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Detrez Green /// Part 1 /// 525

November 16, 2023 / 59:47

This episode covers the tragic case of Detres Green, a two-year-old boy who went missing after a tornado struck Albany, Georgia in January 2017. The hosts discuss the events surrounding the tornado, the search efforts for Detres, and the subsequent investigation into his disappearance.

The episode begins with a description of the tornado that hit Georgia, causing extensive damage and resulting in the deaths of 15 people. The Green family, consisting of parents Kevin Green and Adasia Rainey, and their three children, experienced the storm while inside their mobile home. After the tornado passed, they discovered their two-year-old son Detres was missing.

Search efforts commenced immediately, with emergency responders and volunteers scouring the area for five days, but no trace of Detres was found. The hosts highlight the confusion and conflicting statements from the parents, which raised suspicions among investigators and the community.

As the investigation unfolded, it became evident that the parents' behavior was concerning. Neighbors reported never having seen Detres, and family members expressed doubts about the parents' accounts of the events. The episode concludes with the case being handed over to the police as a missing persons investigation.

This episode sheds light on the complexities of the case, the emotional toll on the community, and the ongoing search for answers regarding Detres Green's disappearance.

TLDR

Detres Green, a two-year-old, went missing after a tornado in Georgia, raising suspicions about his parents' behavior during the search.

Episode

59:47
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business everybody gather around grab chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music]
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crime there are few things more terrifying than a tornado when the sirens go off
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and the clamoring whale warns of an impending force of nature strong enough to lift a home off of its foundation the
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human instinct is to run take cover and pray we are all taught at a young age to
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love Mother Nature but to fear her wrath as well when it comes to a tornado our parents taught us to take shelter in our
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basements at school we would take cover under desk but what about a 2-year-old little kids
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have to rely on the protection of a parent or the help of a caring adult the southern states are typically more prone
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to experience tornadoes due to atmospheric conditions and other meteorological forces we won't pretend
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to understand the state of Georgia suffers its share averaging about 20 tornadoes a year the storms cause a
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range of damage some result in minor damage to property taking down trees and power lines and others are more
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destructive lying waste to entire buildings but even in those cases rarely are people killed Warning Systems are in
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place notifying all to seek shelter in a bunker or basement to wait out the Twister above usually at least 20
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minutes notice is given and is sufficient to allow everyone to find a safe place to ride the storm out but in
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Georgia on January 21st and 22nd of 2017 40 tornadoes touched down in just under 48 Hours the strongest was an
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ef3 with Winds of 150 M hour and a mild wide path the damage was Indescribable in the wake of the storms the state
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resembled a Wast land and was declared a state of emergency FEMA and the National
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Guard were called in damage estimates were around $100 million but even more important than the destruction of homes
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farmhouses Barns and buildings was the loss of life 15 people died in the state of Georgia and five others and other
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Southern States as a result of these Twisters which left total devastation in their wake entire neighborhoods were
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flattened by the storm one of the areas hit in dowy County was a mobile home park located in Albany this was Piney
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Woods estates Mobile Home Park occupying the 3500 block of Sylvester Road as you
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can imagine the combination of a powerful tornado and mobile homes many of which are not permanently attached to
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a foundation is deadly around 3:15 p.m. on Sunday January 22nd the tornado directly hit the mobile home park
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according to the Albany heral it stayed on the ground for 71 miles ripping across the county and within minutes
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most of the mobile home park was pretty much wiped out some of the trailers were
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reduced reduced to match stick siiz pieces of debris trees from the woods surrounding the park were everywhere
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sinks toilets grills and Furniture were stuck in trees and cars were overturned it looked like a zombie apocalypse with
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disoriented people staggering for help one CNN reporter described it as looking like a nuclear bomb went off 145 people
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who were displaced by the storm sought shelter at the Albany civic center turning into a makeshift hostile for the
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newly homeless it was chaos and displaced residents despaired at the total loss of their homes and their
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belongings this week's True Crime Story is less about those terrible storms that
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affected so many people and more about what was brewing behind closed doors this is true crime garage and this is
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the case of detres [Music] green [Music] one of the mobile homes in the park located at 3527 Sylvester Road Lot
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Number 8 was occupied by a family of five on Sunday January 22nd young parents Kev green and adja rainy and
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their three young children two boys and a newborn girl weathered the storm in their mobile home they had decided not
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to heed the evacuation warnings that had blared throughout the park although their trailer still stood After the
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Storm passed through it was declared a total loss because of a large oak tree that fell through the roof into the
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kitchen area of the home as described by the Albany heral rainey's home like the
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rest of Piney Woods estate was a disaster area after the storm photos of the wrecked trailer show dirt litter
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shoes and toys amid piles of debris and as they picked themselves up and came to
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their senses in the new quiet After the Storm Kev and adasia noted the absence of their 2-year-old son detres so we
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have here Captain the Green family it's going to be a family of five we have Kevin a green and his partner Adia
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Rainey often I want to point out that in a lot of these news articles and news summaries of this story that we're going
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to be quoting and mentioning throughout our story and our timeline of this case they will often refer to adasia Rainey
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as simply by her last name rainy and often Uh Kevin a green by his last name green so I don't want anybody to get
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confused as we move our way through this uh this story here standing outside of what was the left of his home Kevin a
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green described for a CNN reporter the last time he saw his son detres now keep in mind detres is two years old quote
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last time I saw him he was playing with a toy I just hope they can find him you know I've been crying man but I don't
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want to cry in front of the cameras you know this is what kevina tells the reporter he goes on speaking with the
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reporter to say see that tree right here it kind of divided me and then he's asked were you with your two year old
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when this happened he responds no sir well we were in the same area but we weren't together kevina explained the
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last time I saw him he was right by that door I was cooking and he was kind of right by me kind of it's real difficult
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I can't find my son don't got a place to stay those were his statements to CNN Jerry green Kevin's brother he told the
00:10:54
following story to the Atlanta Journal Constitution according to J green Kev had told him later they were watching TV
00:11:02
when the storm hit and detres was playing with a remote control car on the kitchen floor quote he said he could
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hear the storm and strong winds and everything blowing detres was near the kitchen door when it flung open about
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the same time a massive tree fell and split the trailer separating parents from the child on the other side adasia
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started toward detres but Kev was afraid should get hurt and threw her down with
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the kitchen door open the wind pounded the parents screamed in the darkened afternoon and wondered how they would
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save their boy until quote it snatched my nephew out of the trailer Jerry green said DET trees's mother adasia never
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spoke to the media it sounds to me Captain like did she not speak to the media on that day I don't think nor
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could I find anywhere that she ever spoke with the media in regards to this situation we have a lot of her
00:12:03
statements that are coming secondhand through people that know her yeah she could be just too heartbroken to speak
00:12:09
on the matter she's reportedly to have told investigators that detres slipped away from her and walked into the
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kitchen area toward the back door of the trailer just before the massive oak tree
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crashed through the roof now adasia told emergency responders that she did not see the Child leave the home or get
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swept away but believed that indeed he had been carried off by the storm and this is what she told her family well
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same kind of story but sort of so Willie Rainey this is AD deia's grandfather he
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tells the media quote adasia told me that he meaning detres kind of got spooked from the storm and that he ran
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toward the kitchen the tree hit the house and the back door flew open and the storm pulled him out of the house
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end quote this was theoretically possible of course after all the average 2-year-old weighs about
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27bs literally nothing too powerful for an ef3 tornado everyone agreed that the storm that powerful a storm that
00:13:11
powerful could take a trailer off the ground so it certainly could have taken a 2-year-old child well think about the
00:13:18
pounds of pressure would take just to open up the door we don't know if that door was locked or or unlocked but or
00:13:26
latched yeah and then also the pounds of pressure and the force that would have to to rip a tree out and smash into the
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mobile home and I want to be clear about something before we move on here Captain
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when we say adasia told emergency responders emergency responders are responding to that area immediately
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after the tornado leaves the area these are not statements that she gave to those responders when they are arriving
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on scene and we'll see how that breaks down as we go through our timeline here now Captain here's a breakdown of day
00:14:01
one of the search for little detres green So within an hour this is exactly what I'm talking about right here within
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an hour after the storm hit the park Emergency Management officials convened on dowy County to survey the damage and
00:14:17
to assist people who were injured stranded or otherwise although First Responders were swamped and overwhelmed
00:14:24
by the number of people needing Aid after the storms passed through on Sunday Afternoon Of course a missing
00:14:30
toddler swept up by the storm will take top priority Sunday night note the times
00:14:37
here the tornado rolls through there about 3:15 that afternoon within an hour emergency services are in the area
00:14:46
they're at this mobile home park it's not until that night that they're searching for detres and we'll find out
00:14:51
why here in a bit but by Sunday night Captain it was all Hands-On deck in the search for detres green we have dozens
00:14:58
of of Albany search and rescue Personnel members of state agencies we have Civil
00:15:04
Air Patrol and specially trained search and rescue firefighters descending on that Piney Woods estates Mobile Home
00:15:13
Park and mobilized to scour the area for detres but I'm also guessing at this time there's no electricity in that area
00:15:20
no but the Personnel that we're describing here would be used to that type of situation and given the area you
00:15:28
know the the southern states are more prone to these types of Storms and tornadoes than up in the north and other
00:15:36
parts of our country this is not their first rodeo and so they know what they're doing and they're experienced
00:15:43
right they know where to look and we have this statement that kind of backs this up this comes from the dowy county
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search and rescue team member Lan Scala who told wtxl quote we started working this area
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B based on the rotation of the Winds If the child was taken out of the home and sucked over to the side where we thought
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he might have landed so we took all these debris Fields apart and the Georgia search and rescue team came in
00:16:14
and went back to the house the child was supposedly living in and took that debris field and house apart we covered
00:16:23
out to the Northwest going out to the bypass just to make sure that the child was not carried out in that direction of
00:16:30
the storm so what he's saying here is based off of the information that we had based off of the information and of the
00:16:38
storm itself right in the direction that it was traveling and what we've seen in
00:16:44
from previous storms and previous Damage Done by these types of tornadoes we had
00:16:49
a good idea of what area to prioritize when looking for this little boy and so he's saying we started with this area we
00:16:57
didn't find a trees we didn't find any trace of him right we're not finding clothing or shoes or anything belonging
00:17:03
to the boy or anything to indicate to us that he ended up in this area so then we're moving on to the next most likely
00:17:11
area that he would be to the point where eventually they're finding themselves at
00:17:16
the next prioritized area being the trailer itself being his home itself to make sure hey he's not under the tree
00:17:23
he's not you know he's not remaining in that area so The Searchers basically dismantled what was left of the family's
00:17:32
destroyed mobile home making sure that detres wasn't under that fallen tree or in the rubble of the home itself either
00:17:39
injured scared in hiding or otherwise now per WB rescue crews searched through every
00:17:47
inch of that home and both kadav and search dogs were brought into Aid in the search for detres green but a very
00:17:57
difficult situation cuz like who said he's under 30 lb he's a small little child we have big pieces of debris that
00:18:04
are have fallen all over the place have been moved all around this is a very difficult search extremely difficult
00:18:12
you're absolutely right now let's go through days two and three because day one unsuccessful now they didn't get
00:18:20
started until Sunday night but let's see what happens with days two and three as
00:18:25
the intense searches continued for Detroit is green so we have Searchers combing through what was left of the
00:18:31
surrounding homes the surrounding homes next to Green's parents home and the woods that is around the park itself the
00:18:41
mobile home park itself in total the search parameter was a half mile in diameter quote we are doing everything
00:18:48
we can to try to find this child and hopefully alive stated dowy County Emergency Management agency officials on
00:18:57
Tuesday helic opss hovered over piny Woods Estates and the surrounding woodlands and swamps searching for any
00:19:04
sign of the boy now Captain Bobby Spargo of the Albany fire department told the Albany heral quote we have our Georgia
00:19:14
search and rescue teams in here today they have gritted off the search area and they are taking it inch by inch
00:19:22
they're not moving a foot forward until they see dirt it is going to be a long drawn out process as far as we know the
00:19:31
boy is the only missing person from this area it was tough going because this area is swampy with areas covered in
00:19:41
thickets and brush as you said Captain debris was everywhere and parts of the surrounding landscape were actually
00:19:48
flooded with storm Waters from 4 in of rain that the area received over that weekend now search Crews had to hack
00:19:55
their way through the brush and cut through down trees it was basically like searching for a needle and a very
00:20:04
complex dangerous Hast stack Lan Scala the dowy county search and rescue team member told Fox 31 we ran some time grid
00:20:13
searches this morning my understanding is that Georgia's search and rescue is getting ready to start taking debris
00:20:21
Fields apart we're going to cut them up pull them apart piece by piece to make sure we get a thorough search of this
00:20:29
area the search and rescue teams had to cut paths into the debris field to clear
00:20:35
a way for kadav and live search dogs into these areas all to look for this missing little boy but there're standing
00:20:44
water around this area right in Parts yeah in parts so they received 4 Ines of rain over the course of that weekend in
00:20:53
our search we're now to Tuesday so there's been some time for uh the Earth to absorb some of that rain for it to
00:21:00
run off so yeah they have parts that are still holding some water we're not talking you know feet of water we would
00:21:09
be talking inches of water and as said there are some swamp areas that are would be in the Woodland area that
00:21:18
surrounds this mobile home park so those areas are always very difficult and as you pointed out I mean it's it's just a
00:21:26
really incredibly difficult situ a number one you're looking for a small boy that's a different kind of search
00:21:32
than if you were looking for an adult and then compound that with the storm that came through and you know when you
00:21:39
see these when you see these mobile home parks and the devastation that a ef3 tornado can cause anywhere but
00:21:49
especially in these mobile home parks you see it on CNN or Fox News or your local channel and you go wow I mean it's
00:21:56
just it's incredibly shocking and I think it also kind of reminds us just how small we are
00:22:04
individually right that that we aren't that powerful and that when mother nature comes in man she can make a big
00:22:11
mess and she certainly did here in this situation at that mobile home par well it looks with some of the overviews that
00:22:20
I'm I'm looking at here it does look like there are some deeper areas of water almost like a like ponds yes there
00:22:27
is a pond that is in that same area the other thing though too you know we talk about these dogs coming in be it kadav
00:22:36
dogs or live search and rescue dogs and you have already this complex situation but now you have a situation where
00:22:44
you're being told that the boy was in his mobile home he's near the door the door gets kicked open by the storm
00:22:54
somehow and then either he depending on which which story you want to give more weight to Dad's story or the mom's story
00:23:03
either he sucked out of the trailer or he made his way to the door and then got lifted by the tornado we have to take
00:23:11
into consideration here you've brought in these dogs to look for a scent or to find this boy they're having to clear
00:23:20
Pathways for the dogs to have something to smell to have something to kind of Trace to look for the TR
00:23:28
right and this is not going to be a quick process this is going to be a a long time consuming process top that off
00:23:35
with we've covered plenty of cases where you have a person that goes missing and
00:23:40
they bring in Scent dogs or you know somebody may have been abducted and they bring in dogs to try to track the person
00:23:47
or track what happened to them and they have a scent to follow they have somebody who walked on the ground to to
00:23:54
get to where they were going or even a child being lifted by an adult and carried away you still have something to
00:24:01
trace and here if if you have a boy that's been lifted up off of the ground and carried away by a tornado I don't
00:24:09
know what there would be to to trace for these dogs to track I guess with a kadaver dog they're trained to find a
00:24:18
kadav so if that were the situation they don't technically need a scent to follow
00:24:25
they're going to be looking for scent of human remains you know someone that that
00:24:30
has expired but again like you said there was so much debris on some level that has to throw off their proficiency
00:24:38
the other difficult thing too is and we'll get into the details of this as we go through our timeline and through the
00:24:46
details of the case but what were they using to give to the dogs to have them track the boy there's no mention of that
00:24:57
and I think that there's probably pretty good reason for that and I think we'll see that as we go on yeah because
00:25:05
overhead view of this area goes from a mobile park home neighborhood to it basically looks like a trash dump yeah
00:25:14
it's like looking for looking for a small person in a junkyard and it it's a junkyard that was just created hours ago
00:25:24
and he could be under any of that Rubble now I want to mention something here because we kind of breeed through it a
00:25:32
little bit and I think that it it would be a disservice to not really underline and Echo and point this this fact out we
00:25:41
have the search and rescue expert the the teams that were brought in the face of that search and rescue effort the
00:25:49
media person is telling the media the Tres is the only person in the storm that has not been found now that was on
00:25:58
Tuesday right the storms went took place on Sunday on Tuesday this person is telling the media he's the only person
00:26:06
that's not been found this storm wreaked havoc on the area there were people that
00:26:11
lost their lives uh maybe not in this imediate area but in the in the overall spectrum of where this tornado hit there
00:26:19
were people that lost their lives basically without going into too much information here what that person is
00:26:27
telling us is we found all of the other people that were carried away or affected by the storm be it dead or
00:26:35
alive we've located everybody else this is the only person that we have not been
00:26:40
able to locate number one and number two we don't have any trace of this boy as well it's very bizarre and we're going
00:26:48
to see some more bizarre activity as we continue on death by tornado is is kind of all over the map uh
00:26:56
2021 we have 73 deaths and 20 2020 we have 76 people that perished in tornadoes compared to 42 in 2019 so
00:27:11
they're kind of all over the map but it's obviously very rare rare and it's going to be completely based off of you
00:27:19
know how many tornadoes you have and then the severity of those storms themselves right because if you know we
00:27:26
have statistics on on car accidents and people that die in vehicle related incidents right if nobody drove Vehicles
00:27:34
then that number would go to zero you know so it's it's a very it's it's a difficult thing to put a number on right
00:27:41
to say that there's an average number for that because it's all based off of weather and storms that we all hope
00:27:48
don't happen well and again the fluctuation varies just in the amount of tornadoes that we have a, one year to,
00:27:56
1500 the next year wow I mean that's a significant jump you know it's not like we can say well we know for certain
00:28:04
there's going to be 1,500 tornadoes every year I've been very lucky I've experienced a lot of tornado warnings
00:28:12
and really only two real tornadoes that hit my immediate area that I can recall you know I couldn't imagine that's
00:28:21
that's one of those things I love those Southern States man in the summertime I'm remind when I when you flip on the
00:28:29
news it's just heartbreaking you hear of some some years you know you you referenced 1500 tornadoes one year some
00:28:36
years it feels like you turn on the TV and it's those storms are too frequent and too devastating yeah or or people
00:28:44
that have to also experience hurricanes on to days four and five the searches for detres resumed at dawn with even
00:28:52
more hands on deck civilian volunteers who turned out in droves to help look for the missing toddler after hearing
00:29:01
about him on the news were permitted to help at this time days four and five Crews searched through the debris and
00:29:08
demolished homes looking for any sign of detres video is available of Rescuers in
00:29:15
fatigues chopping through dense brush and downed branches to look for him I mean it was a mess Wednesday's search
00:29:24
was described by the Dayton Daily News as search and rescue workers in Albany were looking for the missing toddler
00:29:32
from dawn until dusk rescue crews had combed through the rubble of the boy's home but found nothing on Wednesday they
00:29:41
were still sifting through debris of neighboring homes Albany fire Captain Bobby Spargo said that Searchers were
00:29:48
trying to maintain a positive attitude but it was not easy according to wfxl search dogs reacted to to a pond
00:29:58
this is the the water area that you were talking about reacted to a pond behind the trailer park so they decided to go
00:30:06
ahead and drain this Pawn pumps were brought in and ran all night long dropping the water level by 8 feet then
00:30:16
the Lou County dive team was brought into comb the depths of the shallow murky water searches continued for five
00:30:25
full days and during these five full days of searching for little detres green there was no sign of the missing
00:30:35
child well if you just do a simple Google search on the power of tornadoes tornadoes have picked people and items
00:30:42
up carried them some distance and set them down sometimes without injury but they also have been known to pick up
00:30:49
people and animals and have transported them up to a quarter mile with more serious injuries I couldn't imagine
00:30:56
being carried a quarter of a mile away I mean just just insane now Searchers for detres found nothing as we
00:31:05
said there was some evidence of him or of a child anyway inside the home that he lived in photos of the wreckage show
00:31:16
children's shoes and such but detres was nowhere to be seen and as we pointed out
00:31:22
he's supposed to be one of three children living in that trailer so to say that they found evidence of him I
00:31:32
think they're going out of their way here to tell us Captain we found evidence of a child not specifically
00:31:39
detres green right Lon Scala told wtxl that there was very that it was very rare for a person to vanish Without a
00:31:49
Trace during a tornado saying in a search situation usually we find some clothing we find some human articles we
00:31:57
can tie to the victim in this case we didn't find anything do we have a report on what he was wearing though because
00:32:06
he's a toddler so it's like you know how many times you go to your friend's house
00:32:11
when they have a little one and and he's just kind of walking around in diapers or maybe a onesie right and
00:32:19
that's I mean again we're we're going to see the complexities of this case get even more complex as we go because what
00:32:28
we don't have here Captain is we don't have parents in the area helping with this search we don't have parents
00:32:38
speaking with law enforcement and search and rescue to help in any way with the search right so we have this incredibly
00:32:46
difficult search going on and Mom and Dad are Mia right what our search expert is saying here basically what he means
00:32:55
is that normally things belonging to the missing person be it an adult or a child
00:32:59
or what have you clothes and so on should have been found in the search area somewhere but they these weren't
00:33:06
found nothing was located in this situation and yes it's a complex area it's a needle in a hstack situation but
00:33:15
again this is not these people's first rodeo when it comes to these types of searches they're familiar with tornadoes
00:33:22
they're familiar with the damage that they do and they're familiar with how to find
00:33:27
people as quick and as soon as possible and they've spent a lot of time building
00:33:33
strategies to conduct these types of search and rescue efforts yeah and it's not like these experts are coming to the
00:33:39
parents and saying hey look there's no hope don't worry about searching for him there's there's no hope there's no sign
00:33:46
of him and there's no hope when you have experienced like like you said train experts it's it's hard to know how one
00:33:55
would react especially if you saw him or look like you said this is a traumatic situation there could be things that
00:34:04
they they maybe they did see him get Swept Away by the tornado and they just can't remember it with details because
00:34:13
it it's a traumatic thing but so maybe subconsciously they know that their child is gone and and we don't have to
00:34:22
there's no point of searching for him but if it was me I'm I'm looking as long as I can stand as long
00:34:32
as I can move as long as I can keep walking I am looking for this child everybody out there in Parts Unknown
00:34:39
please make note of this if I go missing I want the captain in charge of the search and rescue efforts he's not
00:34:46
stopping until the colonel or whoever he's looking for is located and that's what these search and rescue Personnel
00:34:55
were attempting to do with the Tre green but don't you find it strange that these
00:34:59
strangers are willing to put more effort into searching for this child than his own family members well and of course
00:35:07
and that caus that will lead to all kinds of questions in regards to the family the family Dynamic D Tres
00:35:16
green what was going on with the family are we to believe any of these stories that we're hearing of him being Swept
00:35:23
Away in the storm because after more than 5 days of intense costly and frantic searching officials felt that
00:35:31
they had exhausted all search Avenues dowy County Emergency Management agency director Ron row said in his Friday
00:35:40
daily press conference this is to update the public about the storm cleanup and search Endeavors for detres that they
00:35:48
had done all that they could possibly do and said that the case of missing detres
00:35:54
green was being remanded to the dowty County Police [Music] [Applause] [Music] Department this show is sponsored by
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[Applause] that all right we are back cheers mates cheers to everybody in the front back to
00:38:33
the sides especially the sides cheers how'd you all get in the sides yeah standing room only cheers to you Mr
00:38:43
captain now we have a statement here in regards to where we left off right where
00:38:49
we have the emergency agency director Ron row telling us you know we've done all we could and now we're handing this
00:38:59
over to the police department to the dowy County Police Department and his statement is as such we've had over 200
00:39:09
Personnel here in town including Georgia search and rescue teams working hours and hours doing a search and rescue
00:39:16
operation we've cleared all three areas a b and c divisions that were gritted off we have cleared an area to ground
00:39:25
level and below at least 150 yard away from the site we've drained a pond to where you could walk through it we have
00:39:35
put dive teams in other sections of it we have been a mile and a half Downstream we've have been hundreds of
00:39:44
yards past this Pond area we've literally cleared the ground to dirt we have completed this and we've officially
00:39:52
ended our search for the missing child we've completed our Mission it is in our best expert judgment that in this area
00:40:01
the missing person is not there at this time again that last line was the missing person is not there at this time
00:40:10
so this statement is pretty unequivocal right now per the Albany Herold dowy County police chief Jackie Battle said
00:40:20
that going forward D trees's case would be handled by the dcpd at a missing person's case saying quote the
00:40:29
information we were given is that this child was lost in the storm and of course we called in search and rescue
00:40:35
and as you've heard they've exhausted Everything Chief battle said that the dcpd investigation would continue and
00:40:43
that they were in the process of conducting interviews about detres so now Captain after the official searches
00:40:50
for detres were called off investigators began to question what they had been told about D trees's disappearance
00:40:57
itself there were some red flags they told the media and Sergeant David McVey who was the chief dcpd detective on the
00:41:07
case said they pulled out all the stops in the searches for detres which went on
00:41:12
for 5 days involved hundreds of personnel and cost several millions in Manpower and Equipment we're pretty
00:41:18
confident we would have come across his remains he said but the Oddity of the child Vanishing Into Thin Air wasn't the
00:41:25
only thing that raised investigators eyebrows something was wrong here and it started it started with the parents
00:41:33
kevina and Adia right and now in our timeline the media starts to read between the lines and the official
00:41:40
statements about the boy right which hinted that all was not right and so some members of the media started to do
00:41:48
some digging of their own here's an excerpt from the Atlanta Journal Constitution when the wind died down
00:41:55
residents emerged to see the devastation Chris Terell 33 who lived near D trees's
00:42:02
family told the Atlanta Journal Constitution he went to help Neighbors at rainy and grain's trailer
00:42:10
so he's at D trees's family's trailer he says that there he helped extract a baby
00:42:17
girl who was apparently unharmed between a fallen dresser and the wall Terell said he then asked two men in front of
00:42:26
the trailer if they needed more help one of those men was Kevin a green the other
00:42:34
a neighbor to which both said no okay so to be clear what this statement means is
00:42:41
we have parents right we have one of the parents is there with another person standing in front of the trailer this
00:42:48
man just pulled your little girl your baby girl from the trailer who was lodged under debris inside the home this
00:42:57
is immediately after the storm Kevin a green supposedly has a missing 2-year-old at this time immediately
00:43:03
after the storm the storm that supposedly took the child according to his statements and his eyeballs what he
00:43:10
says he saw with those eyeballs and he's asked if he needed any help and apparently nope we're all good right
00:43:17
what parent in their right mind who could not find their child would say no to an immediate offering of help he saw
00:43:25
it with his own balls but he doesn't need help he when he says hey I'm all good here we're all
00:43:32
good we don't need no help it's cuz they ain't looking so if you ain't looking then why
00:43:38
would you need help looking they ain't looking and part of me wonders have they not come up with the scenario yet right
00:43:48
have they not come up with the idea that their child was taken by the storm because it was too fresh it was too new
00:43:54
and old dad ain't that quick then we have others who also noted the disinterested reaction of both of D
00:44:02
trees's parents they go on the record to tell us what they were witnessing now the
00:44:08
following is all from the Atlanta Journal Constitution so we have Lisa kie this is ad's Aunt these two were very
00:44:18
close with Lisa being a mother figure to the young woman Lisa told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that her niece and
00:44:26
cevian's behavior after the tornado was odd Lisa said she never saw ad Deja cry and she was shocked by how soon her
00:44:35
niece referred to detres in the past tense and Lisa's sister Whitney Rainey said she confronted their niece about
00:44:45
the Tres they were having a video chat and adasia wouldn't look her in the eye while telling those last moments talking
00:44:54
about those last moments in the trailer well I was just going to say I mean the these are major red flags you you're not
00:45:00
asking for help you're not even looking you don't seem to be concerned you seem to have no emotion and now when you're
00:45:09
talking to a family member you can't even look at them straight into the into the eyes and what I find so interesting
00:45:15
about this year Captain is in regards to Kevan but more importantly here with adasia is that we have people saying
00:45:25
look this doesn't feel right something's wrong here and that's not just law enforcement or the search and rescue
00:45:34
teams now it's her own family people that she was close with people that would have her back they're the ones
00:45:41
saying there's something off here there's something strange going on yeah I think the first question for law
00:45:48
enforcement is is it possible for this child to be swept away by the tornado and you go yes and then even with the
00:45:59
expertise of the search team you start going is it possible that that this child was picked up moved we know that
00:46:10
that actual like adults have been picked up by tornadoes and moved a quarter of a
00:46:15
mile you if you have this child moved to to actual moving body of water if he hits that water you know then he could
00:46:25
even travel further and you just would never find them so is that possible yes it is possible so it's possible the
00:46:33
tornado took him away it's possible that the tornado took him into a situation that these these expert Searchers were
00:46:41
not able to find him that is all possible but why doesn't the parents care why does it seem like this child
00:46:48
wasn't even in the trailer exactly and that's where we have to call everything into question you're 100% right it is
00:46:56
possible that he was swept away and they just couldn't find him doesn't seem to be likely from what the experts are
00:47:02
telling us but possible and then you have not just law enforcement questioning the parents themselves
00:47:11
neighbors questioning the parents but you have ad deia's family right like I mean if somebody if somebody walked up
00:47:18
to you on the street some person you never met in in your life walks up smacked him in the face walks up to you
00:47:25
and says so and so is a real a real turd burglar or Turd Ferguson or somebody that you've known forever like you've
00:47:35
known me forever if I walk up to you and say so and so is a real a real Turd Ferguson aren't you going to believe me
00:47:42
like doesn't my statement carry a lot more weight than just some stranger or some Rando person that you've met within
00:47:48
the last day this is her family saying something's not right here we don't believe her we have Sergeant mcve the
00:47:56
detective he said he was concerned because in his assessment the parents emotions weren't in it he also noted
00:48:03
that Kevan and adasia gave conflicting statements about what happened to detres then we have Willie Rainey Adia rainey's
00:48:12
Grandfather said that what he noted was Kevan complaining about a missing cell phone after the storm saying that Kevan
00:48:23
was intent on looking for the phone but not his missing son and here's where it gets really interesting this is per
00:48:31
the Atlanta Journal Constitution Article six days after the tornado a child welfare worker took custody of D trees's
00:48:39
three-year-old brother an infant sister asked why the kids were taken the DFCS spokeswoman would simply say that
00:48:49
the agency listens to police seems like a pretty simple and forward answer maybe we have to read between the
00:48:58
lines a little bit but sounds to me like they have cause to believe that the other children could be in danger based
00:49:05
off of what police are telling them so someone had alerted DFCS that the remaining children of
00:49:12
Kevan and adasia might be could be in possible danger in the care of their parents yeah but could you imagine being
00:49:22
that grandfather and hearing that you're Kevon or however you want to say his stupid name is looking for a cell phone
00:49:32
and it's ups said about a cell phone but doesn't seem to be upset about his 2-year-old son we do have cevian's
00:49:39
brother Jerry green who refutes all of this he kind of goes to cevian's defense saying that he remembers his brother and
00:49:47
Deasia crying inconsolably after d trees's disappearance he told the newspaper don't anybody know my brother
00:49:55
like I do he ain't lying but I don't know regardless to me Captain it seems like that there's so much more than just
00:50:03
the lack of emotion on the part of the parents that raises suspicion to me and obviously to many others out there well
00:50:11
what do they say sh you know hurt me once shame on me hurt me twice you're dead to me hurt me three times your
00:50:18
family maybe there's some riffs between son and father and and and he's not and The Grandfather's not giving an accurate
00:50:26
depiction of actually what happened yeah I mean it's a tricky situation you have
00:50:31
like you were saying the the police have a hunch the neighbors have a hunch and now family members have a hunch yeah and
00:50:38
basically what I see here is you like you just said everybody has a hunch the only one that seems to be coming to the
00:50:45
defense of of these two of the parents is kavan's brother Jerry green everybody else is calling everything into question
00:50:52
the you know her grandfather uh her her Aunt her other family members everybody else is saying again that there's just
00:51:01
something that's suspicious here incredibly suspicious let's take that suspicion a step further because D
00:51:07
trees's parents they stopped talking to the media after that one initial clip in which
00:51:14
Kevan told them that he hoped they would find his son so that that brief little CNN spot is the only time that I could
00:51:23
find that either parent spoke with the media in regards to their missing son which is right we've been doing this
00:51:30
long enough to know that that's incredibly bizarre behavior we have the statements of law enforcement saying
00:51:36
that this is the only time that that any of them spoke with the yeah I don't I don't really have a problem with that
00:51:42
because I think if my child went missing especially a 2-year-old I I don't think
00:51:49
I'd want to talk to anybody other than search team law enforce M family members that would be the only people that I'd
00:51:58
be talking to right uh I and it's not a situation that I'm thinking that my child was abducted if I thought my child
00:52:08
was abducted now of course I'm talking to the media and I'm and and I'm talking I'm doing press conferences to talk to
00:52:16
that individual that I think maybe abducted my child but that it's this is a different situation I agree but
00:52:23
wouldn't you agree that it starts off as a different situation than after six or
00:52:27
seven days in search and rescue Personnel telling you we should have found him or a trace of him by now right
00:52:35
as a parent aren't you going okay well anything's possible maybe maybe the storm took him and somebody found him a
00:52:42
bad person found him I mean wouldn't you be willing to shift gears make adjustments and do anything pull out all
00:52:49
the stops after I mean I I get it after day one and day two maybe day three but at some point I'm going this this [ __ ]
00:52:55
ain't working let's try something new here and I mean let's take it a step further as from a law enforcement
00:53:02
perspective they're hoping and praying that the parents will speak with media why because they ain't talking to law
00:53:08
enforcement so if if they're going to get any statements at all they're hoping that it will come by way of media and
00:53:15
despite the news media TV cameras and Crews and reporters being all over the mobile home park staking out the
00:53:22
family's destroyed residents and talking to no one was found this is the other bizarre thing no one was found at the
00:53:30
piny woods Estates where they lived whoever recalled seeing detr ever no one ever recalled seeing him at any point
00:53:39
any of the neighbors so one network Fox 31 did wait back up a second I'm trying to follow out what you're saying there
00:53:47
they've never seen the child ever so the place where they lived now they didn't live there for the entirety of detres
00:53:54
green life but they lived there for a long time the media reporters are going around and asking neighbors questions
00:54:03
because again the the parents aren't speaking with the media either so they the media wants to tell this story this
00:54:10
is a story of interest it's a missing toddler and a storm is to blame it's a rare situation you they're in the
00:54:17
business of telling stories fascinating stories that are rare stories and this here that's what you have so it was of
00:54:25
interest to the media they're begging the parents for a statement or to do an interview and outside of that one
00:54:32
interview that the father does with CNN they got nothing so they're interviewing
00:54:37
neighbors that lived in this trailer park in this mobile home park and saying tell us about the family tell us what
00:54:43
you think happened uh tell us about the concern in the community for this little
00:54:47
boy and every person after person after person neighbor after neighbor after neighbor are all saying the same thing
00:54:53
all the time that they lived here I never saw that little boy I've never once seen him they couldn't find anybody
00:54:59
that lived in that mobile park to go on record or camera saying that they had seen the kid at any time ever well it
00:55:06
also becomes a tricky situation because they had two other children that were taken away from a toddler an infant and
00:55:14
a three-year-old was that correct so detres was the middle child there was an there was an older child slightly older
00:55:22
and then we have the little baby girl that after detres is missing and the parents are not cooperating with the
00:55:29
search and rescue effort right supposedly according to Child Services they're told something by police and
00:55:35
they make a determination that look these other kids could be in danger based off of what could have happened to
00:55:41
detres so let's go in there and take these kids and well I also wonder if they use that as a a tactic if we take
00:55:49
their other kids maybe they'll start trying to cooperate with us mhm maybe they'll start trying to talk to us so
00:55:56
here's a breakdown of what I could find in regards to people saying that they've
00:56:01
seen detes or have not right so the O so we have one person right I did find a comment from D trees's Aunt kashada
00:56:09
Griffin she told a news station that thees was friendly and he would walk up to you and hold on to you but then we
00:56:17
have the search and rescue worker who tells a different news station quote we talk to people in the mobile home park
00:56:26
nobody said they had ever seen either parent with the child although they had seen the parents buying diapers nobody
00:56:33
in the mobile home park had ever come up and said yes we saw that child here that
00:56:38
day so that made it difficult for us end quote now so what they're buying diapers
00:56:44
we just went through who lives in the family we have two other small children hopefully they're buying diapers yeah
00:56:50
they had three children that would all be in Diapers at that time so I think Captain we can just outwardly say here
00:56:58
right like so again despite the news media TV cameras and Crews and reporters being all over the the the park can't
00:57:06
find anybody to say that we saw him and then we have the actions or reactions of
00:57:12
the parents themselves they stopped talking to the media after that one interview by CNN with the father and
00:57:21
then you start to you start to remind yourself this is not how concerned parents act and therefore you know we
00:57:28
don't have the parents out creating publicity we don't have them handing out flyers we don't have them posting on
00:57:35
social media or doing anything at all to spread awareness of their missing little
00:57:39
boy it's almost like if it went down the way they said it went down it seems to me like they're fine with it or they're
00:57:46
just going to sit back and do nothing and allow everybody else to search but they're not going to do anything not
00:57:51
actively anyway so I think we can just say what everybody listen in at work and in their cars is thinking right CU as
00:57:57
you can see this boy is missing no doubt about that but just 6 days or so into the search for 2-year-old detres green
00:58:07
people started to wonder when was detres really seen [Music] last [Music] thank you so much for joining us and
00:58:28
like always for everything True Crime Check out True Crime garage.com join us back here in the
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today

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most shocking
  • 70
    Most unpredictable
  • 65
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • The Tornado's Wrath
    On January 21-22, 2017, 40 tornadoes struck Georgia, causing immense destruction and loss of life.
    “The damage was indescribable.”
    @ 05m 34s
    November 16, 2023
  • Desperate Search for Detres
    After the tornado, a frantic search begins for 2-year-old Detres Green, swept away by the storm.
    “We are doing everything we can to try to find this child.”
    @ 18m 48s
    November 16, 2023
  • Search and Rescue Efforts
    Rescue teams comb through debris for five days, but find no trace of the missing child.
    “We found all of the other people... this is the only person that we have not been able to locate.”
    @ 26m 32s
    November 16, 2023
  • Bizarre Disappearance
    Investigators question the circumstances of the child's disappearance after exhaustive searches yield no results.
    “The oddity of the child vanishing into thin air raised investigators' eyebrows.”
    @ 41m 25s
    November 16, 2023
  • Family Dynamics Under Scrutiny
    The behavior of the child's parents raises concerns among family and investigators alike.
    “There's something off here, something strange going on.”
    @ 45m 41s
    November 16, 2023
  • Suspicion Surrounds Parents
    Neighbors and family question the parents' behavior after the child's disappearance. 'Something's not right here.'
    “Something's not right here.”
    @ 47m 51s
    November 16, 2023
  • Media Silence Raises Eyebrows
    The parents stopped talking to the media after one interview, which is seen as bizarre behavior.
    “This is not how concerned parents act.”
    @ 57m 25s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • It looked like a zombie apocalypse.
    Detrez Green /// Part 1 /// 525
  • I just hope they can find him.
    Detrez Green /// Part 1 /// 525
  • It's like looking for a small person in a junkyard.
    Detrez Green /// Part 1 /// 525
  • Death by tornado is kind of all over the map.
    Detrez Green /// Part 1 /// 525
  • There's something off here, something strange going on.
    Detrez Green /// Part 1 /// 525
  • Doesn't my statement carry a lot more weight than just some stranger?
    Detrez Green /// Part 1 /// 525

Key Moments

  • Tornado Terror04:03
  • Family in Crisis08:10
  • Search Efforts18:30
  • Search and Rescue28:55
  • Bizarre Circumstances41:25
  • Questioning Parents47:08
  • Child Welfare Concerns48:45
  • Bizarre Behavior57:25

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown