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Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515

November 05, 2022 / 46:25

This episode discusses the murder case of Tracy Sissom, including details about her disappearance, the discovery of her remains, and the potential involvement of her estranged husband, Michael Sissom. The hosts, Nick and the Captain, analyze the circumstances surrounding her death, including the discovery of her vehicle and the lack of concrete evidence against suspects.

Tracy Sissom was last seen in Indianapolis, Indiana, and her remains were found 70 miles away in a rural area. The episode compares her case to that of Jennifer Kesse, highlighting similarities in the circumstances of their vehicles being found abandoned. The hosts speculate on the possible involvement of unknown individuals seen driving Tracy's vehicle after her death.

Michael Sissom, Tracy's estranged husband, emerges as a prime suspect due to his violent history and connections to the area where her body was found. The hosts discuss his past behavior, including allegations of abuse and drug-related activities, suggesting that he may have been involved in Tracy's murder.

The episode emphasizes the frustration surrounding the lack of information released by law enforcement and the ongoing investigation into Tracy's case. The hosts express hope that justice will eventually be served, drawing parallels to other unsolved cases.

Listeners are encouraged to reach out with any information regarding Tracy's case and are provided with resources for further reading on true crime topics.

TLDR

The episode covers Tracy Sissom's murder case, focusing on her estranged husband Michael as a prime suspect and the investigation's challenges.

Episode

46:25
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foreign [Music] [Music] garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for listening I'm your host
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Nick and with me as always is a man who has discovered the body of John Wilkes Booth here is the captain let me tell
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you it smelled horribly it's good to be seen good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend
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[Music] today we are still sipping on threes Co company what is that you ask well it's a
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creamy full-bodied Imperial Style with coconut vanilla and milk sugar garage grade four and a quarter bottle caps out
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everybody who helped us out with this week's Beer Run yeah BW the bar you in beer run make sure you're patient with
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Unknown also if you're done with this episode and you're thinking what should I listen to next you should be listening
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to off the Record that's our bonus show check that out on Stitcher premium and that's enough of the business all right
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everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime thank you
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[Music] yeah [Music] 14 days after 33 year old Tracy system was last seen the Chevy Blazer that she
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borrowed from her father was found abandoned eight and a half miles from Tracy's apartment Tracy's system's
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remains were found at 70 miles from her apartment and as we know she had been dead for a while probably about 18 days
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and we also know that someone else was driving that Chevy Blazer after her death this reminds me captain of the
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Jennifer kessie Case by the way we covered the Jennifer kessie case in depth in four parts that's episode
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362 through 365 if anyone wants to look those up I am in no way saying that these cases are connected in any
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possible way just kind of stuck on this idea about the vehicles in both cases Jennifer Cassie from Orlando Florida has
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been missing since January 23 of 2006 shortly after she vanished her car was discovered parked around a mile or so
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from her home a local security camera recorded a person parking kessie's car and walking away now that person could
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not be identified due to poor camera quality in the person's face and any distinguishing features being obscured
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now one glaring difference here is obviously in the Tracy System case we have found and recovered her remains I
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know we also know that there was a couple uh unknown couple that was driving the vehicle that eluded law
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enforcement right so in the Cassie case we're not certain what happened to Jennifer but in both cases we have
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recovered the vehicle that the victim was driving and we know that they were moved by somebody else now again here we
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have a very similar situation in the system case the Blazer that Tracy was borrowing turns up with these weird
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people that we don't know we don't know who they were so what were these two people doing in the Blazer doing with
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that Blazer were they simply moving it and almost got caught along the way but were able to duck the police
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or were they responsible for you know does this mean that they're responsible for Tracy's murder or do we have
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something else going on here Captain because we have discussed this several times before in other cases here in the
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garage could this be just one of those weird and rare situations that the real killer simply gets lucky and the case
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becomes more confusing for detectives because our killer got lucky and what I mean by that is there seems to be a
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pretty General belief shared amongst a lot of people that these two people that were seen
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driving the Blazer and then fleeing the vehicle that they're just part of the story but don't really have anything to
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do with what happened to Tracy system well what we know about Tracy is that her body was dumped into a rural area uh
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street that most people wouldn't travel on unless it was a local situation but a
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distance away from where she was last seen you said 70 miles yes is it possible that the killer of Tracy also
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abandoned that vehicle and somebody like you were saying this couple then happens upon that vehicle
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that is kind of the general belief here uh that is shared amongst many people is
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that these two people may have found this vehicle somewhere now keep in mind Tracy is last seen in
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Indianapolis a big city a major city 70 miles from where her remains are found it's very likely whatever happened to
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Tracy happened to her that night at the apartment or right after she left her apartment that night
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so whatever happened to Tracy happened in Indianapolis and if you're going to let's say
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you have a personal cause homicide where you murder someone that is somewhat close to you that there would be an easy
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a direct connection for law enforcement from victim to offender but you have killed somebody that you know
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personal cause homicide and now you are tasked with a couple things right you could just leave the body
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to be discovered and then they can go about their investigation but if you do that you know that they're very quickly
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going to wind up on your doorstep knocking on your door asking you the tough questions what you're tasked with
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is I need to get rid of this body A and B I need to get rid of this vehicle because it's a quick and easy leap from
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body to vehicle when you go you know what okay who cares what she told anybody that day or the weeks before
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if they don't find her and they don't find this vehicle and as long as I can create that delay
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between them locating the vehicle or locating her the more and more this starts to look
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like the people maybe she just took off maybe she just packed up her [ __ ] put it
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in this Blazer and took off well on every missing person case that we we cover we talk about those possibilities
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was there Foul Play did this person want to commit suicide did this person want to take off and
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start a life of their own well and we've talked about several cases where people
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report somebody missing and the local law enforcement agency they don't have something to investigate because the
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adult is allowed to go missing they finish your food before you so I think that's what you're looking at from a
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strategy point and from something you brought up there's a good chance that whoever is responsible for this may have
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moved her vehicle and left it somewhere abandon it and then these people found it
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and moved it and when they get pulled over by the cops they get scared and they you know these could be drug
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users this could be people doing a favor for somebody this could be homeless people it does not have to be somebody
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directly connected to Tracy or her murder well because if you find an abandoned car and let's say you find the
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keys in the car party time well yeah I'm gonna go pick up the captain yeah and we're gonna blast some Bohemian Rhapsody
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don't vomit in the back seat yeah give it if you're gonna spew spewing this but when you have that scenario and you're
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the driver and you see law enforcement you're going to assume that somebody reported the car stolen right because
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you essentially stole the car and we've said it a thousand times vehicles are easier to find than people and the weird
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thing here too is we have information that is telling us that the cause of death in Tracy's case
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was strangulation and then you have that partial box of ammunition in the back seat
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it doesn't sound like some Rando people that are moving this vehicle for you or that that found it abandoned that they
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would leave ammunition in the vehicle for any reason that's just another confusing part of the story that may
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really have nothing to do with anything other than again if you can create a paper trail between that partial box of
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ammunition and somebody else especially somebody in Tracy's Inner Circle well now we have a problem now we have
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something to to talk about and something to investigate like you're also saying a
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really good strategy if something happened in Indianapolis have the vehicle be in Indianapolis yep
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even if it's 10 miles from where Tracy would have been you're not going to be thinking about
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trying to locate a body 75 miles away once you find that vehicle you're going to go okay well now her apartment is
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considered a crime scene and this vehicle is now considered a crime scene so you might again you would have to put
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one plus one plus one equals three you know yeah your strategy would be to want that
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vehicle to be in Indianapolis or as Chaz Barkley would say in the Annapolis but uh yeah you you would want to separate
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yourself from the victim and from her from the crime scene itself too and the best way to do that is not have them
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find the body if you're the perpetrator of this crime and it seems like police were were really working under the
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theory that yes she was killed elsewhere and then dumped in this location but we have her last known whereabouts
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is that apartment so do they believe that she was killed or attacked in that apartment or in the parking lot of her
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apartment complex and then you have the statement from the police this is what's
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interesting though Captain we people go why are you really hyper focused on these ideas it's because police have not
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released very much information in these cases in this case they've not even officially
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released the cause of death so we know that they're very strategic about what they are allowing to come out so they
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probably are only allowing things to come out that they know that they have other proof or evidence that this is
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very much case related this is information that we want to allow to go out to the public and what was that one
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statement that they had that a neighbor or neighbors had seen a suspicious vehicle that they reported to be
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possibly a dark SUV that whole statement too and knowing that the last time she spoke with her mother was 7 P.M that
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night I'm starting to feel like the sun goes down in Indiana that night and something bad happened to
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Tracy in that General location after the sun went down because again I'm going back to the difficult vague description
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provided to police by a potential witness of a possibly dark SUV something either their memory is not
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great or something is causing them to not be able to see the vehicle extremely well over the next couple of years after
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Tracy's body was recovered in 2004 only little bits of information trickled out but nothing that really changed what
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we've already related to you thus far in this case Indiana State Police Sergeant Jeff
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Decker told the Republic that the police were choosing not to release the cause of death so it would not create problems
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in any police interviews Decker did confirm that they believed Tracy to have been killed elsewhere and dumped in the
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area where she was found investigators continue to work the case and would say only that they continue to
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talk with people they haven't ruled either way on this being in or out as possible suspects well people have to
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understand something that simple again you see this in like the Delphi case where people want to know the cause of
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death they want to know what happened they want to know those details they think that somehow those details are
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going to help them solve the case when they're doing their internet web sleuthing right but in this case you
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might have somebody that comes forward and says hey look I was talking with my boyfriend I was talking with my
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girlfriend or whoever I was talking to and they said that they're responsible for her death
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well how did they kill her oh well they said they shot her and if that's not the
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cause of death then you're less likely to believe that lead and people might naturally think
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that she may have been shot and it not be the case at all right right why would they naturally think that because
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ammunition was found in her abandoned vehicle now one thing that did come out this was
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in 2006. just a so what you're saying is by releasing that information it's kind
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of a deceptive way to put out information there that might not actually matter by law enforcement well not only that
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but you may not have any control over it you may be going back and retroactively
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creating that strategy meaning if they announced that the vehicle was found remember the vehicle was found before
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her body was located right and even months before the body was even identified so there may have already
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been information out there to the general public whether it was in a newspaper or on the news or just known
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in her Inner Circle that all they found they found her vehicle before they found
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her body and there was there was bullets in that you know sitting sitting in a box in that back
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the back seat of that vehicle now one thing that did come out in 2006 that the police discovered in their
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investigation and this is per the indie star was that Tracy system was trying to
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kick a drug habit or recently had kicked a drug habit her family said that she had a troubled marriage and that her
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body had no trace of drugs in her system so there was a toxicology report done on
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the body on the remains and there were no drugs found to be in her system at the time of her death well that's what I
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wanted because you know in the missing or the vanishing women case in Chillicothe there was several victims
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that they thought were just overdoses right and so if there's an overdose at a party they don't know what to do and and
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because they're all drug addicts struggling with that addiction they don't want to go to jail so then they
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get right out of there they get rid of the body well in this case we know for sure that it's a homicide the people who
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know Tracy told us that Tracy's a strange husband Michael system had a crack cocaine habit
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and that he had gotten Tracy hooked on drugs as well but we know that they were not together at the time that she
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disappeared and we also know based off of what the family has said that she was trying to
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kick the habit or had kick the habit and then you have to go back to the toxicology report that may back up that
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statement that she did in fact kick the habit and she ain't going back to Michael's system if he's if he's hooked
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on drugs and and part of the problem now clearly based on this clean talks screen at her autopsy
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again we know that this shows Tracy was moving forward moving on from that addiction but her troubles with drugs
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and an ongoing Court situation with her first husband and her estrangement from her second husband and again the unknown
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identity of the people driving the Blazer provided a fairly long list of potential suspects in my opinion yeah I
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agree in 2006 the family announced that they were offering a ten thousand dollar
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reward for credible information on Tracy's death her sister Shelly told the indie star quote we are pleading for any
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information anyone will have on my sister it has been two long years there is a void that makes you wonder how
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Cooperative these X's are with law enforcement because you'd think that even her first husband look he has a he
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has a dog in the fight in the sense they have children together and he would you
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know want to know her whereabouts obviously and then for his children's sake he would want to know one what
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happened to their mother so he can explain that to them later but also who is responsible and to see that
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Justice is done for the mother of his children well and along with this same announcement here captain of the family
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offering up ten thousand dollars reward for credible information on Tracy's death they did quote Rebecca Sandlin who
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is Tracy's mother as saying quote someone out there did this to her it's not fair they are living eating
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breathing having fun acting like nothing happened no something happened something
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terrible happened [Music] all right we're back you filthy filthy filthy animals take a bath
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I could smell you for me somebody in this garage needs to take us away somebody stinks up in this garage oh by
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the way uh TCG 10 gets you 10 off of crime Con in Las Vegas and the plan is that we will be there so that's our
00:20:31
promo code unless something changes we won't be there I like to say it's a definite but we've been some through
00:20:39
some trying times yes and we're all in this together so a little stat for you and a hopeful stat is that there were
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three phases of the Spanish flu so we're in the third phase of kovid so maybe we're closer to the end than the
00:20:59
beginning so keep your fingers crossed and here's something that I found online here captain that I want to make sure
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that we send out to the whole world here because it's a case that's near and dear
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to our hearts the Tony Muncie case which was one of our bonus episodes that we released years ago and still is
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available to this day for purchase and download to listen to but on Sunday August 29th and again this is something
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I found online this is not a direct advertisement so don't don't hold my feet to the Flames here everyone but on
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Sunday August 29th at 10 pm Eastern Tony's episode will be airing on TV on the Investigation Discovery Channel
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so if you want to continue to follow that case and that case was successfully solved check that out on Sunday yeah you
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can find our episode on our website truecrime garage.com or also in the iTunes Store you can buy it directly
00:21:59
from iTunes I'd recommend getting the episode listening to it and then sitting down and watching what id has to say
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Yeah in 2008 Tracy's case was featured on a deck of playing cards now we've seen this in several other cases
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throughout the years this is a deck of playing cards that is handed out to inmates in the state prison system they
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will often put missing persons or unsolved homicide victims on these playing cards and give them out to the
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inmates because they have time to sit around and play cards and they're hoping that maybe someone will see her picture
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get a little bit of information maybe they know something maybe somebody on the inside has told them something or
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maybe someone they knew on the outside told them something and then they can pass asset information along to law
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enforcement now remember that Tracy's body was found wrapped in a quilt far from the apartment that she was vacating
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found in Rural Brown County investigators said that they had not been able to uncover any Nexus between
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Tracy and that area Tracy was from Indianapolis and had no connection whatsoever that they could find to that
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rural area at all Brown County prosecutor Jim Oliver told the Republic quote she was last seen in Indy she
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lived in Indy we don't know what the Brown County Connection is he said he believed investigators should focus on
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Marion County where Indianapolis is located this seems like a very important hint that officials believe that whoever
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killed Tracy was close to home now before we proceed any further it has to be said that this is one of the most
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frustrating cases that we've looked at in a while due to the lack of information our efforts to obtain
00:23:52
documents and reports were stonewalled in every direction we submitted foia requests for police
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reports and autopsy reports those were denied but again this case is 17 years old
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right we've not seen a ton of movement on it it's time it's time to put out some more information what's so
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frustrating because you know that there's people involved or people that are possibly
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close to her that have information that they're sitting on and it's you know why
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wait and this idea that somebody committed this murder and just sitting around like eating their hot Cheetos
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having a good time no this is Weighing on them well it weighs on them all the time we managed to unearth some
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information some more information and talk to some sources that we will relay to the listeners and hopes of stirring
00:24:48
up some interest in Tracy systems case we did a lot of digging in this case to try to get to the bottom of who killed
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Tracy our feeling was that police have to know a lot more than they are saying and I think we're right our sources
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people close to the case we are not naming them tell us that there is indeed a prime suspect a number one suspect in
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the murder of Tracy system and police know exactly who he is we are talking about Tracy's estranged husband Michael
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Lee sissom according to our sources when Tracy went missing and then turned up murdered police went after Michael
00:25:27
system incredibly hard so she's in them I bet you they thought that they were going to get an arrest and soon a
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conviction early on in this case right police were convinced that Michael had shown up to the apartment that night
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that Tracy was cleaning out and that the two had some kind of altercation and he
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killed her and then dumped her body system was a Indianapolis native as well growing up in the same neighborhood as
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Tracy did but our sources tell us that Michael system had many ties to Brown County as well
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that he grew up hunting in that area and that he is intimately familiar with the
00:26:09
area where he dumped Tracy or where her remains were found that is interesting we're being told that this guy is the
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prime suspect we're being told by law enforcement the Tracy system has no ties we can't find any connection between our
00:26:25
victim and where we found her body Brown County how now brown cow yeah but we're
00:26:31
being told by the sources that not only is this dude the prime suspect but there
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are obvious connections between him the suspect and where the body was later found
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according to the sources Michael was dealing drugs when the police were pressuring him about Tracy's murder
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and the cops started badgering his drug Associates about his activities so the the heat was getting too hot in the hot
00:27:00
so he skipped town he ended up in Oklahoma and then he was in Missouri for a while where he beat up a guy who owed
00:27:07
him money from a pool game apparently he beat this guy up so bad that he was arrested in January 2006 and he was
00:27:15
facing a decades-long sentence for the assault some have said that the woman that he
00:27:22
married right around that same time he married this quote-unquote girlfriend so that she could not testify against him
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and then all of the other Witnesses were deemed incompetent in that case because
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they had all been drinking in the bar when the fight occurred so these charges Captain end up getting reduced to
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felony theft right so he beats up this guy the motive for beating him up was because the guy owed him money from a
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pool game well apparently after he beat up this guy he took that money from the dude so
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they didn't charge him with the physical assault they charged him with stealing the money well how much money I you know
00:28:03
I don't know how much it was but what happens here is not only a five dollar bill and a coke not only do the charges
00:28:10
get reduced but the sentence gets reduced as well so he he ends up looking at decades long or more charges
00:28:18
originally this ends up only being with him taking a plea deal and getting sentenced to six years he ends up
00:28:26
serving one now here's what we've learned obviously Michael system has a violent past in which he faced charges
00:28:33
for that assault right but women who have dated him say that he would choke them and that he was abusive
00:28:42
during their relationships what a romantic they said that at first he would come across as a great guy but
00:28:48
then he would become emotionally and physically abusive and manipulative he assaulted one woman he lived with in
00:28:55
Indiana after his release from prison and when she filed charges and saw a restraining order he sent someone over
00:29:03
to tell her to keep quiet so there is a conviction on his record relating to that incident
00:29:12
a misdemeanor battery charge for the assault which occurred December 23 2008. he also has a disorderly conduct
00:29:21
conviction in Indiana from 2002 and as we said he did a little bit of time in prison for that Missouri assault
00:29:29
on the pool player so as a violent temperament and he likes to put his hands on women that's what we are being
00:29:35
told Tracy's family has not spoken out to the media directly about Michael and Tracy's relationship
00:29:42
and whether it was violent or not uh but we do know the two were estranged and Tracy was living on her own in that
00:29:49
apartment that she was clearing out when she vanished and our sources tell us that Tracy had filed for and been
00:29:56
awarded a restraining order against Michael so if if the dead could talk then that's
00:30:05
Tracy telling us that yes this guy was violent to me toward me as well Tracy and Michael met I guess much
00:30:14
earlier in life when they were in high school Michael actually dated Tracy's younger sister Shelly now Shelley was
00:30:22
the most vocal advocate for her sister's case Shelly would even call up Michael system and beg him to provide the family
00:30:29
with answers and Tracy's death asking him to confess to the murder for the sake of their child because remember the
00:30:38
two had a kid together and not only that residents of the tight-knit community where both Tracy's family and Michael's
00:30:46
family live I'm being told that it they all seem to know that Michael had something to do
00:30:53
with Tracy's death that this is sort of an Open Secret in that area well here again let's go through the list real
00:31:00
quick violent temperament puts his hands on women we have a restraining order that was issued against him
00:31:07
from the victim and he has connections to Brown County which he would his connections are not
00:31:15
just that he knew the area but he was very familiar with the rural parts of the area because he went there to hunt
00:31:22
not only that some are saying the specific area where Tracy was later found right
00:31:28
now let's go back to 2004 Right Around The Disappearance time when Tracy disappeared Michael system was telling
00:31:37
people who asked about you know what happened to his wife that she had left permanently
00:31:43
that she had taken the two girls and left and then went to live in various crack houses in Indianapolis
00:31:51
he said that he had gotten her out of the crack houses and moved her in with his mother and that one day she went to
00:31:58
pick up her child support payment from her ex-husband and he warned her not to blow it on drugs and she just never came
00:32:06
back okay so of course this story is absolutely ridiculous this is what our Prime Suspect is telling people in town
00:32:14
so this okay this wiener spanker he is saying oh no no no no no no she she laughed and and she was she was going to
00:32:22
all these different crack houses and I'm the one that that was trying to get her clean yeah he's saying hey don't
00:32:28
be doing that stuff around our kids and don't be spending your money on drugs but the problem with his story Captain
00:32:35
is this does not account for any of the time that she's living on her own in her
00:32:40
own apartment or moving in with her mother borrowing the Blazer from her father to move you know what I mean it's
00:32:47
it's like a convenient way for him to explain away why she is not around anymore
00:32:53
and blame it on the victim and what's interesting here too you go okay well what does any of this mean does it mean
00:33:00
anything Nick and I say yes it does it what it means to me is you have her other family the rest of her family are
00:33:07
going where is she we don't know what happened to her oh but this guy's got a story right right he's got a story a
00:33:14
story that we know does not line up with the facts of her life leading up to her
00:33:19
disappearance how convenient and he can say whatever he wants I that's the unfortunate truth here that's the harsh
00:33:27
truth here is it the the possible offender lives to Die Another Day and can tell
00:33:34
whatever tale he wants between then and now she's not here to to defend herself and and tell us exactly what
00:33:44
happened what we do know from the talks report Captain is that drugs were not found in her system when she was
00:33:51
murdered right so look like you said he can say anything he decided to create some story some fictitious [ __ ]
00:34:02
and it doesn't make any logical sense with what we know that she was moving out of her apartment and she's going to
00:34:08
move in with her family that she borrowed her father's vehicle it doesn't make any logical sense but it
00:34:14
doesn't matter to him he just this is the story I'm going to tell and I'm just going to stick to that and you can you
00:34:21
know it's [ __ ] because you go it doesn't make any logical sense well and what it looks like to me here Captain is
00:34:27
that the family's theory is that Tracy was at her apartment loading things into the Blazer as she said to everyone
00:34:34
Michael must have shown up despite this restraining order the two argued he strangled her then he wrapped her
00:34:42
body in a quilt and drove her to another part of the state a part of the state that he is familiar with to dump her
00:34:50
and here's the thing too it would be really important and I know that the family's not been very vocal and Shelley
00:34:57
was really Tracy's most vocal Advocate sadly Shelley has passed away in the Years
00:35:06
so it would be really interesting to know and I think it would be important to know whether the quilt Tracy was
00:35:11
wrapped up in was this recognized by her family as one that belonged to her or the family or is this something that we
00:35:19
can put up there and say look this this quilt did not come from the victim did not come from the victim's
00:35:26
family are most the best explanation we would have is that it belonged to the killer
00:35:32
well and the tough thing here again is if the point of interception or the point
00:35:40
of abduction is her apartment what was she doing at the time she was packing up stuff
00:35:46
so the killer would have plenty of opportunity especially when you're moving you have your boxes everywhere
00:35:52
and things are open and you're packing blankets that you normally don't use did they just pull this quilt from our
00:35:59
own belongings did they move her body with her father's Blazer these are things obviously we don't know
00:36:06
but a very good point if the family goes we don't know whose quilt this is never seen it before
00:36:14
but but then the difficult thing is it's if you say well this quilt is from her ex-husband
00:36:21
well one could argue well maybe she took that with her when she moved out so that that becomes
00:36:28
the difficulty thing or if you go well that quilt is from you know uh from his mother's house
00:36:38
or something I still think that becomes difficult to prove because they they did
00:36:44
have a relationship they were married they did live together for a time period some of his belongings could have become
00:36:51
hers another thing that would be very helpful to know is what happened with this Chevy
00:36:56
Blazer right how did how did it get into the possession of this man and woman who ditched it when
00:37:02
they were pulled over by police well I bet mine hurt I would bet money that maybe your ex he's sitting there going
00:37:09
oh yeah I had to go around to different crack houses and get her out of those crack houses okay you're a crackhead
00:37:16
yourself that means you run in circles with crackheads it probably won't be that
00:37:20
hard to sell that car for a little bit of drugs it's a nice vehicle hey if you just give
00:37:28
me some drugs I'll give you this vehicle well in this look he's not a great guy he's not even a good guy right this
00:37:35
Michael guy that we've discussed oh he's a bag of [ __ ] but everything I've been
00:37:39
told is he's a you know he's an intelligent man and that he's would not be dumb enough to if he killed Tracy he
00:37:47
would not be dumb enough to be driving around the Chevy Blazer that he would have known better than to drive around
00:37:53
the vehicle that was tied to his missing and murdered wife with whom he was not supposed to be in contact with
00:38:00
right the people close to the case believe that he likely ditched it somewhere which makes sense so that
00:38:06
somebody else could magically come along and steal it in the middle of the night
00:38:09
or that maybe you know if he if he is dealing drugs then maybe he traded it off to one of
00:38:17
his drug Associates or called in a favor from somebody well again that goes back
00:38:24
to the circle of people that he runs around with you have a currency that's different than money because you
00:38:31
have addicts and so they sometimes they'll do things that they normally wouldn't do maybe at some point they
00:38:40
were a good person but because of this addiction they'll steal from their families they'll still from others
00:38:46
they'll burglarize the neighborhood uh they'll steal from little kids they might even murder somebody well and you
00:38:53
have a situation here that I find to be very interesting Captain where we have the potential of other suspects right we
00:39:00
have a fairly large suspect pool that I would say we have it could be an unknown
00:39:05
person it could be these two unknown people that were seen driving the vehicle it could be her first husband
00:39:11
but what we end up having at the end of the day is sources telling us no it was the most recent husband it was Michael's
00:39:18
system and he had a violent past he was not supposed to be around her and he probably was trolling her and bothering
00:39:25
her and that somehow they met up or he found her that night cleaning out the apartment and they got into some kind of
00:39:34
altercation well no I I would lean towards that because I think the other thing too is
00:39:39
she's not found with drugs in her system and so that was probably a control technique for him hey I'm using drugs if
00:39:47
I get you hooked on drugs I can control you more we already know he's abusive and one of the things that abusive men
00:39:55
do is they divide and conquer divide them from their family divide them from their their actual personality by
00:40:03
getting them hooked on a substance and one of the things that I believe and I don't know if how true it is but what
00:40:12
I believe is sometimes these guys get in these horrible rages when they realize I can't control this
00:40:19
person anymore I have lost the ability to continue the path of abusing them and doing whatever I wish to them and having
00:40:29
them be under my control so we already see some kind of Separation she's living our own apartment but maybe he shows up
00:40:37
that day and realizes she's clean she has kicked the habit she's kicked me out she's kicked the habit she's moving back
00:40:45
in with her parents I can't control her anymore and then flies into a rage and not only that if everything that we're
00:40:52
being told is true Michael was an addict himself I don't know his current situation but you just
00:41:00
said all of the things that that people that are drug addicted may do for money or for whatever other resource
00:41:08
he was an addict at the time of her disappearance so that becomes a whole nother
00:41:14
possibility it could be it could be the the drugs are more responsible for his actions than he is
00:41:22
and that's where look he got a plea deal one time in in Missouri there's still time if he in fact did
00:41:28
this there's still time for him to do the right thing and if he's not going to do the right thing there's other people
00:41:34
out there that know I I'm convinced of that that there would probably usually these people
00:41:41
even in personal cause homicides usually they tell somebody something and I gotta
00:41:48
believe man if this guy is hanging out with people that aren't so much on the up and up or if he had a call in a favor
00:41:53
to have the vehicle moved or or help him in any part of cleaning up and covering
00:41:58
up this murder right somebody definitely knows something well it makes you wonder
00:42:03
what happened to the children because like you're saying this is 17 years ago and yes she had three children they're
00:42:11
all grown adults now they grew up without a mother but they also grew up without knowing what happened to their
00:42:19
mom yep and again like we said of what we suspect is that she kicked a habit that she was turning her life around and
00:42:27
like I've always said like and we see it a lot of times with True Crime cases where they don't get as much attention
00:42:34
because you find out that the person was suffering with an addiction and I always go well it's just as sad to
00:42:40
me because they lost the opportunity to turn everything around they lost the opportunity to become
00:42:48
maybe what they were supposed to become all along but they got sidetracked and so these poor children grow up not
00:42:56
knowing what happened to their mom probably being fed lies from other parts of their family they deserve answers
00:43:03
just as well as the rest of her family does her oldest two were raised by her husband you know their father and then
00:43:12
her youngest who she had with Michael system was eventually raised by Tracy's family they're probably all in lockstep
00:43:23
with of trying to figure out what happened not just to their mother but to their daughter their sister and so on
00:43:30
now as we said Captain this is a very frustrating case Tracy deserves Justice and so far she has not received it based
00:43:38
on what we were able to learn this is one of those cases like another Indiana case that we've covered of a murdered
00:43:44
wife Charisse Bingham where police know who did it but for whatever reason the powers that be
00:43:51
don't feel like they have enough to bring charges we can only hope that the Indiana State Police Detective Chris
00:43:58
fears who told us that this is an open and active investigation is correct and that this case is being worked and might
00:44:07
one day be solved the recent arrests of Heidi fergus's husband Nick 11 years after her murder also gives us hope that
00:44:15
this even after all of these years have passed that these murdered wives can find Justice
00:44:27
foreign [Music] if you have any information that can help in this case of Tracy system or any
00:44:40
of the other Indiana cases that we have mentioned in today's podcast please contact the Indiana State Police at
00:44:53
1-317-232-8262 or for other ways to reach out to the Indiana State Police you can go on their website at
00:45:01
in.gov can't thank you guys enough you filthy animals can't thank you enough for listening to us every week in the
00:45:09
garage joining us in here being our friends being our buddies and for that we got a little something for you how
00:45:17
about some recommended reading thank you Captain this week we are recommending the corridor Killer by prolific and New
00:45:25
York Times best-selling true crime author Catherine ramsland this book the corridor killer is not about just one
00:45:32
particular killer but about several true crime stories from the great state of Delaware check out the corridor killer
00:45:40
and for more recommendations visit us at truecrime garage.com until next week be
00:45:45
good be kind and don't litter [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 60
    Most shocking

Episode Highlights

  • Tracy's Mysterious Disappearance
    Tracy's remains were found 70 miles from her apartment, raising questions about her last moments.
    “This reminds me captain of the Jennifer Kessie Case.”
    @ 03m 01s
    November 05, 2022
  • Family's Plea for Information
    Tracy's family offers a $10,000 reward for credible information about her death.
    “We are pleading for any information anyone will have on my sister.”
    @ 18m 23s
    November 05, 2022
  • A Frustrating Case
    This case has been incredibly frustrating due to the lack of information and movement.
    “This is one of the most frustrating cases that we've looked at.”
    @ 23m 46s
    November 05, 2022
  • The Prime Suspect
    Sources indicate that Tracy's estranged husband, Michael, is the prime suspect in her murder.
    “Police were convinced that Michael had shown up to the apartment that night.”
    @ 25m 37s
    November 05, 2022
  • Hope for Justice
    Recent arrests in other cases give hope that Tracy's case might one day be solved.
    “We can only hope that this case is being worked and might one day be solved.”
    @ 44m 07s
    November 05, 2022
  • Recommended Reading: The Corridor Killer
    This week, we're recommending 'The Corridor Killer' by Catherine Ramsland, exploring multiple true crime stories from Delaware.
    @ 45m 19s
    November 05, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • It's good to see you, thanks for listening!
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • Someone out there did this to her, it's not fair!
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • It's time to put out some more information.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • Tracy deserves Justice and so far she has not received it.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • Can't thank you enough, filthy animals!
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • Be good, be kind, and don't litter.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515

Key Moments

  • Cheers to Listeners01:22
  • Family's Heartbreak18:32
  • Playing Cards for Justice22:11
  • Frustration Mounts23:46
  • Prime Suspect Revealed25:14
  • Tracy's Family's Pain43:06
  • Recommended Reading45:17
  • Goodbye Message45:45

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown