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C store or ashley.com for [Music] details [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever
00:01:44
you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that would
00:01:50
rather die of exhaustion than starvation he is the captain and I'm just like post
00:01:54
Malone I'm always tired baby it's good to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening and thanks for
00:02:00
telling a [Music] friend this week we are drinking sleepy bear by Workforce brewing in planfield
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Illinois garage grade 4 and 1/2 out of five bottle caps strong caramel and chocolate flavors in this Russian
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imperial stout that is full of roasted malts Rye Oats honey malt brown sugar and plenty of hops the ABV is high here
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99.6% so enjoy one of these at home in your garage and let's give some thank yous and shout outs Captain first up
00:02:36
thanks to Alexis from Tall Timbers Maryland and a big shout out to Maria in Amish Country Pennsylvania next here's a
00:02:43
good old southern cheers to Allison in Easley South Carolina and a big cheers mates to Ryan in Chandler Arizona and
00:02:51
one of our favorite stops here Captain we have Chris and we have Sicily in Parts Unknown population growing though
00:02:58
because we also have Jill and part unknown as well so thanks everybody for filling up the fridge for this week's
00:03:03
show if you want to help us out with next week's go to True Crim garage.com and click on the Donate button and I'd
00:03:09
like to give a special shout out to Craig from the YouTube channel team Richie I've been following you from the
00:03:15
beginning I just want to say cheers to you and your success and Jeff we don't quit thanks captain and hey a quick
00:03:22
little reminder for all of our new listeners out there check out the Stitcher app it's free we've been around
00:03:28
for a long time we keep getting request for cases we've already covered so get the Stitcher app it's free all of our
00:03:34
old episodes are available right there waiting for you to listen yeah and I think it's in the left hand corner
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down to like 2016 and listen to those shows or 2018 whatever there you go True Crime
00:03:55
garage on the Stitcher app all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab grab a beer let's talk some true
00:04:02
[Music] [Music] crime us tonight in the mystery surrounding the missing mom Michelle
00:04:32
fiori with WBBM news radio 780 what happened well uh the latest information I have for you Nancy is that I did speak
00:04:41
with planfield police this afternoon and they tell me that tips are now coming into their department and that is
00:04:47
significant because over the weekend when I first met with the deputy police chief he told me they had nothing at
00:04:52
that point they were desperate for leads and now they are finally coming into the
00:04:55
station iding says any lead uh even say one that may seem insignificant to people can be just the tip that they're
00:05:02
looking for and that can help bring Lisa's stach home to her family Jane what were the circumstances of her
00:05:06
disappearance well it was April 30th was the last time that she was seen and she
00:05:10
works at a school cafeteria so she reported for work that day they saw her her husband is the last one that says he
00:05:16
saw her late in the afternoon on April 30s he said that she normally would leave in the evening to go do exercise
00:05:23
she'd come back 10:30 or 11: she was never seen again her children though and there are two children have the same
00:05:28
story that the father had that the last time they saw their mother was late in that afternoon so to you Michelle fiori
00:05:33
with 780 WBBM news radio both children who are allegedly out buying some candy the father says he was working in the
00:05:41
yard when she went jogging or to work out they back up the dad's claim he saw at 6
00:05:48
p.m. we have not spoken with the children at this point I'm sorry I couldn't hear you repeat uh we have not
00:05:54
spoken with the children at this point what do uh what can you tell me about the husband refus using a polygraph
00:06:00
Michelle fiori you know what Craig Steck uh declined to take a polygraph test that
00:06:06
was offered to him by the planfield police department uh it was on the advice of his attorney who is also his
00:06:11
divorce attorney in the proceedings that he filed against Lisa Steck in uh this past January police tell us that besides
00:06:18
Craig other family members and acquaintances of Lisa have also been offered a polygraph test they would not
00:06:24
tell me exactly how many uh have taken it or or if any have taken it at this point joining us tonight is a very
00:06:31
special guest it is Melanie Greenberg this is the missing mom Lisa steck's cousin Melanie thank you for being with
00:06:38
us thank you Nancy for this opportunity to get Lisa's picture out there to a national audience we're hoping someone
00:06:45
will see her and have some new tip or lead to give to the plane field police they need something new to go on even if
00:06:55
it seems like an inconsequential fact please call the Ping field police and bring Lisa home safely to her children
00:07:02
and her family tonight with us Melanie Greenberg this is Lisa's cousin I I wish you peace I wish that you find her
00:07:11
alive I I can't even imagine going through what you're not not knowing if she's dead or alive or
00:07:20
possibly alive somewhere uh needing medical attention or needing help tell me the last time you saw her well uh as
00:07:30
cousins and a large family our last big family gathering was um in December at a
00:07:35
Holiday Gathering um her sisters are extremely close to Lisa and they last spoke with her on the Thursday before
00:07:44
the Monday that she was missing they had a lengthy conversation Lisa was in very
00:07:49
good spirits um and you know it just it's a total mystery to us Nancy we just can't understand because there's no way
00:07:57
that she would leave her children [Music] planfield Illinois is a comfortable town
00:08:18
close enough to commute to Chicago for work but far enough away to have a small town field with the population growing
00:08:26
rapidly in the last 25 years open spaces and Farms mingle with newer subdivisions
00:08:33
the old sections stand in contrast to the new developments but the neighbors are friendly regardless if you live in
00:08:39
one of the new golf course communities or in one of the older sections this is a community where you can live safely
00:08:46
and raise your family and the comfort that planfield encourages now the newer houses are not just from the economic
00:08:53
boom that has allowed families to leave the familiar suburbs and Venture further
00:08:58
out down I55 to planfield but some are replacement houses for the ones destroyed by the August 28th 1990
00:09:07
tornado This Tornado killed 29 people and injured 350 people more than 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed the
00:09:17
tornado made it across more than 16 mil in only 8 minutes this tornado destroyed
00:09:23
the only planfield high school at the time that is now called planfield Central High School Lisa Michelle
00:09:30
Rutenberg was born on May 19th 1969 in Parkridge Illinois she went on to attend Libertyville High School where she
00:09:38
competed on the swim team and was involved in dancing Lisa graduated in 1987 then attended Southern Illinois
00:09:45
University before going to Kendall College Lisa earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management and she worked
00:09:52
in hotels in Lincolnshire and Northbrook Lisa met Craig Steck at a party they dated and later got married on April 6th
00:10:00
1993 this was in Jamaica as the two eloped 2 years later the couple celebrated the birth of their daughter
00:10:07
Alexis and their son Zachary followed about a year later the couple lived in Wan but Craig steach he was a pipe
00:10:15
fitter so he traveled to the planfield area a lot for work so they eventually moved there Lisa steach was 37 almost 38
00:10:23
years old when she went missing on April 30th 2007 Lisa was married for 14 years
00:10:29
to Craig steach and their two kids were 10 and 12 years old when she suddenly vanished but before we get to the day in
00:10:37
question April 30th let's look a little deeper into what was going on in Lisa's life leading up to her having gone
00:10:44
missing in March of 2006 so just a little more than a year before the day in question Lisa started working as a
00:10:53
custodian for the planfield school district she was already working in the cafeteria at Lincoln element M so the
00:11:00
Fillin custodian position required her to work nights after her children were in bed in addition to her daytime lunch
00:11:08
duties about a year later she stopped the custodial work at the time of her disappearance she was only working at
00:11:15
the Lincoln Elementary School cafeteria sloppy Joe sloppy joe meatloaf sandwich she was employed by sedexo Food Service
00:11:24
she prepared lunches for the school students and earned less than $10,000 a year
00:11:29
now as a part of her routine she would work out about 3 to four nights a week starting around 6 until the gym closed
00:11:37
which was at 8:30 p.m. she used the gym at the local high school she was easily Remembered at the gym for her energy and
00:11:45
how happy she was when she was there before she vanished she recently lost about 30 or so pounds good for Lisa
00:11:54
posted a profile on aerobic friends.com she was seeking female friends to work out with on the
00:12:01
website's profile she said she wanted to include her children in her exercise routine she also posted to health.
00:12:08
exercis friends.com asking how she could find running or walking Partners in the area
00:12:15
again she was hoping to find quote female friends only end quote to join her in exercise right but I'm just going
00:12:24
to put this out there she might only be looking for female friends but I'm sure that anybody could browse
00:12:33
the different people looking for friends oh yeah you know what I mean so there could be some gym creeps out there you
00:12:40
know scouring the internet for for women looking for workout Partners nothing like a good oldfashioned gim creep no no
00:12:47
they give you the creep eye but it's also the stink eye well Lisa listed her workout goals to include increased
00:12:53
cardio tone up and simply get out more meet new people and just have fun she stated I am a parent and I would like to
00:13:01
include my children in my health activities she wrote in one of her postings she was looking for partners to
00:13:08
get out and enjoy nature well first of all Lisa is a saint because any lunch lady is a saint because I I would not
00:13:16
have made it this far in my life cuz I wouldn't have ate most of the time if it wasn't for the kind Lunch Ladies second
00:13:24
she's trying to improve her life not only physically but also hey you know I've been married for a while I have
00:13:31
some kids I want to I want to meet some new positive people mhm and so this seems like she's on the right path of of
00:13:40
doing so and she's a hard worker she's working two jobs at one point well and this is always a good thing too because
00:13:46
you know some people and I've been there I've been on both sides of this some people work out because they feel like
00:13:51
they have to you know to to maintain a healthy lifestyle right and then you have others that are able to make it a
00:13:57
hobby where they actually enjoy doing it and spending time working out and being
00:14:02
healthy and that's what it seems like to me that this was her way of getting out
00:14:06
of the house and doing something for herself she probably needed a little bit of alone time yeah the only thing I
00:14:12
disagree with her on is the cardio thing because cardio is the devil well the the
00:14:18
steck's marriage was falling apart okay in fact in January of 2007 they filed for a divorce FYI most Publications
00:14:27
report this was filed in Jan January however I did find a couple that stated December of 2006 regardless we're
00:14:34
talking about a small window uh you know difference of time there yeah but again
00:14:38
we have this individual that is trying to improve herself and maybe it's I'm going to get a divorce and I want to
00:14:44
look good and try to find somebody but at this current time it doesn't look like she's looking for you know the next
00:14:51
man no she's obviously concerned and involved with her children's lives that seems to be the focus there at the time
00:15:00
now during the process of this divorce Lisa and Craig lived together with their children in the family's house Lisa
00:15:07
would sleep on the couch while Craig used the master bedroom Lisa told friends that she slept with her phone
00:15:13
and her purse next to her because she was afraid that Craig would take them you know take the phone Andor purse and
00:15:19
possibly destroy them right during the divorce Lisa befriended A co-worker named Ruby and would often spend her
00:15:26
evenings at the gym with Ruby and then often afterwards going to Ruby's house for a glass of wine and some chitchat
00:15:35
often Lisa would bring her children with her when she would visit Ruby's home Lisa went out on a couple of dates with
00:15:43
a recently divorced man a short time before her disappearance I do not know this individual's name could not find
00:15:50
his name but what I could find was that he was 45 years old or so this would be about 7 to 8 years older than leis at
00:15:59
the time well yeah but most women like a older man or or an older Captain what I
00:16:05
gather from this information what little information we have on this dating situation yeah I don't feel like I don't
00:16:13
gather that this was a serious thing right I think we have somebody that's going through a divorce and someone
00:16:19
recently divorced likely they were probably hooked up let's say or you know somebody playing Matchmaker probably put
00:16:27
them together somehow right so now is her husband seeing anybody at the time no there's no indication that he was
00:16:34
seeing anybody at the time there's also not 100% evidence that he was aware that she
00:16:41
was dating someone right again I don't think this was a serious thing I think it was very casual I don't even know how
00:16:48
many times they actually went out on a date together I don't think it was much well and sometimes if you're going you
00:16:55
know especially when I went through my situation I'd meet women that were going through a divorce too and we' go out to
00:17:01
lunch or hang out go shopping that I mean somebody on the outside could go oh well that's a date there weren't dates
00:17:09
there were almost therapy sessions right I was going to say the same thing anybody that's been through a a tough
00:17:15
breakup you find yourself sitting across from someone having a cup of coffee or or sharing a a drink and it's really
00:17:23
just you need somebody to vent with somebody to talk to somebody that's kind of going through the same thing there
00:17:29
might not even be an attraction there really at all well let's face it too I mean women they can kind of get their
00:17:35
stuff together and start moving a lot quicker than most men most men especially married for 14 years is
00:17:43
probably looking a little schlubby he probably has to get his stuff together well let's go through the day of The
00:17:49
Disappearance according to all reports Lisa stebic was last seen by her husband on April 30th 2007 but it's not not just
00:17:59
that simple right so let's go through this Lisa had spent most of the day going about her typical routine she
00:18:06
worked at Lincoln Elementary School the lunch shifts were typically somewhat of shorter shifts so Lisa left the school
00:18:14
around 2:30 p.m. she picked up a sandwich from Jimmy John's on Route 59 and ran some errands before returning
00:18:21
home her routine was to pick up her 10-year-old son Zach from Walker's Grove Elementary school at around 3:30 p.m.
00:18:31
though no one could say with certainty that Lisa picked up Zack that Monday friends say Lisa wa wait wait wait they
00:18:39
don't know who picked him up well I mean he came home at the normal time so everyone just assumes that the typical
00:18:47
routine was for her to pick him up right at 3:30 p.m. so we're going to assume that she picked him up yes we just don't
00:18:54
have anybody that says I specifically saw Lisa pick up Zack that day but wouldn't he
00:19:01
know um that's one of the tricky things with this case and we'll get into that in a little bit so friends say that Lisa
00:19:10
almost always made sure that she was home with Zach and her 12-year-old daughter until Craig returned from work
00:19:17
in the evening time at 5:40 p.m. Craig comes home from work and gives the kids money to go get some candy now later
00:19:26
Lisa's friends stated to media that Lisa strictly forbid the kids from eating candy or any type of processed sugar so
00:19:35
they question this activity 5:45 p.m. the children leave on a bike ride to go to Walgreens to get
00:19:43
their candy between 5:45 and 6:00 p.m. Craig starts working in the backyard we should point out here that Craig and
00:19:51
this is mentioned by all the neighbors he was one of those guys that was often seen out working in the yard this was
00:19:58
very typical behavior for him yeah at approximately 6:00 p.m. Craig says that he re-entered the home and Lisa had
00:20:06
already left he assumed that she went to work out as per her regular routine now
00:20:12
some Reports say that he thinks that he heard her leave but says he didn't see her right regardless Lisa fails to show
00:20:20
up to work out at the high school which was her regular routine and that' be at what time uh at 6:00 is when Craig
00:20:28
believes that she left the home right but what time do she normally work out uh this would be shortly afterwards she
00:20:35
would often arrive in the 6:00 hour and stay till about 8:30 p.m. you're giving us a lot of information so I just want
00:20:40
to clear this up so her her son gets picked up from school 10 years old mhm we know that he gets home yes we can
00:20:48
assume that it's her we have nobody saying that they saw her but let's just assume it's her then the husband gives
00:20:56
the kids money to get candy which she wouldn't be down with but we're also assuming that she's at home
00:21:04
at this point M and then he states that she leaves the house roughly around 6 o'
00:21:11
yeah and you know what her friends Lisa's friends and family have made a lot of this thing of of her husband Craig
00:21:19
sending the kids out to get candy right because it's against what Lisa would typically
00:21:24
allow I I I do understand why you question that because if something were to go down in that
00:21:32
home and you know the two witnesses would be the children right right so I understand questioning that but at the
00:21:39
same time it could be something as simple as we're going through a divorce we don't even talk to each other we
00:21:44
don't get along right I this is Dad's rules not mom's rules here's some here's some money let me be the let me be the
00:21:50
star of the night and go get some candy yeah but it also seems a little hush money you know what I mean could be it
00:21:59
it feels that way a little bit but again I'm all for Lisa I'm all for the working
00:22:05
out I'm all fourth cardio but kids with no candy come on well here's one thing that I think is
00:22:13
very key to this case and it is you know Craig's word that we have to go off of here we do know Lisa left her car at the
00:22:24
family's home but according to Craig she took her purse and cell phone with her I've seen some statements that say that
00:22:32
she took her car keys as well but that seems to be more in question than fact so let's just point it out there at this
00:22:40
point sometime around 600 p.m. according to Craig's story his wife Lisa has left
00:22:46
the home and her purse is gone and her cell phone's gone but her car is at the house right but you would assume if
00:22:53
she's taking her purse she probably has a house key that she's taking taking her
00:22:58
car keys with her right well between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. the kids return from Walgreens and they go directly to Target
00:23:08
with their father to purchase a birthday gift for someone some unnamed person with their father right right now
00:23:16
between 10: and 11 this is when Craig said would be the usual time that Lisa would return home after going to the gym
00:23:23
or going out she does not return that night the next day Tuesday May 1st at 8:50 a.m. Lisa's co-workers received a
00:23:34
phone message from Craig asking if his wife had reported to work at 10 to 10:15 a.m. Craig called the next door neighbor
00:23:44
to inquire about Lisa the neighbor reported her missing to police a little after 10: a.m. this is shortly after
00:23:52
this phone call right Craig and the kids went about their typical day after he called the neighbor he drove the kids to
00:23:59
school and then he went on to work now before we get too far along Captain here is a description of Lisa at the time of
00:24:08
her disappearance right she is 5' 2 in tall 120 lbs Caucasian with brown hair and brown eyes Now to celebrate her new
00:24:18
start in life I'm guessing this is you know once the the divorce was working its way through Lisa got a butterfly
00:24:25
tattoo on her lower back with her children's names on each side yes this is a very bad decision she already had a
00:24:34
small rose tattoo on her ankle this had her daughter's name on it yeah that's not so bad it's just the the butterfly
00:24:42
on the lower back and and she had also told friends that she would wanted a tattoo somewhere else that would have
00:24:49
her son's name on it there is a reward for information in this case and anyone with information no matter how little
00:24:57
you should you should get in touch with the planfield Illinois Police Department
00:25:01
right and that goes for everyone everywhere not just in Illinois because there has been some speculation tied to
00:25:08
the state of Michigan and the state of Wisconsin and as you and I know very well Captain we have seen good very good
00:25:16
information come from further away than just a state or two when discussing these cases yeah so what what's
00:25:22
interesting here is that we have a situation where they're going through a divorce
00:25:28
we we don't it doesn't sound like it's that messy as far as she's sleeping on the couch he's sleeping in the bed yeah
00:25:37
I mean she holds her phone tight and her purse tight but you don't know why that is I mean
00:25:44
who is she talking to maybe she just wants to keep that stuff private now uh cuz they're going to be divorced so she
00:25:50
doesn't have any reason for sharing that information um so it's it's kind of strange and then you know logically you
00:26:00
got this guy that goes well she normally comes home pretty late but she didn't but you don't know he he might have some
00:26:10
he might be speculating a little bit that she's on a date mhm and then it's like then he's probably thinking well
00:26:17
it's not my place to call her and ask her where she's at or text her because you know we're getting a divorce like
00:26:24
this is what's going to be happening a month from now anyway two months from now anyways you see what I mean well
00:26:31
well the the big thing that you have to question here regarding the situation of
00:26:35
her not coming home whether it be 10 11 or you know whatever time her not coming
00:26:41
home at all is there was some turmoil going on in this divorce and there there was some bitterness I think and what
00:26:51
what we will see here going forward is the reports about that do seem seem to be one-sided it seems to be Lisa telling
00:27:01
some people that some things are going on but it also seems like they were if if there was a lot going on if there was
00:27:09
a lot of hostility inside that home it was kept fairly quiet and the thing too that you have to call into question is
00:27:19
what kind of situation on craigend are we talking about are we talking about a jealous husband that that is wondering
00:27:27
where his soon Tobe ex-wife is you know pacing the floors at their house or are we talking about a guy that's already
00:27:34
moved on and he doesn't really care you know he just he doesn't become alarmed until she doesn't show up to work the
00:27:39
next day that's why I'm saying two very different situations yeah no I to I totally agree and I think just on the
00:27:45
surface right now it seems like because there's no call at at night mhm you'd think that if he was like a real jealous
00:27:53
dude mhm that he'd be texting one of her friends or calling calling somebody there'd be some kind of effort made at
00:28:00
night cuz he'd be thinking she's with some guy she's staying the night oh my God right mhm but since that doesn't
00:28:08
happen and he waits until the morning then now he's going and you got to remember there they've been together 14
00:28:14
years they had two kids together I'm sure there is some kind of love there you know even going through a divorce
00:28:20
you still care about the person for the most part or you should and so now you have this individual that's going hey
00:28:27
wait a second okay she didn't show up last night that's one thing but now this is I'm getting a little worried mhm well
00:28:35
let's take a quick beer break and when we get back we'll talk more about Craig stebic and we'll also take a deeper dive
00:28:42
into what was going on with this divorce [Music] prepare for an irresistible Thanksgiving
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[Music] all right cheers me mes cheers Captain let's take a closer look at Lisa's
00:31:18
husband Craig Steck Craig was a former private investigator who was working as a pipe fitter at the dial corporation
00:31:25
based in Montgomery Illinois Craig Steck earned more than $80,000 annually at his
00:31:31
union job he was working there for at least 5 years that I could tell and it was not unusual for him to have several
00:31:39
weeks in between jobs he does have one prior arrest when he was arrested with his father on October 8th
00:31:49
1995 I believe this was looked at as a possible like illegal hunting type situation
00:31:57
according to the police report freshh blood was discovered inside uh somewhere on the truck on Craig's truck but no
00:32:05
animals were found police believe the two hid them in one of hundreds of mining pits that can be found in Iron
00:32:13
County Michigan Craig steach was charged with two felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon after Police Stopped his
00:32:21
vehicle about 1,000 ft from a school at 9 in the morning police found a 10 gaug double barrel shotgun a 44 magnum pistol
00:32:31
a Ruger and an AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifle in his Toyota pickup red flag's going off mhm I think
00:32:42
that's what a lot of people are probably thinking that's a lot of guns right but
00:32:46
like we were talking about earlier maybe not so much there's a lot of people in this country that hunt all the time
00:32:53
regardless if it's hunting season or not correct and one thing we should should point out here is that Craig's family I
00:33:00
believe it might be his father someone in his family owns a good deal of property up in Michigan that they use
00:33:07
often for hunting purposes and you know just to get away uh and what what you and I do know from you know several
00:33:15
friends and things like that certain parts of this country people just hunt when they feel like hunting especially
00:33:21
if they have a good deal of land now Craig was also charged with four misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a
00:33:28
weapon operating an unsafe motor vehicle and driving while his license was revoked so like you said most people
00:33:37
thinking a good deal of red flags the only real red flags here are the obvious this man owns several guns if he was
00:33:45
hunting illegally well we do know he was operating his vehicle illegally this is
00:33:51
a guy that is going to kind of do what he wants when he feels like doing it so let's take a look at this divorce shall
00:33:58
we this was a mutual thing and this was actually the second time around with the
00:34:04
divorce proceedings for the Steck the first time the divorce was called off by Lisa after the birth of their daughter
00:34:11
then Craig Steck filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage in January of 2007
00:34:18
so just three or 4 months before Lisa disappeared Craig says he filed for divorce when his wife declared quote she
00:34:26
didn't want to be married to me anymore end quote he said the couple rarely spoke in 6 months living separate lives
00:34:33
under the same roof his divorce petition cited irreconcilable differences both parents sought joint custody of their
00:34:41
children with Lisa stebic as the residential custodial parent child support and division of their marital
00:34:49
properties so that doesn't seem to be anything crazy going on there right it all seems kind of very mutual we're
00:34:56
going to split up our properties we're going to have shared custody you're going to have the kids most of the time
00:35:01
all pretty regular stuff in my opinion well and to me it sounds like this guy's going hey look you don't want me you
00:35:08
don't want to be married to me okay but he's taking the steps he's not doing one
00:35:13
of these Maneuvers where the guys go oh you don't want you don't want me you don't want to be married to me you're
00:35:18
going to have to divorce me mhm he filed the paperwork mhm so he on on some level
00:35:25
it looks like he's going okay well let's get this process going and let's get this over with and and we both can move
00:35:31
forward with our lives as an outsider looking in it appears to me Captain that these two were probably staying together
00:35:39
or trying to make it work for some time probably just for their children yeah so
00:35:44
Lisa's complaints against Craig were somewhat different uh she states that he's unnecessarily Relentless he's cruel
00:35:52
inconsiderate domineering and verbally abusive now in the divorce proceedings there's a claim made by Lisa Steck that
00:36:00
Craig her husband is an unfit parent and she cites one instance where she claims
00:36:06
that one of the children was allowed to handle one of his loaded guns she also says that he was very very lackluster in
00:36:14
the way that he cared for these guns meaning the way that he just kind of kept them around the house right um
00:36:21
according to Nancy Grace and CNN on the day Lisa disappeared she mailed a ition to her attorney seeking to have Craig
00:36:30
removed from the home Craig Steck says he knew nothing about these papers yeah but this is kind of weird too because it
00:36:38
seems like they're both filing for joint custody and so she's saying that you're
00:36:44
verba abusive you're not a fit parent but I'm going to give you custody half the time mhm that just contradicts
00:36:52
itself yeah it's it's weird but what I think that this F fing filing this petition to have him removed or evicted
00:37:01
you know we should say from this home May point out a situation where the proceedings weren't moving along fast
00:37:09
enough for Lisa at some point I mean they're living together that's got to be incredibly uncomfortable we've talked
00:37:14
about other cases where this stuff happens where people decide we're just going to we're going to share the same
00:37:20
roof we're going to get through this somehow and then one day we'll be separated that's not a comfortable thing
00:37:27
for either person I have to guess it's the worst thing you can imagine however bad you think it is it's worse than that
00:37:36
mhm I once was doing the dishes and had my ex come up and and she was laughing with anger for no reason I
00:37:46
haven't talked to her in weeks she was laughing with anger and saids I can't wait till you're at of here it's like
00:37:53
what did I do I haven't talked to you for 3 weeks yeah yeah my parents used to tell me the same thing the only prior
00:38:00
police action regarding the steck's household planfield police were called to the home at Red Star Drive for a
00:38:08
report of a nonviolent that's very key word nonviolent verbal fight between the couple in an interview this took place
00:38:16
on May 10th 2007 Craig said he called the police when his wife showed up intoxicated after being out all night so
00:38:25
Craig called the police now later a friend of Lisa's said that Lisa told her Craig locked her out of the house so
00:38:34
regardless Craig was the one that made the the phone call you know something happened that
00:38:39
police showed up that night well look during that whole time yes it's not your wife anymore or
00:38:46
it's not going to be your wife they're still your wife I think there's a lot of people that are separated quote unquote
00:38:54
separated and they just start acting in IM mature and I could see it going both ways oh yeah she's going to go out for a
00:39:03
little bit she goes and has some drinks maybe she forgot her house key somebody picked her up and oh I'm going to lock
00:39:11
you out yeah or it's so late that you just think oh you just expect me to stay at home and take care of the kids while
00:39:18
you go do whatever you want to do lock the door well and again though I think the key word in there is nonviolent that
00:39:26
is not Craig's words that's not Lisa's words that is the words of the responding officer to the call yeah now
00:39:34
after she went missing after Lisa disappeared of course the search and investigation began immediately first of
00:39:40
all the husband no matter what we need to look into oh yeah but the fact that they're going through a divorce it's
00:39:46
like double check that box please yeah we have shirts True Crime garage shirts that say the husband did it for good
00:39:53
reason well we used to have I think they're sold out we sold out of that that in in its own way is funny yeah uh
00:40:01
in that same interview that I just mentioned this was with Fox News Craig said that he thinks someone picked up
00:40:07
Lisa for her exercise class the night that she went missing now on Thursday May 3rd just 2 days after Lisa is
00:40:15
reported missing there is quite a bit of searching going on specifically searching the area behind the steck's
00:40:23
house planfield Emergency Management agency Personnel searched the park across the street from the steck's house
00:40:31
because Lisa reportedly walked and jogged there often hate to cut you off but I think the idea is that we have
00:40:38
this story coming from her husband and he was working in the backyard all night mhm so then it starts becoming well we
00:40:46
nobody has really seen her once the boy picked up from school right so who knows
00:40:53
if he did something to her during that time period and was he burying her in the backyard well and and you know what
00:40:59
this is a good time to kind of lay out the property a little bit for the listeners so their home it was a pretty
00:41:07
nice house and it was in a pretty nice neighborhood U for what I could tell look there's a park across the street
00:41:13
from their home their backyard was surrounded by a privacy fence because they had a inground swimming pool right
00:41:22
so this looks to me from the pictures I saw to be probably a 6ot tall fence so someone that was working in the backyard
00:41:31
I mean if you needed to conceal something this would be the place for Searchers to be looking in in my opinion
00:41:39
right now police also searched steck's computer files for a lead uh planfield Deputy police chief Mark eding told
00:41:48
foxnews.com that Craig Steck voluntarily handed over the family computer to the police of course he did but now remember
00:41:57
he was a private investigator a website www.ind lisa.com is started and missing Flyers were distributed again this is
00:42:08
the Thursday after she went missing right the next day on May 4th Lisa steck's cousin Neighborville resident
00:42:15
Mark Greenberg and his wife Melanie held a press conference in front of Lisa's house on Sunday May 6th planfield police
00:42:24
told reporters that they have no reason to suspect Foul Play so far in The steach Disappearance they have
00:42:30
investigated Craig steck's computer records spoken to his friends and Associates and interviewed steach
00:42:36
himself several times police also told reporters Lisa's cell phone and credit cards have not been used since her
00:42:44
disappearance on April 30th yeah but is it tell me if it's just me he was a private investigator for a while mhm
00:42:52
does that make you a little more suspicious does that make you a little like you would know what to do yeah this
00:43:00
guy he's playing with a little information mhm right so great that you turned over the
00:43:08
computer records but what does that mean you know is there another computer that
00:43:13
we're not aware of yeah and here's the thing too that everybody needs to completely understand it's not so much
00:43:19
like it's not like Craig shows up to the police department and goes here's my computer thought you might want to take
00:43:24
a look it's more of a hey Craig we want to take your computer and look at it and he goes well okay you
00:43:31
know it's it's so when they say voluntary that's the situation now we're going to see the tides shift quite a bit
00:43:38
here though but it's creepier if he shows up with this computer right right I got my computer for you it's still in
00:43:46
the box from Best Buy Hey listen to True Crime garage they study computer yeah uh
00:43:53
here's a shift in the tides though Captain because now we have friends of Lisa Steck who are telling the media
00:43:59
that Lisa was frightened by Craig and she was attending counseling at the guardian angel this is an agency that
00:44:06
provides services to battered women friends also say Lisa suffered verbal abuse from her husband and after divorce
00:44:14
proceedings began would sleep on the living room sofa where she kept her personal belongings constantly by her
00:44:20
side right on Monday May 7th a $20,000 reward for information is announced women are natural snoopers right okay
00:44:31
it's true put down your cell phone for a while and just see if they pick it up they're going to pick it up they're
00:44:38
going to look through it they're natural snoopers they're a little nosy that's okay but you wonder is this guy I mean
00:44:49
what was his motivation to be a private investigator anyways I just wonder if he's a natural snooper too and that's
00:44:56
one of the reasons that she's keeping all these things beside her when she's goes to
00:45:01
sleep because he's a natural snooper even if he's not like jealous even if he's just like yeah we're getting a
00:45:08
divorce whatever but he might go well it's kind of funny she didn't come home that day ah she's at the bar pretty long
00:45:14
that night and he just wants to know maybe he's not even jealous about it well you know there might be some truth
00:45:22
or a lot of Truth to him being controlling because one thing we do know regarding her cell phone this was a
00:45:31
phone that he kind of supplied to her right and it looks like he was pretty much in charge of this cell phone
00:45:38
everything I could find suggest and points to that it was a prepaid cell phone and that he was kind of in charge
00:45:45
of the the minutes that were applied to this cell phone and he would keep the minutes quite low oh that's nice of him
00:45:53
yeah well on Tuesday May 8th Craig Steck refuses a polygraph test at planfield police station and is refusing to go
00:46:02
into the police station for further interviews and he asked that law enforcement not interview his children
00:46:08
as well now this other bit is less fact and more speculation but there are stories out there that on the same day
00:46:15
Craig Steck supposedly does not answer the door when FBI agent show up on his doorstep yeah that's odd but back to the
00:46:25
polygraph test are would you take one no I mean and we've pointed that we pointed
00:46:31
that out a bunch of times on on the show yeah but yeah cuz it's the but the idea
00:46:37
for me would be there's what's the win I mean even if you pass it nobody believes
00:46:41
it anyways right it's a it's a you can't win situation right now on Wednesday May
00:46:48
9th Craig Steck was seeking temporary full custody of the couple's children his lawyer Dion Davey said he filed the
00:46:56
custody P petition in Will County Courthouse in order to protect his client from the possibility that Lisa
00:47:04
steach could return and then disappear again possibly taking the children with her on Thursday May 10th firefighters
00:47:12
and boats searched Lake Renwick in planfield for Lisa Steck note the lake is about 5 miles from the steach home of
00:47:21
course they didn't find anything and also authorities in Crystal fall this is in Michigan's Upper Peninsula searched a
00:47:28
cabin there this belonging to someone in Craig's family actually I believe it was
00:47:33
his fathers we discussed this earlier uh but nothing came of this search as well
00:47:39
Saturday May 12th officials from the planfield Emergency Management agency continued to focus on large water areas
00:47:46
Retention Ponds bike and jogging trails parks and natural areas within the village of planfield
00:47:54
volunteers distribute hundreds of carnations to businesses throughout the planfield area attached to each flower
00:48:01
is a photo of Alisa Steck and contact information to report tips on her whereabouts so volunteers gathered at a
00:48:09
gazebo around the corner from the stebic residents this was to pin steck's photo
00:48:15
to the carnations to be handed out on Mother's Day in hopes of someone identifying her alongside the Gazebo was
00:48:22
a makeshift Memorial with flowers stuffed animals and a sign that read Lincoln isn't the same without you Lisa
00:48:30
steck's husband Craig did not participate in any of the weekend events this according to
00:48:37
suburbanchicagonews.com but is this another situation where it's a no- win situation if you help out and
00:48:45
you do something odd at the event or you say something wrong or somebody imp you
00:48:52
say something and they they think that you imply something else like is does that become
00:48:58
headline news Well by I I see what you're saying and it's a tough situation okay so let's say that he is grieving or
00:49:06
wants to protect his children from the media right uh but what ultimately is going to happen and we've seen this with
00:49:13
the Scott Peterson case and other cases along the way what's implied here is that
00:49:19
you from the general public is that you don't care that your your efforts aren't
00:49:24
being focused on finding this missing person and why is so many other people focused on finding her do you know
00:49:31
something we don't know so that's what I believe is implied here whether whether
00:49:36
that's correct or not remains to be seen now on Monday May 14th planfield Police
00:49:42
and FBI evidence response team and Special Operations unit from the Jolette Police Department conducted a midnight
00:49:50
search of the steck's house and vehicles they raided the steik home taking taking
00:49:55
pillows blankets and towels they also confiscated the family's two vehicles a 2002 Chevy S10 pickup truck and a 2004
00:50:05
four-door Saturn Ion both vehicles were registered to Craig Steck but the Saturn
00:50:11
was used by Lisa so I'm a little confused they raid the guy's house but when they ask him for things he gives it
00:50:17
to him other than the polygraph yes well but I mean you're going to count on finding things that
00:50:25
you wouldn't find in a voluntary search if you just show up in the middle of the
00:50:29
night maybe he's unprepared and you can find the evidence that you're looking for it's clear that at this point even
00:50:34
though they they're not vocal about it the local police department believe Craig had something to do with his wife
00:50:41
going missing possibly or they just don't have any other leads or have anywhere else to go so they just keep
00:50:48
circling back around and guess who's going to be the first person you Circle back around to right well on Saturday
00:50:54
May 19th Lisa steck's family and friends celebrate her 38th birthday with a candlelight vigil again Craig Steck was
00:51:03
absent from the vigil as was the couple's two children well I don't I don't know if I
00:51:09
agree with the kid thing but all of her friends you're going through a divorce and now there's bad
00:51:16
thing look it it's just weird that it doesn't seem like there was so many bad things said about this guy until she
00:51:22
went missing on Sunday May 20th the neille son exclusively reported that blood found on a tarp in Craig steck's
00:51:32
truck matched the DNA of his wife Lisa Craig Steck speaking through the door of his home on Sunday told
00:51:41
nbc5 that the blood may be from a deer adding that he had been deer hunting in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan recently
00:51:49
a DNA test though determined that the blood on the tarp was in fact Lisa and authorities use that information to
00:51:57
convince a judge to issue a search warrant that was executed at the Steck planfield home
00:52:04
so take that all into Factor there what we're finding out later this seems like news on Sunday May 20th however what we
00:52:13
learn on that day is remember back when we took these took their vehicles we found this information and this is what
00:52:22
allowed us to gain access basically to their home and property when ever we want because we have a judge saying so
00:52:28
all right so hold up hey this tarp they test the tarp that they find in his truck right and it's definitely her
00:52:37
blood they determine through DNA testing yes her blood yeah and look there's there could be some logical explanations
00:52:45
for that but that seems very very suspicious extremely suspicious we should point out though usually when you
00:52:53
have a situation like this this indicates that they probably found a very small amount of blood um the reason
00:53:01
why I say that is we have seen cases where they find a situation with a large amount of blood right and they determine
00:53:08
that hey we need to make an arrest because we probably have a murder investigation going on not a missing
00:53:14
person's case right so the situation here appears to be a very small amount of blood because they do not arrest
00:53:21
Craig stebic but this I mean the the police essentially at this point are sharks circling this dude and they're
00:53:29
going to be circling closer and closer and closer right on Tuesday May 22nd Craig steach goes to court for the child
00:53:37
custody hearing now the judge denies Craig the motion for full custody as his wife is missing at this point right and
00:53:47
then on Thursday May 24th nbc5's Amy Jacobson reported that the FBI seized high-powered assault rifles
00:53:56
and handguns from the steck's home no surprise to us Captain we know that this is a guy that has a lot of guns yeah on
00:54:05
Friday June 8th police announced that they would interview people as far away as Iowa and the Upper Peninsula of
00:54:12
Michigan looking for Clues and planfield police chief Donald Bennett confirmed that kadaver dogs were used during the
00:54:20
search for stebic quote we did have cadav dogs in the residence end quote I can't give any specifics about what the
00:54:30
dogs did or didn't do while in the residence he said now on one of those prior searches kadab dogs were brought
00:54:39
in and made a positive hit this is according to an unnamed source that they made a positive hit on an article in the
00:54:48
home it was not immediately clear whether the dog zeroed in on an article of clothing a piece of furniture
00:54:56
Appliance or some type of other item in the home yeah on Sunday June 10th police
00:55:02
search ditches along a construction site in Montgomery and around Silver Spring State Park they said that they were
00:55:10
looking for steik older model cell phone and her small black purse decorated with
00:55:15
rhinestones now this type of cell phone are we going to get a cell phone ping off of it they were looking for pings
00:55:22
regarding shortly after the time that she was last scene at the home yeah this phone didn't ping anywhere Not only was
00:55:29
it it it appeared to have not been used and again they openly stated that her credit cards that would have been in her
00:55:36
purse were never used after the time that she was last seen right but hypothetically if she is killed in her
00:55:44
house they turn off all the electronics it wouldn't ping now there is a scandal that goes along with this story we
00:55:52
already mentioned WM AQ NBC 5 reporter Amy Jacobson who was covering steck's story well on Friday July 6th she was
00:56:04
caught on tape by the pool in a bikini at Craig steck's home this was she was caught by the Rival channel uh Channel 2
00:56:15
now this led to her exit from the TV network so Amy Jacobson left her job that's what they they say left her job
00:56:24
after a video surface showing her in a swimsuit at the home of a man whose wife disappeared 2 months ago a story she had
00:56:32
been assigned to cover Jacobson told her bosses that she was on her way with her
00:56:37
sons to go swimming at a local Club when Craig steck's sister asked her to go to
00:56:43
his house to talk about the case the video posted on the Rival station's website shows veteran reporter Amy
00:56:51
Jacobson wearing a halter bikini top and towel near the pool pool at Craig steck's Suburban planfield home
00:56:57
Jacobson's two young children were there as well and a shirtless Craig steach or
00:57:02
also shown in the video the station decided to air the video once it quote was clear Jacobson's own conduct was in
00:57:12
questioned by the people she worked for end quote so she was let go from her job
00:57:18
because basically she's at a pool party with this guy who many consider to be a suspect in The Disappearance of his
00:57:38
wife all right so much more to get to tomorrow in part two for everything True Crime Check out True Crime garage.com we
00:57:46
will see you all back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and
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