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LeeAnna Warner /// Part 2 /// 517

November 05, 2022 / 58:03

This episode discusses the disappearance of five-year-old Lyanna Warner, focusing on various persons of interest, including Lee Allen Wu, Matthew James Curtis, and Joseph Edward Duncan III. The hosts, Nick and Captain, analyze the backgrounds and behaviors of these individuals in relation to the case.

Lee Allen Wu, a 23-year-old convicted sex offender, became a person of interest after stealing a vehicle on the same day Lyanna went missing. His criminal background raised concerns among investigators, although no direct connection to Lyanna was established.

Matthew James Curtis, a neighbor, was questioned multiple times and found to have child pornography on his computer. He died by suicide shortly after being charged, leaving investigators with unanswered questions about his potential involvement in Lyanna's case.

The episode also covers Joseph Edward Duncan III, a notorious sex offender, who mentioned Lyanna's case in a blog post. Although he was later cleared of involvement, his history of violence and manipulation raises suspicions.

Throughout the episode, the hosts reflect on the Warner family's struggles and the ongoing search for Lyanna, emphasizing the emotional toll of the case and the hope that persists despite the lack of leads.

TLDR

The episode covers the disappearance of Lyanna Warner and examines key suspects, including Lee Allen Wu and Matthew James Curtis, while discussing the Warner family's ongoing search for answers.

Episode

58:03
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thank you [Music] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always as a man that knows that fishing ain't what it used to be here is
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the captain yeah ever since that SOB stole my boat is going to be seen it's good to see you
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thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] Magnolia is done right by our friends at
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fun because without all of you we would just be two thirsty guys sitting in a garage that's right we would be super
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thirsty so thanks for helping out with the bwr-u-n beer run and if you need more
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True Crime garage and I know you do I know you're looking for it underneath your bed underneath your closet
00:02:19
underneath that pile of dirty clothes pick those up and do some laundry because you stink my friend you need to
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get off the record on Stitcher premium and if you don't we can't be friends I can't drink any more of your mother's
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lemonade and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's
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talk some true crime foreign [Music] when we were wrapping up yesterday's episode Captain we started talking about
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possible Persons of Interest or at least people that the police told the public they were looking for people that they
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wanted to interview and this came in the form of some names as well as descriptions of unknown individuals
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we need to start diving into some of these people that they were talking about at the top of today's show one of the
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individuals that they were looking for was a 23 year old convicted sex offender who later would be known as a person of
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interest in this case and his name is Lee Allen Wu 23 years old convicted sex offender now they
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have not specifically announced or addressed any direct connection between this Lee Allen Wu and lyanna Warner
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however they said that he became a person of interest one because of his criminal background and two because he
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stole a vehicle on the same day that lyanna disappeared and operated that vehicle with a expired license or
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invalid license at the time of course when you have somebody with a criminal background and it is a sex
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offense you have a little girl who goes missing a guy that's known to be in the area and he steals a vehicle on that day
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and chooses to break other laws you want to know as an investigator why why on this day did you feel the need to steal
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a vehicle and operate illegally operate a vehicle authorities also ask for help in locating John Bartell who they said
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was not a suspect all we know about him is that police said that he was known to
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travel between Chisholm and the Twin Cities they were also looking for a Bruce William Christensen of Hibbing
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Minnesota he was not a suspect but could have Vital Information in the case Bruce
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Christensen had 17 criminal cases filed against him between the years of 1997 and 2006 so a busy guy he eventually
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went to prison for robbery where he beat a fellow inmate to death with a piece of
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railing that he broke off in order to use as a weapon he was sentenced to an additional 30 years for that murder an
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article about his sentencing says that in September of 2003 he pled guilty to making terrorist threats against Kailyn
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Warner very interesting sounds like a piece of 2003 September he pled guilty to making terrorist threats against the
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mother of lyanna Warner Christensen apparently blamed Kailyn for the police interest in him in lyanna's case and
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threatened to shoot her we don't know if there was any direct connection between
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Kailyn Warner and this guy but he attempted to attack a prosecutor in court and was subject to several mental
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health evaluations around the same time yeah a real piece of [ __ ] so it sounds
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to me Captain like when police ask you that horrible question that that nobody wants to be asked do you know anybody
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that would want to harm your family or hurt your child or would have any reason to do something against your family
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I don't know this to be the case but I'm wondering if this man for whatever reason was somebody that was named by
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the family because it seems like he wanted revenge or to retaliate against the Warner
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Family specifically Kalin uh for the police interest in him yeah but it shows you the reason why they're looking at
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you because you go on to threaten the mother it's like look if you had nothing to do with it it's like look I'm I'm
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willing to cooperate I'm willing to answer your questions I had nothing to do with this yeah he's
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definitely a violent man at the end of the day no doubt about that Sean burtek who we referenced in yesterday's episode
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was arrested on July 10th bertek was arrested on outstanding warrants rather than anything to do with Leanna Warner's
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case but he was one of the individuals that they named at that press conference as having an interest in speaking with
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but while police did confirm that bertek was a convicted sex offender they said that after interviewing him he was being
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considered more of a witness than a suspect we see that in a lot of cases when somebody goes missing or or there's
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possibly a crime within the area they do the old pedo Roundup they realize some of these
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guys are not registered correctly some of these guys have warrants and they make a rest and so there's a
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lot of arrests that are that have nothing to do with The Disappearance but that's just a byproduct of of this girl
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going missing right on these are issuing and um carrying out outstanding warrants
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on this guy and then after you speak with him you you can tell that he was in the area and you
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could probably back up what he was doing in his whereabouts during that time so he like anybody else in that
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neighborhood or that that general area would be now witness status of course in any missing child case investigators
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would not be doing their job if they did not take a hard look at those with the easiest access to the missing child and
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of course we're talking about the family authorities said fairly quickly that they were comfortable with what the
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family was telling them that lyanna disappeared while away from home and they had nothing to do with it in fact
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they don't seem to have suspected the parents at all or if they did it was very brief and behind the scenes reports
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indicate that the Warners were not asked to take polygraphs as you pointed out Captain but the fact is Kailyn Warner
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was one of the last people to see Leanna lyanna could have returned home after finding the the quirks were out putting
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her home by 5 20 or so if that were the case then what happened her mother didn't call police until 8 48 pm and we
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know that based off of the phone records and everybody else involved in this case
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so what do we know about the Warners the media covering the case revealed that Kailyn and Chris had been married before
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and there was some indication of turmoil in at least one of their relationships the year before lyanna was born in 1998
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Chris Warner and his ex-wife got into a violent confrontation involving blows both sought Mutual restraining orders
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and Chris's ex maintaining that he had an uncontrollable temper Chris's petition for a restraining order stated
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that his ex-wife had threatened Kailyn and her two daughters from a her previous marriage
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authorities looked at the situation but said that the incident with the ex-wife quote didn't raise any red flags now we
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don't know how thoroughly they looked into the ex-wife but we I would say that raises some Flags yeah and you should
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look into it but again if she has a solid another by then maybe that's why they moved on well and it sounds like a
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lot of this a lot of these issues between him and his ex by then they may have buried the hatchet right because
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the the the confrontation the violent confrontation between the two occurred in 1998. Leanna Warner didn't go missing
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until 2003. Chris Warner was a heavy equipment mechanic at a nearby employer as well as
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a volunteer for the ambulance service he shared a son Anthony Warner with his ex-wife Kalyn was a manager at easy stop
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a convenience store in Chisholm there is another weird story involving lyanna and
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the Warners that came out and again investigators dismissed it as amounting to nothing but it is a little
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strange according to the Warners and this is the Warner's telling us this story someone reported to Social
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Services that Leanna had been tied up the Warners told the social worker investigating the complaint that Leanna
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was playing with neighborhood kids and they have been playing maypole and had used lyanna as the maypole while they
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wrapped a jump rope around her it's hard to know whether Social Services dismissed this as a simple child's game
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or Child's Play or whether there was a file opened on the Warners this is one of those situations where it's like you
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can understand if there was a misunderstanding but you also go okay well it's hard to believe that somebody
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would bother to report this incident if they didn't feel that there was really something here it also seems captain
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that we're sitting here 18 years later and if this was a red flag if this was something that we should really question
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call into question the people investigating The Disappearance and and the possible suspects are not dummies
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this is not something that slips past the goalie here this is something that would be at the top of the stack as far
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as information goes on the parents and something they would have looked at and something they would have questioned
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both Chris and Kailyn about all right so we have this issue of questions some of
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the behavior question letting the child go off on her own I think that's all fair game so you have to wonder could
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the parents have some responsibility here do they know what happened to their daughter is one guilty and not the other
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all kinds of questions immediately pop up when you see these types of cases I feel pretty confident but it's just a
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guess and it's just a gut feeling that that I don't see the parents having any involvement
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in The Disappearance of this little girl the only involvement I see is people that were desperate to find
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her and went to every effort that they possibly could if somebody told them that they hear something that could help
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your case or help you find your daughter they did it they didn't hold back well and also with Christopher being a
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volunteer EMT worker a volunteer EMT worker that if there was some accident they wouldn't try to cover it up they
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would call call Squad and and try to get our help immediately here's a couple things that I want to
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point out to people too and it doesn't seem like the general public consider the parents to be suspects either and I
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think that anybody that really takes a good hard look at this case what you're going to see is a couple things it looks
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to me that Chris was gone during the time in question and an ambulance run at 6 20
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p.m that's a pretty Ironclad Alibi as far as I'm concerned there's going to be other individuals there there's going to
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be documentation of this so on and so forth that's pretty straightforward to me now we can call into question
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kaelin's decision making as a parent we can call in a question the wiggle room in the timeline that the sheriff
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referenced the other thing too you know we're quick to point out hey eyewitnesses are not always great about
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giving you an exact time on something because they're not sitting there noting everything that happened that day and
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noting what time that they witness something right so with her having this moving time of win
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Leanna left her site it could be just that exact same situation she said that we just got back
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from the lake I was busy unloading the car bringing in stuff that we purchased at these garage sales and the kids
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badgering me about wanting to go to her friend's house I really didn't want her to go there
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and I told her she could go well what time was that well I don't know it was after we got home from the lake right
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well that's when that's when sometimes you can arrive at the wrong time by the encouragement of law enforcement because
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incur they're encouraging you because they're telling you look I understand you weren't looking at the clock I need
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you to Ballpark this thing for me or at least give me a guess I need something a
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starting point and she may have given a bad time we were talking about a mother who's
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busy the reason why I think that law enforcement did not consider them suspects and didn't consider them
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suspects early on is the window of time to do something to this little girl dispose and conceal
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that crime takes time and effort and I think that when they really broke down the timeline and the people that
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were seeing the parents interacting with the parents and the what the eyewitness
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statements were that saw the little girl at 5 15 did not give a window of time that anybody could have done anything
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and covered it up and we don't know what kind of searches that law enforcement did on their vehicles
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and so if if you have cadaver dogs sniff the vehicles if you run some tests on the vehicles you're going to go well we
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we don't believe she was transported well in nine times out of ten hopefully it should be 10 out of 10. this is
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pretty standard police protocol but if you are responding to a call about a missing child the first thing you ask
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the parents of course you want to know what were they wearing when we did last see them but one of the first actions
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that you actually take Beyond asking questions of the parents or any person that may have seen the child is
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ma'am we understand that your daughter's missing we're going to search the neighborhood we're going to ask you know
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we're going to search the area we need to search your home first and that happens in in every case that
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I've ever reviewed that is the first action that seems to be taken when police are responding to that type of
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call and I have no reason to believe that that did not happen here and that also could be backing the thoughts of
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law enforcement that these people didn't have anything to do with it I also want
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to point out one big problem with the parents being guilty of anything or or uh Kalyn being
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guilty of having done anything they weren't the Kalyn wasn't the only person home that day remember her the daughter
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the other daughter was with them for the entirety of that day she was 10 years old at that time now she's not an adult
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obviously but she's also not a little kid if something bad happened she could tell us about that and the 10 year old
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daughter was active in the neighborhood search for Leanna almost immediately yeah it'd be hard to one convince her
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that you have you have to lie for Mommy and two that should be able have the capability to put on a great acting show
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for the public right and the other thing too is both Kailyn the daughter that was
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10 years old at the time and Chris Warner have remained active in front of the media on this case for 18 years
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so this ten-year-old daughter is now an adult and she continues to do interviews
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about this case so it again there doesn't seem to be time for anything to happen involving Kalin
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well two kind of creepy things and like you said when they when they when law enforcement shows up at the
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scene they go hey let's search the house but they also start asking the parents like did anything weird happen in the
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last month or so has there been a vehicle that's been seen in the neighborhood has have you seen some
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uh creepy character walking around one of the things that they said was well she one night when we went into Leanne's
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room she was sleeping in her closet because she was afraid that the monsters outside her window were gonna get hurt
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yeah that's a very curious situation to this whole story and unfortunately this happens
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daily where a child is afraid of something and we don't know exactly what it is as a parent and most of the time
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it's almost always it's nothing here it's something we really call into question
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because of the state of this case where we have a little girl who disappears and
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we can't find any trace of her but like you said a child being afraid of the monsters under her bed or monsters under
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her closet you hear that more than you hear monsters outside my window right and in this situation you do have
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the parents who would be later telling us that they thought that lyanna was behaving oddly
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in the days or maybe even weeks leading up to her disappearance which is very interesting to me and we'll dive
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into that some more but while we're still talking about the parents you know I don't want to get accused of leaving
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anything out here because we do have a situation where a few months this was uh October after their daughter went
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missing we do have a violent altercation between the two parents Kalyn and Chris where apparently
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Kalyn attempted to run Chris over with their vehicle Almighty they had apparently they had some kind of
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disagreement earlier that day or earlier that night to which police responded to
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their home and settled the matter whatever it was at the time and then within an hour or so this argument is
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now taking place in their vehicle as they're driving to which a very frustrated Chris Warner gets out of the
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vehicle and says that he would be walking the rest of the way home I'm sure he probably said it in in a
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different manner but uh Kalyn hit the gas pedal and and took off after him in the vehicle and he jumped out of
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the way he received some scrapes maybe a couple bruises but uh what happened was
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Kailyn ended up being charged with a a misdemeanor in that case but the police have been extremely vocal about that
00:21:44
situation saying look we spoke with the couple before this happened and we spoke
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with them obviously afterwards and we have Kalyn who she says that the gears got jammed up and and she kind of lost
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control of the vehicle so she denies the saying that you know she denies that she
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attempted to hit her husband with the vehicle regardless of what actually happened we
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had the police saying this matter and lyanna's disappearance are not connected they are two completely separate matters
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the couple was fighting they were arguing but they were not arguing about lyanna or anything about the case
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and look I'm not going to lie to you Captain this seemed very troubling to me because what it shows is
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angry impulsive behavior especially on kalin's behalf which we know that she her own word well she's the one that if
00:22:40
if if she's lying if the gears didn't get stuck if she didn't lose control of the car and she did try to hit her
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husband with the car that's the violence getting out of a vehicle and saying I'm
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gonna walk home is not a violent act at all but what we have here is we have a person who is
00:22:57
admittedly the last person the last family member to see lyanna so that really made me call a lot of things into
00:23:04
question but then I found this little tidbit here that made me feel completely different
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and go back to what my gut was telling me in the beginning that Kailyn and the family has nothing to do with this this
00:23:18
comes from Patty wetterling whose son Jacob disappeared in 1989 and when at the time when she is quoted in
00:23:28
this article this is 2003 so keep in mind Jacob disappeared in 1989 and by this point in the article he had never
00:23:36
been found they didn't know what happened to him they knew he was abducted she says in this article
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that she's would like to discourage anyone from making a judgment about the Warners because of this particular
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incident she says quote nobody knows what it's like to have your child missing for this
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long people always ask me did it bring us closer together and I say no it's just the opposite
00:24:04
Jerry who is her husband Jerry and I went through some very hard times with so much anger frustration and anxiety
00:24:11
it's absolutely the biggest test you ever go through as a couple it's a nightmare now we know that the
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wetterlings have nothing to do with what happened to their son Jacob they were victimized just
00:24:24
like everybody else in that situation and I think that what what we have Patty wetterling telling us here
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is very interesting to me because this is the way that I've always kind of seen these types of situations right
00:24:42
if in the wetterling case it was the father that decided yeah you guys can ride your bikes down to the
00:24:50
video store and pick up a video this was after Mom said no you can't you cannot tell me that there are not
00:24:58
arguments between Mom and Dad over who's responsible who wasn't a good parent who didn't do their job if he was
00:25:05
in my care this would have never have happened because you get sad your your heart
00:25:10
breaks and then you get angry those are natural feelings and I have to believe in lyanna's case
00:25:18
something very similar very likely happened where you get in a disagreement about this that or the other thing but
00:25:24
your heart is broken and you're hurting and you want somebody to lash out to and
00:25:28
it might be easy to go you know what Mom you told her she could walk down there why the hell would you let a
00:25:34
five-year-old walk down there by herself if she were with me that day this would
00:25:39
never have happened and you can't tell me that that woman's not going to defend her self as a mother
00:25:46
so I can see this playing out exactly how it did and have nothing to do with the case and not suggest that they are
00:25:54
guilty of anything other than being grieving parents that are hurting and heartbroken all right just to put a bow
00:26:00
on this here Captain regarding this situation we need to point out that Chris Warner stood by his wife telling
00:26:07
the media that Kalyn was on edge and had reached a breaking point he blamed this
00:26:12
on a Montel Williams show that the two recently taped but it had not aired yet at this point now on the show the
00:26:20
psychic Sylvia Brown told the Warners that Leanna was murdered and buried in a shallow grave not far from their home
00:26:30
Chris Warner says they didn't know that that's what was going to happen during the taping of the show they didn't know
00:26:37
that somebody was going to tell them that they thought she was murdered and buried near their home remember at this
00:26:42
point we're just months into the case and they're still holding out hope that their daughter is a live
00:26:47
and I think they felt like they were blindsided by this and they said that they left the taping feeling used and
00:26:54
upset by The Montel Williams show and that this was something that that created an issue between the two of the
00:27:02
parents and it was it was just not good I mean this was they kind of felt like we're down and you're gonna kick us
00:27:11
while we're down so I think one can see quickly how these types of things can happen
00:27:18
foreign [Music] to the windows to the wall cheers everybody cheers everybody on September 15 2003 this is three months
00:27:57
after lyanna disappeared news reports began to surface about an interesting development a man named Matthew James
00:28:05
Curtis age 24 had been questioned multiple times in connection with lyanna's case police talked to him the
00:28:14
day after lyanna vanished and again four days later questions included police asking about
00:28:21
his whereabouts and when lyanna was last seen Curtis lived at a house near the Warners
00:28:29
in the neighborhood in fact just a couple of houses down at the time that Leanna went missing according to the
00:28:36
news article in the Virginia MN paper police spoke with Curtis in the course of the investigation into lyanna
00:28:46
presumably because he was such a close neighbor whatever they learned during these interviews was enough for them to
00:28:52
get a warrant to search his home and when they went out to carry out this search warrant there they found Kitty
00:29:00
porn on his computer so Curtis was arrested charged and released on bail on September 17th Curtis was found dead of
00:29:11
an apparent suicide three men were practicing archery in a gravel pit area on National Forest land
00:29:19
and found Curtis's body this is about eight miles from his home right he was found with a plastic bag tied over his
00:29:27
head and the cause of death after an autopsy was declared to be self-inflicted asphyxiation the sheriffs
00:29:35
Department said it was investigating to see whether there was any connection between the two cases and said that
00:29:42
Curtis had never been declared an official suspect but had never been cleared either
00:29:47
on the day Curtis's body was found he was out on bail and was scheduled to appear in court for that child poured
00:29:54
charge but he failed to appear he killed himself before the court appointment the
00:30:00
sheriff's department searched the Gravel Pit in Curtis's home twice but found no
00:30:04
signs of lyanna what we don't know is what turned police on to Curtis in the first place what was
00:30:11
the basis for that search warrant well at the time that lyanna went missing there was a man that some people say
00:30:19
maybe was in his 30s was walking around the neighborhood uh described as approximately 5-10
00:30:28
to six foot and had some kind of dark tattoo so I always wondered there was like I said people in the area
00:30:37
saying that there was this suspicious guy walking the neighborhood did they connect that back to Curtis I
00:30:45
guess that could be a possibility but that statement from police when they're looking for the person of that
00:30:50
description comes it's made public after the suicide now after they requested the
00:30:57
search warrant for his home so what's difficult here is we know based off of what the police are telling
00:31:04
us that they spoke with this Curtis character the day after lyanna went missing and then again four days later
00:31:11
okay so some so we can just assume that something within that questioning made him go something's not right here that's
00:31:18
what I'm thinking Captain I agree with that one something during the course of them stepping foot into his home or
00:31:24
standing on his front doorstep and asking him questions told them this guy his home is of interest to us
00:31:32
specifically in this lyanna case and that could be something as simple as this guy seemed extremely nervous
00:31:42
when we were asking him that day after that she was missing right or he couldn't tell us where he was or had no
00:31:49
alibi or he was sweating profusely or he told us something on day one and then told us something different on day four
00:31:56
it could really be any number of things but the thing that's crazy here is that when they do get that search warrant
00:32:03
they search his home they filed child pornography on his computer well that doesn't look very good
00:32:09
especially when this dude lives just a few doors down from the Warners yeah I never like it when there's a suicide no
00:32:17
in the sense of we don't have answers then and my gut always goes towards this suspect you commit suicide you're
00:32:29
you're so distraught about what you did you can't even live with yourself and suicide is not a obvious sign of
00:32:38
guilt doesn't necessarily mean that he felt guilty or or did something to Leanna I mean really he could have
00:32:44
killed himself for any number of reasons and he's not around to tell us why he did so we do have the Warners lyanna's
00:32:52
parents who say Hey you know we saw this guy around the neighborhood but never saw lyanna interacting with him and we
00:33:00
didn't personally know him I do know that police continue to look into Curtis post-mortem
00:33:07
they did admit shamefully admitted that it would have been desirable for them to
00:33:13
have talked to him some more which possibly they they were going to do that after he was charged or convicted we
00:33:19
don't know but of course now they will never get the chance to do so we do know that the Minnesota BCA confiscated
00:33:29
Matthew James Curtis's truck after he killed himself and processed it for forensic evidence of lyanna's presence
00:33:38
to see if you know they could find any proof that she had ever been inside his vehicle right this did include DNA and
00:33:45
fingerprints and fibers and hairs they couldn't find any trace of lyanna having ever been in that truck but we do need
00:33:52
to point out this was after Matthew James Curtis's death which took place in September Leanne Warner went missing
00:34:01
the 14th of June so there would have been plenty of time for one to clean this vehicle if one needed to do so well
00:34:10
like I was saying to me when there's a suicide in the case you're gonna take like the Amy mihalovic case when there's
00:34:16
a suspect that takes their own life my gut points to that that suspect but here is a different case because he's found
00:34:26
because when they're investigating this missing girl case they find this individual we don't know what led them
00:34:34
I'm guessing like we were talking about before when they're interviewing him he says
00:34:41
something not correctly or maybe just acts strangely and then when they when they do get the search warrant they find
00:34:49
child pornography and that could be enough for this individual to say hey look my life's not going right I maybe
00:34:56
have this I'm a sick individual for looking at this stuff I have these urges that I'm trying to control and and
00:35:03
that's why he took his life so there are types out there that have these fantasies urges whatever you want to
00:35:11
call them desires and they never act on them I mean we just don't know again it's a
00:35:18
situation I'm with you Captain it's you hate this suicides one uh for any you know you hate the suicide for
00:35:26
a million different reasons but one of the big reasons especially in this case is that it creates another mystery in
00:35:33
this case it creates one less person to talk to and in my opinion this guy in in
00:35:40
the humble go garage opinion here Captain this Matthew James Curtis guy I would put him in the top three of
00:35:49
suspects in this case now that's going to lead us to another top three suspect and this is an individual that I despise
00:36:00
one of the most hated men on the planet as far as my mind goes that's not a nice
00:36:05
way to talk about me this is a guy that we've spoke about several times here in the garage and I never enjoy talking
00:36:12
about him I'm talking about Joseph Edward Duncan III so we're going to jump ahead two years in this case to July of
00:36:20
2005. now of course lyanna's case is continuing to be worked at this time but meanwhile in Coeur d'Alene Idaho
00:36:27
investigators captured suspected murderer and sex offender Joseph E Duncan he was charged with the Abduction
00:36:36
of eight-year-old Shasta groney and suspected of murdering shasta's 13 year old brother Mother boyfriend and missing
00:36:46
nine-year-old brother Dylan now you may remember for the long time listeners joining us here in the garage today you
00:36:53
may recall that we covered this case in our fifth nail episodes the fifth nail was a blah log basically an online rant
00:37:02
written by Joseph Duncan in which he published his rambling fantasies and dark thoughts he also talked about his
00:37:09
love for computers you may also recall that Duncan served time in prison for the rape of a 14 year old Tacoma
00:37:17
Washington boy when Duncan was just 16 years old himself he was released in 2000 so how does Duncan's case possibly
00:37:25
tie into lyanna's case Chief Erickson said that Federal investigators were tracing Joseph
00:37:32
Duncan's movements over the past few years because of a posting on his fifth nail blog that appeared on January 4th
00:37:40
2004. in fact this post was the first of the fifth nail blog Duncan wrote that learning about lyanna's case was quote
00:37:50
the proverbial last straw that led him to start his blog to rant about the stigma of being a convicted sex offender
00:37:58
yeah because that's what we want to hear about he does not mention lyanna by name
00:38:03
and it seems that he felt the need to construct an alibi for the time that lyanna went missing the exact words of
00:38:12
the posts were quote just found out that a five-year-old girl went missing from Chisholm Minnesota on June 14 2003. I
00:38:21
did not even know until today this happened so I have tried to figure out what I was doing that day a since I'm
00:38:28
always afraid of getting accused when something like this happens end quote the post said that Duncan wanted to be
00:38:35
sure that he figured out his whereabouts in June of 2003 when lyanna vanished so
00:38:39
that he wouldn't be accused of being the one that abducted her he says he was doing this for his own safety and wrote
00:38:46
I figure it is just a matter of time before I am falsely accused of some crime or another well yes you will be
00:38:55
accused I don't know if it will be falsely in several different cases we know Captain just for the people that
00:39:03
didn't listen to the fifth nail he was convicted of all those crimes he was accused of or thought to have done this
00:39:09
guy has a dirt bag he's an animal he basically murdered a whole family so he could abduct the two youngest children
00:39:15
and he had those kids with him for a long period of time where he tormented and tortured the kids you know
00:39:23
thankfully one of them was found alive and is still alive and doing well to this day all these years later another
00:39:31
thing to be thankful about is they were able to tie Joseph Duncan to some other homicides and I suspect he's probably
00:39:38
done others that we are unaware of Duncan was not the type to admit to any of his crimes he was the type that won
00:39:47
he would like to play games mind games and torment and tease the police and the public in the media and I think that was
00:39:56
a big part of the reason why he created his blog so he could do that from behind
00:40:00
Prison Walls the other thing too is that when you did finally convict him of something he would go out of his way to
00:40:08
explain to the public that the victims were not so innocent themselves that they had some blame in this and he
00:40:15
blamed some of the victims that he killed for their own deaths which is just completely bizarre in demonic
00:40:24
behavior in my opinion thankfully we can sit here in the the garage today and raise a glass real high because Joseph
00:40:31
Duncan passed away last year and I hope he enjoyed every minute of it now Chief Erickson stated in this case that there
00:40:40
was nothing specific tying Duncan to lyanna but did say it's very suspicious that he brought the case up on his blog
00:40:47
in fact if we are to believe Joseph Duncan he says that the case is what started the whole blog to begin with
00:40:54
blog more like clog I again Duncan's a hard guy to get to put your finger on I don't know if he would do this as
00:41:03
something just simply to taunt I'm never putting my finger on him police or lyanna's family
00:41:10
I also don't think that he's above enjoying being suspected of crimes he didn't commit yeah it's attention
00:41:17
seeking exactly yeah you're exactly well looks like you just put your finger on him I told you I'm not going to touch
00:41:24
that son of a [ __ ] Duncan says that he according to his records that he was able to figure out what he claims to
00:41:32
have been doing that day was watching some co-workers parachute and that he did some shopping but could not find any
00:41:40
receipts which makes sense he's locked up anyway Duncan did live in Fargo North Dakota and was when he was arrested on
00:41:49
the grony case but he was wanted on child molestation charges stemming from an incident in Detroit Lakes Minnesota
00:41:56
in 2004. now Fargo North Dakota is much closer to Detroit Lakes Minnesota than it is to Chisholm Minnesota and in fact
00:42:04
much closer to Detroit Lakes than Detroit Lakes is to Chisholm Minnesota if that makes sense uh Duncan was
00:42:12
arrested for molesting a six-year-old boy on a playground in Detroit Lakes which is about a three-hour drive from
00:42:20
Chisholm Minnesota now I do want to point out the other crimes that he did he would have had to drive a long
00:42:27
distance to do so so I can't I cannot completely just go all right he he says he was doing this
00:42:36
on that day and the distance between him and where this disappearance took place
00:42:42
I don't think any of that rules him out in fact there was uh one person who's done some good gangbusters work here and
00:42:50
online an online sleuthor that posted that a treasure hunt winner found a treasure hunt winner log of a
00:42:59
camping and scuba trip putting Joseph Duncan in Crosby Minnesota in August of 2003. so this is interesting it's it's
00:43:09
not you know it would be weeks away from The Disappearance but it puts him much closer in proximity to Chisholm
00:43:18
Minnesota and it lists jet Duncan on this treasure hunt winner log Joseph Duncan called himself jet Duncan he won
00:43:29
a snorkel mask in defogger in that contest by July 21st of 2005 investigators stated publicly that they had cleared
00:43:40
Duncan of any possible involvement in lyanna's disappearance I have no idea how or why they reached this conclusion
00:43:48
the best that I can think of Captain they we know that investigators seized video footage
00:43:55
that Duncan took the day of his co-worker skydiving so there that's not in question he he was there and
00:44:03
witnessed these people skydiving at some point the timestamp shows that they were
00:44:08
diving in the afternoon the airport where the dive took place is about a four-hour drive from Chisholm
00:44:15
I would like to see that exact time stamp I would like to interview those people his co-workers can we determine
00:44:24
100 percent that he was where he was when that time stamp says could he have altered that time stamp in any manner
00:44:31
right those are just the the questions that I have again he's such a horrible and despicable person I think if he's
00:44:39
talking about a case and he's putting himself on your radar you cannot remove him from your radar
00:44:47
until you need definitive proof yeah because like we said this guy's a animal he's very capable of abducting a child
00:44:57
that would that's actually low on his list of what he's capable of you almost need the word of God to tell you that he
00:45:03
did not do this for for me to remove him he's I I'd like to move on from him now
00:45:09
because I'm just sick of thinking about him if that's okay with you Captain well
00:45:12
here they go because this is going to bring us to another story and probably the strangest
00:45:19
portion of this case in my mind this this actually gives me nightmares in 2006 some more information came to light
00:45:30
and this was not news to the family this news is going to come from the family because they say this is actually
00:45:38
something that they discussed with investigators but the investigators didn't seem to
00:45:44
agree with them that this was an interesting Avenue to investigate the family decided at some point well you
00:45:51
know what we're just going to tell the public about this we've told investigators about this
00:45:56
nope you know I don't know if they have done stuff the investigators I don't know if they did anything with this
00:46:01
information or not they've never referenced it but the parents say that the investigators did not seem
00:46:06
interested in this information so now we're going to put it out to the public and tell the world Chris and Kailyn
00:46:12
Warner went on the Maury Povich Show this is October of 2006. and they decided that this information
00:46:21
was worth disclosing after three years of it being largely ignored or given no Credence by police Leanna they said one
00:46:30
day came home with a case filled with Barbie dolls and clothing for the Barbie dolls
00:46:37
but would only tell her parents that she that she had got them from a little old
00:46:43
lady furthermore a week before she vanished their little daughter had packed up a
00:46:49
suitcase and said she was going to go live with her new family at her new family's house this was around the same
00:46:56
time that she started sleeping in the closet telling her father that there were monsters outside of her window yeah
00:47:03
to come home and see your daughter playing with maybe a a doll right and saying somebody gave it to her
00:47:13
okay maybe a garage sale in the neighborhood Maybe she's playing with the doll at her
00:47:22
friend's house parents said hey just take this but when there's a doll and there's
00:47:27
a case filled with dolls and clothes multiple items and all she can say is it came from a little old lady that's
00:47:36
that's pretty creepy well yeah and let's go back to you know we referenced an online sleuth or
00:47:45
putting up some information about uh Duncan and his possible whereabouts you know in August of 2003
00:47:54
there was a person a woman who posted on tapeatox website under the Leanna Warner
00:48:01
discussion group that says that she was about 12 years old at the time when Leanna went missing and was a sitter a
00:48:09
regular sitter for Leanna she tells a story that once at the park with Leanna that Leanna had told her she
00:48:18
was going on a trip without her parents now again this is something that somebody's posting online I can't verify
00:48:25
that this person was an actual babysitter for Leanna I can't verify that this story took place it does seem
00:48:33
to line up with some information that lyanna's parents are saying that they said in 2006 so I found that to be
00:48:42
incredibly interesting the thing that this really reminds me of here Captain is is a case that we've discussed here
00:48:49
in the garage the Asia degree case out of North Carolina this is where Asia seems to have taken off on foot in
00:48:59
the middle of the night we don't know where she was going or why but she disappears we've never found any
00:49:07
trace of her the only thing that they found after she went missing was a strange photo of another little girl
00:49:14
and this photo's never been identified there's never been anybody that came forward that said oh I was that person
00:49:20
in the photo or I was the person that gave Aisha that photo right so to me that photo will always be tied to her
00:49:28
disappearance and the reason possible reason for her leaving her home that night and then in this case very same
00:49:36
situation right it's it seems very similar to me Captain where we have the parents telling the public you know
00:49:43
somebody gave our daughter all these Barbie dolls and all the clothing to go with these Barbie dolls we asked her
00:49:48
where she got him some little old lady gave them to her we've never that was in 2006 let me
00:49:55
check my calendar it's 2021. we've never had anybody come forward and say I was that person that gave her those dolls I
00:50:02
I you know they were used to be my daughters my kid had grown up I had him laying around I was going to throw them
00:50:08
out or I was going to put them up in a garage sale I saw the little kid gave them to her there's never been
00:50:14
anybody come forward and say or people come forward and say oh I know who gave them to her you know there's no
00:50:21
answer to this question well that's why it reminds me of the JonBenet Ramsey case because today JonBenet Ramsey goes
00:50:28
missing she is telling people that Santa Claus is coming to visit her after Christmas it's just one of those
00:50:36
weird stories where you're never going to get that out of your head why is this little girl playing with like you said
00:50:43
it's a collection of dolls and a collection of clothes for those dolls who was this little old lady did the
00:50:52
little old lady even exist because these individuals that abduct children and thank God it's such a rare crime but
00:51:00
even these individuals that groom children or molest them or try to groom them into some kind of Bizarro
00:51:09
relationship they're very manipulative they're very in tune to how to trick these kids it's
00:51:17
much easier for them if they can get and convince the kid to go along with whatever it is that the adult wants to
00:51:23
do willingly rather than Kicking and Screaming it doesn't have to be a little old lady I'm
00:51:29
I'm with you I want to know who the little old lady is but then I also wonder could it have been a 20-something
00:51:36
your old man or a 30-something year old man that says oh if anybody asks where you got these right you know I don't
00:51:44
want to have to come and take them from you if Mom and Dad or Mom finds out that
00:51:48
you got them from me you're gonna get in trouble right just tell them that you got them from a little old lady here's
00:51:54
the other thing that's interesting too to me we know that both of lyanna's parents came from they were they were
00:52:01
married before they were married to each other if I'm an outsider and I'm viewing
00:52:06
this situation or I have any idea of that oh you got you got brothers and sisters that have other families
00:52:14
well guess what little Leanna you have another family too just like your brothers and sisters you've just
00:52:21
not met them yet and here's a gift from one of your family members yeah but there's also sickos that want to
00:52:31
want to still children and raise them as their own yes they see this precious beautiful little girl on
00:52:39
the go I want her I want her to be mine and that's a equally possible I think Captain you and
00:52:49
I we stand in agreement here that these three scenarios are of the most interest
00:52:56
to us yeah I agree these individuals Joseph Edward Duncan who for no Rhyme or Reason decides to
00:53:04
discuss the case on his blog we certainly know the horror horrific acts that he is capable of right we have the
00:53:12
guy that lives just a couple doors down that's caught with child pornography in his home and he
00:53:21
during the course of questioning he goes from being a possible witness to somebody that police have such an
00:53:28
interest in that they get a search warrant to search his home and that's when they find the child pornography in
00:53:34
his house yeah and that is Matthew James Curtis and then this weird story about lyanna having another family or going to
00:53:44
live with her other family and receiving this gift from a quote-unquote little old lady is really bizarre stuff I think
00:53:53
those three things to me in this case where you have a lot of questionable behavior and a lot of Persons of
00:54:01
Interest and we've discussed a lot of those those three for me sit at the top of my list as far as The Disappearance
00:54:09
to Leanna Warner well and don't forget about the monsters outside her window that are going come take her away
00:54:16
lyanna's parents Chris and Kailyn have moved away from the home in Chisholm that Leanna lived in with them they say
00:54:24
that this decision was very hard for them and that they were worried that she might not be able to find them should
00:54:30
she return but it seems after 18 years of holding on to Hope on the basis of nothing reality has prevailed they still
00:54:39
leave the porch light on though cases like the solving of Jacob wetterling's abduction and the three Ohio women found
00:54:47
in Ariel Castro's basement continue to give them hope and the fact that no trace of lyanna was found in the
00:54:55
thorough and painstaking searches of a wide radius makes part of them believe that she was taken out of the area and
00:55:05
possibly could still be alive most likely Chris Warner believes that she may be a victim of a black market
00:55:13
abduction 2021 marks 18 years since lyanna vanished the now Chisholm police chief
00:55:21
believes that lyanna was abducted and investigators in law enforcement have said
00:55:27
the same thing within a week or so of the case they believe this is one of those rare cases
00:55:34
of stranger abduction they still consider this to be very much an open case but everyone is incredibly
00:55:42
frustrated because there seems to be nothing to go on in 2013 the national Center for missing and exploited
00:55:50
Children released an age progression picture of what Leanna might look like at the age of 15 and continues to issue
00:55:59
flyers and posters about Leanne Road [Music] safe [Music] as always we want to hear from you
00:56:30
on any of the episodes that we covered we want to hear your thoughts and opinions because we know you guys are no
00:56:37
dumb dumbs no dum dum heads here in the garage Colonel do we have any recommended reading uh yes we do Captain
00:56:45
a little recommended reading also maybe a little more of the recommended listening this week we are recommending
00:56:52
They Call Me baba buoy we're going to step outside of True Crime and have a little fun this is for anyone that's a
00:57:00
Howard Stern fan I highly recommend the audio version of They Call Me baba buoy by the great Gary delabate you can find
00:57:10
that recommendation as well as many others on our website True Crime garage.com some say it's the best book ever written
00:57:20
some say that and until next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] foreign
00:57:54
[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most shocking
  • 70
    Most controversial
  • 60
    Most emotional

Episode Highlights

  • Questionable Connections
    Lee Allen Wu, a convicted sex offender, becomes a person of interest in the case.
    “He stole a vehicle on the same day that Lyanna disappeared.”
    @ 04m 16s
    November 05, 2022
  • The Mysterious Disappearance
    Lyanna Warner went missing, leading to a complex investigation involving various persons of interest.
    “Do you know anybody that would want to harm your family?”
    @ 06m 29s
    November 05, 2022
  • Family Dynamics Under Scrutiny
    The Warner family's past raises questions about their involvement in Lyanna's disappearance.
    “Authorities said they were comfortable with what the family was telling them.”
    @ 08m 48s
    November 05, 2022
  • Patty Wetterling's Heartbreaking Insight
    Patty Wetterling shares the emotional toll of having a missing child, stating, "Nobody knows what it's like to have your child missing for this long."
    “Nobody knows what it's like to have your child missing for this long.”
    @ 23m 53s
    November 05, 2022
  • The Strain of Grief on Relationships
    Patty Wetterling reveals how the disappearance of a child can test a marriage, saying, "It's absolutely the biggest test you ever go through as a couple."
    “It's absolutely the biggest test you ever go through as a couple.”
    @ 24m 14s
    November 05, 2022
  • The Mystery of Matthew James Curtis
    Matthew James Curtis, a neighbor of the Warners, was found dead shortly after being questioned in connection with Lyanna's case.
    @ 29m 11s
    November 05, 2022
  • Joseph Duncan's Dark Past
    Joseph Duncan, a convicted sex offender, was captured in 2005 and linked to multiple murders, raising suspicions in Lyanna's case.
    @ 36m 30s
    November 05, 2022
  • The Strange Case of Leanna Warner
    Leanna Warner vanished in 2003, and her parents reveal chilling details about her behavior before her disappearance.
    “She packed a suitcase and said she was going to live with her new family.”
    @ 46m 49s
    November 05, 2022
  • The Mystery of the Dolls
    Leanna received a case filled with Barbie dolls from a mysterious 'little old lady' before she vanished.
    “All she can say is it came from a little old lady.”
    @ 47m 34s
    November 05, 2022
  • Hope After 18 Years
    Despite the passage of time, Leanna's parents continue to hold onto hope for her return.
    “They still leave the porch light on though.”
    @ 54m 39s
    November 05, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • You stink, my friend, you need to do some laundry.
    LeeAnna Warner /// Part 2 /// 517
  • I feel pretty confident that I don't see the parents having any involvement.
    LeeAnna Warner /// Part 2 /// 517
  • It's absolutely the biggest test you ever go through as a couple.
    LeeAnna Warner /// Part 2 /// 517
  • When there's a suicide in the case, you're gonna take like the Amy Mihalovic case.
    LeeAnna Warner /// Part 2 /// 517
  • This actually gives me nightmares.
    LeeAnna Warner /// Part 2 /// 517
  • This decision was very hard for them.
    LeeAnna Warner /// Part 2 /// 517

Key Moments

  • Persons of Interest03:14
  • Family Turmoil09:35
  • Parental Responsibility12:52
  • Angry Impulsive Behavior22:25
  • Relationship Strain24:14
  • Suicide Investigation34:12
  • Nightmares45:22
  • Creepy Dolls47:36

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown