00:00:00
when it comes to Quality sleep Ashley has you covered with top mattress brands at winning prices and with special
00:00:06
financing options available you can snooze now and pay later plus your mattress purchase helps give the gift of
00:00:13
better sleep to children in need and US Special Operations forces visit your local Ashley store or shop online today
00:00:22
and make every snooze count financing is subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for d details Rosetta Stone
00:00:32
is the language learning program with a lasting impact I've been using the rap to learn French and it's not just about
00:00:37
memorizing words but actually having real conversations and it's not just French they offer 25 languages right now
00:00:44
Rosetta Stone has an awesome holiday deal 50% off their lifetime membership every language unlimited access forever
00:00:51
for anyone keen on diving deep into a new language check out rosettastone.com it's a
00:00:58
GameChanger [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:01:44
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that would like to tell Howard to stop picking on
00:01:51
Gary so darn much here is the captain I don't know what to say B Baba boy thank you thank you thank you it's good to be
00:01:59
seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening and thanks for telling a [Music]
00:02:09
friend I know that times are tough right now and no one is denying that but remember what Jeff gold Bloom said life
00:02:17
finds a way so today friends we are drinking must go faster by one of the very best Brewers in the business that's
00:02:25
right I'm talking about tactical Brewing Company this is a delicious Imperial New
00:02:31
England IPA double dry hopped with sabro and Citra 9.3% ABV garage grade four and 3/4
00:02:41
bottle caps out of five that's right this beer is awesome and you know who else is awesome these folks right here
00:02:48
first up let's give a big cheers and thanks to our friend Carol in Asheville and a big shout out to Katie and
00:02:54
rollette Texas here's a cheers plus a big Ron Swanson please and thank you you to our friend marleene in the parts that
00:03:02
are unknown just a reminder during the holiday season you want to wash your parts Unknown and a big we like your
00:03:10
trip to Paige in insanes Ville Ohio next we have Anna and Delaware Ohio and last
00:03:17
but certainly not least we have Angie and Megan in Nashville Tennessee one of the great cities in this great country
00:03:24
cheers to everyone that went to True Crim garage.com and contributed to this week beer fun yes BW R you in beer run
00:03:33
for all of our old episodes check us out on the Stitcher app it's free and we also have a b show called off the Record
00:03:41
do a lot of case updates on that show so check that out on Stitcher premium and we want to wish everybody a happy
00:03:47
holidays and hopefully your family is safe and everybody is doing well and we love you you filthy animals all right
00:03:56
everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime this week's True Crime Story will
00:04:31
focus on two young ladies home alone on a Thursday night their plans for the night fell through so it looks like Plan
00:04:41
B is a quiet evening at home or at least that is what it should have been the two roommates pass the time
00:04:50
texting with friends but life turns on a dime and just like that they go silent the next morning both both of the
00:04:59
roommates are unaccounted for Mia they fail to be where they are supposed to be a concerned friend
00:05:08
decides to check on them and finds the unthinkable both women are dead the two ladies were killed in their own home
00:05:19
there were very few Clues and even fewer suspects police wondered did either of them have a past with known enemies or
00:05:28
Associates with a reason to hurt or kill them did the killer Target the two roommates or was this a random homicidal
00:05:38
act could it be that only one of the young ladies was the real Target was Melissa just in the wrong
00:05:46
place at the wrong time or was Nicole the one who was collateral damage this is true crime garage and
00:05:57
this is the unsolved murder of Nicole glass and Melissa [Music] Mason it was Midday on a Friday December
00:06:24
3rd 2010 a young woman who has never been named publicly was trying to reach her
00:06:31
friend Nicole glass age 27 the unnamed friend was trying to reach Nicole for several hours Nicole failed to show up
00:06:41
at the gym that morning which was highly unusual Nicole went by the name of Nikki
00:06:47
Nikki's phone was going straight to voicemail on that morning the friend decided to head over to the home that
00:06:54
Nikki shared with her roommate Melissa Mason also age 27 this house was located at 4247 East
00:07:04
Cambridge Avenue in East Phoenix Arizona this was a modest single level home on a
00:07:11
call to saac in a residential neighborhood Nikki purchased the home in 2006 when the friend arrived around
00:07:20
12:20 p.m. there was no response to her knocks at the door now although both women's cars were parked at the home so
00:07:29
she suspected that they would be home at least one of them so when she tried the
00:07:34
door it was locked but then the friend didn't give up she walked around to the back of the house and started peeking in
00:07:42
through the windows and through one window she saw the body of a woman lying on the floor of the living room area of
00:07:50
the home so she called 911 on the 911 call she says quote I just came over to my friend's house and she's not
00:07:59
answering the door and I went around to the back and I just seen someone lying there end quote when investigators
00:08:07
arrived they noted that the house was locked and there was no sign of forced entry into the home once they forcibly
00:08:15
gained entry thanks to some help from the fire department they found the bodies of not one but two women lying on
00:08:24
the floor this was in fact the two roommates that lived at the house Nikki or Nicole glass the homeowner and her
00:08:33
roommate Melissa Mason sadly both were dead there was obvious and visible trauma to both bodies one of Nicole's
00:08:44
dogs a bulldog had also been beaten as well and required medical treatment thankfully the dog survived yeah if you
00:08:53
look at pictures of these two they they almost could pass as sisters yeah they were the same age age they were longtime
00:09:00
friends and as you just pointed out they they could pass for sisters or cousins now the autopsy Captain confirmed what
00:09:07
people who viewed Nicole and Melissa's bodies must have surmised they both were killed by way of ligature
00:09:14
strangulation this information was released in a statement by the Maricopa County Medical examiner's Office the
00:09:22
ligature was a cordlike object it was not stated whether police believed that the ligature or the cord like object
00:09:31
came from inside the home but it is reported that the Implement whatever it was was not found at the crime scene and
00:09:40
even more tragic the medical examiner discovered something very important while conducting the autopsies Melissa
00:09:47
Mason was eight weeks pregnant when she was killed so this is even more sad but fittingly so the case was declared a
00:09:55
triple homicide yeah when you first hear that maybe it lean to some kind of motive certainly it it raises suspicions
00:10:03
that's for sure now Rachel glass Nicole's mom told us True Crime garage that she narrowly avoided being the one
00:10:11
to find her daughter and her friend she was supposed to go over to Nicole's house to help her with a printer but she
00:10:19
was too tired after working so she left Nicole a message saying that she would do it over the weekend Rachel found out
00:10:26
that her daughter was dead when she received a phone call from one of Nicole's friends telling her to turn on
00:10:32
the news now I don't see in any reports where there's any sign of breaking correct there was no sign of a forced
00:10:40
entry into the home and in regards to Melissa's mom Sandra she received a phone call that frankly no one wants to
00:10:50
get she learned over the phone that her daughter Melissa was dead and even worse
00:10:55
that her daughter was murdered and that no one knew why exactly when or who committed the homicides now in regards
00:11:04
to the time of death in this case it's going to be very difficult to determine captain of course you always want to
00:11:11
know the time of death to determine who had the means to commit the murders but according to the family the medical
00:11:19
examiner was not able to pinpoint a time of death all that the public has been told is that the two were believed to
00:11:28
have died between this is sometime between 8:00 p.m. on December 2nd and 12:22 p.m. on December 3rd now the basis
00:11:39
for this very loose timeline is this it's reported that Melissa's boyfriend Maris was at the house visiting Melissa
00:11:47
on the night of the 2 now according to him both women were home and accounted for and of course Very Much alive when
00:11:57
he left the home around 8:00 p.m. Maris is the last known in-person sighting of both of these young women now per HLN
00:12:08
detective Toby Meyers who was in charge of the investigation initially said that
00:12:13
both women sent text messages from their phones after Melissa's boyfriend left their home quote since there were only
00:12:22
text messages and not phone calls meaning no one heard their actual voices right consider Maris to be the last
00:12:31
person to see or talk to the girls said the detective however at some point that
00:12:37
evening it may have been earlier Nicole was at a Ross clothing store in Phoenix so it must have been earlier I'm
00:12:47
guessing here Captain but there's no time frame for this event as far as we know the Phoenix PD has never reviewed
00:12:55
the video surveillance footage from the store to see if it help any clues now I want to put a little caveat on there
00:13:03
they may have reviewed this surveillance footage they've just never spoke publicly about right this event on the
00:13:11
timeline and again we know that this happened per the family and per Witnesses however we don't know when
00:13:20
this event occurred that evening I'm guessing because of statements given by the detectives and law enforcement there
00:13:27
in Phoenix that this would have been before the boyfriend left the home or again we're taking him for his word the
00:13:37
boyfriend says he left the home at 8:00 P.M so this must have happened before then right and all they're what they're
00:13:42
trying to do there is that we have this eyewitness saying hey I came over I was there for a while when I left they were
00:13:50
both alive well we got to find out if they were alive before then okay well we have now this movement where Nicole was
00:13:59
at at a shopping center possibly she used her debit card to pay for something and then we have other eyewitnesses so
00:14:06
so now we know that his story is lining up more with what he's telling law enforcement and to further extend that
00:14:13
timeline a little bit Captain according to Melissa's mother Sandra Melissa also sent out some text that evening the last
00:14:22
one going to her boyfriend Maris just after 1 p.m. now he says when he called her back it was after midnight and her
00:14:32
phone went straight to voicemail this is according to what he told Phoenix police
00:14:38
and I'm guessing law enforcement has both of their cell phones they do and that was a bit of a mystery for the
00:14:45
public and we'll get into that deeper as we go because I think that's a big part
00:14:50
of this case and a big part of the mystery of who done it so we have Maris the boyfriend being the last known
00:14:58
person to see the girls apparently he told the police that when he left Nicole was in the
00:15:05
shower and it sounds like they had a a bartending job scheduled for that night but neither woman ever went to this
00:15:16
bartending job and that's it when when the when the friend showed up at their house at 1222 p.m. the next day both of
00:15:25
our victims are already dead and the killer or killers were long gone by that time now Captain I would mentally walk
00:15:33
everyone through the crime scene but that will be quite difficult in this case the Phoenix police have released
00:15:40
almost no information about the crime scene so little that even the families of both of the victims know next to
00:15:50
nothing about the state of the crime scene and what evidence may have been found inside the home and remember our
00:15:57
poor woman who discovered them who has never been named did not enter the home so we don't have any statements from her
00:16:05
either she simply saw the body of one of her friends lying on the floor in the living room area and then called 911
00:16:12
when looking through after looking through the window of the back of the house well two things there one they're
00:16:19
protecting the friend's identity because we don't want her to become a suspect that's one but two or a victim right and
00:16:28
but I also want to take a second to look at the front of this house it looks like
00:16:32
it's a single car garage I'm guessing the garage has access to the house like maybe side access to the house and then
00:16:43
you have the front door but it looks like there's possibly a window on the front door but also there's a front
00:16:50
window which if somebody's at your front door you'd be able to look out and and know who was at your front door yes
00:16:58
that's correct now the the Phoenix Police Department told family and friends of the victims that this was a
00:17:05
very high profile case and they said that it would be best if very little information was released not just to the
00:17:13
public but very little information released to the the victim's Inner Circle of family and friends as well and
00:17:20
as we stated they did confirm that there was no forced entry into the home all the doors and the windows were found to
00:17:30
be closed and locked and law enforcement stated that the killer must have locked
00:17:39
the door on their way out of the house this was not done with a key but with the kind of door handle lock where you
00:17:48
turn to engage the lock in the middle of the knob and then you close the door behind you and now you have locked the
00:17:56
door on your way out of the house right there is some information about the crime scene that we do know and it
00:18:03
is as follows both Melissa and Nicole's cars were parked at the house Melissa was found on the floor between the
00:18:14
kitchen in the dining room area well hold on and the reason why that's important to for them to say hey both of
00:18:22
their cars were there meaning that the individual that did this definitely knew both of them were home yeah if you're
00:18:32
going to just judge on suspicion of anybody being home based on vehicles spotted out front then you see both
00:18:41
vehicles and you go well they they must be home at this time right and if I was a killer and I was going to Target one
00:18:49
of the individuals I probably wouldn't go in it probably would not be the opportune time to try to kill one of
00:18:58
them if both of them were there right and that's going to that leads us down the path of was this planned or was this
00:19:06
something that just was reactionary now Nicole was found on the floor of the living room other than that
00:19:15
no information was released whether there was any sign of a struggle inside the home or whether the two women were
00:19:22
restrained in any manner or whether anything was missing from the home which is very interesting to me as the
00:19:29
detectives have said that they could not rule out robbery as a possible motive but they went on to you know just to add
00:19:39
to the vagueness of investigator statements here they also went on to say that they could not rule out any other
00:19:46
type of common motive for the murders yeah but with death by strangulation with two individuals it almost feels
00:19:55
like it leans to more than one um perpetrator well we do know regardless of what it should be or
00:20:04
what it is we do know that they that law enforcement collected quote a lot of evidence from the crime scene this is
00:20:12
per Sergeant Steve martos of the Phoenix PD but exactly what that means specifically right it is unknown now
00:20:22
several family members told True Crime garage that one of the pieces of evidence was the cell phones that you
00:20:29
asked about there Captain so both cell phones the phone belonging to Nicole and then the phone belonging to Melissa were
00:20:38
in fact found inside of the home but get this the phones were found in a pot of dirty water in the kitchen sink so
00:20:49
presumably the killer or Killers wanted to destroy the phones to destroy evidence on those phones and as we saw
00:20:59
police were still able to determine that the women had been texting that night and with whom this is interesting
00:21:07
because you have to wonder did police gather that information about the women texting that night and who they were
00:21:13
texting and when from the two victims phones or was that information that they collected from other people I I'm or
00:21:23
both yeah I'm wondering it it appears to me whoever killed these women be it one perpetrator two or
00:21:32
more there was some concern given to the phones that they they went out of their
00:21:38
way to purposely destroy the phones right you have to wonder how successful they were by leaving them in in water
00:21:48
soaking in water presumably overnight or whenever the murders went down again it
00:21:54
just leads in my mind to more than one perpetrator I mean if you have control of one victim the
00:22:03
other victim is going to possibly put up a fight or run to get help or something
00:22:10
and it looked a dog was putting up a fight as well yeah it just seems like there's there's a lot going on and
00:22:16
there's a lot to control in this environment yeah yeah and speaking of environment the neighbor said that the
00:22:23
young women pretty much kept to themselves but always had a lot of cars so a lot of people coming and going from
00:22:31
the home you know all the time Phoenix Police Department reported that they did not have any reports of illegal activity
00:22:41
having taken place at the home it seems maybe the neighbors were they might have
00:22:46
been a little touchy about all of the friends that the women had over from time to time now I don't know this to be
00:22:53
the case but often you will see this when younger people we know both of our victims here Captain are 27 years of age
00:23:01
right you see this when you have younger people like our victims when they live in an older neighborhood but I guess of
00:23:08
course you don't need to be older to be a busy body you know sometimes you get neighbors watching one another and
00:23:15
policing each other for reasons only because they're they may be bored now Nicole had a series of different
00:23:23
roommates over the four years that she owned the home so there was always people moving in and out of the house
00:23:33
and as we said the home was on a c toac but there was only it looks like there was only one house across from them also
00:23:42
situated in the C AAC behind our victim's home where the women died was a brick wall around a small yard area separating
00:23:55
their plot of land from a parking lot for an apartment building so who knows how busy that apartment building parking
00:24:02
lot would be at certain times let's get into a little background information here in regard to these two ladies the 2
00:24:13
27 year-olds were close friends as we said roommates and also colleagues they live together off and on since they met
00:24:21
when they were both 23 until very recently up until the time of their deaths they both worked as
00:24:29
bartenders and waitresses at a strip club in Phoenix called The Sweet Spot Melissa still worked there at the time
00:24:37
of her death now until 2008 both women had worked at a gentleman's club called panta and overlapping there for about
00:24:48
three years yeah I used to strip out a club called Mega Death the managing General partner of the club Frank vanui
00:24:58
told the desert news that the two were quote real good girls real smart end quote Nikki was 5 foot4 inches tall she
00:25:10
was a workout junkie she used the treadmill and waits at her gym regularly remember this kind of the first sign
00:25:19
that all is not right when her friend at the gym says she did not show up for her
00:25:26
normal workout that day red flags go up she goes over to check on her friend right when she worked as a bartender as
00:25:35
someone who used to bartend she would be what I would call a a very smart SLP poopular bartender she
00:25:43
knew how to play the bartending game all right so her regular patrons would bar hop they would follow her from bar to
00:25:53
bar as she filled in for Relief shifts or for other bartenders right this is something you
00:26:01
know your your whole salary as a bartender is based off of tips and you'll see some very smart bartenders
00:26:07
who do this often you can only work a couple days a week at a bar because they they have other bartenders and they
00:26:16
don't you you traditionally work longer shifts so you work just a couple of days
00:26:21
well if you want to make good money in in that career you get two two different bars or you move around and you're
00:26:31
always letting everybody know all of your regulars uh Hey tonight I'll be at this bar on Thursday I'll be at that bar
00:26:39
and they tend to follow you around and that really if if your bar ain't busy you ain't making much money that night
00:26:46
so she was not only good at her job but but smart enough to to have that following now she recently quit her job
00:26:55
at the club and was taking classes at at the University of Phoenix where she was
00:27:00
studying Communications better than computer it was reported by the media that she did not have a steady boyfriend
00:27:07
at the time of her death Nicole's Aunt described her to the Phoenix news times as quote she loved to tease she was fun
00:27:17
happy go-lucky she just loved life and lived life to the fullest but it's also a little bit a part of the job uh if
00:27:27
you're bartender or you're a server or if you're even in the band that night your job is to have make sure
00:27:34
everybody's having a good time maybe you're you become a little flirty that's natural Melissa was known
00:27:42
as B to her friends she was a recent graduate from the it looks like Pima Pima Pima Medical
00:27:52
Institute where she trained to become a dental hygienist but she since decided to go
00:27:59
into forensics she also loved to travel in fact one time visiting a cousin as far
00:28:05
away as Qatar in the summer of 2010 she lived with her sister Samantha so this would be the summer before the young
00:28:15
women were killed Samantha is her younger sister she was planning to move back to Tucson where her family was from
00:28:24
now Samantha told us that the summer in the summer of 2010 Melissa seemed great she was acting
00:28:32
totally normal wasn't into anything shady didn't disappear at random times or receive mysterious phone calls when
00:28:40
they lived together she was living a normal life that summer before she was killed right but we would be remissed if
00:28:48
we didn't point out both women worked at a strip club and a lot of times with strip clubs there are there is drug use
00:28:59
yeah well with bars in general there's there's drug use by be it by the patrons or by the the staff staff yeah now
00:29:09
Melissa moved back into Nicole's house in the fall so she moves in relatively not too long before these
00:29:17
murders take place and she did recently discovered that she was pregnant it's not known whether this was a planned
00:29:26
event but she told friends that she was very happy about the pregnancy and she told everyone that the father was her
00:29:35
boyfriend Maris Melvin and Melissa told Samantha her sister about the baby but was waiting for three more weeks until
00:29:46
Christmas to surprise her mom Sandra with the good news it was after she was killed that the positive pregnancy test
00:29:56
was found in the home in a baggie with merry Christmas written on the baggie in a Sharpie with a sharpie but the
00:30:05
boyfriend knew that she was pregnant the boyfriend knew the sister knew and of course her roommate knew as well as a
00:30:11
couple of friends she's just keeping it for Mom I'm guessing she would have found out uh she was eight weeks
00:30:18
pregnant is is what we said so she would have found out probably in November and
00:30:25
you know she's probably waiting just Christmas to surprise Mom saying hey wonderful news you're going to be a
00:30:32
grandmother well I'm an idiot so I don't know this for sure but I I've heard a lot of people say that you wait 12 weeks
00:30:40
something could go wrong right you don't want everybody getting all excited and and happy and and then it just adds to
00:30:47
the sadness later investigative reporter Nicole Parton told Nancy Grace we're also hearing from former employer
00:30:57
friends family members co-workers that both of these girls were very loving very generous and had
00:31:05
absolutely no known enemies and we really couldn't find anybody to say anything negative about either one of
00:31:14
them yeah and I think law enforcement would be able to find out if there was any disputes going on through text
00:31:21
messages yeah again how successful were the killers in in destroying those phones or what information would have
00:31:31
been on those phones we don't have statements from detectives to tell us where they collected the the knowledge
00:31:40
of of knowing that there were text messages sent and received that night they right from from the people that
00:31:47
received them or that that were communicating with Nikki and Melissa that night now as we said in 2006 Nikki
00:31:56
purchased the the three-bedroom single level home on East Cambridge Avenue where the women were living she did this
00:32:04
with some roommates so immediately she's buying the home and then having roommates move in to help with the
00:32:11
expense by paying her rent and taking advantage of at the time what was readily available mortgage loans that
00:32:20
were around in the mid 2000s right it looks to us from from our review of the fin fincial documents that she borrowed
00:32:29
about $300,000 to purchase this home at some point she got underwater with the house
00:32:37
after a refinance this home went into foreclosure but in November so this is this is to point out
00:32:46
that she's having some money issues leading up to the murders November of 2010 just one month before they were
00:32:54
killed Nicole was able to come up with the money to save the house and at the time of her death it was actually under
00:33:03
renovation so she and Melissa were still living there while the house was being renovated but it was empty it was it was
00:33:12
somewhat empty you know there's not a lot of furniture inside the because the floors were being redone at this time
00:33:20
and the two young women were sleeping on couches while the work was being accomplished
00:33:28
[Music] this show is sponsored by better help do you look forward to the holidays maybe
00:33:46
you struggle with seasonal Blues this time of year can be a lot and it's natural to feel some sadness or even
00:33:52
anxiety about it but adding something new and positive to your life can counter act some of those feelings
00:33:58
therapy can be a bright spot something to look forward to to make you feel grounded and to give you the tools to
00:34:06
manage everything going on if you're thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it's entirely online designed
00:34:13
to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a
00:34:19
licensed therapist and switch therapist at any time for no additional charge find your bright spot this season with
00:34:26
better help visit betterhelp.com garaget toay to get 10% off your first month that's betterhelp
00:34:35
hp.com garage Rosetta Stone is the language learning program with a lasting impact
00:34:43
I've been using their rap to learn French and it's not just about memorizing words but actually having
00:34:47
real conversations and it's not just French they offer 25 languages right now Rosetta Stone has an awesome holiday
00:34:54
deal 50% off their lifetime membership every language unlimited access forever for anyone keen on diving deep into a
00:35:02
new language check out rosettastone.com it's a GameChanger you can live out your Master
00:35:09
Chef dreams when you find a professional on Angie to tackle your dream kitchen remodel connect with skilled
00:35:16
professionals to get all your home projects done well visit angie.com you can do this when you Angie
00:35:25
that [Music] all right we're back cheers mes cheers to you Captain cheers to everybody out
00:35:44
there and happy happy happy holidays Nicole and Melissa's families feel that they have been given the runaround by
00:35:52
Phoenix police the initial detective on the case as we me mentioned earlier her name Toby Meyers she went out on
00:36:01
maternity leave for five months after the murders and according to the families no one worked the case until
00:36:10
she returned in October of 2011 so unfortunately that you know this is such a stupid thing to say but
00:36:19
unfortunately the timing of the murders of the investigation is just not not great we have the detective who's going
00:36:26
be working the case looking into it and after 5 months she has to go on maternity leave and then you have the
00:36:36
even more sad fact of the case just kind of sits there on the Shelf nobody doing
00:36:42
anything with it while Toby Meyers is off on maternity leave yeah but that's speculation from the family correct
00:36:50
correct but speculation or not what they can say is for x amount of time this case was unsolved it was relatively
00:36:59
fresh and no one's contacting us we did not see or hear of any work being done on our daughter's case so after Toby
00:37:10
Meyers comes back in October of 2011 she moves on and the case was handed off from there to another
00:37:19
detective and then to another detective and it really this case really bounced around the department to different
00:37:27
detectives for years and apparently there were a large number of homicides in the city in
00:37:35
2010 and the police force was just overwhelmed well and the problem here with this case is it's
00:37:42
not right away when you look at the situation you look at the victims you look at Nicole what she's doing with her
00:37:49
life you look at Melissa what she's doing with her life you have a one of them pregnant so okay that's a possible
00:37:56
motive then you go well maybe burglary and could be known it could have been a known burglary and the reason why is
00:38:06
because you have both individuals that worked at a strip club both individuals worked as bartenders both of those
00:38:15
occupations give you loose cash right that's true so that's very true you you'd be coming home with cash and most
00:38:24
of the time because you're working as a bartender you don't have the time to make a deposit to your bank at night so
00:38:32
it's safer to come home and then on top of that think about the patrons whether whether they're a stripper whether
00:38:41
they're working as a stripper or whether they're working as a bartender guess what both of those occupations have
00:38:49
fans right and so now you have a situation where it's like okay were they robbed and people knew what they were
00:38:57
doing just robbed in general because they thought oh well there's two females here we can control the situation but
00:39:05
did it have something to do with uh the one being pregnant or was there some Patron that was had some had some uh
00:39:17
fantasy about one or or had some crush on one and there's so many motives in this case yeah it's possible some skevy
00:39:27
old dude becomes obsessed with with one of these young ladies I think the issue where I take with that theory is you
00:39:36
would want to you would very likely want to wait until your target would be alone and as
00:39:44
you pointed out seeing the two vehicles out front if you were watching either one of these young women or following
00:39:51
them around you would know that right now is not a great time to to go into the home the other thing we got to
00:39:57
factor in here too is you have a situation where there is no force entry was was this someone that the one of the
00:40:06
women knew or both of them knew and let into the home that's also quite the possibility what what I think we have
00:40:14
here and this is really just someone trying to read between the lines of the statements given by law enforcement when
00:40:23
I hear we cannot rule out the pro possib of robbery as a motive but we cannot rule out any other motive either where
00:40:31
that leads me is I don't see this being a home that is randomly robbed meaning it there does
00:40:42
not seem to be evidence or if there was it's not a very smart tactic as far as law enforcement go to not say say so if
00:40:52
this if there was clear-cut evidence to detectives that someone just at random picked out a house and said
00:40:59
all right let's go in there and Rob the place oh [ __ ] everything went bad and we
00:41:04
ended up killing the two people that lived there police in my experience will almost always say publicly that this was
00:41:13
a robbery we feel that the motive here for these murders was a robbery gone bad they say that because they need the
00:41:21
public to be aware that this could happen again that these offenders could pick another house at random it's time
00:41:28
to alert the public that that is is a likely possibility and that their safety is a concern so what I think we have
00:41:36
here when you have law enforcement saying we cannot rule out the possibility of robbery but we cannot
00:41:43
rule out the possibility of any other motive I believe that there were there was something missing from the home
00:41:50
something maybe an item or a couple of items that were taken from the home and that's why they have that statement we
00:41:58
cannot rule out the possibility of robbery but it's not a clear-cut robbery at random as said because they would
00:42:04
have taken a whole bunch of stuff from the house they you don't just go in there and kill and then walk away with
00:42:11
little to nothing you you come out of there with with every treasure that you can uncover while you're in there and so
00:42:19
to me I it's the same as the cell phones I feel like somebody went out of their way to try to destroy those phones or
00:42:29
what could be on those phones and then had to take it a step further and take an item or two from the
00:42:36
home that may have some connection to them or to make it to Stage it to look like some kind of robbery and I and then
00:42:45
I think if you're going to go that route you also have to include what you said they could have had a lot of cash on
00:42:51
hand and if somebody knew that then it's not a random robbery it's a targeted robbery with a very specific goal in
00:42:59
mind for the perpetrator yeah or it's one of the goals there could be multiple goals you know what I mean well and with
00:43:06
all of these with the with the high homicide rate in the area at the time in the city of for the year of
00:43:15
2010 we've seen this in other cases in other cities as well it it appears that the case quickly lost the attention of
00:43:24
the investigators because they have Case Files piling up on their desk and from what the police were saying there was
00:43:31
very little concrete evidence to go on in this case to begin with yet they kept telling the
00:43:39
family all along for 10 years now that they can't tell them any details about the evidence because they were worried
00:43:47
they would jeopardize the investigation yeah that again that's one of those things that I think would be so
00:43:53
difficult with law enforcement because as you're giving this information to the family you can tell that the family is
00:43:59
they're they're suffering their loved one was murdered they want answers they're starting to point the finger at
00:44:05
you and putting blame on you for not getting this solved but there's a part of you going hey we don't have a lot of
00:44:11
evidence and if I turn this over to you then then there goes our case possibly yeah and I'm going to continue to read
00:44:19
between the lines here so law enforcement would not address this is according to the families would not
00:44:26
address whether there was any sexual assault or even confirm whether there was any type of robbery at all now the
00:44:34
family members that we spoke with are skeptical about both of these items they were being
00:44:40
told this is very interesting they were being told that there was no helpful DNA
00:44:47
that seems very intriguing to me Captain the choice of words there there is no helpful DNA it sounds like there is some
00:44:57
kind of DNA evidence but what the problem is with it we do not know uh they were told there were no prints no
00:45:05
forced entry and no digital record of anything useful to go on in this case that's according to what the family says
00:45:14
they were told by law enforcement but we know that Melissa texted her boyfriend that night again around 1 p.m. if it was
00:45:22
in fact Melissa that that sent that text it could be if the phones are a big concern to the
00:45:28
Killer maybe this is just a a red herring here we do know that there were other Communications that night as well
00:45:36
now according to family members DNA was found on some cigarette butts and drinking cups found at the crime scene
00:45:44
there was some partial prints that were found by crime scene texts and per the Phoenix Police Department none of these
00:45:52
things panned out that's what they're saying but the family says that the Phoenix PD has failed to use updated
00:46:00
testing methods to test the DNA that they they have it and they're simply running it every six months or so
00:46:07
against databases of known offenders but they're not retesting the DNA itself the
00:46:14
family even tried to petition for further DNA testing saying that not everything from the scene the the
00:46:22
evidence that they've been told was collected they saying the families are saying not everything at the scene has
00:46:28
been tested but the state officials have not been receptive to to the families trying
00:46:35
to get a hold of this information or pushing them to to test it this could be because an of an Infamous backlog in
00:46:45
text in testing I'm Sorry by the state crime lab so in 2016 the Arizona sexual assault evidence
00:46:53
collection kit task force reported a total of 6,424 untested rape kits in their storage at law enforcement agencies
00:47:08
across the state so I'm pointing all this out to to just say Hey look it's very possible that there is some
00:47:19
material from Nicole and Melissa's attack that has never been tested I mean we have
00:47:26
we have them on record the State of Arizona saying over 6,000 untested rape kits are in storage at law of law
00:47:34
enforcement agencies across the state and that is absolutely ridiculous yeah and it unfortunately it goes on in every
00:47:41
state Arizona is not just the only one in fact there there are cases here in Ohio and I can say this because of our
00:47:49
work with the porch light project and our work here in True Crime garage that we are aware of several cases that have
00:47:56
DNA evidence and for whatever reason they're either not testing it or you know it's it's it's just
00:48:03
frustrating it's frustrating there is a certain amount of expense that is associated with with these tests though
00:48:11
too we we do need to point that out that there it's not free to to do this type of testing and and these agencies do
00:48:18
have to run on on budgets like everywhere any other business would right but if it was if it was men being
00:48:25
raped I guess guarantee you those tests would be done already they wouldn't have
00:48:30
any sitting on the shelves yeah I don't know I can't I can't speak to that I'm guessing that uh if you have over 6,000
00:48:37
untested rape kits that that some of the victims might not or might not all be female um there are some people that
00:48:46
have been vocal in this case in the glass and Mason case here that say look the the the ball has been dropped and I
00:48:57
will Echo that that feeling as well I will say it looks to me that the ball has been dropped here but some have gone
00:49:05
as far to say that the the ball the dropping of the ball in this case was so blatant that they're wondering was this
00:49:13
on purpose is is there someone protecting someone else here or are the investigators in the Phoenix Police
00:49:21
Department just borderline incompetent in this case well you also a one or two with uh Nicole and
00:49:28
Melissa's you know working in a bar or working at a strip club sometimes they have off-duty officers that will work
00:49:37
security at night or they'll have like a I know my buddy's bar they' have Cop come in as they would be closing down
00:49:46
for the night so maybe that's where the suspicion is leading people and as far as if you want to look a little little
00:49:55
closer to home we do have on record police saying that they that Maris Melvin the
00:50:05
Melissa's current boyfriend at the time when she was killed they say that he this is a direct quote from the police
00:50:12
department quote he's certainly been Cooperative with our detectives certainly providing some information to
00:50:19
us that we hope will be useful in this investigation but because we do not have any Le at this point we certainly don't
00:50:27
want to rule anybody out so they checked out this this current boyfriend of Melissa and their their stance on him is
00:50:39
he's been Cooperative he's worked with our detectives and our investigators if we need something he's responsive
00:50:48
however we've not officially ruled him out we've not cleared him uh specifically now they did say that a
00:50:58
former boyfriend of of Nikki again not saying that he's ruled out either but they did go on record to say that they
00:51:08
do not believe that the former boyfriend of Nikki was involved in any way at all
00:51:14
so I don't know if this means that he has a solid Alibi for the night or if he was just you know nowhere near the area
00:51:22
but in regards to that old relationship of Nikki we do have family members who are
00:51:28
saying that the the breakup was amicable that um that there didn't seem to be any hard
00:51:37
feelings it was not a a violent or hostile type uh relationship now per the Phoenix New Times they reported that
00:51:47
Melissa's boyfriend Maris took and passed a polygraph examination uh so that would further
00:51:55
further along the statement by police saying that he was in fact Cooperative again though they've not officially
00:52:03
cleared him and if you're reading between the lines they're going out of their way to publicly say he's been
00:52:10
Cooperative but we've not officially ruled him out so there must be something suspicious there and as you pointed out
00:52:17
Captain this pregnancy unfortunately it's supposed to be a beautiful wonderful thing we've seen this in other
00:52:24
cases it's also a motive for for murder yeah which is sad and pathetic as for other suspects police
00:52:32
uncovered some information that could be relevant to the murders Nicole glass had
00:52:38
a record a police record in fact she was arrested in 2009 so the year before she
00:52:46
was caught up in a some kind of giant sting operation that was targeting drug dealers and drug users in the area
00:52:55
Nicole used her phone to contact the dealer and she bought some pot now I do want to point out this is very low level
00:53:03
stuff here um I've seen people online who suggest that this is the motive that this is your answer that that she must
00:53:12
have ratted somebody out or when they busted this this drug ring that this pot de that that this this was a little more
00:53:23
bigger than than normal situations because it looks from what I could find they busted everyone they could find involved
00:53:32
in this thing and there were it was reported there were between 60 to 110 people
00:53:41
arrested so it it does seem to to go a little bit above and beyond your your normal low-level pot dealing but from
00:53:50
what I could see though Captain through all the weed smoke it appears to me that
00:53:53
she made a phone call and bought some weed and that's about the extent of her involvement in this so I don't know that
00:54:02
I see a situation where it's some big-time drug dealer some drug cartel being ratted out by this person who
00:54:10
probably liked to smoke a little pot on the weekend so I think it's a little far-fetched to say that this is in
00:54:17
fact the cause for a double homicide here uh in in regards to Nikki and now one thing that I found to be very
00:54:28
interesting as we're kind of going through some different possibilities and theories here Captain the girls both of
00:54:35
the the young women were supposed to work a private event that night so this is something that would be out of the
00:54:44
norm for both our victims right and of course murder is completely out of the norm so we're looking for anything
00:54:52
strange going on around the time of of the crimes this I found to be very interesting they were supposed to work a
00:55:01
private event that night and whoever I I couldn't figure out find who set this whole thing up
00:55:10
or who was supposed to pick them up somebody was supposed to pick them up and take them to the private event that
00:55:16
night and for whatever reason whoever this was they did not show up so the the two young women did not go and work
00:55:25
event this right and do we have a record of a a car showing up and honking the horn or going to the door and knocking
00:55:32
and and the girls just didn't come out and then the car left well what we do have is we have communication from the
00:55:40
the victims to others that say the event was not going to happen or the event fell
00:55:48
through so that's that's how we know that this this event this private event that they were supposed to work
00:55:55
uh did not happen so let's go into to what this event was or could have been this from my understanding keep in mind
00:56:06
they're they're bartenders so someone had hired them to work a private event as bartenders for that night now the
00:56:15
boyfriend leaves their home if the boyfriend's not involved I mean he could be if he's not involved if
00:56:22
he didn't kill them if if him and and somebody else didn't kill them because I'm with you Captain I think this was
00:56:28
more than one person but was this whole private event was this this person that's supposed to show show up and pick
00:56:36
them up is this some kind of ruse that to me seems likely but if that person were to be the killer or wanted to
00:56:43
attack or rape one or both of the women or what have you it seems to me that this person would have went along with
00:56:51
hey the event still going on and picked up the women and taken them willingly from the home to another location yeah
00:56:59
that makes sense the event from my understanding had something to do with the Phoenix
00:57:06
Cardinals with the with the football team it was supposed to be some kind of after hours party that they were going
00:57:12
to bartend and for whatever reason again AC according to this communication it looks like either they it was decided
00:57:20
that they were not needed for this event or that the event did not happen at all
00:57:25
now I looked up the 2010 Cardinal schedule because my first thought was they were found Friday Friday morning
00:57:33
Friday early afternoon so was this a situation where the Cardinals were playing a Thursday night home game and
00:57:41
there was going to be some Afterparty well there's nothing in the football schedule that would indicate to me
00:57:47
anything obvious uh any kind of obvious event going on that night they played the Sunday before and they played the
00:57:55
Sunday after and the Cardinals were not very good that year so I don't see any reason for celebration at all so I I I
00:58:04
do wonder what this event was what the exact details of this event were to be it's something that I've looked at and
00:58:13
would like to know more about and then to circle the wagons one more time here Captain I think that the answer to me
00:58:26
I think this is a very solvable case now I don't know what has been lost due to time I mean keep in mind we're sitting
00:58:34
here in the garage December 2020 so this month marks the 10-year anniversary of the triple
00:58:43
homicide and it is still unsolved and you have to wonder how cold has this case got by now
00:58:53
and what do we have in the way of evidence we know that they collected a lot of items from the home it seems to
00:59:00
me like there's meat on the bone here for detectives it sounds to me like there is somewhat of a breadcrumb trail
00:59:07
that they have some type of evidence I just question how well they are currently working this case and I think
00:59:15
it's solvable or there might not be much there's a trail but there's not much Bread on there well I think it's
00:59:21
solvable too because of the cell phones to me that points at every indication that one of the girls likely both of the
00:59:31
young women knew the as salent or the asants people went out of their way to try to destroy information on those
00:59:41
phones did somebody I'm wondering if it could be to the point where somebody even made a threat via text message or
00:59:50
was there somebody calling one of these young women over and over and over again
00:59:56
that night right and they thought by dump it in and look there could have been a pan with water in the sink
01:00:03
already but they decided Well if I dump it in this pan with water it'll get rid of these text messages or these phone
01:00:10
records yeah it and and it does it looks to me like someone was very concerned about what was on one if not both of
01:00:17
those phones to the point where they made an a a conscious effort to one not take the phones with them not remove
01:00:26
them from the home I think there was something removed from the home maybe to Stage the possibility of a robbery or
01:00:34
there was something that tied something that directly tied the perpetrator to that home that they decided to remove
01:00:43
with them but they decided not to take the phones but oh I got to destroy these phones they didn't smash them they were
01:00:50
smart enough to leave them in water well that's what makes you um start going down the conspiracy theory
01:00:58
Rabbit Hole a little bit because you go put the cell phones into water don't take them with you because even if the
01:01:04
phone was turned off he probably could get some cell phone ping technology who has knowledge of that
01:01:12
well law enforcement um so that could get your brain going down the conspiracy theory
01:01:19
Rabbit Hole pretty or people listening to this show you know they you can pick up on these things uh a multitude of
01:01:26
different ways so to me I think that that is your breadcrumb that is your bread crumb Trail right there for me
01:01:34
it's it's who in their Inner Circle would have killed them I mean obviously we said it's been reported to
01:01:43
the newspapers by by employers and co-workers family and friends that we could not find an enemy we could not
01:01:53
find any one that didn't like them but obviously someone someone did not like them or did not like what was going on
01:02:02
or somebody like them too much that's true that's true and what I would like to know and I think it's something that
01:02:08
they again you know was the case dropped was the ball dropped here I don't know but they didn't obviously pick up the
01:02:17
ball and run with enthusiasm right right it wasn't Nick chub from the Cleveland Browns grabbing the ball taking off
01:02:25
running with it no or if you saw Chase young pick up that fumble and run into the end zone you're not going to stop
01:02:32
those guys and I think some of the stuff that they could have done and I would like to know the answer maybe they know
01:02:38
the answer if you have a smaller time period of when you think possibly Nicole was killed or Melissa was killed is
01:02:45
there a Gap or is it within maybe a couple minutes again because we need to figure
01:02:53
out it are we looking for one suspect or are we looking for or two or three so I think that's some stuff that with
01:03:05
autopsy you know take the ball and run with the autopsy that they could have better
01:03:11
answers and and that I think would lead you into different Avenues of Investigation
01:03:17
well and one thing too that I think is just ridiculous I mean when we spoke with
01:03:24
johnon when we spoke with John Douglas he said I I don't get he's like he's like yeah I get that you have to have
01:03:32
some hold back information he's like but the public is who is going to help investigators most of the time solve
01:03:40
these cases before they go cold and he's saying you know I don't understand why they would choose to hold back
01:03:47
everything and not let the public know anything at all there is no doubt in my mind
01:03:54
that law enforcement knows has a much better idea of well they were killed sometime between 10 p.m. and 12:22 p.m.
01:04:06
the next day I mean that is a window of of 14 and a half hours roughly they know they can shrink that
01:04:16
window down a little bit more and what I mean by by why would you hold on to that
01:04:20
information it makes no damn sense because if you know if you can go you know what we have a a pretty good idea
01:04:28
that that both of them were dead for eight hours or 10 hours before they were found well that's a much shorter window
01:04:35
you have family and friends and a lot of people you have neighbors who seem to be
01:04:39
nosy watching the watching the culdesac watching the you know watching the neighborhood if you can release that
01:04:47
information now you have a much shorter window you have people that are eager to
01:04:50
help and provide information to the Phoenix Police Department in this specific case and they can go you know
01:04:57
what uh so and so was not accounted for during this time or oh uh the boyfriend uh he said this that and the other thing
01:05:05
well um he left in the middle of the night or he didn't come home until very early in the morning you know there
01:05:13
there's a hundred different ways to to shake this thing and to get some some better information I mean in in defense
01:05:22
of the Phoenix to police Police Department we do have the sergeant Steve martos on record saying
01:05:28
unfortunately this case has remained unsolved that the Phoenix Police Department and members of the crime lab
01:05:35
were working tireless tirelessly on this case and many other cases and this will
01:05:44
remain the focus on identifying and arresting those responsible for this triple homicide it says according
01:05:52
according to the sergeant he's saying that the department is continuing to seek help from the community well that
01:05:59
doesn't seem to be the actual case because you're you're claiming to the family members that this is a high
01:06:05
profile case and we can't tell the family anything you're seeking information from the community yes you
01:06:12
are but you're not giving any you're not giving any help to the community help me
01:06:17
to help you you know you there there is information that they can come off of in
01:06:22
this case that I think people can provide some details to investigators to narrow down the suspect
01:06:30
pool here well that's arrogance and it's ignorance as well and it's basically um
01:06:37
it's a ego thing and that's why John somebody like John Douglas goes I don't understand because what he understands
01:06:45
is at the end of the day it's again I'm going to bring up another football reference only two football references
01:06:52
in the last four years just just to let everybody know it doesn't matter how you
01:06:56
get the win as long as you get the win because 2 weeks from now nobody gives a [ __ ] if you beat the team by one point
01:07:03
or if you beat the team by 10 points it doesn't matter if you get the win and it's the same with law enforcement if
01:07:10
you solve the case it don't matter how you got there it doesn't matter if you if you put out it's just like in the
01:07:16
deli case if they would have put out some of this information earlier maybe it would have been solved and if it got
01:07:22
solved then you're the hero nobody's going to look at you and go oh You released too much information
01:07:28
you're not a good detective if your job is to solve the the the case doesn't matter how you solved it
01:07:36
and I think that's why people like John Douglas are going doesn't make any sense
01:07:40
to me why would not why would you not use the media why would you not use the public to try to solve this case cuz
01:07:48
they're the ones that are going to help you solve it and guess who's going to get credit yeah you will law enforcement
01:07:53
will pH the department will they they'll be the heroes they will be the heroes at
01:07:58
the end of the day who solved the case now if you and I are right captain and our suspicions that more than one person
01:08:05
was involved in this attack from what very little that they're telling us about the crime scene and the crime
01:08:11
itself it appears to me that this was two or more individuals that puts a much higher probability that someone in that
01:08:20
group has told somebody at some time maybe they got a drunk confession or or a guilty confession they just had to get
01:08:28
it off their chest and tell somebody I believe that someone has been told some information in regards to this triple
01:08:38
homicide and it's time to come forward it's been 10 years now Rachel glass spoke with the Arizona Central in 2019
01:08:49
saying quote I need answers my daughter was 20 7 and she was just starting her life I thought I would be planning a
01:08:58
wedding instead of a funeral and then we have Melissa's mom Sandra who told the Arizona Central quote we relive the
01:09:08
moment over and over again and we get asked the same questions I have the same answers because I have no new
01:09:18
information we just pray to God that one day we'll see Justice as said Captain this December marks 10
01:09:27
years since these women were murdered and their killer or Killers is still out there walking around free free to kill
01:09:36
again anyone with information on this case is asked to call Silent Witness at 480948
01:09:50
6377 we will include that phone number in today's show notes there is a reward for information in this
01:10:01
[Music] case want to thank everybody for listening I want to thank everybody for
01:10:16
joining us here in the garage every week we enjoy your company we enjoy your smell
01:10:24
Colonel do we have any recommended reading this week this week I am very happy to be recommending the snow
01:10:32
killings inside the Oakland County child killer investigation by Marne Rich Keenan this is in my humble opinion the
01:10:41
definitive book on the Oakland County case it's a very famous case and this book was put together by Marne Rich
01:10:50
Keenan she is an award-winning reporter and colist who recently retired after 26
01:10:56
years with the Detroit News if you're looking for a last minute holiday gift idea pick up the snow killings and give
01:11:03
it as a gift this year it's the perfect book for any True Crime fan I want to thank everybody for joining us here in
01:11:12
the garage yeah and if you pick up one of the recommended reading books send us a picture tag Us in it on social media
01:11:19
and for everything True Crime Check out True Crime garage. join us back here in the garage tomorrow
01:11:27
until then be good be kind and don't [Music] [Applause] listen the Angie's List you know and trust is
01:12:08
now Angie and we're so much more than just a list we still connect you with top local pros and show you ratings and
01:12:15
reviews but now we also let you compare upfront prices on hundreds of projects and book a service instantly we can even
01:12:23
handle the rest of your project from start to finish so remember Angie's List is now Angie and we're here to get your
01:12:30
job done right get started at angie.com that's ngi or download the app today