Search Captions & Ask AI

Keith Mann Jr. /// Part 1 /// 576

October 24, 2022 / 57:20

This episode covers the missing person case of Gregory Keith Mann Jr, who disappeared on May 11, 1997, in Wichita Falls, Texas. The hosts discuss Keith's background, his recent life changes, and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

Keith Mann Jr, a 20-year-old engaged man, was last seen after being dropped off by friends at his apartment. His vehicle, a red Mustang, was found abandoned near his parents' house the following day. The episode highlights the timeline of events leading up to his disappearance, including his job at a car dealership and plans for his fiancée to move in with him.

The hosts emphasize the lack of evidence regarding foul play initially reported by police, which later shifted as suspicions grew. They discuss the family's emotional toll and the ongoing investigation, which remains active even after 25 years.

Listeners are encouraged to share information about Keith's case, as renewed interest may lead to new leads. The episode aims to raise awareness about Keith's story and the impact of his disappearance on his family and community.

TLDR

The episode discusses the 25-year-old missing person case of Gregory Keith Mann Jr from Wichita Falls, Texas, and the ongoing investigation into his disappearance.

Episode

57:20
00:00:11
thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are
00:00:43
doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who
00:00:48
is still waiting for his invitation aboard Jerry Jones's yacht ladies and gentlemen
00:00:53
Captain come on Jerry I'm gonna bring my dinghy it's good to be seen and good to
00:00:58
see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend this week we are excited to be featuring
00:01:09
Tex hex Brewhouse beer by the good folks over at shiners beers and big and beautiful Texas this is an IPA brewed
00:01:17
with cactus water featuring Amarillo hops garage grade four and a half bottle caps out of five and here's a shout out
00:01:24
to some of our beautiful listeners that helped us out with this week's beer run first up we have a cheers to Melanie in
00:01:31
Great Falls Montana big shout out to Brandy and DeSoto Missouri next up we have a cheers to Manda and Williston
00:01:39
North Dakota in the big we like your jib to Laura in Normal Illinois not so normal Illinois and we also have a shout
00:01:47
to Lori and Legrand Oregon and last but certainly not least we have Bianca in Hudson Florida everyone we just
00:01:55
mentioned helped us out with this week's beer fun they went to True Crime garage.com and clicked on the Donate
00:02:00
button and for that well we thank you yeah who ha thank you thank you for all you do
00:02:10
pwrun Beer Run thanks for supporting us thanks for telling a friend thanks for sharing our show on social media it's a
00:02:19
great way to keep the show going you wanna you want more episodes huh do ya do ya you want to keep hearing our
00:02:26
nasally drones and your earballs do ya until friend goes a long way make sure you subscribe to the podcast and Colonel
00:02:35
that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
00:02:42
foreign [Music] [Music] we all are Someone's Child many of us have children of Our Own
00:03:18
we raise our children and do the very best that we can to help them to grow up to be good and
00:03:24
kind A wise man once told me that you cannot be too hard on your children that you also cannot be their best
00:03:33
friend and it's a parent's Duty to raise their children up to be good citizens and to do so your role as a parent
00:03:45
fall somewhere right in the middle of disciplinarian and best friend this week's subject is a missing
00:03:52
person's case here our missing person was really just starting to come of age in this young
00:04:00
man's life was really just starting to take shape no longer was he a boy he was becoming a man
00:04:10
with dreams goals and responsibilities all of his own he was becoming a good contributing
00:04:18
member of society he was a good citizen just as his parents had raised him to be
00:04:27
Gregory Keith Mann Jr was 20 years old when he went missing recently he had moved into his own
00:04:35
apartment not terribly far from his parents house he was striking out on his own with a
00:04:42
new job that could turn into a career and a fiance who had just finished College
00:04:49
he went by his middle name Keith Gregory Mann was his father's name and so to friends family and colleagues
00:04:57
he was Keith but with all of these new beginnings in Keith's life there was so much more going on and so
00:05:06
many more moving pieces I'm sure Keith was looking forward to things settling down soon
00:05:14
and settling into his adult life and the life that he was building and the love that he and his fiancee
00:05:21
would build together who is to say what would have come of any of this Keith's relationship or his new job
00:05:30
we don't know and very sadly I say we will never know Keith disappeared sometime between the
00:05:38
hours of midnight and 6 A.M a May 11 1997. this after returning to his apartment in
00:05:47
Wichita Falls Texas he's never been heard from again the Wichita Falls Times Record News
00:05:55
covered the case extensively over the years newspaper coverage in a case that no one
00:06:02
could have anticipated would go unsolved and unresolved for 25 years now I'll read you portions of one of the
00:06:11
very first news articles in Key's case the headline was simple and to the point and read police searching for Wichita
00:06:20
Falls man the article reads police are searching for a 20 year old man was last seen Saturday night at the
00:06:30
fountain Gate Apartments Barnett Road friends dropped Keith Mann Jr off in the parking lot of the apartment complex
00:06:38
around midnight it's not been seen since police Lieutenant Laura Arnold said authorities have no evidence of
00:06:47
Foul Play when he was last seen Keith was wearing an ivory colored shirt blue jeans and a
00:06:55
beige baseball hat Keith was driving a 1994 red Mustang with dealer tags days prior to his
00:07:03
disappearance the vehicle was found early Sunday morning in a parking lot next to his
00:07:09
parents house anyone with information should contact the Criminal investigation's Division of
00:07:16
the Wichita Falls Police Department now notice in that report it is stated that the authorities have no evidence of
00:07:24
Foul Play that does not mean that Foul Play was not suspected as with most cases theories change
00:07:32
sometimes overnight sometimes no evidence can become evidence of a different kind just with
00:07:39
the passing of time the question of Foul Play In this case whether or not it should be suspected
00:07:46
changed rather quickly and make no mistake about it today as the case stands Foul Play is
00:07:55
very much suspected because if it were not for someone or what seems more probable someone's out
00:08:02
there well then Keith would still be here with us now still working on those dreams goals and
00:08:09
responsibilities today probably fulfilling some of them over the years and creating new ones as he
00:08:16
grew while it saddens me to report that we are coming up on 25 years now the Keith
00:08:22
has been missing I am hopeful that for Keith's family and his real true friends that soon we may have some answers
00:08:32
you see this is not a Cold Case sure it's been a little chilly over the years but not cold and never frigid
00:08:41
Wichita Falls Police Department have worked the case hard and intelligently over the years
00:08:47
detectives have managed to stir up several good leads every so often keep the case alive
00:08:55
this case is very active and with the 25-year anniversary of the day that this young man went missing
00:09:01
approaching us on the calendar the case is heating up once again with renewed interest from everyone
00:09:08
including law enforcement and the media we here at True Crime garage are very happy to be a part of that renewed
00:09:16
interest and awareness in Keith's case we sincerely hope and pray that us talking about this case here in the
00:09:25
garage this week well in some way big or small help to get much needed and deserved answers
00:09:33
for a grieving family there are many in the Wichita Falls Community they have never forgotten about Keith
00:09:40
Mann Jr including the police department the current detective working the case told us guys let me be clear this is a
00:09:52
very open and active police investigation I am also happy to report that the reward for information in this case is
00:10:00
increasing with the 25-year anniversary suspects and Witnesses are being interviewed again
00:10:08
leads are being chased and the tips that are sure to come pouring in will be followed up on
00:10:15
personally I firmly believe and have reason to believe that not only does more than one person know what happened
00:10:22
to Keith it's likely more than one person played a role in Keith's disappearance
00:10:28
I am looking forward to what new information May Come and I believe one day murder charges
00:10:34
will be issued in this case this week we are featuring The unsolved case of Keith Mann Jr who has been
00:10:43
missing from Wichita Falls Texas since May of 1997. this is True Crime garage [Music]
00:11:08
thank you this week we find ourselves once again in the great state of Texas for another
00:11:21
True Crime Story just won a missing person's case now 25 years old out of Wichita Falls with the
00:11:29
population of right of around 100 000 people Wichita Falls is located in the northern portion of Texas not far from
00:11:37
the state line in fact Wichita Falls is only about 15 minutes south of the Oklahoma Texas border
00:11:45
our story takes place back in 1997. now before we go through the details leading
00:11:51
up to Keith's disappearance we need to go through some background information in this case Keith Mann Jr was born on
00:11:59
February 19 1977. so at the time of his disappearance he was just 20 years old as a little kid Keith was a Sweet Child
00:12:09
and his love of sports came at a young age he loved Sports of any kind he also fell in love with motorcycles when he
00:12:17
was a little older Keith's mother and father did not live together and Keith lived with his mother
00:12:23
when he was little when he would go visit his dad they had little mini bikes and the two of them would spend the day
00:12:29
riding around town for hours the summer before ninth grade he decided to live with his dad and stepmom and go
00:12:37
to high school some of this decision for Keith wanting to live with his father is
00:12:42
obviously to become closer with his dad and his stepmom but some of this decision came about because of the
00:12:49
baseball program at the high school where his father lived Keith loved baseball and was not ready to give up on
00:12:56
baseball he did not want for high school to be the last of his baseball playing days and the high school near his
00:13:03
father's home had a good baseball program good enough that some of the kids that played on that team would go
00:13:09
on to play at the Collegiate level so Keith made the difficult decision to change schools at an age when many have
00:13:17
no desire to do so he was now living in Wichita Falls Texas with his father and stepmother he
00:13:24
attended Ryder High School where he got good grades and excelled on the ball field Keith played baseball loved Sports
00:13:32
and was very active in school but it seems like baseball was his primary focus Keith was good enough at baseball that
00:13:39
he earned a scholarship when he graduated from Ryder High School back in 1995 Keith went on to attend North
00:13:46
Central Texas Junior College on that scholarship this college is about an hour and a half away from Wichita Falls
00:13:54
yes North Central Junior College is located in Gainesville Texas Now Keith went to that college for one year where
00:14:03
he was very well liked and seemed to have no known enemies there he played baseball but playing time was scarce and
00:14:11
Keith started to seek out another change in his life but although the baseball wasn't panning
00:14:17
out for him in Gainesville going off to college was not a total loss in fact far
00:14:22
from it because while he was there at North Central Keith met Carrie kitchens and the two fell for each other their
00:14:30
relationship would blossom into something stronger Carrie was there to play volleyball and Keith to play
00:14:37
baseball so they had Sports in common as well as some mutual friends this would blossom into a boyfriend girlfriend
00:14:43
relationship and while the boyfriend girlfriend relationship would continue Keith's baseball days were coming to an
00:14:51
end after a year of college Keith decided to move back to Wichita Falls he moved in with his parents dad and
00:15:00
stepmom and lived with them for about four months or so Keith's story is very similar to most college students that go
00:15:07
away they live at College it's not working out he's coming back home to be with his family yes this will put him
00:15:14
back in Wichita files which once there he's going to live with his parents from roughly January till April so this is
00:15:23
all still in 1997. during that time period Keith would pick up a new job one that he liked and surprisingly he fit
00:15:32
right into the position that one might not think would appeal to someone with Keith's personality so we need to give
00:15:40
you a little background on his personality and this is as it's been described to us
00:15:46
Keith's personality was that he was a nice young man well liked and smart however everyone says that he was shy
00:15:53
and not very outgoing some of his family say Keith may have had some bouts with anxiety so when I hear those sorts of
00:16:02
things it's really a surprise to me to hear that Keith took a job as a salesperson at a car dealership
00:16:10
usually these are more outgoing personality types the happy-go-lucky talking types and Keith as said was a
00:16:19
little more reserved and shy as his parents said according to his family Keith really liked the job he started
00:16:27
this job working as a salesperson at a dealership called Ron Roberts Ford which was located in Wichita Falls Keith
00:16:35
started working there approximately eight weeks before he vanished and as said Keith liked the job he was fitting
00:16:42
in and more importantly he was selling cars so he had some success three weeks after he started working at
00:16:49
Ron Roberts Ford and after showing some success and good work ethic Keith was eligible for the dealership's demo
00:16:56
program this is a kind of commonplace practice where the dealership will allow employees to sign out vehicles and drive
00:17:04
them after work hours well even though he was shy I mean the nice thing about working on a car dealership is the
00:17:10
customers are coming to you as long as you know what you're talking about you got a reason to talk
00:17:15
in April of 97 Keith made another change this when he moved into an apartment of
00:17:23
his own located only about a mile away from his parents place and as we said an apartment of his own
00:17:30
but he would not be living there for very long all by himself because Keith and Carrie
00:17:38
they've recently gotten engaged and after she was going to finish with school she was going to move in with Keith
00:17:47
in fact she was scheduled to move in on May 11th this just hours after Keith went missing yeah so even though
00:17:55
baseball didn't work out or college didn't work out he's back at home he finds a job he has an apartment he's
00:18:01
getting engaged his girlfriend's going to move in with him he's he's starting his life I mean he's on the upswing yes
00:18:08
and let's break down this timeline a little further in a recap if you will Keith starts the new job at the
00:18:14
dealership in early to mid-march of 1997 then Keith moved into his apartment at the fountain gate apartment complex he
00:18:23
moved into the apartment in April this apartment again is only about a mile away from his parents home so he is
00:18:31
there at the apartment starting in April and remember he and Carrie recently engaged Carrie's going to be moving in
00:18:37
with him on May 11th the same day that he went missing Keith went missing sometime between the hours of midnight
00:18:44
after being dropped off by his friend ends in 6 a.m the next morning when the vehicle that Keith was driving was found
00:18:52
abandoned Carrie his girlfriend and fiance was planning on arriving at the apartment on the afternoon of the 11th
00:19:01
that same day and since she was finished with college and the two were engaged she was going to be staying at the
00:19:09
apartment moving in and living there starting on that day so we have some pretty good background information
00:19:17
everything leading up to the time frame that is very important here and this is the last few days before Keith vanished
00:19:23
we should talk about Foul Play though Captain because we brought it up in the trailer and we've touched on it a little
00:19:29
bit and I want to get into this before we get into the more detailed timeline of the days leading up to his
00:19:36
disappearance because I don't want there to be a foul play versus no foul play debate
00:19:43
going forward so the earliest news article says police have found no evidence of Foul Play this is just the
00:19:50
article that comes out a couple days after he's missing however if you were to ask his family and we did
00:19:57
they will tell you that Keith didn't just up and walk away from his life and his family they did say that with Keith
00:20:04
and the fiance moving in together at the same weekend that he went missing that certainly was an early suspicion of
00:20:12
theirs right it sounds like to me Captain the early suspicion of pretty much everyone including law enforcement
00:20:18
was that maybe he had gotten cold feet and decided that he didn't want to get married or didn't want to live together
00:20:26
and so that he would just kind of go away for a little bit giving her the hint that maybe this isn't going to work
00:20:33
out or hey I've had a change of mind but as the days went on they very quickly his family and law
00:20:41
enforcement changed their suspicions of that to actually we think that there was Foul
00:20:48
Play involved because Keith is not here anymore and so one thing we should give a little background on is that remember
00:20:57
we said Keith and his Keith's mother and father didn't live together Keith's father remarried when he was
00:21:05
only two years old his mother lives all the way in New Mexico and when Keith was a little boy he would
00:21:12
live with his mom and visit his father his father lived in New Mexico when he was a little boy with his new stepmother
00:21:20
at some point dad and stepmom moved to Wichita Falls Texas we know that this is before Keith went off to high school
00:21:28
because he gets his eye on that high school with the good baseball program in Dad's neighborhood all the way in
00:21:34
Wichita Falls Texas and decides hey I'm going to move out there and live with Dad and my stepmom Deborah so the
00:21:41
thought here Captain was that maybe he gets cold feet about the fiance moving in decides maybe he doesn't want to be
00:21:49
engaged anymore what have you and maybe he ran off to mom's house in New Mexico you know anybody that has parents that
00:21:56
live separate homes and especially this far away from one another you kind of have a safe haven to retreat to should
00:22:03
things not be going your way right so very quickly what they're able to do is they're able to kind of to squash those
00:22:11
suspicions by first contacting his mother I've not seen him I've not heard from him he's not staying with me as the
00:22:19
response they get and when they don't have any confirmation of Keith being anywhere
00:22:25
else other than where he should be at that apartment and then going off to his job just like he would on any other
00:22:31
Ordinary Day their suspicions from well no foul play to Foul Play shift rather quickly like
00:22:40
you said by not being there maybe it scares off your fiance but not showing up to work
00:22:45
now you could potentially lose your job which then would cause you to lose your apartment as well so you're basically
00:22:52
everything that you've just built in this last year you're going to be wiping the Slate clean and starting all over
00:22:58
the thing here too Captain is we have that statement by police early on that says we have no evidence of Foul Play
00:23:07
the scary thing is when your suspicion changes of well he there must have been Foul Play because he's not with us he's
00:23:14
disappeared somebody must be responsible for whatever happened to him well the scary part is then you start going okay
00:23:21
we have no evidence of Foul Play because either a someone did a really good job of
00:23:27
covering up what they had done or be we don't know where and when the foul play occurred
00:23:35
so we don't know where to look for the evidence of Foul Play Let's dive into the timeline and events that led to The
00:23:43
Disappearance right so we've covered the months and weeks leading up to The Disappearance but now we're going to go
00:23:49
into the actual days leading up to it and of course the major time frame that we are going to be concerned with and
00:23:56
Keith's disappearance is the window that we have referenced but will once again emphasize here
00:24:02
that is starting at approximately 11 45 p.m on Saturday night and then goes until 6 a.m Sunday morning
00:24:10
when we know his vehicle was already parked and abandoned at that parking spot near his parents home and we'll get into
00:24:18
those details now so on Thursday May 8th what we have here plain and simple Ordinary Day
00:24:26
Keith goes to work and then he drives to his parents home in Wichita Falls his apartments in Wichita Falls as well
00:24:36
about a mile away he drops by the parents house he parks on the street according to his family this is this
00:24:44
will be key information later so make note of that on that Thursday May 8th he parks on the street and his mom and dad
00:24:52
say that he is driving a pickup truck that day remember he's a part of this dealership demo program so he will
00:25:01
regularly be driving different Vehicles he can take Vehicles whatever vehicle his manager will allow him to sign out
00:25:08
right for that day so they say on that day he dropped by the house briefly before going to his apartment for the
00:25:16
night he was driving a pickup truck and he parked on the street on Friday May 9th his girlfriend and fiance Carrie had
00:25:25
just graduated from Junior College where they had met your mom goes to college so
00:25:30
he goes and his parents go to the graduation ceremony followed by a dinner remember the college is an hour
00:25:40
and a half away and we have Keith who drives separately and we have his parents who take their
00:25:47
vehicle they all drive out to Wichita Falls and it's kind of like Convoy style right they're they're traveling
00:25:54
separately but they're basically following each other there and following each other back
00:25:59
so they have dinner they go to the graduation and then they return back to Wichita Falls at some point during the
00:26:08
return trip they say that you know Keith has to go his separate way to his apartment and
00:26:14
they continue on to their home this will unfortunately be the last time that his
00:26:20
parents his dad Gregory Keith Mann and his stepmother Deborah man would see Keith one thing that I found weird here
00:26:31
Captain was it's my understanding that one of Keith's sisters he had younger sisters
00:26:38
one of his sisters at least one of them rode with him to the graduation right so
00:26:45
they're in the car for roughly an hour and a half together and later his sister I believe she was about 12 or so said
00:26:53
that he seemed distracted that whole night to her and it's my understanding that she did not ride home
00:27:01
with them because she would go home with her parents and we know that they went their separate ways at some point on
00:27:07
that trip home this leads us to Saturday May 10th and this will be the key day here to really pay attention to all of
00:27:16
these movements so the story has always been this remember he's employed at that
00:27:20
Ron Roberts Ford at that time it was located on Jacksboro Highway in Wichita Falls this is back in
00:27:28
97. he reported for work on that Saturday May 10th and he had a good day he sold two vehicles
00:27:36
Keith had plans to deliver one of the vehicles on Monday dealership allowed him to drive home a
00:27:44
vehicle for the night and Keith selected a red 1996 Ford Mustang and requested a
00:27:51
gasoline voucher as he did not have any cash at the time It is believed that he filled the car's
00:27:58
tank after leaving work that evening at 9 00 PM using the voucher Keith returned
00:28:05
to his residence at the fountain Gate Apartments on Barnett Road he spoke to his fiancee on the telephone and this
00:28:13
has always been reported to be around 9 30 p.m that evening Keith told her that his friends were picking him up to go
00:28:20
out for the evening remember Keith and Carrie plan to meet the following day as she was moving in to bring everybody up
00:28:28
to speed here Carrie already has a key to the apartment so Keith from my understanding wasn't going to start the
00:28:37
lease on the apartment until May 1st but it was one of those situations where the
00:28:42
previous occupants had moved out early landlord calls up Keith and says hey the apartments available whenever you want
00:28:49
it and he decided to move in early so he moved in sometime in April Well Carrie still away at College she's spending her
00:28:59
some of the time on her weekends driving items and personal belongings of hers to
00:29:06
the apartment and so she's already loading things into the apartment during the weekends leading up to his
00:29:12
disappearance and plan to move in permanently on May 11th the following day we should point out that Carrie was
00:29:20
with her family in Dallas Fort Worth on this Saturday they I believe they attended a concert this was all still
00:29:31
part of the celebration of her graduation her parents were really treating her to a nice weekend
00:29:38
so he's at his apartment and it's always been reported that they spoke on the phone that night around 9 30 that
00:29:44
evening pay attention to these times Keith and his two friends remember he's going to go out and these two friends
00:29:49
are Chris and Chris's fiance Michelle they pick up Keith at his apartment Keith works with Chris and I've seen it
00:29:59
reported that Michelle worked at the dealership as well I'm not certain if that's 100 accurate
00:30:06
but I've seen it reported that way we know before 100 that Chris his buddy worked at Ron Roberts Ford as well after
00:30:14
picking him up they stopped at a Fina gas station this was located on Mcneil Avenue this
00:30:21
is kind of a busy Road in Wichita Falls the business security camera videotape shows them go inside the store at 10 pm
00:30:30
and we also know that Keith was there because he uses his fiance's Fina credit card at the gas station to buy some
00:30:37
snacks right Chris was older remember Keith is only 20 so he's not old enough to buy beer
00:30:46
but Chris he's a little bit older I think two years older than Keith so he's going to buy some beer for
00:30:53
the group after this they visited a McDonald's restaurant before going mudding in one of the dealership's cars
00:31:00
that Chris had borrowed for the evening this is kind of a weird part of the story right because what we're going to
00:31:07
have here Captain is Keith will vanish shortly after hanging out with these two friends so we really
00:31:15
should put everything they say and all of their movements under a microscope as we're going through this timeline here
00:31:23
and part of this timeline is Chris and Michelle saying that we are going mudding
00:31:30
what I found weird about this is that they were borrowing a vehicle from the dealership to go mudding in that
00:31:37
doesn't seem incredibly responsible sounds like something the captain would do it sounds like you're setting
00:31:43
yourself up to do damage to the vehicle and you're either going to have to pay out of pocket or lose your job or both
00:31:49
but again they're all in their early 20s and it sounds like something people would do in their early 20s just not
00:31:57
well thought out some people do some dumb stuff I've got dumb stuff planned for this evening after they went mudding
00:32:04
now Chris wants to clean off the vehicle right so they go to a car wash where they're going to hose it down and during
00:32:12
this time period it's always been reported that Keith says to Chris and Michelle that he needed to go home soon
00:32:20
because he was meeting someone at 12 15 am there's some debate on what happens here
00:32:30
because it's always been reported that Keith did not mention the person's name or the location of the meeting or why
00:32:38
they were meeting to to begin with yeah very suspicious very creepy part of the story his friends drop him off and Chris
00:32:47
and Michelle say that they saw Keith walk up the stairs toward his apartment at approximately 11 45 PM that night but
00:32:56
they did not see Keith enter his residence he has never been heard from again [Music]
00:33:26
[Music] all right we are back to the windows to the walls cheers to everybody out there cheers to
00:33:45
you Colonel cheers to you Captain if we were 20 years younger we would pick up some beers and go mudding tonight yeah
00:33:51
done and done done and done all right uh so go ahead so Thursday he goes to work
00:33:58
he has a loaner car he visits his parents on Friday they go to this graduation drive separate vehicles on Saturday he
00:34:09
goes to work sells some cars and he goes out with his friends and they drop him off at his apartment
00:34:16
around midnight how many individuals were there when they dropped him off from my understanding it's Chris and
00:34:25
Michelle that are dropping him off the same two that picked him up the same two that he went to the gas station
00:34:31
McDonald's and mudding with right and add a little more detail here but we have okay so it's reported that Chris he's on
00:34:43
the dealerships demo program as well and so he signed out a black Nissan Pathfinder this is an SUV especially in
00:34:52
these days you get an SUV every young man is excited to take it off-roading weather all these years later we learned
00:35:00
that most of them are not built to go off-roading but they get this Pathfinder and they go
00:35:07
mudding and according to the information I have here Captain is that they went to
00:35:14
a place behind Memorial Stadium and they went mudding for approximately 45 minutes and it's my understanding
00:35:22
that this is a well-lit area it's also a common area that people back then would
00:35:28
take vehicles and go off-roading with them they washed the vehicle at a local car wash on the way home and then Keith
00:35:37
at some point has told them I'm meeting someone at 12 15 does not say who he's meeting or where or why seems pretty
00:35:45
late to be meeting somebody it's very late but he's 20 years old he's been in his first apartment on his own for
00:35:54
six weeks you know people's hours get real weird when they don't live with Mom and Dad for the first few weeks now or
00:36:00
somebody could be dropping just dropping by to see the apartment or dropping something off for his apartment so to be
00:36:08
clear here though as far as law enforcement is concerned it's always been reported in the public
00:36:15
that Keith never said who he was meeting it almost paints a picture of he was trying
00:36:22
to hide something [Music] trying to be secretive about something however law enforcement has told
00:36:30
us and told a couple of other people that that's a little unclear to them because when asking Chris and Michelle
00:36:39
to recount the knights events both of them seem to want to try to recall a name almost like Keith had told them a
00:36:48
name but they just couldn't remember it so we could just assume that maybe it was an individual that they just didn't
00:36:55
know someone they didn't know what I think is clear here though is they didn't know the location or the reason
00:37:02
for the meeting Keith may have said someone's name he may have not if you told me if we're hanging out at the bar
00:37:09
and I go to drop you off at your house that you have to meet somebody but it was somebody that I wasn't familiar with
00:37:16
I probably am less likely to remember their name but if you said oh you know our buddy Todd or our buddy Paul I'm
00:37:23
going to meet them well I'd remember that when they drop him off when they drop Keith off at his apartment they
00:37:32
drop him in the parking lot and he has to walk up the steps to his apartment they say that they see him going up the
00:37:40
steps but do not see him enter the apartment however when he gets out of the Pathfinder
00:37:47
remember they picked up beers earlier that night at the gas station yeah b w r u n Beer Run he took three of the beers
00:37:55
with him and this will be key because there's obvious signs later that he made it into his apartment and one of the
00:38:05
obvious signs is those three beers are later found on the counter inside of the apartment yeah it seems
00:38:13
like pretty solid evidence the tricky thing here though is when they find the three beers two are full and not open
00:38:20
and one of them has been open in his almost uh get gone or it's half full and so
00:38:27
I don't know you can make what you want out of that but it appears to me like he
00:38:31
cracked open a beer continued to sip on it and at some point was interrupted or left before we get into too much
00:38:38
speculation let's get into Sunday May 11th the next day Keith's parents noticed the Ford Mustang that he had
00:38:45
borrowed from work this is why we went into the detail of him parking on the street when he went to his family's
00:38:52
house on that Thursday that's key to me because Keith's parents noticed the Ford
00:38:57
Mustang that he borrowed from work in a church parking lot near their home this is near the 4300 block of Mcneil
00:39:07
Avenue they noticed this vehicle there during the morning hours of May 11th remember he's last seen
00:39:15
just before midnight on May 10th now I want to be clear here at this point when they see this vehicle there
00:39:23
not fully aware that it's Keith's vehicle remember he can drive home a different
00:39:29
vehicle each night right this church is located very close to their home and I don't have the exact distance from their
00:39:39
home to this church parking lot where this vehicle was found but I know that it's close enough in
00:39:45
distance that the family has said we could see that parking spot regardless of what car or vehicle was parked there
00:39:52
we could see that parking spot from at least one window in our home so rather close to their home
00:39:59
and this is important because this was a parking spot that Keith used to use he used this parking spot when he was in
00:40:08
high school he would use it when he would come from college and visit for the weekend or stay the night with his
00:40:15
parents this is because this parking spot was close enough that he could park the car
00:40:19
in that spot and walk to their home and leave the vehicle there now weeks before remember he went and
00:40:28
moved back in with Mom and Dad before moving into the apartment right and it sounds like he was using that same
00:40:34
parking spot during that time period what happened was the church gets a new pastor
00:40:42
and the pastor tells Keith's parents hey I don't want your son using our pop our parking lot
00:40:50
anymore and his parents attend church there so his dad of course is saying hey son
00:40:57
the the new guy doesn't want you to park your car in there in their lot anymore don't park there and we know that that
00:41:05
conversation took place based off of several factors but one piece of evidence of that is that he parked the
00:41:12
truck on that Thursday in front of his parents house on the street so very weird that this mustang is found in this
00:41:20
parking spot that he used to use a lot number one and number two it would be some time
00:41:27
later that they would figure out that it was Keith's vehicle so what happens is we have the First on record publicly
00:41:36
citing of this Ford Mustang in that parking spot around 6 a.m this is when Keith's father goes out to get the
00:41:45
newspaper from their driveway later that day they went to church his dad and stepmom go to church well isn't
00:41:53
that special and after the services this is around noon they noticed that that vehicle was still there well it kind of
00:42:01
piqued their interest so they went over and looked at it and they could tell that it was a vehicle from Ron Roberts
00:42:09
Ford dealership and it's also the parking spot that there's on parks in right so it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes
00:42:16
to put two and two together here to equal four they figure all right well we told Keith not to use this spot anymore
00:42:23
this is a Mustang a loaner car from Ron Roberts Ford he must have parked it here
00:42:28
yeah they're probably thinking that son of a [ __ ] never listens to me and we're
00:42:31
gonna get in trouble with the pastor now well this might have raised the red flag
00:42:36
or two but it didn't really sound off any alarms for the parents again he had used this spot plenty of times in the
00:42:42
past and they thought maybe he had just parked it there somebody picked him up that night and just saw him a couple
00:42:50
days ago it right and that he just left the vehicle there for whatever reason I'm sure they were probably going to
00:42:56
give him the what for for parking there now what raises the red flag though is about an hour or so later when Keith's
00:43:04
fiance Carrie calls his parents this is roughly in the one o'clock hour one in the afternoon
00:43:12
she calls and she says hey I've been at the apartment for a while Keith is not here remember she has her
00:43:20
own Keys she's been moving things in periodically Keith is not here there's some beers on the counter
00:43:29
which is weird he would have put them in the fridge there's some dirty clothes in
00:43:33
the bathroom on the floor and when I arrived the door was locked his car there was no car here which
00:43:43
you know she wouldn't she likely would not have known what vehicle he was driving either but maybe they had a
00:43:48
designated parking spot and she said that his bed was still made it looked like no one had slept in it by the time
00:43:55
that she had arrived and she had been there for some time and she was starting to get worried so she called initially
00:44:01
called his parents just to see if he was at their house well there's so many questions because
00:44:08
you the first question is did somebody meet him at the apartment and they left in the in that vehicle or did he meet
00:44:17
somebody at that church yeah and so now the parents knowing that the last time they saw him was with the fiance at the
00:44:25
graduation in the graduation dinner is finding the vehicle in the church parking lot nobody being able to get a
00:44:34
hold of Keith mind you this is 97 Keith did not have a cell phone a no pager correct and so this is when we start
00:44:44
having major red flags go up and it would be on Monday May 12th that Keith's parents would officially
00:44:54
report him missing so the Sunday is pretty uneventful I mean they don't know where Keith is and his girlfriend's
00:45:03
trying to move into their apartment and it's really hard to track him down because they actually don't know what
00:45:09
vehicle he could be driving but they do see a vehicle from the car lot in a parking spot that he's known to park at
00:45:19
so let's discuss that Monday yeah and keep in mind here what we got going on right
00:45:26
for most of that Sunday once they realize that he's missing his parents for the most part just
00:45:32
believe he probably went out partying with somebody stayed up way too late crashed on somebody's couch and he's
00:45:38
just unaccounted for it's really not until that evening that Sunday evening or Sunday night that they start to
00:45:44
become worried now Carrie has an uneasy feeling right away and part of that is why she called his parents and said hey
00:45:54
just thought maybe he would be over there once she discovers that he's not there that uneasy feeling grows and now
00:46:01
she's concerned that something terrible has happened to her fiance Keith so much so that she tells Keith's
00:46:09
parents look I don't feel comfortable staying here her parents live in El Paso Texas
00:46:16
so Sunday night when he doesn't return it's either stay at this apartment or drive all the way to El Paso however she
00:46:25
contacts Keith's parents and says I don't feel safe staying at this apartment alone I don't
00:46:32
know what happened to Keith or why he is not here but it could be something terrible I could be in danger and not
00:46:38
even know it so can I stay with you and so she stays at Keith's parents house that Sunday
00:46:45
night in fact she would continue to stay there for several weeks she would go in
00:46:50
and out of the apartment on occasion but never staying there overnight as she didn't feel safe there
00:46:57
so we have Keith being officially reported missing on Monday the 12th and I keep
00:47:04
saying the word official here Captain because because you like to repeat yourself like
00:47:10
a parrot well we've been told that there was communication with the Wichita Falls
00:47:15
Police Department before an official report was filed I don't know if they told him they had to wait a certain
00:47:20
amount of time or if they said hey give us a call in the morning and we'll come come by and take a report in person but
00:47:27
for the record the official report was made on Monday May 12th now to fill in the blanks a little more on the fiance
00:47:36
you know she was going to move in and we also know that she was she already had a
00:47:42
job lined up you know she had finished college she has the new apartment new fiance she had a job lined up and she
00:47:49
was to start her job on Monday May 12th but we know that she only stays in Wichita Falls for a couple of weeks
00:47:59
after Keith goes missing now on Monday morning this is when they confirmed his parents confirmed that Keith had in fact
00:48:08
borrowed the red Mustang that they found in the parking lot they make a phone call and say hey we found this vehicle
00:48:15
here it's been left here we know that it belongs to you guys so his parents go by and take a visual
00:48:24
kind of inspection of the vehicle just so everybody's clear there is no sign of a struggle there's no sign of a crime
00:48:33
scene at his apartment correct but same goes with this mustang right there's nothing that suggests
00:48:40
that there was some kind of struggle there's no signs of blood right so when the parents find the vehicle the doors
00:48:48
to the Mustang are locked but the alarm system was never turned on for the vehicle so what they did is they
00:48:56
called the dealership hoping that somebody could come out with a second pair of keys and open up the vehicle to
00:49:02
see if maybe Keith left a note or something inside unfortunately the dealership did not
00:49:07
have a second set of keys so they had to call someone to get the you know to a locksmith to get the car doors open
00:49:17
and I guess they got the doors open rather quickly but the problem became getting the vehicle to start to turn on
00:49:25
the engine to drive the vehicle was very difficult took several hours the basic description we get of the vehicle comes
00:49:35
from his parents and what they say is it looked like the interior had been cleaned that none of Keith's property
00:49:43
was discovered inside the vehicle however there was an audio cassette that was found in the stereo I don't know if
00:49:51
this has ever been confirmed or if anybody would be able to confirm if this audio cassette was Keith's or not it
00:49:57
could have simply been left there by somebody else that borrowed the vehicle at the dealership or the previous owner
00:50:03
whatever the cassette was it's my understanding that the parents had listened to it at some point and I
00:50:10
believe that the cassette has been lost over the years again it may not be any really it may not hold really any
00:50:16
evidentiary value at all yeah the rumor was it was a weirdo Yankovic tape Another One Rides the Bus yeah but uh
00:50:25
what they do is they eventually get the vehicle back to the dealership a question for you not to cut you off here
00:50:31
but when he when you say the vehicle seemed to be clean well wouldn't the vehicle be cleaned before Keith takes it
00:50:39
off the lot anyways correct I mean this car is a car that they are trying to sell at the dealership it right it would
00:50:46
be silly for it not to be clean so it may just be as simple as he drove it home that night the dealership isn't
00:50:53
terribly far from his apartment and whoever moved it whether it be Keith or somebody else that the car was just
00:51:00
used very little between the time that it left the dealership and that it was placed in that lot meaning why
00:51:07
you wouldn't expect to find many if any of his personal belongings in the car and you would expect the car to be clean
00:51:15
right because it came from the lot now the weird thing here and this is something that I've not been able to
00:51:22
really wrap my head around on on having an opinion on if this means anything at all but what we have Captain is Chris
00:51:31
Keith's friend that worked at the dealership calls Keith's father and says hey by the way I just want to let you
00:51:39
know that when we received the vehicle back here the driver's side seat was pushed all
00:51:45
the way back and Chris was taller than Keith and said that anytime he got into a vehicle after
00:51:53
Keith did he always had to push the seat back because Keith was only five foot six inches tall according to the story
00:52:01
that we received from Keith's father is that it was Chris that made that phone call to alert them that hey this might
00:52:07
be something the car seat was pushed all the way back we do need to keep in mind though Chris
00:52:13
is receiving this information second hand himself by the action by another person that worked there that received
00:52:21
the car that checked it in what I could not find was a report or anyone with a statement of who was the person that
00:52:30
returned the vehicle to the dealership it may just be as simple as yeah it was a Big John Stud that works in the back
00:52:36
right the the car seat could have been found in a different setting than once it received the dealership right sitting
00:52:43
in that parking lot old Andre the Giant had to return the car sitting in that parking lot it could have been in a
00:52:51
setting for a shorter individual and a taller person drove it back to the dealership and that would explain that
00:52:58
or whoever placed the vehicle in the parking lot was taller than Keith Mann we were able to speak with Keith's
00:53:06
parents Gregory man and Deborah Mann and get some further insights into Keith's still unsolved case here we
00:53:15
asked them to explain to us the emotional toll that this has taken on them and their family but yeah we missed
00:53:22
out on a lot and and also I think it just the repercussions you know it caused a lot of things to be different
00:53:29
by us going through this all these years um it really affected our daughters um they probably
00:53:38
grew up differently than what they would have because one was like in sixth grade
00:53:43
the other one was probably like in fourth so you know we got real protective of them
00:53:48
you know we didn't want them you know going anywhere without us or you know even playing out out front in
00:53:56
the front yard you know we were scared we didn't know what this had to do with and we had a lot of people you know
00:54:03
would go down our street and kind of drive real slow and be looking at our house but we didn't know if you know
00:54:08
that was just you know onlookers or if that was somebody that was involved and so you know we're real kind of
00:54:14
protective of them and um they probably didn't do some of the stuff that they they would have if this
00:54:21
hadn't happened and you know we really didn't feel like going on family vacations or you know it was just we all
00:54:28
turned depressed and we just kind of really didn't know how to deal with it because it at the time
00:54:33
you know we couldn't say 100 oh it's a death so you know you were mourning we're going through the you know the
00:54:40
five stages of grief or you know whatever we couldn't really say that because we were hoping he's still alive
00:54:45
and you know um it's taken all these years now and going on the 25th anniversary was like
00:54:52
well you know it doesn't sound like he is still alive that something had to have
00:54:57
happened at the very beginning but because we didn't have any facts on it we couldn't we couldn't mourn properly
00:55:05
or we couldn't deal with it and um like I said it really affected the whole our family Dynamics and you know how our
00:55:12
life would have been different you feel like you're stuck in 1997. uh life hasn't really gone on so
00:55:23
[Music] thank you so much for joining us here in the garage we love you people you love us we love you it's a beautiful
00:55:44
relationship if you need more True Crime garage for your balls check out Oprah's
00:55:49
number one podcast Chris Rock's number one podcast The Rock's number one podcast all the
00:55:58
important people are listening yeah it's Dynamite tell them the name Rick rubin's
00:56:05
favorite podcast it's called off the Record it's only on Stitcher premium you can find it by going to our website
00:56:11
truecramgarage.com it's only five dollars a month Stitch or premium is like the Netflix for podcast listeners
00:56:18
you get our content plus you get all the bonus content on whoever's on Stitcher premium and there's tons of stuff and
00:56:26
there's exclusive content that's just created for that platform five dollars a month it's amazing you're gonna love it
00:56:35
and stick around because we have a lot more to get to tomorrow in this case and until then be good be kind and don't
00:56:42
move [Music] foreign

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 65
    Most intense
  • 60
    Most emotional
  • 60
    Best concept / idea

Episode Highlights

  • The Disappearance of Keith Mann Jr
    Keith Mann Jr went missing in 1997, just as he was starting his adult life.
    “He was becoming a good contributing member of society.”
    @ 04m 15s
    October 24, 2022
  • Renewed Interest in the Case
    As the 25-year anniversary approaches, interest in Keith's case is heating up again.
    “This is not a cold case.”
    @ 08m 17s
    October 24, 2022
  • The Last Family Gathering
    Keith's parents see him for the last time at a graduation dinner.
    “This will be the last time that his parents would see Keith.”
    @ 26m 20s
    October 24, 2022
  • Mysterious Meeting
    Keith tells his friends he needs to meet someone at 12:15 AM, raising suspicions.
    “He was meeting someone at 12:15 AM.”
    @ 32m 20s
    October 24, 2022
  • Discovery of the Mustang
    Keith's parents find his borrowed Mustang in a church parking lot, raising alarms.
    “Keith's parents noticed the Ford Mustang in a church parking lot.”
    @ 38m 50s
    October 24, 2022
  • Carrie's Unease
    Carrie expresses concern for her safety after Keith goes missing.
    “Carrie said, 'I don't feel safe staying at this apartment alone.'”
    @ 46m 27s
    October 24, 2022
  • The Missing Report
    Keith was officially reported missing on May 12th, leading to a series of investigations.
    “The official report was made on Monday May 12th.”
    @ 47m 30s
    October 24, 2022
  • The Clean Mustang Mystery
    Keith's parents find his Mustang locked and cleaned, raising questions about its last use.
    “The interior had been cleaned; none of Keith's property was discovered inside.”
    @ 49m 38s
    October 24, 2022
  • The Emotional Toll
    Keith's parents discuss the lasting impact of their son's disappearance on their family dynamics.
    “It really affected the whole family dynamics.”
    @ 55m 10s
    October 24, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • He was becoming a good contributing member of society.
    Keith Mann Jr. /// Part 1 /// 576
  • This is not a cold case.
    Keith Mann Jr. /// Part 1 /// 576
  • This will be the last time that his parents would see Keith.
    Keith Mann Jr. /// Part 1 /// 576
  • He was meeting someone at 12:15 AM.
    Keith Mann Jr. /// Part 1 /// 576
  • Carrie said, 'I don't feel safe staying at this apartment alone.'.
    Keith Mann Jr. /// Part 1 /// 576
  • We just kind of really didn't know how to deal with it.
    Keith Mann Jr. /// Part 1 /// 576

Key Moments

  • Thank You00:11
  • Cheers to Listeners01:27
  • Last Family Dinner26:20
  • Distracted Sister26:53
  • Mysterious Meeting32:20
  • Carrie's Concern46:27
  • Mystery of the Mustang48:11
  • Family Impact53:11

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown