00:00:00
foreign [Music] foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host
00:00:46
Nick and with me as always as a man that goes over the top like Sylvester Stallone he is the captain I also ride a
00:00:54
mechanical bull-like Urban Cowboy it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling
00:01:02
my friend [Music] this week we are very happy to be featuring killer cupcake Panda by the
00:01:12
creative minds over at the Flying Monkeys Craft brewery killer cupcake panda is a luscious and crushious double
00:01:20
IPA doused with pandan leaves Citrus custard and vanilla cupcake Aromas garage grade four and three-quarter
00:01:28
bottle caps and a five and this week our fridge is full thanks to Marley in Roy Utah I wonder if it's a Wizard of Oz
00:01:37
reference the flying monkeys a big we like your jib to Monique and Creedmoor Texas and a big we like your jibby to
00:01:46
Haley in Lexington Kentucky and Kelly from my hometown of dummerston Vermont next up we have Jacqueline and Parts
00:01:55
Unknown she says we are the best part of her Tuesday and last but not least we have Suzanne and Duluth Georgia
00:02:03
everybody that we just mentioned went to True Crime garage.com and they helped helped out with this week's beer fund
00:02:10
and for that we thank you not only did they go support the show but they waited a really long time
00:02:16
because we're way backed up so be patient we will shout you out at some point it's more exciting that way it's a
00:02:25
surprise anyway thanks for supporting the show make sure you check us out on the Stitcher app for all of our old
00:02:32
episodes and check out us on Stitcher premium for our bonus weekly show called off the Record we're talking about the
00:02:40
confession of the Steven Avery case this week so check that out and that is enough of the big house now all right
00:02:47
everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music]
00:02:53
foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] Black Forest Colorado about 20 miles Northwest of Colorado
00:03:35
Springs the church family lived in a single family home with four bedrooms the smaller bedroom was used as a family
00:03:45
Den the house was nice and was rather secluded which was just what parents Mike and Diane Church wanted
00:03:56
they had over five acres on eastonville Road this was a family of six Mike and Diane church and their four
00:04:07
kids Heather Chris Gunner and Sage Mike and Diane were College sweethearts and they worked very hard to build a
00:04:18
nice and happy home for their family this was their dream house and Diane said it was the perfect place to raise
00:04:26
children but things were not always perfect in fact by early 1991 Mike had moved out
00:04:36
Diane filed for divorce Mike was living in an apartment in town closer to his work
00:04:44
and Diane stayed in the home with the four children everyone was working through this tough
00:04:51
time Diane sought some counseling Mike had regular visitation in equal time with
00:04:59
the kids and their oldest child Heather Dawn Church was excelling in school Heather played the violin and even at an
00:05:10
early age she was telling her parents she was going to be an astronaut when she grew up
00:05:18
her parents played along even though they thought it was just a phase and sent Heather to one of those summer
00:05:24
space camps when she returned she was even more excited about becoming an astronaut
00:05:32
and told her folks she was the only kid that did not throw up when in the shuttle simulator
00:05:40
as the finalizing of the impending divorce Drew near Mike and Diane put the house on the
00:05:46
market but Diane and the kids would stay there until it sold the school year started up in September
00:05:54
of 1991. the kids were back to being busy on Tuesday September 17th this was to be just another ordinary day
00:06:09
at 6 30 a.m 13 year old Heather Dawn church and her younger brothers got on the school bus
00:06:19
they lived out in the Sticks so the bus ride was as long as an hour some days Heather was in the eighth grade at
00:06:29
Falcon Middle School after school Diane prepared dinner for the kids she and two of her boys had some
00:06:38
commitments at their local church the two middle boys Chris and Gunner were involved with the Cub Scouts
00:06:47
they had a meeting on this evening the church was just 15 miles down the road while the two boys were at Cub Scouts
00:06:58
Diane was going to attend a homemaking class Heather explained if she and five-year-old Sage tagged along they
00:07:08
would have nothing to do Heather offered to stay home babysit and tidy up the house
00:07:16
this would work out nicely because Sage could keep his normal bedtime of about eight o'clock
00:07:24
before leaving Heather and Diane discussed several things two of the most important
00:07:32
Sage had a flu shot earlier that day and Heather should look out for adverse reactions
00:07:38
and Heather told her mother about a school dance that would be that Friday she was asking for permission to go
00:07:47
Diana greed as long as Heather went with a group of friends before leaving Diane checked the doors
00:07:54
and made sure they were all locked she hurried Chris and Gunner into the back seat of their vehicle
00:08:02
and she pulled out of the driveway while leaving the property she noticed that one of the bedroom windows was
00:08:09
slightly open just about five inches she planned to call Heather later on anyway to check in on Sage
00:08:19
so Diane made a mental note to ask Heather to close the window during that call at 8 30
00:08:30
Diane called home Heather picked up the phone Diane wanted to know if Sage was in bed
00:08:36
Heather says no she let him stay up to watch the TV show Home Improvement they were watching together in the
00:08:45
family room after the show he was going to bed Diane told Heather that she loved her
00:08:53
and she and the two boys would be home by 10 pm Diane pulled into the driveway just before 10 15.
00:09:06
she noticed that the outside house lights were not on her and the boys got out of the vehicle
00:09:13
and made their way up to the house they went to the patio sliding door which was pretty common
00:09:20
Diane found the door unlocked so she did not need to use her key the door being unlocked was also common
00:09:30
the church family had two cats and they would typically let the cats outside for
00:09:36
the night and Diane says the kids were always forgetting to lock the door after doing
00:09:42
so inside the house was dark Diane turned on some lights and told the two boys to go to bed
00:09:52
all three boys shared a room and Diane went and checked on little Sage finding him asleep in his bed
00:09:59
wrapped up in the blankets like a burrito Diane went to the family room to talk to
00:10:06
Heather she expected to find her sitting in the dark watching TV as usual however Heather was not in the family
00:10:15
room she was not in her bedroom Diane searched the house and could not find Heather at all
00:10:22
she went outside and walked the property around the house shouting Heather's name
00:10:27
in the dark still nothing no Heather Diane was worried and Afraid she called her husband Mike
00:10:38
she asked him if he had Heather was she with him Mike said no he asked if she called Heather's friends
00:10:47
or the neighbors then he asked Diane does it look like someone came in the house
00:10:56
before Diane could answer Mike said call 9-1-1 now [Music] we start off Captain by jumping right
00:11:18
into the search for 13 year old Heather Dawn church now we must keep in mind how
00:11:25
large the church family's property is now that guy that we just heard said it was over five acres there are two really
00:11:35
good books on this week's case and we will have those as this week's recommended reading and maybe next week
00:11:42
as well one source says the property was six acres and the other list the plot of land at 5.8 acres so
00:11:52
both probably very accurate but that's what size of property we are dealing with
00:11:58
now because of the remoteness of where they lived Diane Heather's mother she was thinking that Heather must have gone
00:12:07
outside maybe in search of one of the cats and walked too far maybe she fell Twisted an ankle or busted her knee
00:12:15
couldn't walk back to the home that sort of thing on the other hand we have Heather's
00:12:22
father Mike he had a completely different feeling that night Mike said immediately after the phone
00:12:30
call with Diane where he tells her to call 9-1-1 he jumped into his pickup truck racing
00:12:37
like a jet to get to his family's home later he would say he knew right away that someone took his daughter yeah and
00:12:46
they have the extra stress already by their family separating Diane did exactly as Mike said he she called 9-1-1
00:12:55
her call was routed to the El Paso County Colorado Sheriff's Department it was not customary for this Sheriff's
00:13:03
Department to take a missing report until the person in question was gone for more than 24
00:13:09
hours sadly this included teenagers as well Diane requested that a deputy at the
00:13:17
very least come out to the house this request was denied Diane was told by the deputy on the
00:13:25
phone that she should be calling Heather's friends because 99 of the time missing kids are with a friend or at a
00:13:33
party Diane asked her what about the other one percent because the sheriff's office would not
00:13:42
send a deputy Diane started calling her friends and family asking if anyone would come to the house and help look
00:13:50
for Heather by the time Mike arrived others were already there looking for the missing 13 year old
00:14:00
after several more calls to 9-1-1 a deputy was finally dispatched to the house arriving just before midnight yeah
00:14:08
and we don't like how they handled it initially but at least they sent on a cop yeah regardless of how the 911 calls
00:14:15
were handled the deputy that was dispatched to go to the house the churches have and had nothing but good
00:14:22
things to say about this officer we are talking about sheriff's deputy Les Milligan Les was very young and very
00:14:29
green officer Milligan went right into action as soon as he arrived on the scene he he took control of the scene
00:14:37
and ordered the El Paso search and rescue team to come out to the property ASAP Unfortunately they never found Heather
00:14:48
that night in fact they did not even find any clues as to where she may be or what could have happened
00:14:55
Diane later said it was like the girl just vanished Into Thin Air the next morning the questions started
00:15:05
the officers wanted to know everything everything about Heather the house their marriage the divorce everything so
00:15:13
they're looking around the house they're calling friends and family they can't find her now they want to know is it
00:15:19
possible that she would want to run away for any reason yeah law enforcement they're speculating here Captain they
00:15:25
want to know could the 13 year old be upset about the divorce yeah so from which from my understanding this
00:15:33
was going to be final the divorce was going to be final just before Thanksgiving so it was coming soon could
00:15:39
she have been upset about the whole situation and maybe she took off Diane believed no that could not be what
00:15:47
happened here she tells the officers that Mike moved out of the house months before and Heather did not seem upset or
00:15:55
to be having any difficulty with the situation at all so she's explaining here this isn't anything new this didn't
00:16:02
just happen this week or last month this has been going on for months and me as a
00:16:08
parent and my my husband living elsewhere us as parents we've not seen any indication from her that she's
00:16:15
struggling with this in fact she's excelling in school Diane told the Daily Sentinel many
00:16:21
reasons why her daughter Heather why her life was great and why she would not run away citing that Heather was a
00:16:30
very reasonable kid she got really good grades She was recently accepted into the gifted and talented program at
00:16:37
school she asked about going to the school dance on that Friday right we talk about
00:16:43
usually when people were making plans they don't have these underlining plans to disappear well I understand that law
00:16:52
enforcement has to look at all these different angles but it's sad that you see in so many cases that parents or
00:16:59
loved ones have to try to convince law enforcement of of what they believe yeah yeah and she she also pointed out
00:17:09
back to the dance she said you know I've not only did I give her permission to do
00:17:13
this thing so it's not like we got in some kind of argument she wanted to do something and I said no right I gave her
00:17:19
permission to go to the dance to which we have Heather telling her mother great I have a new outfit I'm going to save
00:17:28
that outfit to wear it to the dance yeah it seems like something that she was looking forward to seems like something
00:17:34
that she was making a big deal to herself and she recently applied for the school
00:17:41
yearbook staff as well now obviously we don't know all that was said to investigators or exactly how they
00:17:49
arrived at this conclusion but I will say that very early on the sheriff's office said publicly and to the media
00:17:58
and this is an exact quote it's unlikely the girl ran away in fact very quickly in the
00:18:06
investigation the sheriff's department brought in the FBI to investigate this as a likely abduction
00:18:13
but it was that morning that next morning where things would start to get a little weird
00:18:20
so it's during this questioning that Diane remembers the open window this is the window to the master bedroom she
00:18:28
opened it and forgot to close it before she left and then saw it open when pulling out of
00:18:35
the driveway right like you stated before she went around locking all the doors making sure that her kids were
00:18:41
safe when she's pulling out of the driveway she notices this window but the fact that you're hearing this the next
00:18:48
day I think it would raise a little bit of alarm I agree I agree she tells law enforcement that she meant to tell
00:18:58
Heather about the open window when she called home at 8 30 p.m the night before but states that she forgot to she told
00:19:08
them that all of the doors were locked when she left the house but when she came home the sliding glass door to the
00:19:13
patio was unlocked she added that other than a couple of items nothing was out of place no signs
00:19:21
of a struggle no forced entry and in fact five-year-old Sage was asleep and perfectly fine when she arrived home at
00:19:29
10 15 PM now I don't think we know this information like you said one rep one site reports 5.8 acres one report six
00:19:39
acres but I wonder how far away from the road the house actually was I don't know the exact distance but the
00:19:48
description that I've seen a few times is that it's it's a long driveway that we're talking about right that there's a
00:19:55
decent amount of distance between the house and and the yard so if you're an investigator I think I
00:20:04
get what they're what they're thinking about I mean you're looking at this thing like well is this even a crime
00:20:10
scene there there's no clues here no evidence and I'm guessing but I would bet some of
00:20:15
the detectives were probably wondering if Heather went with someone willingly or open the door willingly for her then
00:20:24
abductor right because it could be a friend that she went with possibly a boyfriend or a male friend that she
00:20:33
maybe hasn't told the family about yeah we do know about the dance right um now the thing about this master bedroom
00:20:41
window when Diane went to show them show Law Enforcement exactly which window she was
00:20:47
talking about she found the window was now closed she told them she did not close the
00:20:54
window and they asked everyone who was there that night looking for Heather if any of them had closed the window and
00:21:01
everyone says no so they are dusting the window and other areas of the home for fingerprints upon
00:21:12
further examination they found that the screen to the window was Askew so they take the screen off and quickly notice
00:21:19
it was actually in the track but it was backwards a technician inspected the metal frame
00:21:27
all in all windows and the screen the tech found three possible fingerprints and so remove these fingerprints or the
00:21:37
latent fingerprints these were submitted to the automated fingerprint identification system or aphis for short
00:21:45
in hopes that a match would be found in the National databases but no such match was found
00:21:53
the investigators did not like that the churches called so many friends that night people who walked through the
00:22:00
house and property possibly disturbing the crime scene but I mean what are you going to do if you call the sheriff's
00:22:06
office and they offer no help yeah at first you're going I mean you're going to call your friends relatives and such
00:22:13
for help sounds like a bunch of malarkey and a bunch of horse [ __ ] I mean like
00:22:19
you said it it's very similar to uh JonBenet Ramsey case where they had a lot of people inside the crime scene
00:22:28
basically but like you said when you're calling for help and nobody shows up what what else are you supposed to do so
00:22:36
the morning after The Disappearance after questioning Diane says she got tired of doing nothing so everybody is
00:22:43
out that night and all the next morning looking for Heather meanwhile Diane is supposed to just kind
00:22:51
of sit tight inside the home she I mean as a parent you got to be going freaking crazy here
00:22:58
she says she got tired of doing nothing while everybody else was out looking for
00:23:02
Heather so she decided to calm herself by cleaning the house she started off by doing some dishes and then she turned on
00:23:09
the vacuum cleaner she's vacuuming the carpet when one of the investigators standing outside he's just outside the
00:23:17
house right he heard the vacuum he heard the noise he went running into the house
00:23:21
and he yelled at Diane wanting to know what she was doing why are you doing this we need to process the scene
00:23:29
yeah in the days after Heather vanished Lieutenant bill mistretta of the El Paso Sheriff's Department kept
00:23:38
the media and the public informed he said the FBI was brought in and the FBI was
00:23:44
conducting interviews at Heather's Middle School the sheriff's department and the FBI together were questioning
00:23:49
classmates teachers counselors friends neighbors and church Associates but ground and aerial searches turned up
00:23:58
nothing Lieutenant mastretta said the case was taking no positive direction and we are
00:24:05
just continuing at it with no new leads [Music] foreign [Music] now let's talk about one lead that did
00:24:35
come in so first we need to understand that with a lot of these missing kid cases the community really comes
00:24:43
together we're talking missing Flyers everywhere pictures of Heather seen all over town
00:24:50
they were not just posting missing Flyers at local businesses far and wide middle school kids made big signs with
00:24:57
poster board and small wooden handles standing in crowds and on the sides of streets holding these signs high as cars
00:25:06
drove by asking everyone have you seen this girl there was also a command center of sorts
00:25:15
set up this place was for volunteers to meet and man the phone lines there were phones set up with a tip number that
00:25:24
people could call on Monday October 13th in the morning less than one month after Heather
00:25:31
disappeared A call came in the caller an anonymous female caller said there is a
00:25:38
body at the Fox Run Regional Park area this is in Black Forest this sent the sheriff's department 30 members of the
00:25:47
El Paso search and rescue team two tracking dogs and two helicopters on an all-day search that covered 400 Acres
00:25:56
but turned up nothing well afterward the Sheriff's Office publicly urged the caller to call again but this
00:26:05
time with more details because of the size of the park right they would get another call this time
00:26:13
another anonymous female caller sending them on another fruitless search later information provided by several in
00:26:22
law enforcement would state that both calls were believed to be hoaxes even before the searches were conducted but
00:26:28
they had to follow up on all tips and leads well that's amazing how sick individuals are it's it's very
00:26:36
strange that that stuff even happens and it's unclear if law enforcement believes
00:26:42
that both calls came from the same person but they have stated it's believed both calls came from a teenaged
00:26:50
girl from a teenage sounding girl this is strange that somebody would be sitting there watching the case unfold
00:26:57
and and want to make something up to waste law enforcement's time and what's the motive yeah it just doesn't make any
00:27:07
sense but to this day Captain the caller or callers have not been identified while they have been identified as real
00:27:16
pieces of [ __ ] that's right singer you're a real [ __ ] stain yeah so we talk about the community coming together but
00:27:23
then we also talk about these asshats of society with these harmful and hurtful fake calls which destroy the parents and
00:27:32
loved ones of Heather and compromise search efforts and the investigation itself yeah but I much rather prefer to
00:27:40
talk about people coming together and helping one another one of many instances was when we see
00:27:47
this case this is the the uh Matthews family they reached out offering friendship to
00:27:55
Mike and Diane Church Jim and Gloria Matthews were able to offer the churches their sympathies and
00:28:03
they were two people that can truly understand and empathize just exactly what the churches were going through
00:28:10
seven years before Heather Church went missing and the believed Abduction of Heather Church
00:28:17
twelve-year-old Janelle Matthews was believed to have been abducted from her whole this is in Greenlee Colorado about
00:28:25
a two-hour Drive North of Black Forest Colorado Janelle was dropped off at the family's
00:28:31
home after she attended a Christmas choir concert she was last seen walking into her empty
00:28:37
home by her friend and her friend's father when they dropped her off at the house
00:28:43
later Janelle's parents found the house empty but Janelle's shoes placed neatly in the family room near a space heater
00:28:51
with the TV on there was no sign of a struggle or forced entry but police said they
00:28:59
believed the 12-year-old was abducted from the home her case remains unsolved to this day
00:29:05
now over 34 years later and recent developments her body was finally located just a little over two
00:29:13
months ago in July of this year the body was found by oil field workers about 20 miles from her home
00:29:21
I believe they are putting in a pipeline in that area and that's how they found the remains police have named Idaho
00:29:28
resident and two-time candidate for governor 68-year-old Steve Pankey as a person of interest and continue to
00:29:36
investigate this case I would expect further movement in this case and that could
00:29:42
and hopefully come very soon so what we know here Captain with as the police say we're working this case with
00:29:52
really no leads really no clues we're working it we need it to take some kind of Direction
00:29:59
all we really know at this point is that something happened to Heather Dawn Church on September 17
00:30:05
1991 between the hours of 8 30 PM when her mother called home and talked to Heather Heather was just fine in 10 15
00:30:13
when her mother arrived at the house yeah at least we're pointed in the direction I think law enforcement is
00:30:20
going okay based off what her parents are saying based off what people were saying around the community we don't
00:30:27
think that she took off on her own there's some evidence to suggest that somebody came through the house so so
00:30:35
she if she is alive she is in danger the search and the investigation was huge is rather big and I think
00:30:44
Lieutenant Ken Hilt of the investigations division of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office
00:30:52
summed up the search best in his summary for the case where he States a detailed crime scene
00:31:00
search was conducted of the church home search and rescue teams coupled with search dogs scoured the area
00:31:07
fingerprints were recovered and forwarded to both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Colorado Bureau of
00:31:15
Investigation both local and National media took part in the quote where's Heather missing
00:31:22
persons campaign as the El Paso County Sheriff's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation combined efforts to
00:31:30
solve the case in the years that followed detectives continued to pursue hundreds of leads
00:31:36
which came in from all parts of the country in addition to being featured in National Publications and television
00:31:43
shows the FBI's Behavioral Science unit produced a suspect profile the suspect profile that was released to the media
00:31:52
was a summarized version of the profile and it is as follows the Unknown Subject
00:31:59
is a male in his early to late twenties shy introverted and a loner subject is unable to achieve sexually whatever he
00:32:09
wants with women and has difficulty with women in general the subject would probably have knowledge of the victim
00:32:17
and her family after the crime the subject would have behavioral changes which would be
00:32:24
noticeable by Associates persons close to the offender would notice changes which include an increase
00:32:31
in alcohol or drug use a deterioration and personal appearance sleeping disorder a desire to be alone possibly
00:32:40
failed to show up for work after the abduction I'm wondering since we have little to no clues how they're getting
00:32:47
this possible age range I would think that they're basing a lot of this off of previous crimes that that
00:32:57
have a similar similar victimology and maybe even a similar um modus operandi where somebody's
00:33:04
coming into an actual home that's very rare and abducting a child from inside the home
00:33:11
the victim is 13 years old what we're also seeing here what is what is released it's interesting on a few different
00:33:19
levels because one we are getting a summarized version they're getting they're they're going okay this version
00:33:25
we're going to release to the media so that they share it with the public because we do need the Public's help but
00:33:32
there's another version of this profile that would have been given to law enforcement to to agencies actually
00:33:40
working the case yeah now I don't know how much they would vary I imagine in some cases they vary greatly
00:33:49
but this specific case we don't know what we do see here is typical things of what we see in other profiles it's
00:33:57
it's all kind of vague stuff but they're saying to the public with this profile we're
00:34:04
looking for somebody that has changed this is a dramatic change for this person this person committed an
00:34:10
abduction this would be a dramatic change therefore their appearance their behavior their mannerisms their their
00:34:18
routine they're drinking or drug use all of that is going to be affected and change as
00:34:24
well right because of this big change so if you've noticed a big change in your cousin your your uncle your your brother
00:34:32
your husband boyfriend whomever right that might be somebody that we might want to talk to this is also trying to
00:34:40
ring bells with employers do you have somebody that showed up and they were missing work and when they return to
00:34:46
work are they are they cover you know covered in scratches or do they look like they've been in a fight or
00:34:52
something like that I feel like some of the things we see here Captain are kind of
00:34:58
repetitive from other profiles the the the age of late 20s is one that we typically see with a victim
00:35:09
of this age and I think that they come up with that age now profilers will tell you that age
00:35:16
is by far the hardest thing to come up with but typically when we see a victim in
00:35:23
their early teens female victim early teens I often see that late 20s is kind of
00:35:29
where they put that that number for age yeah I also wonder if that has an effect
00:35:34
I mean if you look at Heather and the pictures I've seen she looks like a young 13.
00:35:42
yeah and so I wonder if they take that into account as well I think the thought with with being late
00:35:49
20s is is simply this it's it's one they're old enough to show some some form of sophistication some form of
00:36:02
not being so impulsive and also they're old enough to have committed more Petty type crimes but
00:36:10
similar in nature where they may not have been locked up they these may have been things where they made a pass at a
00:36:18
young girl maybe it's a relative maybe it's somebody close to the offender but maybe
00:36:23
it was never reported usually those types of crimes we need those to occur for something
00:36:31
like this to take place usually there's escalation going on the the the offender
00:36:36
will escalate into abduction and then I mean I'm sorry to say it but possible murder
00:36:43
so that's why I think we have the age of 29 plus it's you wonder why they don't go higher
00:36:50
than that but you also wonder does that factor in that that this there is some impulsiveness because of
00:36:57
the risk level of going into somebody else's home yeah I would also lean towards the idea though as law
00:37:02
enforcement I mean this is not something I would want to share with the family but
00:37:07
the way she was abducted the lack of Clues um we have no sightings it seems like we
00:37:13
have no leads coming in and she's been gone for quite a while at some point you have to start leaning
00:37:22
towards the idea that that she might not be alive anymore yeah and and then that that doesn't really change the Prof
00:37:31
profile much but I think as far as drinking and all those things those will get even more escalated
00:37:37
um because of of a murder the really weird thing the strange things to me that stand out one there's no blood
00:37:46
there's no evidence of any type of struggle inside their home and then on top of that if she wasn't abducted from
00:37:54
inside the home removed from the home the the little boy was sleeping right I mean he didn't wake up and and
00:38:01
hear screams or see anybody strange in their home this was all if she's removed from inside that home this all went down
00:38:10
very stealth-like now the case as mentioned was featured on several different TV shows Diane
00:38:17
Church she was really the one she was the the face of this investigation she did countless interviews she handled the
00:38:26
newspapers and TV interviews on a national level she was on several programs including but not limited to
00:38:34
the Oprah Winfrey show and the Jerry Springer Show the Oprah Winfrey show Captain am I showing my age
00:38:42
here wasn't it recent more recently just called Oprah did when did it make the change from the Oprah Winfrey Show to
00:38:49
just Oprah I don't know I'm not the head of the fan club I feel like when I was a
00:38:53
kid it was the the Oprah Winfrey Show well the national Spotlight and the huge focus on this case
00:39:01
even just at the local level Sparks what this week's recommended readings author would call the usual
00:39:09
confusion and lunacy this next part is from the book The Devil's right hand man callers reported Heather look-alikes at
00:39:19
a credit union in Pueblo at a Taco Bell in Colorado Springs and at a mall in Aurora Diane would remember her missing
00:39:28
daughter once was cited in four states in one day and as far away as Israel investigators checked out a white van a
00:39:39
blue truck an old green barn where Satanic rituals allegedly were held they even went so far as to research
00:39:48
important dates for practitioners of Witchcraft and Satanism and wrote around El Paso County for hours with a mental
00:39:56
patient who claimed to have information about the crime psychics popped up one offer to Diane an eerily exact
00:40:04
description of the last meal she prepared for Heather and the boys saying quote you cooked hot dogs because you
00:40:12
were in a hurry and the boys liked them but Heather didn't like hot dogs and she
00:40:17
told you she would fix a peanut butter sandwich for herself the woman was able to offer Diane a
00:40:24
little more other than to say she thought Heather was dead another psychic Dorothy Allison
00:40:31
of New Jersey told members of Diane's support group that she saw a property with lots of trees a building with a
00:40:39
triangular roof a tan pickup truck and a man named Brown except there was something unusual about the spelling on
00:40:49
September 13 1993 almost two years to the day when Heather vanished an unkempt scruffy
00:40:57
Drifter named Timothy belbeck walked into the Colorado State Police Station and he had a story to tell
00:41:05
four days earlier he found quote a body off of Rampart Range Road the officer Tim spoke with told him
00:41:16
that's not our jurisdiction you're going to need to go to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office and so he did right
00:41:23
there he told a deputy that down a deep ravine that four days earlier he found a
00:41:31
body and an old rusted out beat up 1960s Chevy the front door to the vehicle was open
00:41:38
and the car was filled with dirt from likely a Mudslide near the vehicle amongst some larger
00:41:46
rocks Tim spotted what he later determined to be a human skull he freaked out and ran back up to the top
00:41:54
and left the area the deputy listened to Tim's story and then told him to take his information to
00:42:01
the state police a vehicle death would be their investigation so Tim did so there he met officer Quintana
00:42:12
after being turned away twice finally someone wanted to talk with him Quintana and Tim got in the officer's
00:42:21
state trooper vehicle and made their way back out to Rampart Range Road there the two slowly worked their way
00:42:29
down to the vehicle just as Tim had said sure enough there was this old rusted out blue and white
00:42:38
1961 Chevy Impala with the door open and the car full of dirt the officer looked around and thought
00:42:46
that a body it should be easy to find right I want everybody to to note that when Tim is reporting this information
00:42:57
all three times he's saying that he found a body but it it turns out that there was just
00:43:05
a skull there he had it only in fact found a skull right after more searching they did find a small pile of bones
00:43:14
now the officer bagged up the skull bagged up the bones and took all of this all of Timothy's information and his
00:43:22
full story and how and why he found the skull officer Quintana then with the skull
00:43:28
went to the El Paso Sheriff's Department again where he too was told that it sounded
00:43:35
like a car fatality so it was his the it was the state police's investigation the
00:43:42
state police's case officer Quintana put the bags in his work car and drove to meet his family
00:43:50
eventually he he's going to take Polaroids of the skull and he believed that that maybe the the body
00:44:02
didn't have anything to do with the Vic the the vehicle at all he thought maybe it was
00:44:07
left there from decades and decades and decades ago that it could have even been like a Native
00:44:13
American um or anything of that nature right at this time so now he's got these these
00:44:22
polaroid pictures of the skull in his work car and he goes to meet his family and I
00:44:28
believe they were meeting either to like go shopping or or go out to eat something of that
00:44:34
nature he's meeting them there now keep in mind this is almost two years to the day
00:44:41
when Heather disappeared and still at this point in our timeline there have been ribbons put up all over
00:44:51
the neighborhoods to to you know cheer on the return of this girl there were missing posters put up there were
00:45:01
Heather's picture all over town so his daughter officer Quintana his daughter gets into his vehicle and
00:45:11
she's rummaging around she finds the Polaroids of the skull and she's looking at them and and unfortunately officer
00:45:20
Quintana once he realized that his daughter was in the car he realized he had some things in there he didn't want
00:45:25
her to see she's looking at these pictures and he's trying to tell her you know hey I think
00:45:32
this is what was going on that's this is why dad has these pictures it's his daughter that says
00:45:41
you found Heather you found Heather Dawn Church she recognized the layout of the
00:45:48
teeth so the the picture of the skull there is no lower jaw just the upper teeth there right and she
00:45:58
recognized the two large incisors flanked by two crooked laterals this matched up with a lot of the pictures
00:46:06
that they had posted around town of Heather yeah it's very distinct look yeah so on the
00:46:14
second anniversary of Heather's disappearance the state police announced that they had recovered the body of
00:46:20
missing 13-year-old Heather Dawn Church investigators were quite skeptical about
00:46:26
Timothy belbeck's story how did he find the skull so well hidden this was not a spot where people go this
00:46:34
isn't you know there's no traffic in this area he had to climb down into this Ravine to find the skull
00:46:43
why did he tell police he found a body when he said he only saw a skull right why would he call a skull a body why did
00:46:53
he wait four days before reporting what he found Tim's story is pretty uh complicated let's say okay what we
00:47:06
know is he's he's a Drifter he is somebody that is may just be passing through the area right he states that he
00:47:15
was staying when he had money he would stay at the Pink Panther Motel but on a night about five days before he
00:47:26
led Quintana to the skull he says he was forced to camp in his truck because he didn't have enough
00:47:33
money for the motel so he's trying to sleep in his truck he's sitting in there drinking whiskey
00:47:41
for his camping trip and he's he said that he saw like um I don't know if they were teenagers or
00:47:49
just young adults that parked some distance away and they were they were partying as well
00:47:55
and throughout the night they were kind of tossing rocks down into this ravine and when the Rocks would land down below
00:48:04
he could hear them bouncing off of what he thought was metal now we do know that
00:48:09
there was a vehicle down in that Ravine right this dude does not have much money he's
00:48:16
a Drifter his he's thinking there's metal down there I can turn that metal into money
00:48:22
so the next day he decides to climb down into the Ravine looking to pull all that
00:48:28
scrap metal out of the Ravine and turn it into walking around money he finds the car down there that's a
00:48:34
good sign he said he saw a washing machine down there as well this is a place that people were dumping
00:48:41
large size throwaway objects probably for a very long time it's when he's down there conducting
00:48:48
this search for scrap metal that he says he saw the skull amongst some of the Rocks near the vehicle
00:48:57
these rocks were you know bigger bigger rocks almost bowling ball size but he said what stood out for him was the
00:49:04
color of the skull was significantly different than the color of the rock so he went to investigate when he saw that
00:49:11
it was a skull he did in fact freak out when he returned you know gathered his thoughts got back to to normal
00:49:20
he thought well if it's a uh vehicle fatality right because it's right by this vehicle he's
00:49:30
thinking he should report it because the family of this missing person should know what happened to their loved ones
00:49:38
exactly he tells one of his drinking buddies hey I'm going this is what I found and I'm
00:49:45
going to report it the drinking buddy quickly points out if it's not a vehicle fatality
00:49:52
if it was Foul Play they might think you did something so that kind of talks him out of
00:49:59
reporting it right a couple days go by and Timothy starts thinking well maybe there would be a reward
00:50:06
involved even if it was a vehicle accident if it's a missing person or if there was
00:50:11
Foul Play Timothy thanks well maybe I should report it due to there being a possible reward so his
00:50:21
whole story is complicated and I'm sure the investigators when they find out that this was a missing 13 year old girl
00:50:28
you found her skull your story is strange you didn't report it for a few days they
00:50:36
you're a Drifter yeah yeah they don't like this guy they're they're looking at him as okay not only did we find her but
00:50:43
we now may possibly have for the first time a suspect in this whole case they walked around him in the
00:50:51
interrogation room going it's trying to smell if he's a piece of [ __ ] or not yeah in the end though
00:51:01
Captain they ended up believing Timothy's story they were probably able to um back up some of the things that he
00:51:09
was telling them right so the other thing too with him being a Drifter I don't know how they ruled him out but
00:51:16
I know they ruled him out fairly quickly they may have been able to figure out that he wasn't even in the area when
00:51:24
Heather went missing right so now we have recovered the body but really that did nothing for the investigation other
00:51:31
than rule out a runaway scenario now they knew she was abducted and killed but they still didn't know by who
00:51:40
why [Music] for everything true crime go to truecrimegarage.com and join us back
00:51:51
here tomorrow for more on this case until then be good be kind and don't litter thank you
00:52:06
[Music] [Applause] [Music]