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subject to credit approval see store or ashley.com for [Music] details [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever
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you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that just
00:01:49
can't be stopped when you Zig he zags he's all shimmy and no shake he is the camp thank you thank you thank you it's
00:01:56
good to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling
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a [Music] friend today we are drinking speed wobbles from keyi Brewing Company garage
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grade 4 and A4 bottle caps out of five this is the first beer in a series of customized batches the bust and board's
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crew and the key Brewers dropped a gnarly combo of hops to land this very satisfying IPA that you can ride all day
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remember hoppiness breeds happiness and to today we are getting happy thanks to our good garage friends first up way
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high up in the 21st century Tower we have may listening in Dubai and a big shout out to Emma in Windsor Ontario and
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a small shout out to Emily in Charleston West Virginia and next we have one of our Instagram followers Jessica and
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Ted big cheers to Theo and Ted hopefully they are drinking beers and listening to
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this episode together thank you all for going to True Crim garage.com and clicking on the Donate button and
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filling up the fridge for this week's show yeah make sure you subscribe to the podcast and if you haven't take a second
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and give us a five-star review and that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair
00:03:30
grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime after a night of drinks and dancing on August 22nd 2009 29-year-old
00:03:54
mother and nurse Tony sharpless disappears after leaving a party in the early morning morning hours of August
00:04:01
23rd now let's get back to the house where Tony was last seen the people whom we know to be at the home that night
00:04:09
according to Crystal John's who was with her at the party police Lieutenant Frank
00:04:15
Higgins said that they interviewed all the people at the house that night and I believe he said that all of them were
00:04:21
Cooperative as well so this included Willie Green remember he's the owner of the house right and they all seem to
00:04:29
back up Crystal's story that Tony left the home under her own power the police stated publicly that there was no
00:04:38
indication whatsoever of Foul Play no one at the party was a suspect and there were no Persons of Interest that they
00:04:45
had uncovered in their investigation I wonder if they let them search the property from everything that I have
00:04:53
seen there was never a search of the property or the house specifically lieutenant Higgins said quote nothing
00:05:01
took place there that would lead us to believe that something happened there end
00:05:06
quote so we don't know how indepth any of these quote unquote interviews with the people at the house
00:05:15
were um it was Elaine law a private investigator on this case whom we discuss we'll discuss her more in a bit
00:05:25
she is under the impression that Willie Green basically told the cops that it was mostly just his family there that
00:05:33
night and that they didn't really know anything and she says they weren't really questioned in this case to be
00:05:42
clear as we pointed out just a minute ago Willie greams home was not subject to any kind of search and none of the
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people at his house that night aside from Crystal have spoken about the events of that evening publicly which is
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I find ridiculous because this is her last none whereabout so search the property yeah so for many people
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interested in this case the quick dismissal of the partygoers as potentially involved parties does not
00:06:16
sit well and the failure to investigate a possible crime scene is I think inexcusable Willie Green we are told as
00:06:27
you said he fully cooperated it does seem that the fact that a woman went missing after being at his home in
00:06:35
a compromised State Should warrant further investigation well and there was a conflict as well right I always
00:06:44
wondered if that conflict had truth or Merit to it or if it was something that that everybody was making up to cover up
00:06:51
something else yeah so Tony's friend GG Hayes right she's the one who organized the Texas equa search search of the the
00:06:59
river yeah she regularly contacted the police demanding that Willie Green and all the others be formally
00:07:09
questioned she is under the impression that Matt Green somebody else who was at the party and the uncle of Willie and
00:07:19
Matt Green both have criminal histories and she says these two should have been looked into very
00:07:26
closely repeated attempts by private investigator Elaine law to contact Willie Green have been completely
00:07:35
disregarded she did not even get a return call from his attorney if he is at all concerned about the fact that a
00:07:44
woman disappeared from his home he certainly is not showing it so now let's ask the question Captain is Crystal
00:07:54
telling the truth she's the only one that we've heard speak publicly about what happened that night well I I think
00:08:02
like you said earlier she's been pretty cooperative and she's also been very eager to talk and to get the story out
00:08:09
there and as the years go by she's kind of now more reluctant to to talk about the case um is that fair to say oh
00:08:23
Agreed 100% And and here's here's the problem with Crystal it's hard for me to really
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get a a fix on her I I can't I can't figure her out because we have the situation as you said we're early on in
00:08:39
this case I mean we're coming up on 10 years now mhm she was at one point talking and very active and vocal about
00:08:46
what happened that night and about her missing friend and yes that has tapered off over the years some of that might
00:08:54
not be because she is hiding anything or because she isn't telling the truth she has taken a
00:09:02
lot of flack on the internet a lot of people have gone after her yeah and it could just be for that I mean at some
00:09:10
point when you're trying to help a situation you know you and I jokingly say it sometimes um no good deed goes
00:09:17
unpunished right if she in fact is out there trying to help find her friend and she's getting on for it one can
00:09:28
only take that one can only take that for so long you can only take so much and here's the other thing that
00:09:35
makes it hard for me to get a real good handle on her is that in the beginning not only is she talking but she seems to
00:09:44
be doing things that are helpful to the search for Tony sharpless yeah she is one that is reported to have called and
00:09:53
Report Tony is missing she is one that is reported to have helped the family print flyers and distribute Flyers
00:10:02
looking for Tony right and this is also you with your friend she might not even have known that Tony was going through
00:10:10
these battles with her mental illness switching of medications uh she might not have known any of that well
00:10:17
according to Crystal she said she did not know any of that she didn't know that Tony was not supposed to be
00:10:22
drinking and Crystal almost gives the suggestion that had she known had she been aware of what was going on in
00:10:30
Tony's life that she likely wouldn't have asked her to go out dancing and drinking and partying with her that yeah
00:10:37
she probably want to ask that and then when you go back to this party and there's a confrontation that's probably
00:10:43
seems a little strange uh but again she's probably just going okay well we had a couple drinks but you would have
00:10:50
uh way more knowledge about the situation then you get into the car with her and you get in an argument and she
00:10:56
tells you to leave one you probably not going to be letting her drive two you're
00:11:01
not getting out of that car and Le let's be clear if you're drunk at a party or not drunk let's say you're tipsy at a
00:11:10
party and you guys decide to leave but you're 40 minutes away from where you know your safe area and your friend
00:11:17
drops you off and they don't come back to get you you're going to be pissed and you have every right to be pissed and
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and she she hasn't been and she's been Champion to go hey we want to figure out what happened to my friend and she
00:11:30
probably feels a little bit responsible because she didn't know about these things like you said she invited her out
00:11:35
probably one and of uh probably would have invited to hang out with her but wouldn't have went to a party went to a
00:11:44
club so she's been a champion to keep the story in the Limelight but you see this with like when Brian Schaefer went
00:11:51
missing last person one of the last people to be with him is Clint he gets thrown under the bus and the Tyler Davis
00:11:59
case you know his wife and his friend are now being thrown under the bus so you just become that part of the story
00:12:06
so Crystal's being thrown under the bus and again how much can you take well and then you have the flip
00:12:14
side of that same coin and on the flip side of that coin what do we see we see people that
00:12:20
say crystal went out of her way to make sure that she was one of the people that
00:12:26
reported Tony missing that she helped create this story and helped to give Credence to that story by making two
00:12:36
phone calls to Tony's phone so you're saying that people are saying that she's creating the narrative correct and
00:12:45
Tony's friends Tony's longtime friends they say they believe crystal is lying and they
00:12:54
believe it's very strange that the police have put all of their trust into cryst story about what happened right
00:13:00
but one of the reasons why they put their trust into her story is because she did something that we never advise
00:13:07
and that is to ask for a polygraph so she takes a polygraph which I don't think any lawyer would tell you
00:13:18
to do but I think she was pretty adamant on trying to clear her name yes I I have that she offered to
00:13:26
take a polygraph did so and passed the polygraph test the polygraph examination the the other thing too
00:13:36
is uh there are questions about what her relationship is with Matt Green and there's still questions about what
00:13:45
exactly went down at the party even if you believe Crystal or not that's just my
00:13:51
opinion she was the first to call police when Tony failed to show up the next day
00:13:56
as I pointed out she did help in the search for Tony putting up the Flyers she did talk to Media I have a question
00:14:03
for you I don't know if you can answer this cuz I couldn't figure it out are the initial reports when when
00:14:11
they're talking about the the events of that night are the inial reports are they talking about the conflict that
00:14:18
happened at the house and why they left the house because it doesn't seem that clear
00:14:25
and I always wondered what you know which came first you know um do did they not talk about why they left and then
00:14:34
once Crystal figures out that her friend was dealing with some mental issues is that when the story of the conflict came
00:14:41
out cuz I just think that would be kind of telling no the story of of the conflict
00:14:49
at the house came out once it was known that that Tony was missing right so it came out right away it came out fairly
00:14:58
early yeah okay yes not to the general public but to the the people searching for Tony but you know here's the thing
00:15:08
while Crystal has put up publicly anyway put up a good front as being a concerned
00:15:14
friend and maybe she is legitimately a concerned friend as you pointed out she did pass that polygraph and she has
00:15:21
generally stuck to her story again it's the it goes back to social media and things that I've seen on the internet
00:15:28
she clearly has not come out smelling like a rose during this whole thing Elaine law the private investigator
00:15:36
who's searching for Tony she says She interviewed Crystal for four hours and her statement is is this she feels that
00:15:47
while Crystal was not straight up lying about the situation she says that she believes that she is not being fully
00:15:55
truthful either and because you could take a polygraph test and and tell the truth but but be omitting
00:16:05
things so the right and the thing here is that the private investigator basically believes that Crystal knows
00:16:13
more than what she is saying to law enforcement and to the public and she cites that she really does not like the
00:16:21
fact that Crystal refused to show her her phone records from that time period yeah the private investigators look for
00:16:28
confirmation of those the two calls correct she wants to line those up with what she knows about Tony's phone well I
00:16:36
and I would also want to know who she called after that because she she claimed that she she calls Tony's phone
00:16:44
twice doesn't get a reply then she is calling multiple people to get a ride I want to know who she's calling after
00:16:52
that did she call Matt Green um I'd be interested in that but also maybe those two calls never happen but wouldn't they
00:17:00
be able to get Tony cell phone records at some point oh they do have them the private investigator has them and so
00:17:08
that's where I question are they only simply coming up as incoming calls right I doubt that I'm guessing that part of
00:17:16
the reason why maybe police are really going on crystal story is two reasons one the other people at the party that
00:17:24
night according to here's the other thing we really fully know a full list of the people at the party right all we
00:17:33
have is the people that that law enforcement spoke to saying yeah this is it this is all the people that were
00:17:39
there that night and then on top of that they they may have Tony's records saying
00:17:45
that it was in fact Crystal that called her on those two times six minutes apart
00:17:50
around the time that she vanished and so that kind of backs up Crystal's story as well I think what
00:17:56
aaine law is saying here is exactly what you just said she wants to know what other activity was going on with
00:18:04
Crystal's phone before those calls between those calls and afterwards who is she talking to and one thing that
00:18:12
would would cause a big shake up and a big Wrinkle in her story would be if in fact she did phone anybody that was
00:18:20
still at that party at that time or or believed to be at Willie Green's house at that time because that doesn't seem
00:18:27
to jail with with her actions of what she said to the public you know that I called I called my friends my family
00:18:35
looking for a ride home cuz I was dumped on the side of the road well again it's
00:18:39
strange though too because we have the last person supposedly with her you wonder how much she was questioned when
00:18:46
they when people are people are questioning how much people were questioned at the party how much was
00:18:53
crystal question and she was the one that came forward and said well I'll take a polygraph test they didn't even
00:18:58
ask her to she was the one willing to so then you wonder if they even how much they've checked her phone records or did
00:19:05
they just go well we we talked to the cousin so we know that the cousin came and picked her up so I know that we're
00:19:13
kind of spinning our tires on this here A bit but before we do whatever we want I want to make sure that everyone has
00:19:20
their seats in the full upright position because this is where the story starts to get weird okay on September 14th this
00:19:31
is about 3 weeks after Tony disappeared authorities in Pennsylvania got word that the New Jersey State Police had a
00:19:39
possible hit on Tony's car on September 8th a stationary New Jersey state police
00:19:45
vehicle parked in Camden had seen something an automated License Plate Reader mounted in the police car
00:19:53
recorded the plate number on each car passing it ACC car bearing plate number dndd
00:20:02
7772 passed and was recorded the automated Plate Reader ran the plate and because Tony's car was listed as missing
00:20:11
remember they reported it as missing it would have notified the Officer Manning the vehicle that it was possibly her car
00:20:21
but the police car was parked and no one was in it so no one noticed the license
00:20:26
plate number hit until a week later right now it's worth noting that I have read that these
00:20:35
license plate readers are not 100% 100% of the time I've seen some people point out things that they're more likely
00:20:44
closer to 90% accurate the other thing that we got to keep in mind too is it's possible that it was not Tony's
00:20:55
car that was seen But simply a car with the license plate number DND 7772 right was in Camden on September
00:21:04
8th that the plate was on a different vehicle now private investigator well you have that idea but you also have the
00:21:12
other idea that you can have the same license plate number but a different state so so Elaine law who is working on
00:21:24
this case the private investigator yeah and who spoke with briefly for this episode she she actually is the one that
00:21:33
told me to cover this case I approached her about a different case that she was working there there's a case out there
00:21:40
and I I won't go into specific specifics about it because the family asked that we not cover it the victim's family it
00:21:49
was a case that I had wanted to cover for some time there's very little information out there in the newspapers
00:21:55
and in the public about it and I saw Elaine Law's name in one of the newspaper articles so I contacted her
00:22:03
thinking well if we're going to learn anything about that case we need to get it from her to which she says look the
00:22:08
family doesn't really want it to be covered um why don't you take a look at and she tossed out a few other cases
00:22:15
that she had been working on that really need the Public's help and and really need a a voice thrown out there and the
00:22:23
story told one more time in hopes that it hits the right ears so she told us that a Camden police officer
00:22:33
this is a little this is a little off the Record here that a Camden police officer told
00:22:39
her that a car with Tony's plate number also got a parking ticket in the city around that same time period but he
00:22:47
didn't go into further detail about that whole situation I could not find that anywhere so it seems like at least that
00:22:58
that plate number has popped up twice on Camden police radar so the New Jersey State Police says both that they and the
00:23:06
Camden Police scoured the area but never found any other trace of the car with that plate on it now Lieutenant Higgins
00:23:15
of lower Maran Township Police Department says quote cars don't usually disappear entirely at some point in the
00:23:23
future they turn up whether it's a junkyard or somewhere else end quote but we know Tony's car has never turned up
00:23:32
and the idea that her car may have been en cammed in in an area riddled with drugs prostitution and crime has led to
00:23:41
a predominant theory of what possibly could have happened to Tony now we also have private investigator Elaine law she
00:23:52
talked about tips that came in and also about possible sightings of Tony so about a month after well 6 weeks
00:24:03
a month and a half after Tony vanished yeah a former detective uh private investigator Elaine
00:24:10
law offered her services to the family for $1 she saw Tony's case on the news and
00:24:19
felt that it was something that there was possibility based on the amount of sex trafficking in the area and tips
00:24:26
about possible sight of Tony that Tony was still alive and possibly either involved in drugs and prostitution or
00:24:34
she had been trafficked so Elaine started a website to gather tips she met with both Crystal and the family tried
00:24:43
to contact Willie Green held a town meeting about the case she kept Tony's picture in the media even going around
00:24:51
Camden with a picture of Tony asking pimps dealers working girls and residents if they had seen her right
00:24:59
because you have a individual that again is struggling with mental illness shouldn't be drinking but was drinking
00:25:07
uh has had some struggles with addiction in the past is it possible that this uh
00:25:13
she gets in this conflict that kind of pushes her over the edge and when she leaves her friend uh she doesn't really
00:25:20
know where she's at but then she goes hey you know uh maybe I can get some drugs by going to Camden and if if go
00:25:28
there then who knows what bad things could happen Elaine says that she has gathered 50 plus tips that tracked Tony
00:25:37
from initial sightings near or in Lancaster where she worked to camd in and then to
00:25:46
Philly saying it's almost as if Tony was being moved around some of these tips plac Tony in
00:25:53
the presence of a large black man and a skinny Hispanic man with a goatee and there was a sighting of a woman having
00:26:01
very dark under eye circles almost raccoon eyes something that apparently Tony struggled with since her teen years
00:26:09
and then one guy said he had seen Tony four times in Candon and that they had the same heroin dealer another tip came
00:26:18
from a security guard that placed an abandoned dirty scraped up black sedan with tinted windows so a vehicle
00:26:26
matching a similar description to Tony's under the Ben Franklin Bridge between Philly and Camden shortly after she went
00:26:34
missing it had no plates and the Camden Police never disclosed whether they followed up on that vehicle sighting or
00:26:44
the sightings of possibly Tony now of course we also have no idea whether any of these tips are correct and if Tony
00:26:53
was actually seen and many of these tips do come from people that I would consider to be less than
00:27:01
reliable and if it was Tony that was seen then you have other things to wonder about was she abducted or did she
00:27:11
go willingly yeah it's and it's very hard to I feel for this whole situation because of her struggles with the mental
00:27:22
illness if she hits a point of manic State and then she's using drugs the drugs could con you know have her
00:27:35
continue to stay in a manic State and it and and who knows where she's at so one thing I do know though
00:27:43
too is that police they say that they looked into whether Tony ever purchased drugs in Camden they came up with
00:27:52
nothing regarding that and they also said that there is actually no evidence at all that she even knew anyone in that
00:28:01
area the other thing too if it was drugs that she went after that night or or if
00:28:08
that's the reason that kept her away it seems a little strange to me it seems like there would have been a lot
00:28:13
of other places closer to home to make that score the case did start to grow cold
00:28:22
after these tips were coming in these were pretty early in the investigation pretty early in Elaine laws
00:28:29
investigation I do want to get to some other interesting tips in this case Okay a call that was made to West Brandy Wine
00:28:37
Township Police Department this is a call where a man claimed to be from the Canadian Security intelligence service
00:28:45
this is an agency similar to the CIA in Toronto the man said agents found a car parked on their lot and traced the car
00:28:54
to Tony and the Agents also found some someone who they believed to be Tony matching her description the man
00:29:02
provided an email address and a phone number where he could be reached and requested photos of Tony the address and
00:29:11
phone number however turned out to be a fake Chief Warner said police called the
00:29:17
Toronto police department and was told the call must have been faked Chief Warner said that the caller was quote
00:29:25
the guy had all the right answer ansers he was talking the police lingo and he knew what to say end quote several days
00:29:34
later an officer in West Brandy Wine Police Department's radio room took a call from a sheriff's deputy in South
00:29:42
Dakota the deputy claimed that officers found Tony's car there the man promised to fax information over but never did
00:29:51
officers contacted the man's alleged department but personnel there had no know knowled of the vehicle or of the
00:29:59
man who made the call we have Chief Warner again who says look we got a copy of that recording and he says it was the
00:30:08
exact same guy that he talked to the the guy that claimed to be from to Toronto he said that the reason why he
00:30:15
could identify the caller as being the same is he described this man as having an interesting voice it was something
00:30:23
about the way that this man sounded that Chief Warner was able to believe that the caller was in fact the
00:30:31
same the thing though that's weird here and just kind of really blows my mind is why would somebody bother to Stage
00:30:42
these two hoaxes this is 4 years after Tony went [Music] missing this show is sponsored by Better
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out rosettastone.com it's a GameChanger all right we're back you filthy animals stay filthy you animals stay filthy well
00:33:03
you know we were talking about this on Saturday at our um presentation Meetup whatever you want to call it is
00:33:11
um being a true crime lover is becoming a little more acceptable in society so we're we're becoming less filthy animals
00:33:20
of the True Crime Kingdom It Ain't Easy Being greasy yes or cheesy uh in late 20133 something happened that could give
00:33:33
us a significant Clue Into Tony's disappearance private investigator Elaine law received a letter at her
00:33:40
office the one- paged unsigned letter postmarked in Trenton New Jersey on November 29th arrived in her mail
00:33:49
December 1st she didn't initially notice the letter in the pile of mail and she was
00:33:56
shocked when she observed the return address it was from Tony sharpless now Tony is typically spelled
00:34:07
t n i on the return address it was t n y sharpless now here is the text of the letter dear Elaine law the police and Pa
00:34:22
do not have a tip line I tried calling the Philly police where I live but they said it was not in their
00:34:30
jurisdiction one of the detectives pulled me aside and gave me your name an address in the last few days of
00:34:38
September 2009 a friend in Camden called me and offered me money to move a car from
00:34:45
Brook laon New Jersey to Boston Massachusetts he told me he would pay me $55,000 Cash Plus I could have the
00:34:55
plates he asked asked if I knew anyone 27 or 29 that wanted to paper trip so he gave me a social security card I drove
00:35:05
the car a black four-door Pontiac Grand Prix and drove to an auto body shop outside of Boston
00:35:13
Massachusetts I took off the plates and with a black Magic Marker wrote down the
00:35:19
last five digits of the VIN number and cleared out the glove box I came back to Camden a day later and he told me that
00:35:28
the car was not stolen but missing he said a friend of his a cop in Camden got into a fight with a girl she died and he
00:35:38
needed to get the car out of Jersey about a month ago my daughter was playing in the garage and found the box
00:35:45
with the plates and social security card I had forgotten all about it the plates
00:35:51
are DND 7772 the social security card and this is where sharpless' cell phone number
00:36:01
was written in this spot and the last five digits of the VIN are the person wrote the last five digits of sharpless'
00:36:11
vehicle's identification number in this right now I think some of this stuff was
00:36:15
actually reported or public knowledge but I think it's definitely that VIN number would be hard to get the writer
00:36:24
goes on to say because of Hurricane Sandy I had to visit Jersey to help friends clean up I decided to drop you
00:36:31
this letter what happened to Tony I don't really know all I know is that she had a runin with the police and I was
00:36:39
paid much needed cash to get the car to a shop in Boston again the the letter is
00:36:46
not signed it's a one-page letter and as you said Captain yes the we do know that
00:36:53
the plate number was readily available this was not only I mean it was on the internet plus it was on Flyers looking
00:37:01
for for Tony because her vehicle was missing as well the the difficult thing as you said
00:37:07
are the five digits of the VIN number and we could speculate day and night how difficult it could have been or how easy
00:37:15
it could have been to get Tony's cell phone number that may have been difficult we do know that it was a
00:37:21
relatively new phone I don't know if that came with a new number um but we should point out the VIN number and the
00:37:29
cell phone number were both correct they were Tony's Now Elaine turned over the letter
00:37:36
to the West Brandy Wine police and also notified the New Jersey State Police and
00:37:42
the New Jersey attorney general's office she also gave the letter to the media in
00:37:47
hopes that it would keep Tony's case alive later she learned that police believed the letter to be a hoax
00:37:55
probably because because it was sent in close proximity to the two hoax phone calls she's not certain why they came to
00:38:04
this conclusion but that's what they have said publicly that this letter is is a hoax what are you feeling about
00:38:11
this letter CU you're you're Captain letter man we will cover every case that involves a strange
00:38:20
letter yeah so I have a lot of questions about this letter I think that most of the information
00:38:29
in so this is not the same as like the Zodiac who who kills Paul Stein and then provide you a bloody torn-off piece of
00:38:38
his shirt right in a letter this is very different this is somebody who is claiming to have done something been
00:38:45
paid by somebody else possibly limiting their involvement limiting their involvement and then my proof of you to
00:38:52
believe my word is I'm going to provide you with these three things these three pieces of
00:39:00
information and they could have obtained these in the exact manner that they said
00:39:06
that they took the plates they wrote down the VIN number they cleared out the glove box that easily could have
00:39:11
obtained all these things from that exact action however I believe that somebody could
00:39:19
have got this information if they looked and spent a little bit of time on it I don't think it would have been extremely
00:39:26
difficult to find all three of these things and provide it one thing that I find interesting is that when with the
00:39:33
claim of having the social security card this individual then provides her cell phone number in in place of what
00:39:43
what he or she probably should have put the social security number right so that
00:39:49
makes me wonder well why have a hoax why why write this letter well those are things that point to me point to me that
00:39:57
it could be a hoax okay uh before we move on I do want to clear one thing up because some people might be asking
00:40:03
themselves this uh of some of the wording in the letter when he says that he was asked if
00:40:11
anyone if I knew anyone 27 or 29 that wanted to paper trip so he gave me a social security card what they mean by
00:40:21
this is somebody that wants to steal an identity to to take somebody else's information
00:40:26
right right yeah that's the that's the paper trip that he's talking about or she um
00:40:33
so here's where I have a a different issue with it where I question the validity of of the
00:40:43
letter I'm also a bit horrified and terrified by the letter there's something very strange
00:40:52
going on here if there were to be three hope FES and then we had the the one of the police officers the chief of police
00:41:02
saying he believes just by listening with his own ears that that the the caller of those
00:41:10
two calls were one in fact the same so if those if the two calls that come in that are hoax that try to put Tony and
00:41:18
her vehicle in Toronto and then the other call tries to put Tony's vehicle somewhere in South Dakota
00:41:27
and now this letter is stating that hey I live in Philadelphia um somebody from Camden
00:41:33
hired me to do this uh I had to move the car from Brooklyn New brookln New Jersey
00:41:38
to Boston Massachusetts we have six different cities named in three different hoaxes
00:41:46
and then on top of that if it's not that big of a leap to go okay well if the same person made those phone calls did
00:41:52
then the same person write this letter and that's where I get horrified and terrified at the same time there's
00:42:00
there's something very strange there if one person is responsible for all of these
00:42:07
communications yeah but to me it's like what is the hoax trying to prove it's trying to prove that she left the area
00:42:17
that she was last seen by her friend that's to me what these are trying to prove so that draws Ste the
00:42:26
direction of the investigation like throwing them off the trail if they were in fact that's that's the other problem
00:42:33
I have with this whole thought it's four years later the only conceivable reason
00:42:39
that I can come up with that somebody would would make these communications would be just that to
00:42:45
throw them off the trail but but we're under the belief that the case had gone cold by this time so there is no Trail
00:42:52
what trail are they on were they even on a trail at the time right but maybe I'm
00:42:58
just saying if something happened bad at that party that they're still you know they feel
00:43:07
guilty um they they uh feel paranoid maybe they're they're creating this hoax for
00:43:17
that reason let's keep you away from thinking about that party unless you because they don't know the leads but
00:43:26
again that doesn't make a lot of sense to me because you'd think unless the cops were constantly beating down their
00:43:33
door and and asking for information why would you involve yourself anymore why not just stay
00:43:41
away right and if you had nothing to do with it why involve yourself at all that's why I'm saying it's it's all
00:43:46
weird man it's all weird and and then then you got if you weren't involved you I don't think you would create the hoax
00:43:53
I'm saying but again the the other possibility that I haven't really thought about till now is the idea of
00:44:01
when when she says crystal said well she I thought she would come back for me it's
00:44:08
like what if at some point Tony did come back and she went back to the party without
00:44:15
Crystal you know this is not you know we're just basing a off of if the cops might believe Crystal and she might be
00:44:23
telling the truth about that but that does not mean that Tony didn't go back to the
00:44:28
party yeah and uh but you know if we haven't done any search of this property I I I just don't know how again and we
00:44:36
also don't know how many individuals uh were at that house so is it there but I do know there was enough
00:44:44
individuals that something bad could have happened and somebody could have disposed of her
00:44:49
car it would appear that something happened to this car and actually Tony's car going to a Chop Shop out of state
00:44:57
makes some sense why her car has never been located yeah after this point I I do want to throw this information out
00:45:07
there and I have names here but I've I've purposely removed them because I question how how true this this
00:45:19
information is MHM uh this is um but but it does site several of the things in the letter that we just talked
00:45:28
about so an arange wife of an ex Camden police officer okay remember in the letter the the letter writer claimed to
00:45:38
have been paid by somebody that said that that Tony had a runin with a police officer right so an a AR strange wife of
00:45:47
an ex Camden police officer who was fired after falsifying reports in order to get this a strange wife
00:45:58
arrested this wife comes forward talks with the private investigator Elaine and tells her that her ex who lived in
00:46:07
Brooklyn I keep wanting to say Brooklyn it's Brook law New Jersey right again the town mentioned in the
00:46:15
letter also ran an auto business where he would repo cars and resell them including the area of
00:46:24
Boston she claims that at one point she saw a black four-door Pontiac with tinted
00:46:31
windows in their driveway one day and assumed it to be one of these vehicles one of his cars that he repossessed or
00:46:41
that took possession of to resell so again that's information that was provided to us yeah it's it's always
00:46:52
difficult when you have these these marriages that go South they go way bad they they all go south it's tough to
00:47:01
whether or not you get a divorce that's a different thing but they all go south it seems like he was definitely up to no
00:47:07
good because we do have the Camden Police Department who claims he was fired for falsifying reports yeah you're
00:47:13
a liar right I mean that's and I want to believe the letter it seems like it makes sense it seems like just with the
00:47:23
VIN number it's not the full VIN number right it's just part of the VD number five numbers the last five but it's
00:47:28
enough for me to go okay that's information that's not easy to get my issue with
00:47:36
it is if you were going to come forward with this letter why not just come forward all
00:47:45
together because you see what I mean like I feel like by sending this letter who whoever
00:47:56
paid you could come after you could come after you and if you don't go and tell them your full story then you've offered
00:48:03
yourself no protection from that person right it's not like you know it's like oh yeah well they but they didn't put
00:48:09
their identification in the letter well no but no but the person that it's real the person that paid this person like he
00:48:16
knows where you are according to the letter it was like a person he there was a middleman right
00:48:25
so right so the police officer if in fact the letter is correct may not exactly know who ultimately was paid to
00:48:33
move the vehicle who ultimately wrote the letter right but it it's it won't be that hard for him to figure it out right
00:48:44
it wouldn't be that hard for him to figure that out so I are you ready for another twist here Captain sure all
00:48:52
right on May 15th 2014 Tony's mother Donna received a check in the mail from the Department of Revenue state of
00:49:01
Indiana for just it was a little over $1,000 this check M this was a tax refund check what's notable is that the
00:49:12
check was made payable to Tony Lee sharpless and Robert E Morales husband and wife this Tony and
00:49:23
Robert apparently filed joint State Returns on earnings of $ 46,6 125 from John's Hopkins
00:49:34
University Tony's occupation was listed as a nurse and Roberts as a doctor a bogus phone number was on the return now
00:49:45
this is mindboggling for many reasons but mainly because a man named Robert E Morales
00:49:52
went missing from Phoenix Arizona to weeks before Tony did on August 8th 2009 he is still missing to this day you can
00:50:03
see his Charlie project page on their website I wonder if somebody is trying to scam the system and going hey let's
00:50:12
put these two missing people together you know but how would you file a tax return so the the private
00:50:21
investigator Elaine contacted the Department of Revenue in Indiana and she said that she learned it was a
00:50:28
legitimate refund check and that the tax returns in Tony and Roberts joint names
00:50:34
had been filed electronically as for why the check was sent to Tony's old address instead of
00:50:41
the address listed on the return Elaine said she was told that whenever the address is less than one
00:50:50
year old that they just send it to the former address who knows how this happened but
00:50:58
significantly someone had stolen Tony's identity and yeah but that could have nothing to do with her disappearance it
00:51:06
could have nothing to do with the case but then you also wonder if in fact that person had access to her social security
00:51:12
card and we know that the anonymous letter writer mentioned that he had the card uh Donna her mother believes that
00:51:22
Tony kept her social security card in her wallet which of course has never been found but this is what drives me
00:51:31
just absolutely insane about these missing person cases the investigation should have been
00:51:38
harder on these people at the party they should have investigated that property period did the cops know did law
00:51:44
enforcement know that she'd be going missing for the rest of her life that we'd be sitting here 10 years later
00:51:51
wondering where she's at no but you got to start by assuming that you need to assume that the worst case scenario is
00:51:59
going to happen and you need to make sure that you do your due diligence don't be a piece of right well
00:52:06
here's here's the thing I I see two things kind of going on here there are points in this investigation where me on
00:52:15
the outside looking in it appears to me that they are doing their due diligence that they are working the case hard but
00:52:23
there are other times where I have a completely different feeling and this is not a small case this is an
00:52:30
investigation that's been 10 years now how many how long and good have they worked on it through the course of that
00:52:37
time is certainly up for de for debate and and my own opinion is at times it was not good on their end that could be
00:52:48
that we have multiple jurisdictions involved in this I will say that the local police investigating the case gave
00:52:54
the impression pretty early on in what I would consider to be a very unprofessional manner that they believed
00:53:02
Tony was simply on drugs and or crazy so when you have that coming out of their Department you really have to wonder and
00:53:12
I'm sure a lot of people close to Tony are wondering the same thing is in fact if they were investigating the case
00:53:20
thoroughly if they were giving her disappearance the appropriate due diligence as you were saying well it's
00:53:27
pathetic that they would call her crazy because look if you break your arm what do you do you go to a doctor got
00:53:34
something broken in your brain you go get help for that so that to me that's uh a sign of somebody trying to get help
00:53:43
I I I think my gut is telling me that this there's more truth to this letter than not and and I couldn't tell
00:53:52
you why but it's like yeah I'm not ready to dismiss it as quickly as what it appears law
00:54:01
enforcement has yeah the VIN number I can't get over that and then also uh I don't know how much I buy the
00:54:12
the the ex-wife of the cop coming forward and saying hey I saw a car similar to this I don't know but um but
00:54:20
those are two things that line up mhm and that needs to be followed um and it's sad because like you said this car
00:54:28
probably went to a chop shop and there was probably evidence of there's probably evidence of what
00:54:35
happened to her mhm and uh and that's gone forever and you know I I do know that some bad for her daughter I do know
00:54:43
that some of Tony's friends absolutely believe that Tony never left Willie Green's house that night that something
00:54:51
happened to her there and it could be any number of things an overdose died in an accident was
00:54:59
killed as the result of some kind of physical altercation there was a pool there maybe
00:55:04
maybe she drowned in the pool uh but you know their belief is that in order to protect Willie Green's
00:55:10
NBA salary and reputation that she and her car were later disposed of and that's and we don't have the whole story
00:55:21
there well like Forest gum said maybe it's both happening at the same time is there a possibility
00:55:28
that something happens at this party they know a shady cop they call the Shady cop hey we need your help right or
00:55:37
they call their lawyer their lawyer knows a shady cop the shop the cop comes the cop then knows some bad people that
00:55:45
can help take care of this problem it could be both happening at the same time is anybody there that
00:55:52
night in some shape or form of police officer right even from another city we again we don't have the full list of
00:55:59
names we actually had two people that were unnamed in our list and we're going off and saying that that is an accurate
00:56:07
list of people there could be additional people that were there that were conveniently left off of the list
00:56:13
provided to law enforcement my only issue with all that is like I said she would have had to drop her friend off
00:56:20
and somehow Circle back around because I do think that her friend and uh started
00:56:26
out um being a champion for finding her friend and so that's the part that doesn't line up and unless unless unless
00:56:37
she drops her off and circles back around but you'd have to obviously it would not be that hard to fabricate and
00:56:44
manufacture the story of of Tony leaving ditching her friend and her phone conveniently being off all at the
00:56:54
at the same time right and and to work that into her story but to be the one to come forward and and ask for a polygraph
00:57:03
test again I I we don't know what questions were on that test we hear from law enforcement that she passed but we
00:57:10
don't know what questions um it's just a sad scenario for for whatever reason once you put mental health in it
00:57:20
it's I think people uh I think people are a little too dismissive of of things regarding the private investigator
00:57:27
Elaine law she is no longer so certain that Tony is still alive she does still believe that Tony was that something
00:57:36
happened to her and she was trafficked she does believe that the sightings of Tony in the area were legitimate she
00:57:44
does continue to follow up on leads and tips to this day speaking um there are there is some movement on this case as
00:57:54
far as the private investigator is concerned there are still some leads that she is working on it would be it
00:58:02
wouldn't be appropriate to discuss those here today because it's not something that we have a lot of information on uh
00:58:10
but regarding Tony's parents uh her mother and her stepfather they say they don't know what
00:58:17
to think quote it's like a roller coaster of emotion Donna told one reporter they aren't sure that Crystal
00:58:24
is telling the truth and they say that they have had no contact with her but they also know that Tony should not have
00:58:31
been drinking and could have been disoriented and gotten lost and ended up in the river or elsewhere right both of
00:58:40
them feel strongly that it's a that a search of Willie Green's home should have been
00:58:46
conducted when asked if she believes that her if her daughter is still alive Donna says honestly no Tony would have
00:58:54
called by now she always did yeah my granddaughter is the same way if she doesn't call me I know
00:59:02
something is wrong no one knows a child like a mother Tony's stepfather agrees with his wife and he has also stated
00:59:12
that someone must know what occurred the night of August 23 2009 and he adds that
00:59:19
she didn't just vanish Into Thin Air that there must be more to this story now Tony is still listed as a missing
00:59:27
person the 10th anniversary of her disappearance is next week we will have a photo of Tony on the blog at true Crim
00:59:36
garage.com Tony's DNA has been entered into a National Database so if at some point a body is found she will be
00:59:45
identified hats go off to her her friends and family and and then her parents you know now looking after her
00:59:53
her child and and and then also what a awesome individual to take on their case the private investigator taking on their
01:00:04
case for a dollar and uh trying to make a difference in this world that's pretty
01:00:10
[Music] amazing how about a little recommended listening for everybody this week this
01:00:19
week I want to recommend the Stitcher app you've heard it before it's free it's amazing it has all of our old
01:00:25
episodes on there to listen to and you can check out our other show our wonderful show that everybody loves off
01:00:32
the Record it's available on Stitcher premium I bring up the recommended listening Captain because this last
01:00:38
weekend we were at the Ohio History Center and a lot of you came out and joined us there and we did a discussion
01:00:45
on Ohio cold cases which we've covered so many of them check those out on the Stitcher app we will see all of you back
01:00:52
here in the garage next week until then be good be kind and don't [Music] litter
01:01:25
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