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Noah Donohoe ////// 458

November 09, 2022 / 57:01

This episode covers the suspicious death investigation of Noah Donahoe, a 14-year-old boy who went missing in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in June 2020. Key topics include Noah's disappearance, the timeline of events leading up to his death, and the police investigation that followed.

Noah left home on June 21, 2020, to meet friends at Cave Hill Country Park but was later reported missing. His bike was found two and a half miles away from the park, raising questions about his whereabouts. CCTV footage tracked Noah's movements, showing him biking through various locations before he was seen naked near a residential area.

Witnesses reported seeing Noah without clothes, and his belongings were found scattered in the area. The police believed he may have suffered a head injury that led to disorientation. Despite extensive searches, Noah's body was discovered in a storm drain six days later, with the autopsy revealing drowning as the cause of death.

The investigation faced scrutiny due to unanswered questions about Noah's behavior, the circumstances of his disappearance, and the condition of the storm drain system. The episode discusses the ongoing public speculation and the need for further investigation into the case.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the complexities of the case and the tragic loss of a young life.

TLDR

Noah Donahoe, 14, vanished in Belfast, found dead in a storm drain; investigation raises many questions about his disappearance and death.

Episode

57:01
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foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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thank you foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign this week we travel across the sea to the Emerald
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Isle to look at an ongoing missing person's slash death investigation case in Northern Ireland
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but this isn't your average case of someone going missing and turning up murder in this case no one is really sure what
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happened here and the victim is a juvenile a child who simply went out for a bike
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ride to meet friends and ended up dead in the strangest of places and in the oddest of circumstances
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one detective called this the strangest case he'd seen in his over 30-year career
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this is true crime garage and this is the suspicious death investigation of Noah Donahoe
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[Music] on Sunday June 21st 2020 Noah Donahoe age 14 set off on his bike around 5 30
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pm to meet friends at Cave Hill Country Park this is in Belfast in Northern Ireland Noah was a pupil at Saint
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malaki's College a private Catholic boys School founded in 1833 according to the
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Irish news Noah was meeting a group of school friends to work towards his Duke of Edinburgh award now the Duke of
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Edinburgh award is a Civic self-improvement award given to young people who complete the requirements of
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each level at noaa's age the four requirements would be community service mental skill building physical
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Recreation nation and adventurous Journey this last one requires that an adventure be completed with a group of
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kids working together which was pre-approved by an award leader when Noah left the house he had a large
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backpack containing his laptop and some books he anticipated needing for the day's activities Noah is regularly
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described in the media as a talented cellist at school he played rugby and basketball and sang in the choir he was
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an exceptional student and received multiple Awards in the three years at the school including the spirit of the
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college award the perfect attendance award and various class prizes that Sunday afternoon Noah never showed up at
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Cave Hill Park yeah now Noah's mother is going to plead with the public for any information about her son his
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disappearance was completely out of character for him and it seems that the police recognized right away that
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something was wrong once they received the report that he was missing Noah was widely described as last seen wearing a
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black skateboarding helmet a khaki green North Face jacket gray sweat shorts with an emblem on one leg a
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tie-dye blue hoodie Nike sneakers with a bright yellow swoosh and a khaki backpack Noah's missing person's case
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became big news in Belfast with people holding vigils and participating in searches in fact according to the
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Belfast telegram his case became one of the biggest missing persons cases in the
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history of Northern Ireland on the day that he disappeared on that Sunday searches Sunday night and Monday
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focusing on the area he was believed to have been heading to Cave Hill Park came
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up empty but on Monday night police received news that a woman named Karen Crooks called in she had heard all about
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the missing boy as it was all over the news right she told police that on Sunday night so this was right after
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Noah went missing he left his home at 5 30 p.m she found a black Apollo mountain
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bike lying in the road at her North Wood Road home this is a residential area so at the
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time you know she just assumed some neighborhood kid left his bike and would come back and get it later right she
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left it in front of her house and went to work on Monday morning it is an odd place to find a bike maybe you'd see one
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on the sidewalk we don't know the area so we don't know if there was sidewalks or maybe you'd find a children's bike
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and in somebody's yard but in the street I think that's a little uh suspicious so
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on Monday she heard about Noah from the news and the description of his bike a black Apollo mountain bike so when she
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went home she finds that the bike is still in her yard no one's come to retrieve it
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she called the police at 7 pm and on Tuesday police confirmed that it was in fact Noah's bike so police now
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had an idea where Noah had gone note this Northwood Road neighborhood is totally residential and is nowhere it is
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nowhere near the park where Noah was supposed to be going his his supposed destination yeah I wonder
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how familiar he was with riding to the park this was actually two and a half miles away from Cave Hill and no one had
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any idea why Noah would be in that particular area one thing that Irish crime Fighters have at their disposal
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that is of tantamount to this case in cases like this is CCTV cameras all over the place right the Police Service of
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Northern Ireland psni was able to put together a timeline of where Noah went and when by compiling CCTV footage from
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businesses and homes I believe they had over 20 pieces of video footage with Noah on it yes so this was from 22
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different sources and they were able to watch nine full minutes of Noah's Journey this was broken up footage from
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22 different cameras that captured Noah as he went past by utilizing the time stamps on the footage they were able to
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track his travels that Sunday evening here are their official findings one note before we get into the route Noah
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took that day Noah's home address where he lived with his mother Fiona has not been published right media Outlets like
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Belfast live have published maps showing the different points where Noah was seen
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on CCTV that afternoon and they placed the starting point at the intersection of apsley Street and ormeau Avenue
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and I'm going to spell those just in case I'm not pronouncing them correctly that's
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a-p-s-l-e-y Street and o r m e a u Avenue the bike ride to Cave Hill from this area is 6.7 miles so it would take
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Noah over an hour to get there and like you said he's not in the area he's supposed to be that that is one of the
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biggest mysteries of this case yes and there's no real reporting about whether Noah had biked to this area before
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or if he was even used to such long bike rides by himself so we don't know if he's familiar with this area where he's
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not supposed to be right the Irish news reported that it was thought that Noah may have taken a wrong turn you know
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simply got lost from his home in South Belfast on his way to Cave Hill and ended up in the Shore Road Northwood
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area where his bike was found instead but how many times have you been driving or riding your bike or or whatever
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you're doing you make a wrong turn because you think it looks familiar and then for a mile or a few miles you're
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going okay now this doesn't look familiar right and so you just keep going like I'm going to see something
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pretty soon that that makes me realize I'm going in the right direction but you just don't well and this is just last
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summer when this boy vanished so keep in mind Noah had a phone with him and he's
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a smart 14 year old if he made a wrong turn one would think he would just use a map app to obtain directions regardless
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a wrong turn even if that's the case it's certainly logical but if that's the case it does not
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explain him Vanishing right let's go through the timeline presented at the August and
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November preliminary hearings okay so to be clear with everyone they have held these hearings to try to determine what
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happened in this case this is not a trial this is simply people getting together and trying to decipher what
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happened in this particular situation the timeline is as follows Noah left his home in
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South Belfast on Sunday June 21st at 5 41 pm on his bike he had on his jacket and his backpack he
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then traveled along or may you rode at 5 42 PM towards the city center before cycling through Victoria Square at 5 49
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PM then he hit corn Market High Street and Royal Avenue this at 5 50 p.m so several different roads traveling pretty
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fast Along on his bike covering a decent amount of ground Noah was then seen traveling alongside the art college near
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the corner of York Street and Frederick Street at 5 53 pm CCTV footage shows Noah traveling toward
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York gate by which stage Noah is clearly seen to no longer be carrying his backpack weird stuff he's not interacted
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with anybody he's simply traveling on his bike and when we get to this clip we can't see a backpack he's no longer
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carrying his backpack Noah then traveled along York Street crossing great Patrick Street and the
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motorway which is another word for their Highway before turning left onto Brougham Street and then right along
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North Queen Street at 5 57 pm moving toward the north of the city this part is not on CCTV but came from a witness
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statement saying that at 6 PM as Noah cycled toward the Grove well-being Center on North Queen Street and York
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Road he fell from his bicycle just before the junction with the Shore Road a motorist stopped at the intersection
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witnessed this it seems she did not actually talk to Noah because Noah got back on his bicycle
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within one minute and continued a Long Shore Road at this stage he was no longer wearing
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his green Overcoat he continued along York Road cycling in a normal way according to the Barrister
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presenting the timeline one minute later at just before 602 PM Noah was seen entering Northwood Crescent from skego
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Neil Avenue he was wearing his black skate helmet blue hoodie gray shorts and black Nikes
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then because a story involving video surveillance footage would not be complete without a glitch in the time
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stamp there was an initial Gap in the timeline it was reported to the public that the
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next sighting of Noah on CCTV was at 6 11 pm I think we're now a hundred percent and the cases we covered on
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their CCTV where something is wrong there's a time stamp is normally wrong correct it would be abnormal if they're
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a hundred percent correct so what we have here is the the initial reporting at these hearings is stating hey there's
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nine minutes unaccounted for where Noah is not visible we don't know what he's doing who he's with if anyone at all
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this Gap in the timeline was enough to cause all sorts of rumors conspiracy theories
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including that Noah could have been abducted and had fallen victim to a child molester or even been kidnapped in some
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politically motivated plot against British loyalists but this was all eventually addressed by the psni this is
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a statement from one of the hearings says quote police have since confirmed that the 1811 timing is wrong
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the time stamp on the actual footage is 1808. police misunderstood at the time of its retrieval that the clock on the
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CCTV was three minutes slow and hence the reported actual timing of 1811. police Now understand the clock on the
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CCTV to have been five minutes fast hence the new last sighting timing of 1803. these timings will be evidentially
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verified at the full inquest but it's very strange I mean we have these gaps in time but the fact that he's leaving
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his book bag behind the fact that he's leaving his jacket behind uh we can't say for 100 certainty that he had no
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interaction with somebody because we don't have obviously every second of his travel that day
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there's yeah that's correct we don't have every second of his travel however what this means per the statement is
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that there is in fact no Gap in the footage at all the next sightings of Noah are at 603 PM why yeah and I and I
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think what they're implying is we don't think there was any interaction because there's no time Gap showing that he
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would have stopped to interact with somebody correct correct and again from the official statement this is for the
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next stage in the timeline at 603 PM Noah is seeing a short distance away outside of 85 Northwood Road without any
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close he is seen on this CCTV to go between numbers 89 and 91 Northwood Road which
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leads to an area of waste ground behind the two houses this is a wooded area behind the neighborhood okay
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just to recap no real Gap in the CCTV footage footage pulled from 22 cameras where we can see Noah traveling Along on
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his bicycle however there are articles of clothing that seem to be disappearing as he continues on his Adventure so
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that's making any sense first the backpack then his his jacket yeah and then to the point where he's he's
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visibly naked right so he's then seen walking in this residential neighborhood naked
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the CCTV footage that captured this was from a camera on the Northwood Road home
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of elinda Patterson so we are at this point no possessions no clothes and his bike is gone at this point correct now
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Linda Patterson um which her CCTV captured this footage she said that she was sitting in her living
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room watching television when she saw Noah bike past and he was not wearing any clothes at this point she says that
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she called to her husband but by the time he got into the room and they looked again out the window the boy was
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gone and they saw his bike just lying in the street she said to the media quote quite a few
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people saw him but they just saw him from the waist up and didn't think anything of it end quote Yeah they
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didn't see his dingle dangle she also said that the boy did not seem to be in distress in any way at all but again
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this is a very quick sighting out a window here right this is the last footage showing Noah Donahoe before he
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vanished but here's what we do have those we do have at some point that we know that there's a mistake between law
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enforcement and the information on the CCTV so I think some people wonder is there possibly more mistakes that law
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enforcement just didn't catch yes uh Linda's house the eyewitness her home appears to be a condo with multiple
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units in one larger building this is also a cul-de-sac Noah had last been seen between numbers
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89 and 91 the address is 89 and 91 Northwood Road one of these is the home of Karen Crooks
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she's the woman who found Noah's bike and later reported it right so Noah was there
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biking naked this is not a situation where the child was abducted at some point and
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somebody dumped the bike off in this neighborhood we have eyewitnesses and footage putting him there before he
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disappears and now simply it's a bike in the street none of the footage however actually
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shows him removing his clothing at any point it's reported that police believe Noah
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left the area on foot they did not suspect Foul Play Because in all of the footage they reviewed which seemed to
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account for Noah's Journey from his home to where his bike was found he was not seen interacting with a
00:22:01
single person but regardless no one knew where he went after the last sighting on Northwood
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Road foreign [Music] [Music] we're back cheers mates cheers to you Captain I want to give a cheers out to a
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good friend of ours Larry Finley passed away within the last week so it's with a
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heavy heart that we we give a big cheers and a big toast to Larry Finley he joined the U.S Navy and served this
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great country from 1959 to 1963. afterward he had a 35 year career in law enforcement where he served as a
00:23:06
patrol officer a detective and a court liaison officer and he was one of the first dare
00:23:13
officers in the state of Ohio he was my DARE officer he was the DARE officer at our school when we were kids so he was a
00:23:22
damn good guy and he will be dearly dearly missed by all so cheers to the Finn all right Captain back to the
00:23:31
information at the hearing it was reported to the court that on Wednesday Noah's helmet
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was found by a member of the public on Northwood Road on the same day his hoodie and shoes
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were discovered by a member of the public lying on a wall at 63 Northwood Road clearly
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he had discarded his clothing and then gotten back on his bike and I'm saying that with a question mark
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at the end and where were the rest of his clothes you know we we don't have his jacket his
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shorts so now that the police knew that that Noah was biking along naked and the
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witness had reported seeing him fall off his bike people began to speculate that
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perhaps Noah suffered some kind of head injury during this fall you know we reported he was wearing a
00:24:28
skating helmet but regardless theories about it that perhaps he suffered some kind of
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concussion underneath the helmet the fall from the bike and the motorist saying that he may have hit his head is
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what led police to believe Noah might have been disoriented got lost or was simply hiding
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the psni superintendent Clark said quote the one thing we are majoring on is that
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he has in some way suffered a head injury which led him to being disoriented an appeal was made to the
00:25:05
public to please search their homes Gardens garages outbuildings and surrounding areas for the boy police
00:25:13
said we still believe he may have gone into an empty building or shed foot searches supported by an aerial unit
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police dogs and a Tactical Team covered the area thoroughly as well as local volunteers but they still could not find
00:25:29
the boy they couldn't find Noah the fall from the bike could not explain one thing
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Noah shedding his backpack and coat because this would be before the fall right and it also does not explain the
00:25:44
direction he was traveling in this is not the direction he should be going in by the time he fell off his
00:25:50
bike he was in a location he had no business being in that anyone knows of and it's far from his
00:25:58
alleged destination okay so then you asked about the backpack on Friday June 26th it was announced that police
00:26:07
recovered his backpack here's what happened a known drug addict his name is Daryl Paul age 33 found the backpack he
00:26:17
says leaning up against a wall we don't know exactly where he ransacked it and he tried to sell off some of the
00:26:26
items he found inside of the back packet like a they call it a cash converters shop but
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I imagine it's like a pawn shop mind you there's the laptop computer inside this
00:26:36
backpack this was two days after Noah went missing on June 23rd for unknown reasons the store refused to buy it Paul
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was arrested that week on unrelated charges and was sitting in jail meanwhile this is bizarre an anonymous call to
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police informed them that Daryl Paul was in possession of the computer backpack and school books with missing child Noah
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Donahue's name on them so they don't find these items on this dude when they arrest him on unrelated charges he's
00:27:14
sitting in a jail cell because of these unrelated charges as unrelated arrests and magically an anonymous phone call
00:27:22
comes in saying hey remember that missing kid that we still haven't found this dude had some of this kid's
00:27:29
belongings police are going to search his home to try to find these items or hopefully even find the boy and they did
00:27:38
recover the backpack and the books they then recovered the laptop from a friend of Paul's I guess he said that he
00:27:48
he loaned it to his friend or maybe possibly trying to sell it to the friend again we look at these cases and we say
00:27:56
if you could have just you know one question answered this case you're going to have a whole long list of them but
00:28:04
here at this point in the timeline I would be fascinated to know who called in this anonymous tip about these
00:28:12
belongings this lead is strange too because it turns out there was no possibility that Daryl Paul had anything
00:28:21
to do with what happened to Noah and this is per a police statement quote CCTV footage confirmed that the
00:28:28
individual who took the bag was a number of miles away when Noah was last seen with the bag at or about the art college
00:28:37
right this individual is being investigated for the offense under the Theft Act and the police will deal with
00:28:46
this manner separately so Paul per CCTV footage they can put this guy at a completely different
00:28:54
location miles away from where this boy was when his backpack disappears off of his body off of his person on the CCTV
00:29:04
footage right according to statements made at the preliminary hearing Noah's phone was discovered within a few days
00:29:12
of his disappearance this was near a playground on North Queen Street a citizen found the phone and turned it in
00:29:19
it was reported that both the phone and the laptop were undergoing forensic examination as one would expect although
00:29:27
initial investigation did not discover anything useful or any useful information on either of the devices
00:29:35
right we don't have any record of him making connection with somebody through these devices yeah it
00:29:42
doesn't seem to be communicating with anybody uh as far as we know he's not looking up a map app to indicate that
00:29:49
he's aware that he's lost again we also don't have any communication of why he would be in that area and not heading
00:29:58
towards the park so as you'll recall the final piece of the CCTV footage showed Noah walking naked
00:30:05
near a house on Northwood Road where his bike was found searches of the area at the time turned
00:30:13
up nothing but by Thursday police seemed to be on to something and we say that because
00:30:19
by that Thursday they are now asking everyone to stand down on their public searches remember they were asking the
00:30:26
public for help for information and for them to search their their properties right they're now asking the public to
00:30:33
stand down on Saturday June 27th six days after Noah was last seen there was news police found Noah's body at 9
00:30:45
45 a.m in a storm drain complex underneath the Shore Road area search and rescue teams had been
00:30:52
searching the complex apparently for several days captain psni superintendent Clark made a public
00:30:59
statement saying quote while we have no official identification we believe it is
00:31:04
the missing teenager Noah Donahoe Clark asked the public to stop spreading baseless rumors about Noah being
00:31:11
murdered stating that said he did not believe Foul Play to have been a factor yeah I don't think there was any uh
00:31:17
puncture wounds like bullet holes were he wasn't stabbed with a knife or anything right we do have
00:31:24
some information from the autopsy it was conducted and rumors flew that Noah had
00:31:31
been murdered placed in the storm drain system to hide the body yeah look my issue with this examiner saying people
00:31:39
shouldn't question things so much in this area they did have people that were being
00:31:46
harassed and stocked online so that's not out of the norm for the public to have some questions about that we have a
00:31:55
we have a missing child that we have on film basically um removing all his belongings it just
00:32:06
doesn't add up correct and the thing that we have going on here too is the baseless rumors that the investigators
00:32:14
are telling the public hey can you please stop with this this is not helping our investigation at all because
00:32:19
what you have here Captain is we know that his bike was found on Northwood Road and then we have the public
00:32:27
statement of well we tracked him via camera footage to where his bike went was found
00:32:34
and then about a week later we find him in the storm drain complex it's it's it will go through the storm drain
00:32:44
complex here in a little bit but we find his body in this area what you have is you have accusations by people online
00:32:52
who are saying okay well this person that lives on Northwood Road they must have killed him and abducted him and
00:32:58
killed him this person that lives on this street must have done this right and that's not helping their
00:33:05
investigation at all I I'm just saying that I I don't think it's uncalled for for the a community that knows that
00:33:13
people are being harassed online and stalked online to have questions so the autopsy again with the rumors and
00:33:22
everything like that of course they're looking for Foul Play and the police suspected that Noah may have suffered a
00:33:28
head injury resulting in this unusual behavior the coroner was also looking for any signs of head trauma or head
00:33:36
injury the results of the autopsy were startling to many it was found that the cause of death was drowning Noah had
00:33:44
drowned in the storm drain system or appears to be that way right and to make things even more puzzling it was also
00:33:51
revealed that he did not sustain any severe head injury in fact there was no detectable head injury at all according
00:33:59
to the BBC coroner Joe mccriskin said there is no evidence that Noah was attacked or that any other person was
00:34:09
involved in his death he also expressed concern about continued baseless online speculation about the incident now what
00:34:18
about uh his mental health do we know if he's on any medication or do we know if
00:34:23
he was ADHD or anything like that it does not appear that he had anything of concern because if if he had like
00:34:33
severe ADHD or something like that and they had him on a high dose of something that maybe his parents stopped giving
00:34:42
him or maybe he stopped taking he could be having symptoms of like withdrawal which would make sense on why he was
00:34:53
taking his clothes off because one of the symptoms of a of a drug withdrawal would be that you feel like your body's
00:34:59
on fire correct correct um let's go through that storm drain system here because
00:35:06
anybody that's not familiar with this case they're probably just picturing this boy being found in a ditch
00:35:14
somewhere you know a large puddle of water so to speak so the storm drain system and also let's try to figure out
00:35:23
how he got there because this is not what you're picturing if you're not familiar with this case the police
00:35:27
believe that Noah entered the storm drain of his own accord this is something he would have to physically
00:35:32
get into yeah and they say the police say that they know exactly where he went in now we don't know exactly how they
00:35:42
quote unquote know this but they figured out that he was in the drain system and
00:35:48
went into search for him and ultimately retrieved his body there's an obvious location where he could have entered if
00:35:56
you believe that he's entering the nearest to where his bike was found so that's that could be how they quote
00:36:02
unquote know that he entered the storm drain system at this location I don't think anybody knows anything in
00:36:09
this case is why I'm using air quotes there um yeah nobody nobody knows anything no
00:36:14
well nobody can see that you're making Eric quotes except for me but um I think the thing here the evidence that they're
00:36:21
just not pointing out which is obvious is that there's latches with locks on these storm drains so process of
00:36:31
elimination if all of them are locked going forward you know the next five are locked and the five behind us are locked
00:36:40
but this one isn't I think that's where they know the point of entrance yeah so remember Karen Crooks the nice lady who
00:36:48
found Noah's bike and reported it the entrance to the storm drain where it is believed that Noah went in is at the
00:36:56
bottom of her yard behind her home now this is not a manhole or one of those small under the curb openings like
00:37:05
we see in our cities here in the U.S this drainage system is massive it's a maze of underground tunnel spanning one
00:37:13
kilometer and the drains themselves are huge yeah I'm I'm not saying that looks just like
00:37:20
this but if you think of like Stephen King's It you know it's exactly what I thought of you know the dairy uh sewage
00:37:27
system that's that's what I'm imagining these have been described as culverts carrying underground waterways and the
00:37:36
entrance behind the crooks home is a very imposing looking opening photos of the access point to the storm drain
00:37:44
system it is thought that Noah entered are available online the entrance is a very large concrete opening that
00:37:53
descends into the ground almost resembling the entrance to an underground tomb or maybe a crypt
00:38:00
and the opening is topped by a very imposing iron barred grate clearly intended to keep people out
00:38:10
so the great intended to keep people from going into the drain system at first there was some question as to
00:38:17
whether Noah could fit through the bars Karen Crooks said her small boys their ages are five and seven told her when
00:38:28
they were discussing the case that they were able to squeeze through and had done so the Bars were seven and a half
00:38:35
inches apart now according that's according to the Irish news keep in mind Noah's 14 he's not five or seven so I
00:38:44
think it's highly doubtful that Noah could fit through such a small opening and as the captain pointed out I don't
00:38:50
know he's I mean he's real thin well as you pointed out we would later learn that this great
00:38:57
it was unlocked yeah so it's intended to keep people out but if you don't put a lock on it it's the same as any unlocked
00:39:04
door anybody can walk through the thing right this is could just simply be a tragic coincidence
00:39:10
I guess the complex had been inspected on June 18th just three days before Noah died but the inspection failed to note
00:39:19
that the access hatch was not locked right so on June 21st when Noah had for unknown reasons decided to enter the
00:39:29
storm drain it was unlocked the infrastructure officials placed a padlock on it on June 24th this is after
00:39:37
they discovered that the police were considering whether Noah could have gone into it yeah three days after this is
00:39:43
three days too late so again from the from the Publix perception right you had this boy who went into what should
00:39:51
appear to be a locked great and it's going to be be reported as such now you're wondering how did he
00:39:58
magically end up in there and then you find out well it was only locked just before they found him it wasn't locked
00:40:06
on the day that he went missing wait hold on did you smell that lawsuit so once it was established where
00:40:13
Noah accessed the storm drain system it took police several days to find his body the Waterway tunnels
00:40:21
were pitch black inside and it took many twists and turns the psni superintendent Clark told the media
00:40:29
that the storm drain system searches were quote extremely challenging well and what's going to be very challenging
00:40:36
here is even if they say he died from drowning again like we've talked about the case yesterday fire destroys
00:40:44
evidence water destroys evidence equally yes in the superintendent included this
00:40:50
in his statements about finding the body saying in my 30 years in the police this
00:40:57
is one of the most unusual missing person inquiries that I have dealt with at the second preliminary hearing this
00:41:06
was on August 28th the coroner addressed the court with his findings about the storm drain system and Noah's demise
00:41:13
this is quoted from the Belfast live quote today in conjunction with the police and my Council I am providing
00:41:21
some details which was which will dispel the many baseless and inaccurate rumors
00:41:27
which continue to circulate today I will set fact against fiction to me it seems
00:41:33
likely that Noah entered the storm drain to the rear of 85 Northwood Road by lifting a metal drain cover which at
00:41:41
that time was not secured I have examined the drain cover as have police officers and it seems entirely possible
00:41:48
for Noah to have been able to lift that cover and enter the drain system at that
00:41:54
location end quote the coroner described the drain as running underground from Northwood Road to Shore Road and again
00:42:03
with him being found over a kilometer away from the entrance this is a pretty big underground tunnel system yeah I
00:42:10
mean he had a you know it took him days to find him but also could he have gone down there and again we don't have
00:42:18
pictures of this location so could he have kept traveling when he got down down to the system without going through
00:42:27
all the actual points and different roads and stuff because I think it will just get confusing here in this audio
00:42:33
format that we have but there are maps online to one show you his journey that he took on his bicycle right before
00:42:42
going missing and there are also maps that will show the different entrance points to this underground Waterway
00:42:49
tunnel system I will post those on our website and also post those on social media Instagram at True Crime garage
00:42:57
Facebook at True Crime garage and Twitter at True Crime garage but something that's incredibly important to
00:43:03
understand here is the environment within the drain system itself it's described as of course challenging
00:43:10
there's a lot of twists and turns the drainage system there it it backfills with water during
00:43:17
intervals between low and high tides so what we have here is the storm drainage system is tidal the water
00:43:27
levels would ebb and flow with the tides right it would be entirely possible for
00:43:32
someone to enter the drain when the water level was low or even very low thinking that it would not pose any type
00:43:40
of danger only to get trapped down there when the tide rushed in on July 6th Fiona this is Noah's mother issued a
00:43:50
statement that read in effect at this time we are working with the psni on matters which are outstanding to
00:43:59
the investigation and we are seeking answers to questions which arise Noah's disappearance and death undoubtedly
00:44:07
raise questions however public speculation in theory is unhelpful we are dealing with the facts okay here's
00:44:15
some questions one we don't know why he was gone in the direction he was going in and not
00:44:22
towards the park that doesn't make any sense we have some time gaps but we don't think that he was communicating
00:44:29
with any individual what could happen during those time gaps we have those questions because sometimes we have
00:44:36
items missing from them but we don't have video footage of him actually discarding those items other question
00:44:43
why does he get off his bike next question he's naked why and then what was the reason for going into the drainage
00:44:53
system was that because he was naked right you know and he was looking for a place to oh I don't have any clothes I
00:45:01
need a place to hide and then like you said the the tide comes in and he he drowns or was he
00:45:09
having some kind of break was there some medical issues he was having that maybe
00:45:14
his parents didn't know about maybe classmates knew about I mean the only reason why I say that possibly a symptom
00:45:22
and we can't even say for sure that it was a symptom was like that he would feel like he was burning because why
00:45:30
else would you take off your clothes right so as far as like misdiagnose like a disease or something it is a symptom
00:45:39
uh rare symptom of Ms I think there's even some stuff to do with um diabetes and stuff but again like I
00:45:48
said did he have some kind of attention deficit disorder where they pulled him off his medication or did he have a
00:45:55
mental thing that he was on some kind of Narcotics that they pulled him off and he started going into some withdrawals
00:46:01
and just didn't know how to handle himself I mean he's only 14 years old well in some people that have never
00:46:06
heard of this case are probably asking why is the garage covering this one well first of all it's been requested highly
00:46:14
requested yeah and then second of all for a week while this child was missing it was considered by the public to be an
00:46:21
abduction and possibly a murder right then he's found then the autopsies conducted to to confirm that he drowned
00:46:29
and it's believed he drowned in this drainage system well a good amount of the public still
00:46:34
question what the hell happened here and so we have to look at this put it under
00:46:39
the garage microscope and wonder if there was a crime that was committed here now on August 9th
00:46:48
his mother put a post on to Noah's Facebook page that says why do we not all wake up my
00:46:58
son died we have no answers we have nothing please start questioning why I have no answers that same day a petition
00:47:08
was circulated on change.org and this petition was people requesting that the psni they're questioning the
00:47:19
investigation itself and psni's handling of Noah's case this petition got 22 500
00:47:27
signatures in just two days so there's a lot of people that want to know what the
00:47:34
hell happened here right because and let me put my tin hat on but the world we live in is not the
00:47:43
world in which they just tell us about and what I mean by that is just because they say that you know the walls are
00:47:49
blue sometimes you're looking at the walls and you go those damn walls are red but everybody's trying to tell me
00:47:54
they're blue and that's why I was saying it's the CCTV footage accurate and is the information that law enforcement uh
00:48:02
is putting out to the public is that accurate and if it is accurate then then there was no communication there was no
00:48:10
nobody else involved there was no Person of Interest that he came in contact with
00:48:16
but you you have to start with believing the information that has been given well
00:48:22
and many people have stated that the autopsy did not yield results um that anybody felt good about many
00:48:30
people believe that the autopsy itself which we're only able to report a little portion of it I I don't know could not
00:48:39
find what I believe believed to be the complete autopsy to have been released right so and then we've seen in multiple
00:48:46
cases hold on I smell him a little farmy Malik we know in in plenty of cases of suspicious deaths or
00:48:56
possible murders where the autopsy is they don't make a lot of sense or there's errors I mean we saw that in uh
00:49:05
Kendrick Johnson's case we see that with um like the boys on the tracks case yeah
00:49:10
but I think that's quite a accusation there to be no I'm just saying that I'm just saying that there's people in the
00:49:16
public that will question that because of those cases because of the the rumors that they've heard about other uh Foul
00:49:24
Play I'm not saying that you should assume that the autopsy wasn't done correctly or that there was some weird
00:49:31
workings of the autopsy I'm just saying that that's because of other cases people go we still don't have any
00:49:39
answers right well was this autopsy done correctly was the investigation done correctly
00:49:46
do the parents actually know but they're they're hiding something from us yeah and you're right many people have have
00:49:52
put forth the idea that the autopsy only presents more questions than it did answers
00:49:59
there was to be an inquest in the case of Noah donahoe's death that was set for this week in fact
00:50:08
it was set for Monday January 18 2021 it appears that that has been postponed because of
00:50:18
the covet situation so now what they're saying is and I'm gonna pull up this article here because
00:50:27
this is a very fluid situation again there was supposed to be a preliminary hearing
00:50:33
where they were going to go through everything all the facts of the case just earlier this week what statements
00:50:42
have come from that is that one it's to be postponed there is some type of further hearing which I don't understand
00:50:49
the difference in what these hearings are and I'm not going to pretend to uh but what I'm seeing here Captain is
00:50:57
that a further hearing will be conducted on April 12 2021 so this year however the formal
00:51:05
final inquest will be held January 10 2022 per that we're going to be left with with little in the way of answers
00:51:17
until we have that uh I guess that final formal inquest that final formal sit down yeah this is definitely a case that
00:51:27
we're going to need to revisit on off the Record and it's it's just really sad I mean you
00:51:32
got a kid a young kid that's intelligent good looking kid again it's just there's
00:51:38
so many questions why is he heading in that direction why why is he taking his clothes off why is he taking his
00:51:45
belongings and just tossing them aside all the way down to where he's not even on his bike he's on nothing and then he
00:51:51
goes into a draining system and why is that system why was it unlocked well and and I can only go what off off of what
00:52:00
I'm reading and what I'm seeing and it does not appear that anyone's denying or questioning if the grate itself was
00:52:09
unlocked it seems to be pretty understood across the board that that happens to be the situation what is
00:52:17
completely bizarre and I think you know I saw somebody post this and I think this is the the only way to describe
00:52:26
this case in this situation we we had the Chief Inspector who says this is the most bizarre missing persons inquiry
00:52:37
that I've seen in my 30 years on the force but take that a step further the best way to describe this is someone
00:52:43
said this case is a real head scratcher and that's exactly what it is this case is fascinating to me I have no freaking
00:52:51
clue what happened in this situation because we can say things like well maybe there was a mental break okay
00:52:59
there's no history there's no evidence leading up to this event of that that we've been made aware of
00:53:07
that we can say what about drugs what about a toxicology report there doesn't seem he doesn't seem to
00:53:14
have been a drug user number one and number two there is no report of of what was found or not found in the
00:53:23
boy system the thing here for me Captain is it's question after question after question
00:53:31
to get to this result there's no answer after answer after answer and this is what we have no it's he said he was
00:53:40
going one place he ended up in an entirely different place he had the means and the resources to correct his
00:53:48
route if he realized at any point he was lost right then we have his personal items and clothing seem to
00:53:56
be disappearing right before our eyes all of this stuff comes off of his person but yet at no point on any of
00:54:04
this camera footage now mind you there's tiny little breaks you know it's 22 cameras piecing together nine minutes of
00:54:11
his travels but it's boom he's fully clothed backpack helmet everything next picture
00:54:18
no backpack next picture no jacket and then to the point where he's naked his he's off of his bike none of this makes
00:54:27
any sense at all and I I can't I cannot sit here and say that I believe that a crime was committed I can say that I
00:54:36
that 100 there is a huge mystery before us I feel bad for Noah and I feel bad for his parents and the community and
00:54:45
and hopefully by April we have some more answers yeah this case is so intriguing
00:54:50
because it's it's just so bizarre it's perplexing it's tragic by all accounts Noah was a lovely boy he and his mom
00:54:59
were very close he was someone that would not be expected to behave in such a strange way
00:55:06
at least as far as the mainstream media has reported there were no background issues that would indicate that Noah was
00:55:15
anything but a normal teenager being raised in a loving household even attending a rigorous religious school
00:55:22
and working on being the best that he could be so what on Earth happened to him that day is anyone's guess at this
00:55:29
point and no Theory makes complete sense I've reviewed all the popular theories online and I can
00:55:36
poke holes in every single one of them rather quickly it is very interesting and it will be very interesting to see
00:55:42
whether the inquest is able to provide us with any answers foreign [Music] for our bonus show called off the Record
00:56:02
download the Stitcher app it's on Stitcher premium and for all of our old episodes they're free on the Stitcher
00:56:10
app thank you guys so much for listening thank you so much for telling a friend see you back here in the garage next
00:56:17
week for a new off the Record and a new case until then be good be kind and don't lose foreign
00:56:32
[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 75
    Most unpredictable
  • 70
    Most shocking
  • 70
    Most surprising

Episode Highlights

  • The Mysterious Case of Noah Donahoe
    A 14-year-old boy goes missing in Belfast under strange circumstances, leading to a complex investigation.
    “This isn't your average case of someone going missing and turning up murder.”
    @ 03m 38s
    November 09, 2022
  • A Community Comes Together
    Noah's disappearance sparks widespread searches and vigils across Belfast.
    “Noah's disappearance was completely out of character for him.”
    @ 06m 20s
    November 09, 2022
  • The Search for Answers
    Police and volunteers conduct extensive searches but struggle to find Noah after he vanishes.
    “The one thing we are majoring on is that he has in some way suffered a head injury.”
    @ 24m 53s
    November 09, 2022
  • Noah's Backpack Found
    Daryl Paul, a known drug addict, finds Noah's backpack two days after he went missing.
    “They call it a cash converters shop, but I imagine it's like a pawn shop.”
    @ 26m 30s
    November 09, 2022
  • Anonymous Tip Leads to Discovery
    An anonymous call informs police that Daryl Paul has Noah's belongings, leading to a search.
    “Magically an anonymous phone call comes in saying, 'Hey, remember that missing kid?'”
    @ 27m 19s
    November 09, 2022
  • Noah's Body Discovered
    Six days after Noah was last seen, police find his body in a storm drain.
    “While we have no official identification, we believe it is the missing teenager Noah Donahoe.”
    @ 31m 04s
    November 09, 2022
  • Autopsy Results
    The autopsy reveals Noah drowned, with no signs of foul play or severe head injury.
    “The cause of death was drowning.”
    @ 33m 41s
    November 09, 2022
  • Public Outcry for Answers
    Noah's mother calls for answers as a petition demanding a review of the investigation gains traction.
    “Why do we not all wake up? My son died; we have no answers.”
    @ 46m 58s
    November 09, 2022
  • Postponed Inquest
    The inquest into Noah's death has been postponed due to COVID-19, delaying answers.
    @ 50m 04s
    November 09, 2022
  • The Bizarre Case of Noah Donahoe
    Noah's disappearance raises more questions than answers, leaving investigators puzzled.
    “This case is a real head scratcher.”
    @ 52m 43s
    November 09, 2022
  • A Tragic Mystery
    Noah's strange behavior and disappearance create a tragic and perplexing mystery.
    “Noah was a lovely boy, he and his mom were very close.”
    @ 54m 57s
    November 09, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • This isn't your average case of someone going missing and turning up murder.
    Noah Donohoe ////// 458
  • Noah's disappearance was completely out of character for him.
    Noah Donohoe ////// 458
  • This is bizarre.
    Noah Donohoe ////// 458
  • We have a missing child that we have on film.
    Noah Donohoe ////// 458
  • I will set fact against fiction.
    Noah Donohoe ////// 458
  • This case is a real head scratcher.
    Noah Donohoe ////// 458

Key Moments

  • Police Appeal25:05
  • Backpack Discovery26:12
  • Drowning Cause33:41
  • Public Petition47:08
  • Questions Unanswered49:55
  • Postponed Hearing50:14
  • Bizarre Inquiry52:34
  • Tragic Circumstances54:53

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown