their end that could be
00:49:54
that we have multiple jurisdictions involved in this I will say that the local police investigating the case gave
00:50:01
the impression pretty early on in what I would consider to be a very unprofessional manner that they believed
00:50:09
Tony was simply on drugs and or crazy so when you have that coming out of their Department you really have to wander and
00:50:18
I'm sure a lot of people close to Tony are wondering the same thing is in fact if they were investigating the case
00:50:27
thoroughly if they were giving her disappearance the appropriate due diligence as you were saying well it's
00:50:34
pathetic that they would call her crazy because look if you break your arm what do you do you go to a doctor got
00:50:41
something broken in your brain you go get help for that so that to me that's uh a sign of somebody
00:50:48
trying to get help I I think my gut is telling me that this there's more truth to this letter
00:50:56
than not and and I couldn't tell you why but it's like yeah I'm not ready to dismiss it as
00:51:05
quickly as what it appears law enforcement has yeah the VIN number I can't get over that and then also
00:51:14
uh I don't know how much I buy the the ex-wife of the cop coming forward and saying hey I saw a car similar to
00:51:23
this I don't know but um but those are two things that line up and that needs to be followed
00:51:33
um and it's sad because like you said this car probably went to a chop shop there was probably evidence of uh uh
00:51:39
there's probably evidence of what happened to her and uh and that's gone forever and you
00:51:46
know I I do know that something bad for her daughter I do know that some of Tony's
00:51:51
friends absolutely believed that Tony never left Willy Green's house that night that something happened to her
00:51:58
there and it could be any number of things an overdose died in an accident was killed as the
00:52:06
result of some kind of physical altercation there was a pull there maybe maybe she drowned in the pool
00:52:12
uh but you know their belief is that in order to protect Willie Green's NBA salary and reputation that she and her
00:52:20
car were later disposed of and that's and we don't have the whole story there well like Forrest Gump said
00:52:29
maybe it's both happening at the same time is there a possibility that something happens at this party they
00:52:37
know a shady cop they call the Shady cop hey we need your help right or they call
00:52:44
their lawyer their lawyer knows the Shady comp the shop the cop comes the cop then knows some bad people that
00:52:52
can help take care of this problem it could be both happening at the same time is anybody there that night
00:52:59
in some shape or form a police officer right even from another city we again we don't have the full list of names we
00:53:06
actually had two people that were unnamed in our list and we're going off and saying that that is an accurate list
00:53:14
of people there could be additional people that were there that were conveniently left off of the list
00:53:19
provided to law enforcement my only issue with all that is like I said she would have had to drop her friend off
00:53:26
and somehow Circle back around because I do think that her friend uh started out
00:53:33
being a champion for finding her friend and so that's the part that doesn't line
00:53:41
up and unless possibly unless she drops her off and circles back around but you'd have to obviously it would not be
00:53:49
that hard to fabricate and manufacture the story of of Tony leaving ditching her friend and
00:53:57
her phone conveniently being off all at the same time right and and to work that into her
00:54:04
story but to be the one to come forward and and ask for a polygraph test again I
00:54:12
I we don't know what questions were on that test we hear from law enforcement that she passed but we don't know what
00:54:18
questions um and it's just a sad scenario for for whatever reason once you put mental
00:54:25
health in it it's I think people uh I think people are a little too dismissive of of things
00:54:32
regarding the private investigator Elaine law she is no longer so certain that Tony is still alive
00:54:40
she does still believe that Tony was that something happened to her and she was trafficked she does believe that the
00:54:46
sightings of Tony in the area were legitimate she does continue to follow up on leads and tips to this day
00:54:54
speaking uh there are there is some movement on this case as far as the private investigator is concerned there
00:55:03
are still some leads that she is working on it would be it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss those here today
00:55:12
because it's not something that we have a lot of information on uh but regarding Tony's parents uh her
00:55:19
mother and her stepfather they say they don't know what to think quote it's like a roller coaster of
00:55:26
emotion Donna told one reporter they aren't sure that Crystal is telling the truth and they say that they have had no
00:55:34
contact with her but they also know that Tony should not have been drinking and could have been disoriented and gotten
00:55:42
lost and ended up in the river or elsewhere they both of them feel strongly that it's a
00:55:49
that a search of Willie Green's home should have been conducted when asked if she believes that her if
00:55:55
her daughter is still alive Donna says honestly no Tony would have called by now she always did my granddaughter is
00:56:04
the same way if she doesn't call me I know something is wrong no one knows a child like a
00:56:12
mother Tony's stepfather agrees with his wife and he has also stated that someone
00:56:19
must know what occurred the night of August 23 2009 and he adds that she didn't just
00:56:27
vanish Into Thin Air that there must be more to this story now Tony is still listed as a missing
00:56:34
person the 10th anniversary of her disappearance is next week we will have a photo of Tony on the blog at truecrime
00:56:41
garage.com Tony's DNA has been entered into a National Database so if at some point a body is found she will be
00:56:51
identified hats go off to her her friends and family and and then her parents you know now looking after her
00:56:59
her child and and then also what an awesome individual to take on their case the private investigator has taken on
00:57:10
their case for a dollar and uh trying to make a difference in this world that's pretty amazing
00:57:19
[Music] how about a little recommended listening for everybody this week this week I want
00:57:26
to recommend the Stitcher app you've heard it before it's free it's amazing it has all of our old episodes on there
00:57:33
to listen to and you can check out our other show our wonderful show that everybody loves off the Record it's
00:57:40
available on Stitcher premium I bring up the recommended listening Captain because this last weekend we were at the
00:57:46
Ohio History Center and a lot of you came out and joined us there and we did a discussion on Ohio cold cases which
00:57:53
we've covered so many of them check those out on the Stitcher app we will see all of you back here in the garage
00:57:59
next week until then be good be kind and don't litter foreign [Music]