00:00:00
Geico presents a 30-second podcast between your podcast. Today's story is shared by one of our listeners. It's
00:00:06
called Betrayed by Bill. It was in that moment I caught who was staring back at me in betrayal, or more
00:00:13
like what? My insurance bill. With trembling [music] hands, I grabbed my phone and switched to Geico, saving
00:00:19
about $900 in the process, and never to be betrayed again. Now, that was bloody riveting. It feels
00:00:26
good when the story ends with savings. It feels good to Geico. You're juggling a lot, but you can still [music] squeeze
00:00:33
in a financial plan. With a Northwestern Mutual financial advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's
00:00:39
personalized. So, if you're tying the knot, closing on [music] a house, or welcoming a little one,
00:00:47
you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right [music] time to
00:00:50
feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at nm.com. [music]
00:00:56
The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. >> [music]
00:01:34
[music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks
00:01:44
for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always, [music] ladies and gentlemen, we have an honorary member of
00:01:49
the Bills Mafia with us. Here is the Captain. >> Yeah, it's good to be seen and good to
00:01:54
see [music] you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. This week we are getting geared up for
00:02:05
the holiday season. We are drinking one of the very best holiday beers, Great Lakes Christmas Ale. This is one of my
00:02:13
favorite December and January beers. >> [music] >> This is a delicious ale with holiday
00:02:17
spices and sweet honey and it's perfect for this holiday season. ABV 7.5% garage
00:02:24
grade four and a half bottle caps out of five. And here are some wonderful people
00:02:29
that we would like to celebrate this holiday season with. First up, cheers to Teagan in New Haven, Vermont.
00:02:36
>> And a big shout out to Catherine in Preston, United Kingdom. Next we have a cheers that goes to Deanna in Kuna,
00:02:44
Idaho. And big we like your tip to Emily in Concord, California. Next we have a thank you from Jillian in Australia and
00:02:51
last but certainly not least we have Teresa in you to everyone who helped us fill up
00:02:59
the fridge for this week's show. And if you want to help us out for next week's show, go to truecrimegarage.com
00:03:05
and click on the donate button. Yeah, say it with me b w e w r u n beer run. Go to our website truecrimegarage.com,
00:03:14
go to the store page and get you some. And that is enough of the business. [music]
00:03:20
All right, everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
00:03:34
>> [music] [music] >> When you take me >> [music] >> there you go. >> [bell] >> There [music] you go.
00:03:58
>> The family of a missing 28-year-old woman held a press conference today searching for answers. Paige Coffey has
00:04:03
been missing for 9 months now. Her family says she would never have left without telling them. The reward for
00:04:09
information now up to $5,000. Kendall Forward live in Cleveland now with more details on this. Kendall.
00:04:15
Aaron, Paige was last seen here in surveillance video at The Steel Yard Commons 7 months ago on May 7th. Now her
00:04:23
family hoping someone somewhere might have some information on where she is now. They say she was so close to her
00:04:30
family and she never would have wandered off without telling them. Paige is a wonderful young lady. She's
00:04:36
very close to her family. After 9 months, Paige Coffey's family still searching for her, still searching for
00:04:43
answers. Her aunt with Paige's heartbroken mother standing by her side says she never would have left without
00:04:49
telling her family. Paige has a very close relationship with her parents, her grandparents, brothers, and cousins and
00:04:55
there is no way she would go over 9 months without contacting her family. Paige was last spotted on May 7th on
00:05:00
Steel Yard Commons surveillance video. Her family saw her just a week prior. Her aunt describes her as reliable and
00:05:07
dependable, an art lover with a great personality. Her disappearance is completely unlike her and she knows
00:05:14
something is wrong. There would be no reason for her to just walk away that we could think of.
00:05:23
She She was just a great girl. Paige, now 28 years old, lived in Cleveland and worked in Macedonia at Torrid, a women's
00:05:30
clothing boutique. She attended Youngstown State and visited her grandmother in Bratenahl often.
00:05:35
Bratenahl police now investigating searching for answers and they say no tip is too small.
00:05:41
>> It's extremely unusual that 9 months have passed and no one has heard or seen Paige Coffee. The reward
00:05:48
now up to $5,000 for information to find Paige. Her family begging for some sort
00:05:54
of information to help bring her home. No no tip is too small. Um it's been agonizing over these last 9
00:06:01
months. Now we showed you her picture there, but she's about 5' 8" and also has a tattoo on her arm of piano keys.
00:06:07
Again, this was the last place she was spotted on surveillance video here at Steelyard Commons. So if you have any
00:06:13
information or know where she might be, contact Crime Stoppers or Bratenahl Police. Reporting live at Steelyard
00:06:20
Commons, funnel forward 19 News. >> [music] [music] [music] >> Paige Coffee is a young woman who grew
00:06:40
up in the Cleveland, Ohio area. She graduated from Charles Brush High School in 2010 and enrolled at North Coast
00:06:48
College. Paige wanted to study fashion merchandising, something that she loved and something that came naturally to
00:06:54
her. She worked throughout her teens and 20s at various retail stores and women's
00:07:00
fashion retailers, at least one that is located in the Steelyard Commons shopping area, which is in the greater
00:07:07
Cleveland area. Paige is one of those young women who is always trying new hairstyles, experimenting with makeup,
00:07:14
and wearing carefully curated outfits. Prolific selfies of her show a young woman who rarely smiles for the camera,
00:07:22
yet looks as though she's enjoying herself. Paige is very close with her mother, her aunt, and her cousins.
00:07:29
She spoke with them daily, if not several times a day. Her aunt says she is very artistic, outgoing, reliable,
00:07:36
and dependable. Paige's mother, Trenetta Williamson, who we spoke with at length
00:07:41
and who is the major source of information for this episode, said that Paige is super outgoing, a talker,
00:07:48
someone who is friendly and bubbly. Mother and daughter share a loving relationship. They were very close. In
00:07:56
2012, when Paige was still young, she got married to someone who we will call T Coffee. The two met in high school.
00:08:04
Paige's mother, Trenetta, was against the marriage because she thought that the two were too young.
00:08:09
She wanted Paige to focus on college and her career. Paige and T got hitched anyway and moved to Hawaii, where he was
00:08:17
stationed with the army. But the young couple struggled and the two high school sweethearts divorced.
00:08:23
This in 2016. After the marriage, Paige was living back in the greater Cleveland area. Then
00:08:29
in 2017, Paige met someone. She started dating Patrick Samar Mason, Jr. He was in his mid-20s from the greater
00:08:39
Cleveland area. They dated on and off for about 2 years. And this is where Trenetta says Paige started to change.
00:08:47
According to Paige's mother, she could tell early on in this relationship that Patrick was pretty controlling. Yeah,
00:08:55
Patrick goes by the nickname of P.J. So, we will refer to him mostly as P.J. throughout this episode. Paige stopped
00:09:04
posting on her social media, and her last Facebook post was in early March 2017.
00:09:12
She told her family that P.J. would check her Instagram account and see what she was doing and who she was talking
00:09:19
to. And with this, Paige's personality began to change. All of her life, she was always the chatterbox. Now, she was
00:09:28
becoming closed off, hardly speaking at all. And some would say she was becoming
00:09:33
rather secretive. Paige started dropping out of touch with her family and friends for days at a
00:09:39
time. She was unreachable and then later would say that she lost her phone or it
00:09:44
was broken. Her family would get her a new phone so they could keep in touch and time and
00:09:51
time again the replacement phone would break or get lost. >> Yeah, if you Google signs of a
00:09:57
controlling boyfriend, the first thing that pops up is that they increasingly isolate you from friends and family.
00:10:04
>> The phone always seems to be the first cut off point for these types. Yeah. By
00:10:09
this time, Captain, we have Paige, she's living in a house on Oakshore Drive in Bratenahl. Now, we are not liking what
00:10:17
we are seeing here, are we, Captain? No, I don't like anytime I hear about somebody being isolated within a
00:10:23
relationship. >> No, so now in our timeline, we are in the early 2019 time frame, March and
00:10:31
April of 2019 to be more on point. This is when something incredibly alarming happens. Things start to get scary. This
00:10:41
is when an officer from the South Euclid Police Department was out front knocking
00:10:46
on Trenetta's door. When she answered, the officer said that he was there to return a lost and found purse that
00:10:55
belonged to a Paige Coffee and asking if she was there. Now, Trenetta told the officer that Paige no longer lived
00:11:02
there, but it makes sense that they went to Trenetta's home because the address listed on Paige's driver's license was
00:11:09
still Trenetta's home address. The officer asked the obviously concerned mother if she had any idea why the
00:11:18
police found Paige's purse full of personal items on the side of the highway. Trenetta said no, it didn't
00:11:25
make any sense. The officer asked Trenetta if she could get in touch with Paige as the officer would like to ask
00:11:32
her some questions. Mainly to make sure that the young woman was all right. Trenetta explained how Paige had
00:11:40
recently become distant from the family and how she was very difficult to get a hold of. Telling him she didn't really
00:11:46
respond to text or even pick up the phone when called. The officer left the purse with Trenetta and before leaving
00:11:54
took an incident report to document the situation. Now, Paige's purse was actually recovered covered by Macedonia
00:12:01
police, which is nearby. They gave it to the South Euclid police because of the address listed on the driver's license
00:12:09
found inside. This making the situation even more of a big question mark for both police, but more
00:12:17
importantly Paige's family. So, now because of this whole weird purse thing, Paige's family is just perplexed and
00:12:24
extremely concerned for Paige's well-being. It's not good when you can't get a hold
00:12:29
of a loved one and then police show up at your front door because they found her purse full of personal items on the
00:12:36
side of the freeway. >> No, that's a very bad sign. Now, if that wasn't weird enough for you, well, then
00:12:41
check your head because things are going to go from scary to very strange with the quickness. Because on that same very
00:12:49
day, and even though PJ knew Trenetta did not like him one bit, Trenetta receives a text from PJ. So, PJ is
00:12:59
texting Trenetta. And boy, does he have a story to tell. PJ told her that Paige had shot him in the head. Say what?
00:13:10
Minutes later, Trenetta receives a photo of PJ's bloodied head. A few minutes go by and then boom,
00:13:19
another photo. This time he sent her a photo of a handwritten note. It's a note in Paige's handwriting in
00:13:27
which she is confessing to shooting PJ in the head. So now the police are involved once
00:13:35
again regarding Paige. This is on the same day as the purse incident. The police intervened and ended up putting
00:13:42
Paige in the hospital for a psych evaluation because she was completely hysterical. So Captain, even though we
00:13:50
have this note that appears to be Paige's handwriting, a note saying she shot PJ in the head. Right. It looks
00:13:59
like this whole incident is not so cut and dry. It's more complicated than that and a little confusing to boot.
00:14:07
>> It's quite a palava. >> One of the sergeants told Paige's family that he feared a murder-suicide
00:14:13
was in the future for these two. >> Well, because these people are so abusive and controlling and they
00:14:18
manipulate you a lot of times you don't feel like there's any way out. >> Yeah, and it's not really clear exactly
00:14:26
what happened here in this situation. Now, one thing that is fact is PJ actually had bullet fragments in his
00:14:34
head. So, he was shot. But so was his car. His car was shot up, so he was shot, too, but no one was
00:14:43
really for sure who actually fired those shots. The hospital would be a chance for Paige
00:14:50
to get away from PJ and out of what is clearly a horrible situation. Even if she did shoot him in the head, which I
00:14:58
don't think that he she did, this is clearly not a good situation for anybody. Right. While in the hospital,
00:15:05
Paige told her mom that PJ forced her to write the gunshot note at gunpoint. And
00:15:11
we know that his car had been shot up. That portion of the story was on the news. And at least one eyewitness
00:15:18
confirmed bullet holes on his vehicle. So it looks to me like PJ is in it with somebody else.
00:15:27
He's got something else going on here, and he might be using this situation where he's already controlling this
00:15:34
young woman who's in a air quotes relationship with him. And he's going to use her as the scapegoat
00:15:42
for why he ends up shot. Forcing her to write a note at gunpoint. >> Well, this is some wild April Page
00:15:50
was released from the hospital. Now, she told her mom that she was trying to get
00:15:55
away from PJ. And while it is unclear as to the details, it appears that the two
00:16:01
eventually reconciled. And unfortunately, within a month, Paige would be gone. But, there's some more
00:16:07
interesting events leading up to her disappearance. This takes us to Tuesday, April 30th, 2019. This is when Paige
00:16:16
asked her mother to give her a ride to Oakwood Village. Trenetta did not ask Paige what she was
00:16:23
doing there or what she intended to do there because she knew PJ lived in that area. Paige knew that her mom did not
00:16:31
approve of PJ's treatment of her and wanted to hear nothing about him. And of course, Trenetta was upset about
00:16:39
the choices that Paige was making. And she let Paige know about it. Now, Paige got out of the car and walked
00:16:45
away, and that's the last time Trenetta saw her daughter. The next day, Paige text her mom
00:16:54
asking her to add $30 to a Cash App card. After the stay in the hospital, Paige was without a vehicle and without
00:17:04
a job. It appears that the only thing she thought she had at that time was PJ and her mom.
00:17:12
Unfortunately, for reasons we won't pretend to understand, it looks like she was choosing PJ. And because of this,
00:17:21
she is becoming more and more isolated. And this was because PJ wanted her all to himself.
00:17:28
Here's some proof from a series of text we found, one between her friends that says, quote, "Paige told me before he
00:17:37
took her phone and didn't want her to have a job, he wants to make her life so shorty that
00:17:43
she has no choice but to always need him." Yeah, he's a real piece of On May 5th, Trenetta got a phone call
00:17:51
from a work connection of Paige's who was trying to get in touch with her. She text Paige to let her know this, but
00:17:59
got no response. Police later told Trenetta that at this time on May 5th, they verified that
00:18:06
Paige and PJ were staying at a cheap motel in Copley Township near Akron, Ohio. >> Hotel, motel.
00:18:13
>> But they got evicted and on the 6th, they left the motel. Police are going to
00:18:18
tell Paige's mother, Trenetta, that on Monday, May 6th, she went to work with PJ. Right. So, she's not working at this
00:18:26
time, we know that. But PJ is working. He's a landscaper. And Well, she was working at a boutique,
00:18:34
right? Not after she got out of the hospital. Well, right, but this is another way to
00:18:39
control her. Now, she doesn't have her own money and hey, we know that she loves fashion, we know
00:18:46
that she wants to study fashion. What better place to learn about the business than a boutique?
00:18:52
Well, separate her from anything that she loves. So, what we do know is that they were together on this Monday, May
00:18:59
6th. Now, the following day, Tuesday, May 7th, police knew that PJ went to see his probation officer for a required
00:19:07
check-in. They found surveillance footage of Paige and PJ together at a Home Depot. And
00:19:14
Steelyard comments, this is a large shopping area in Cleveland. They each purchased something. Records
00:19:20
show that Paige bought a candy bar and PJ bought a Snickers and some brake fluid.
00:19:25
And they left the store together. Unfortunately, there are no surveillance cameras outside of the store that show
00:19:33
where Paige and PJ went when they walked out. So, no one really knows where they went
00:19:39
after that or really what happened after that. Police say that Paige's phone pinged
00:19:45
that evening. This is May 7th around 6:00 p.m. Now, police will not comment on the cell
00:19:52
phone activity after that. The obvious inference here, Captain, is twofold for me. One,
00:19:59
we know police have all of the cell phone science and information, which leads us to number two.
00:20:05
That they are likely keeping this information hush-hush as it's crucial to their investigation and holds
00:20:13
evidentiary value. Right. We have been told from Paige's family that after this, she never contacted her
00:20:21
family again. And after the 7th of May, her phone went right to voicemail. She has never posted on social media
00:20:30
since then, and law enforcement says that Paige Coffee has not used her social security number, she's not used
00:20:37
her cash app or card. She's not made any electronic payments. It seems like after this trip to the
00:20:45
Home Depot, where we have them both on surveillance footage in the store together,
00:20:50
poof, Paige is gone after that. Do you have a record of what her financial transactions were before then? Did she
00:20:57
transfer money to PJ? I don't believe that she did so. >> Or if she did, they're just not
00:21:04
reporting it. Correct. Her family and the police have that information. That's not information that we have. So, who is
00:21:11
this PJ, right? Who is this PJ character? We already said his real name is Patrick
00:21:17
Samar Mason Jr. And I'm just taking a wild guess here, Captain, but I would be willing to bet all of the beer in the
00:21:24
garage fridge that the Mason family are probably very thankful that this guy is not going by his birth name or throwing
00:21:31
that last name of Mason around too much. In fact, if they are smart, well, then they won't have anything to do with him
00:21:38
at all. Don't drop by here on Christmas, Patrick Samar Mason Jr. or PJ. The doors are
00:21:45
closed. Now, this case has received virtually zero media attention. And so, your boys
00:21:52
here in the garage decided to step in. We dug up some background information on PJ because, well, federal court
00:21:59
documents are publicly available. In 2020, Patrick Samar Mason Jr. or PJ was 29 years old.
00:22:08
He dropped out of high school after his junior year, but went on to get his GED and even had two semesters of college
00:22:14
where he had an overall GPA of 3.0, surprisingly. Apparently, he had a psych evaluation at some point, and it was
00:22:23
determined that, quote, though he has a number of mental health diagnoses, he is
00:22:29
not intellectually disabled, end quote. But, he has a lengthy criminal history dating back to when he was 17 years old.
00:22:38
>> Right. So, he's mediocre at school, but an overachiever at being a bag. His juvenile adjudications include a
00:22:45
traffic-related offense, theft-related offenses, and failure to comply. He has four prior adult felony
00:22:53
convictions involving burglary and robbery. And he has a misdemeanor convictions involving theft, domestic
00:23:00
violence, and menacing. And to no one's surprise, P.J. has been arrested for domestic violence toward the women that
00:23:08
he has dated, this even prior to Paige. But it wasn't just pushing or shoving. Here is what the court say.
00:23:17
He was charged by Cleveland police for aggravated menacing on January 12th of 2017.
00:23:23
The court record stated domestic violence high risk and a referral to a psych referral as well.
00:23:31
A no contact order was issued in this situation prohibiting P.J. from having any contact from
00:23:38
or with the victim or better said domestic violence survivor. Then on January 26th, 2017,
00:23:46
P.J. was again charged with domestic violence and also unlawful restraint. An arrest warrant was issued and he was
00:23:55
arrested on September 16th. So it looks like he was on the run for quite some time.
00:24:00
P.J. was found guilty and received a sentence of 180 days, 166 days suspended, 14 days credit for time
00:24:09
served. In other words, all he got was probation. Yeah, slap on the wrist. This is surprising and horrifying because
00:24:18
P.J. already had a record. We found three separate arrests in 2011 in Cuyahoga County for burglary, theft,
00:24:25
aggravated theft, aggravated robbery, a firearm was used, and grand theft. He did about 10 months in prison for those
00:24:32
charges. He was arrested in the same county in 2014 for complicity to burglary and
00:24:38
obstructing official business. Usually that means like during the course of an investigation,
00:24:43
he he may have lied to the police or did something of that nature. Right. And he
00:24:47
did time for those charges as well. Long story short here, Captain, P.J. is and was bad news. And Paige was mixed up
00:24:57
with him and had been withdrawing from her family and seemingly falling increasingly under PJ's control.
00:25:05
She didn't tell her mother the worst of it, but Paige sent electronic messages to one of her friends telling her the
00:25:11
things that PJ had done to her. Now, he is not named specifically in these messages which we viewed, but her
00:25:19
friend knew who Paige was talking about in these messages. And the messages say >> It was
00:25:27
It was implied cuz they were obviously in a relationship. >> That's right. And the messages say,
00:25:32
I'll read from the transcript here. The friend says, "Hey mama, how you been, girly?" Paige replies, "Girl, shitty,
00:25:39
but I'm a survivor." Friend says, "What's going on?" Paige replies, "I got a divorce 2 years ago,
00:25:46
jumped into a relationship, got dogged and humiliated, then into another one where for 2 years he nearly killed me.
00:25:54
I've been shot at, strangled, stabbed, beat, burnt with milds, raped, and embarrassed, and I still tried to
00:26:02
stay. I had to ask myself why. Just out of that now, so I'm trying to get my together."
00:26:09
So, based off of this here, Captain, it sounds like this is kind of fleshing out
00:26:14
what we already knew was a terrible situation, but she's adding some horrific details to that.
00:26:21
And it sounds like she thinks that she's out of this relationship at this time when she's having a conversation with
00:26:27
her friend. >> But that's why it's so hard to leave these abusive situations because when
00:26:31
you think you're out, that's probably the most dangerous time for you. Well, and the thing is, we say leave, but
00:26:39
we often see in these situations that person is not allowed to leave. Now, this was not just a case of a
00:26:47
domineering boyfriend. This was violent physical abuse. And then after May 7th, Paige seemingly
00:26:55
vanished. No one heard from her after that. For about a week, Trenetta said she was
00:27:00
concerned because it was so unlike her daughter to be completely out of touch for that long. And no call or visit on
00:27:08
Mother's Day, May 11th, this is when Trenetta really knew something was very, very wrong. Even if Paige was furious at
00:27:17
her mother for objecting to the PJ situation, she would have at least called her on Mother's Day if she could.
00:27:25
Now desperate, on May 16th, Trenetta called PJ. And he told her that he and Paige were not together anymore. And he
00:27:33
had not seen her in weeks. >> [snorts] >> Now Trenetta knew that this was a lie.
00:27:37
So she called PJ's mother, whom PJ sometimes stayed with. And she said that they had not seen Paige in months.
00:27:53
>> [music] >> Adobe Firefly is the all-in-one creative studio with AI-powered image and video
00:28:06
editing for today's creative process. Built for creators of every kind, Firefly helps you generate, edit, and
00:28:13
experiment fast. Because the asks aren't getting smaller, the budgets aren't getting bigger, and the timelines? Oh,
00:28:21
yeah, still tight. With all the best creative AI models in one place, Firefly brings your ideas to life. Unlock a
00:28:28
better way to make with Adobe Firefly. If your blonde is looking a little, well, off lately, it's not your fault.
00:28:36
Brass happens. Or at least it used to, before K18 Triple Bright Oxidation Defense Purple Shampoo. It's the secret
00:28:42
to a brighter, longer-lasting blonde. With K18 Triple Action Technology, one wash removes up to three months of brass
00:28:49
from hard water, so your blonde always looks fresh from the salon. Shop at Sephora or get 10% off your first
00:28:55
purchase at k18hair.com with code podcast. That's code podcast at k18hair.com. >> [music]
00:29:10
[bell] [music] >> All right, we are back. Cheers, mates. Cheers to you, Captain. Cheers to all
00:29:24
the people in the back. On May 17th, Trenetta went to the Brantnall Police Department and filed a missing persons
00:29:33
report with the sergeant on duty. The incident report dated May 17th, 2019, reflects that Trenetta told the sergeant
00:29:42
that she had not had any contact with her daughter in more than 2 weeks, and she believed her to be in the company of
00:29:50
Patrick Smar Mason Jr. or PJ. So, Brantnall Police took on the case, but noted in the report that there was
00:29:59
friction between mother and daughter over the boyfriend. It also notes that Paige is bipolar and
00:30:04
may be off of her meds. They asked Trenetta if Paige was depressed and she answered yes at times.
00:30:11
This, in my opinion, had a good and unfortunate result. Both good and unfortunate. Right. One, the good is a
00:30:18
missing persons alert for Paige was issued at that time, but it read that she might be in danger
00:30:25
because of a change in mental status. This was something that I and her family disagrees with. Even if Paige was
00:30:32
struggling mentally, she would not have ever just dropped off of the face of the
00:30:37
earth and stopped all contact with them. Then, frustrated about the total void of
00:30:41
information about Paige and trying to get information out of PJ, Trinette had her goddaughter Vanessa
00:30:47
call PJ. This call took place on May 20th, 2019 at 9:32 p.m. and it was recorded. Now, we made a transcript of
00:30:56
this conversation as best as we could make it out. It starts off saying, "Hey, it's Vanessa
00:31:03
again. I just got a quick question cuz we're so worried about her. Where do you see her at the last time you seen her?"
00:31:11
PJ's response is, "Left her downtown. Last time I seen her, I went to court. I was coming downtown."
00:31:18
He seems to be saying that Paige went to court with him. He could not remember which day, whether it was a Tuesday or a
00:31:25
Wednesday. Right. We know that it was in fact that Tuesday. Vanessa then ask, "You went to court
00:31:32
together?" PJ says, "No, she I went to court, though. I can't quite make out everything he's saying there."
00:31:40
Vanessa then says, "Because we don't know why she hasn't called or anything. You all get into an argument or
00:31:46
something?" PJ says, "No." and something else which is inaudible. Vanessa then says, "Have you checked up
00:31:52
on her at all?" PJ says, "I text her a couple of times. I called her a couple times." He says
00:31:58
something else that I can't understand and then says, "Changed her number. She was talking a bunch of crazy stuff."
00:32:06
Vanessa says, "Do you know where she could possibly be? She's usually with you all of the time."
00:32:12
PJ says, "No, she ain't with me. We broke up. I don't know how long ago." And then says something else which I
00:32:18
can't understand. Vanessa then says, "And she was downtown? {question mark} When? {question mark}" to which PJ says,
00:32:27
"Monday or Tuesday." Now, as you can put together based off of that, PJ's basically sticking to his story that he
00:32:35
has no idea where Paige is at this time. The family knows that she's missing. And he says that they've broken up and
00:32:42
he hasn't seen her in a while or so on according to his words. This despite the fact that the police
00:32:49
have verified that Paige and PJ were together at the hotel. They were together at his work.
00:32:55
And they were together at the Home Depot. So this takes place on that Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, May 5th through May
00:33:02
7th of 2019. They're together, he claims we're not together, I don't know when it was that
00:33:08
I last saw her. Boom, she disappears right after being with him. Well, the first red flag
00:33:15
is that his memory is so fuzzy. I don't really remember. We broke up a while ago. Not really for sure. 9 months
00:33:24
after Paige's disappearance, the FBI and the Brantnal Police held a press conference to announce a $5,000 reward
00:33:31
in exchange for information about Paige's whereabouts. Now during the conference, the then
00:33:38
Brantnal Police Chief noted that it was unusual for Paige to be out of contact with her family and stated, quote,
00:33:44
"Numerous investigative leads have been conducted, but to date nothing has led to the location of Paige. We strongly
00:33:51
believe that someone in this community has a vital piece of information that law enforcement needs." End quote.
00:33:58
Despite the seemingly interested involvement by BPD, the chief made it clear that they
00:34:05
were not 100% on board with foul play having befallen Paige. Right. >> He said that Paige actually lives in
00:34:12
Cleveland and the Brantnal Police were just helping out because Paige's grandmother lives in Brantnal. Oh,
00:34:18
that's horse >> The FBI was just assisting, he said. For all they know, Paige could be
00:34:24
sitting on a beach. Actually, his words were, "For all they know, Paige could be sitting on a sunny
00:34:29
beach somewhere." I do want to point out a couple things here before we move on that
00:34:35
Brattonal police it's if you watch that press conference and this is very unfortunate. This takes place 9 months
00:34:42
after she's been missing. So >> [clears throat] >> if you you could believe whatever you
00:34:45
want the day or two after she no one can get a hold of her. But after 9 months has gone by and she's not popped up or
00:34:53
not returned to her family, you got to recognize that you're dealing with a serious situation. Now, could she be on
00:34:59
a beach? That I guess that's possible. Does anybody think that? No. So why he bothered to go out of his way to say
00:35:05
that seems a little weird and also saying that they're just helping out because Paige actually lives in
00:35:10
Cleveland. Depends on who you talk to. If you want to say that the the hotel where they were staying is where she was
00:35:16
living, then I guess. But in all reality, no. She was last living in your community in
00:35:24
Brattonal, Ohio. It's like they don't want to take full responsibility. And I understand law enforcement's
00:35:31
You know, is it possible that she just said, "You know what? Life sucks and I'm going to move away." Sure. But no no
00:35:38
activity on her bank cards? Just she has money sitting in a bank and she's just not
00:35:45
going to take any of it out? Well, at this same press conference, Paige's aunt was
00:35:51
she speaks right after the chief does and makes it very clear that Paige is not sitting on a sunny beach somewhere.
00:36:00
She says, quote, "She would never have just walked away from her family and friends. She said all they have is
00:36:07
speculation, but they know that something happened to Paige. She said, "I've known her her whole 28 years. She
00:36:14
would not put family through this. She spoke to her mom all of the time." End quote.
00:36:21
Now, Trenetta does not believe that the Brattonal police and the FBI have done nearly enough to try to find her
00:36:27
daughter. A detective did acknowledge to her that Paige appeared to have battered
00:36:33
woman syndrome. Brattleboro's new police chief has been much more helpful and tells Trenetta
00:36:40
that the case is being actively worked. And everything I can see, Captain, I'm very confident that this is actively
00:36:47
being worked. And a recent tip, which is now in the hands of BPD and the FBI, came in and says that there's a chance
00:36:58
that Paige was trafficked and she's in the San Jose area. This is something that could be true,
00:37:05
but I I I suspect that it's probably not the case. But it is information that has made its
00:37:12
way to law enforcement. >> Well, and again, at first she wasn't reported as endangered missing. I hope
00:37:18
she is now because if this tip is is somewhat true, yeah, she's alive, but she's in a a dangerous
00:37:27
situation. >> And it hurts me to say this because I've met some of her family and I
00:37:31
picturing, you know, I want to have something positive to offer them. Some light at the end of the tunnel
00:37:38
here, but none of the information that that we are digging up or that has made its way to
00:37:45
law enforcement, none of it is a good result. None of it is anything that anybody
00:37:50
wants to hear about one of their loved ones. Now, in regard to the tip that I'm talking about, this could be a good tip,
00:37:58
I guess, but again, the information we've uncovered is screaming loud and clear that the answers likely are much
00:38:04
closer to home. Because as you will see, the sources of this information are close to home. More importantly, close
00:38:11
to Patrick Samar Mason Jr. And that is PJ's sister who told a cousin that after Paige vanished,
00:38:22
PJ torched his GMC truck and got a new one. Uh I mean, that sounds suspicious. Yeah,
00:38:29
that's a huge red flag. I mean, why would you set fire to your vehicle? Uh insurance fraud or maybe to cover up
00:38:39
evidence. Well, thankfully, the cousin reported this to the police. So, the police passed along that
00:38:47
information to Trenada saying, "Hey, we're we're looking for this guy's truck. We've We've received some
00:38:54
credible information that he torched it after your daughter disappeared." >> Right. He's telling us that he sold it
00:39:01
but can't provide any proof of that. And on top of that, there's no record of the
00:39:06
sale of a vehicle with that VIN. So, the truck is missing. And everybody's looking for this truck.
00:39:15
Well, you know, his initials shouldn't be PJ, they should be BS because this guy
00:39:21
is full of I mean, he wants to sit there and say, "I don't know. Last time I saw her, I haven't seen her
00:39:29
for weeks." and then we know that's a lie cuz he saw her on Sunday and Monday and on Tuesday.
00:39:35
And now he's saying, "Oh, yeah, I sold this vehicle." but there's no proof that he sold the vehicle. Just another
00:39:40
lie. This guy's serving up horse sandwiches. >> Yeah. And I'm jumping out of the line,
00:39:45
my friend. They stink. Stink. In November of 2020, Paige's family received communication from a man named
00:39:53
Davon. This is PJ's half-brother. Well, I'm glad you're bringing this up because
00:39:57
let's be clear, this is PJ. Mr. BS himself. This is his family coming forward. They know what kind of creep
00:40:05
this guy is. And they're coming forward with information. And And that's what's going
00:40:11
to solve this case is them coming forward with information, friends of his, acquaintances of his. This guy has
00:40:18
told somebody something. >> Well, and listen to this. This is Devon again, a family member of P.J.'s, who's
00:40:24
reaching out to Paige's family because he's concerned. And he says to the family, quote, "I really wish the best
00:40:31
for you all, and I really had deep feelings for Paige, and it's still bothering me that no one knows anything
00:40:37
about her whereabouts." And then goes on to say, quote, "Last thing I heard about P.J. is he was
00:40:45
in Oakwood Jail being held without bond for trying to choke out and smother the girl that he was with most recently."
00:40:54
End quote. Let's be clear, this is a relationship that he took on after Paige is missing.
00:41:01
It's not a relationship, it's a relationshit. And he is locked up for now abusing this person. So, this guy's
00:41:10
got a history of violence, and he's got a history of domestic violence. It doesn't seem to end.
00:41:17
Now, this information that came forward from the half-brother was true. So, he was locked up at that time, P.J. was.
00:41:26
And he found himself in federal court. This, again, about 9 months after Paige disappeared, P.J. was arrested again,
00:41:34
but this time with another young woman. And we're going to read from the court record describing this incident, but
00:41:41
it's rather interesting, so bear with me here, Captain. And it says, "On January 29th, 2020, at
00:41:48
approximately 2:39 p.m., officers and detectives of the Willoughby Hills Police Department
00:41:54
responded to a call for two people passed out in a vehicle at the Bishop Shell gas station located at 2770 Bishop
00:42:03
Road in Willoughby Hills, Ohio, which is in Lake County." >> Yeah, I actually know this area pretty
00:42:09
well, cuz I used to play at Willoughby Brewing Company. So, shout out to those guys. Great beer, by the way. I wish we
00:42:15
were sitting there right now. Mhm. The car in question was parked next to the gas pumps with the engine turned off.
00:42:22
Officer Craig Anderson says that he was already on the scene when Officer Mino arrived and was
00:42:29
attempting to wake the subjects by yelling into the vehicle. Wake up! Officer Anderson's police
00:42:37
cruiser was parked in front of the vehicle. So, if these two wake up and decide to take off, they're not going
00:42:42
anywhere. What losers. Officer Mino says as he approached, he noticed that the windows
00:42:48
were fogged up and he could barely make out the outline of the people inside. He
00:42:53
could tell that we have a male seated in the passenger seat who's slumped to the right and a female who
00:43:00
was in the driver seat and she slumped to the left. Neither individual was moving.
00:43:06
So, using his baton, he's tapping on the window and again, yelling into the vehicle,
00:43:13
but both occupants remained unconscious and unresponsive. He says that he planned to break the
00:43:18
window to gain entry to the vehicle because he believed that the occupants had overdosed on drugs or blacked out
00:43:25
from alcohol. They could need medical assistance. >> Or died of stupidity. >> But, forced entry ultimately proved
00:43:32
unnecessary as the female in the driver seat eventually sat up and she seemed to be partially
00:43:38
conscious. At the officer's urging, she manages to unlock the door eventually. The Officer Mino opened the passenger
00:43:48
side door. He looked into the vehicle and observed Mason, we know as PJ, still unconscious.
00:43:55
He says that he was breathing but was not responsive to efforts to try to wake him.
00:44:01
The vehicle emitted a strong smell of alcohol and Officer Mino observed that Mason's
00:44:06
hand was over a black gun holster. Later, the officer testified that this was a red
00:44:13
flag that a weapon might be present in the vehicle. And he is heard on the video recording,
00:44:20
you know, they're recording this from the the dash cam is recording this or or body body camera is recording
00:44:27
this. You can hear the officer sharing his concerns with the others on the scene
00:44:32
that we might have a a gun in this vehicle. He says that he also noticed ammunition
00:44:37
on the floor of the vehicle as well as an open container of gin located on the console. He continued to try to wake
00:44:44
Mason or PJ and administered a sternal rub, which temporarily caused Mason to open his eyes before he fell
00:44:51
unresponsive again. With the assistance of emergency medical technicians and the
00:44:56
fire department personnel on the scene, the officer removed Mason from the vehicle and a gun dropped from his
00:45:03
pants. Officer Amino took Mason to the ground to render aid as he verbally signaled that he had discovered a gun.
00:45:10
This guy, PJ, is beyond a dirtbag. Well, whatever he had consumed that day, either the driver, the female
00:45:20
driver, she was either unwilling to communicate that to police or or just didn't know.
00:45:26
So, they're able to wake her, they're not able to wake him until they pull him out and a gun falls out of his his
00:45:33
pants. >> Well, again, he's controlling and abusive for all we know. He drugged her.
00:45:38
Well, once that weapon is secured, Mason is then detained and the officers run his license, where they quickly
00:45:48
determine that he had outstanding warrants. So, he's under arrest at this time. Outstanding warrants and carrying
00:45:54
a gun. The female driver was also arrested and taken into custody as she was believed to be intoxicated
00:46:00
and became belligerent and combative with the officers. Because both of the vehicle's occupants
00:46:07
were taken into custody, the vehicle was impounded. >> Well, in fairness to her, they did wake
00:46:12
her up. Okay, so PJ is drunk and passed out at a gas station, and when police are able to wake him up, this gun falls
00:46:19
from his pants. Smooth move, Ex-Lax. Mhm. But, here's the court record of the car's inventory, which I think you'll
00:46:27
find interesting. An inventory of the contents of the vehicle and on Mason's person
00:46:33
revealed a 30-round magazine, loose rounds of 9-mm ammunition, a digital scale, an open bottle of Bombay Dry Gin,
00:46:42
and a gun holster. The weapon was identified as a Taurus Model PT111 Millennium G2 9-mm caliber pistol,
00:46:52
serial number TJP22624. Special Agent Corey Miles with the ATF is the one that wrote that report and
00:47:03
took the inventory of the contents of that vehicle and the items found on Mason, on PJ.
00:47:10
So, all of this was super bad for PJ, but good for the rest of us, right? Cuz we're going to lock this dude up.
00:47:16
But, not because PJ can't handle his liquor and was passed out in public, it was because
00:47:22
as a multiple felon, he's prohibited from being in possession of a firearm. So, PJ was initially charged in Lake
00:47:30
County, Ohio for what will end up being federal gun charges. And this comes about after they do their
00:47:38
due diligence, the police were able to show that the gun PJ was found with had crossed state lines, which gave the feds
00:47:47
jurisdiction over this whole mess because PJ was in violation of laws prohibiting him from possessing a weapon
00:47:54
that had been transported via interstate commerce. >> Yeah, I believe once the feds get
00:47:58
involved that you can tack on some years for this crime. >> A federal indictment against PJ was
00:48:04
filed on April 22nd. The complaint upshot is that PJ violated federal laws against being a felon in
00:48:10
possession of a firearm, and also specifically against felons convicted of domestic violence of possessing a
00:48:17
firearm. The 2017 conviction for domestic violence served as a predicate offense
00:48:23
for count two of the indictment. After his arrest, police searched PJ's house. According to Trenetta, they were looking
00:48:32
for information on Paige's whereabouts as well, or looking for items belonging to Paige.
00:48:40
>> Right. There they found one of Paige's cell phones. Now, investigators questioned PJ about this, but he's
00:48:46
refused to discuss the phone. He's refused to discuss Paige with law enforcement.
00:48:52
>> Yeah, cuz he's guilty of something. At PJ's initial appearance, court appearance, this took place on April
00:48:58
24th, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Now, the magistrate judge found that
00:49:04
there was sufficient evidence to proceed, and the matter was bound over to the grand jury to determine whether
00:49:11
there was probable cause to proceed to trial. Although the federal prosecutor requested that PJ be
00:49:18
held without bond, the judge permitted PJ to be released on $20,000 unsecured But, there were conditions. PJ had to
00:49:28
submit to the supervision of United States pre-trial services, and he had to wear an electronic
00:49:35
monitoring bracelet, and abide by a curfew that precluded him from leaving his grandparents' residence after 6:30
00:49:43
p.m. and before 8:00 a.m. This guy is a known criminal. This guy is a known liar. You're going to give
00:49:51
him any privilege? Shame on you. You know what's going to happen. Well, it didn't take long for PJ to
00:49:59
violate the conditions of this bond. >> Of course not. >> Right. Uh and a a warrant was issued for his
00:50:05
arrest. And according to the status report filed by the pre-trial services, it states
00:50:11
that on May 18th of 2020, PJ left his home without authorization at 9:02 p.m. This breaking the curfew. And the police
00:50:22
were called by his grandparents. Again, kudos to his family for stepping in and alerting the police.
00:50:29
Hey, he's he's not supposed to be out at this time. He's left our home. Hold on.
00:50:34
The family should have spoke up at the trial and said, "Look, you don't set bond for this guy because nobody wants
00:50:40
him on their property." >> We don't want him at our house. >> Yeah, why would you want to take the
00:50:45
risk of that? He's abusive towards women. He's a liar. He's a scumbag. He's probably the reason why Paige is
00:50:52
missing. Yeah, you don't want a scumbag at your house. Well, this is interesting, too.
00:50:58
And this report also provided that the following day, PJ's sister and girlfriend went to the Oakwood Village
00:51:06
Police Department making separate complaints about PJ. His girlfriend reported that PJ strangled her and
00:51:13
placed a pillow over her face to prevent her from screaming. PJ's sister reported
00:51:18
that he had been calling and threatening her. So, he's continuing his dirty deeds,
00:51:25
beating up women, and he's also threatening his own family according to these complaints. Yeah, and
00:51:32
that's why every individual that has talked to him or has information about Paige needs to
00:51:39
come forward to law enforcement and tell them what they know about the scumbag. >> PJ was taken into custody on May 29th.
00:51:47
The magistrate judge conducted a hearing to consider whether he should revoke PJ's bond and send him to jail while
00:51:54
awaiting trial or whether he should let PJ stay out on bond. And the judge decided to lock PJ up. Now, Well, that's
00:52:03
common sense. Right. Yeah. I could read for you, Captain, the paragraphs written
00:52:07
by the judge and and filed in the court records, but our friends out there in listener land and parts unknown, well,
00:52:14
well, their poor little earballs will get bored and spit out their earbuds. But amongst other things, basically the
00:52:20
judge is confirming what we and the courts seem to already know. Simply put, this chump exhibits a history of
00:52:28
violence and it's not safe to have him anywhere other than locked up. So, good. Like we said, common sense, his bond is
00:52:35
revoked and he is now in the custody of the US Marshals. PJ filed a motion to reinstate his bond and revoke the
00:52:43
magistrate's order, basically appealing the decision. Motion denied. That makes three women now that we know
00:52:52
of whom PJ has strangled or suffocated. Patrick Samar Mason, Jr. is a danger to society and as the Captain says, a big
00:53:02
piece of And good news. With Mason sitting in the pen waiting for trial, the government didn't waste
00:53:11
any time proceeding. At a pretrial hearing, PJ's attorney reported to his client that the government had presented
00:53:17
a written proposed plea agreement. There was a lot of wrangling over this, but eventually the government agreed to
00:53:25
basically reduce the base offense level charges resulting in a bit less time for PJ.
00:53:31
At a November 12th, 2020 hearing, the government announced that it agreed that PJ's base offense level would result in
00:53:39
a guideline range of 51 to 63 months prison time. Mason's attorney indicated that with that change, Mason would
00:53:48
accept the plea agreement and enter a plea of guilty to count two of the indictment and count one would be
00:53:55
dropped, which is a gift for him. Again, they shouldn't go lenient on this guy at
00:53:59
all. A known abuser of women, a known liar, a known criminal. Give him max time for everything. And
00:54:10
not only that, Captain, there's there's evidence. There's things suggesting here
00:54:14
that this man is much more guilty of things that he's never even been charged with. Right. So, that should be all
00:54:21
done, right? Well, not quite. Because on February 10th of 2021, the court received a letter from PJ's
00:54:28
attorney. >> [laughter] >> This is this this guy, I don't know how he got a 3.0 grade average for those two semesters.
00:54:37
Maybe he maybe you got points just for showing up or something. Anyway, this letter is requesting that
00:54:44
he wants to withdraw his guilty plea. So, Oh, yeah. I plead guilty. I admit that I'm guilty. You give me the
00:54:51
sentence and now I You know what? I changed my mind. I'm not guilty anymore. Yeah, well, again, it was it was a
00:54:56
mistake to plead down the deal anyways. They should have hit him with more charges. Right.
00:55:03
So, I mean, basically, this guy's full of it and the court borrowed my beer goggles
00:55:09
and saw right through his BS. Again, request denied. But it's sad. We all go through this life on our journey and
00:55:17
we're looking for somebody that that makes us feel good about life, makes us feel good about ourselves. And sometimes
00:55:23
these guys get involved with these women and they're con men. And they talk a good little game and then they start
00:55:29
manipulating them and they start, like I said, divide and conquer, you know, separate them from their family.
00:55:36
People deserve to be happy. People deserve to be in healthy relationships. If you feel
00:55:42
that you're in an abusive relationship, look, I've never I've never been in that
00:55:45
kind of situation. I I wouldn't even know where, you know, to begin other than to tell you that you
00:55:53
deserve better than this. You deserve to be treated correctly. You deserve to be,
00:55:58
um, valued and taken care of. And if you feel like you're in a bad situation, call this number, 1-800-799-SAFE.
00:56:09
That's 1-800-799-SAFE. And good by you, Captain, for putting that number out there. That is the
00:56:17
domestic violence support line. If anybody out there listening needs some type of support, do not hesitate to call
00:56:25
them. So, in short, Captain, what we have here is PJ is in prison. Thank the Lord. He can't hurt anyone
00:56:33
else, at least on the outside. >> can't pass out at any more gas stations. And you don't want to pass out in
00:56:39
prison, from what I hear. Yeah. But, what about Paige? And what about her family? What is her family supposed to
00:56:46
do now? Again, the the current chief of police at Brattonall says the case is active, says
00:56:54
the case is being worked. In a meeting with the FBI agents assigned to the case, unfortunately, they told her
00:57:01
family that Paige is likely deceased. The question is, is anyone working to find her or find out what happened to
00:57:09
her, is what I want to know. And what about PJ? I think there's some other things going on with him. We We
00:57:16
said that, yes, he was charged by the feds for this gun charge. Yeah. But, the FBI is still investigating him and
00:57:26
seems to be involved in Paige Coffey's case, as well. So, what else is going on or or what else was he
00:57:34
up to? We still don't know who shot up PJ's car or how he got shot. And what about his
00:57:43
GMC truck that he torched after Paige vanished? Has anyone subpoenaed PJ's phone records to see where he was in the
00:57:50
hours and days after the Home Depot outing on May 7th, 2019? Yeah. We We have Paige's cell phone
00:57:59
information and law enforcement has that and again, they're very tight-lipped on some of
00:58:05
that information that they have, but have they looked into PJ's phone records? That's what you want to look at
00:58:12
here. Or have they looked at his employer's records to see if he missed any work after the 7th of May?
00:58:18
Will we ever have answers to all of these questions? Yeah, I'd be very interested to see if they
00:58:25
subpoenaed his cell phone records, not so much for him calling people, but maybe
00:58:31
the GPS on his phone and did he go to a field somewhere or a wooded area to possibly dispose of a body? The These
00:58:42
are serious questions. Um Or that's what I'd be interested to know if if they have received this information. And
00:58:49
again, I believe this case will be solved and it'll be by somebody that has talked
00:58:55
to PJ, whether that's a friend or acquaintance or a family member. He told somebody something.
00:59:01
Cuz he's a known liar and he and he's probably lied so much that he can't even stop himself from lying and he's going
00:59:10
to get caught in one of those lies. >> Well, and we've already seen that some of his family turn in information and
00:59:15
pass along information to the proper channels. I feel like we need some more of that family to come forward that
00:59:22
as you pointed out, I think there's somebody out there that knows something. Somebody can fill in some of these
00:59:27
blanks here. And again, we've met Paige's family. They're lovely people. They're wonderful people. We wish them
00:59:34
the very best. This is not a good situation at all, and there's not a whole lot of hope here, but they
00:59:41
deserve to have some answers. Now, Paige is described as 5 ft 8 in tall, 230 lb with brown eyes and black hair. She has
00:59:51
a tattoo of piano keys on her arm. Anyone with any information at all, please, please call 216
01:00:01
622-6842. [music] Update. We have an update, and it is not the good kind. Unfortunately, remains were found, and
01:00:24
they were later determined to be that of Paige Coffey. This is the moment where I have to be a
01:00:30
little bit cold, right? This is not I don't think this is a huge surprise to a lot of the listeners out there or
01:00:38
persons that have been following this case since 2019 when Paige went missing. In fact, in our
01:00:45
reporting in our earlier reporting, we had told you that there was a meeting that took place
01:00:53
more than a more than one occasion where the FBI met with Paige's family and had told them that they were pretty
01:01:02
convinced that she was already dead by that time. This case is a very strange one.
01:01:10
Look, they're all strange for any number of reasons. This one seems strange to me
01:01:16
because there's something going on with the suspect, and while maybe other news outlets won't call him a suspect
01:01:25
name him a suspect in this case in particular He's a suspect. He's our suspect. That's right. And he's the
01:01:31
family suspect and he's truly if you talk to police and talk to the FBI which we have. We did several years ago on
01:01:39
this case. We've not jumped back into talking to the family or the FBI or police
01:01:44
right now for a bunch of reasons. One, the family has asked for privacy. We're going to respect that. They
01:01:50
deserve that. Two the if there was a time if there was that rocket fuel moment for
01:02:00
an investigation, it could be now. That's when we have to step back and let them do their thing and hopefully
01:02:07
you know, Captain, you've seen this dozens of times. Our listeners are well aware of this as well that sometimes
01:02:14
these cases are simply hinging on finding the body. There's it's very difficult for a prosecutor to bring to
01:02:24
trial a no body case. What we seem to have here is a good understanding that this man,
01:02:34
PJ, as we referred to him was was violent toward Paige Coffey before she disappeared and
01:02:41
it appears he is one of the last known people to be in her presence before she goes missing. Yeah, and Paige has been
01:02:50
missing for 7 years and so sometimes this is the only answer that the the family cares about. Especially if you've
01:02:58
been screaming to law enforcement and to the public that your daughter would not
01:03:04
just walk away and and start a new life. We've seen in many cases where the family is saying, "Hey, come forward
01:03:12
with an any information. Help us find our loved one and we're not even going to pursue
01:03:19
pressing charges. >> Yeah, let's get into some of the details here of this update. So, on April 29th,
01:03:25
the update finally came in, one that many people in and around Cleveland had been waiting years to hear, even as they
01:03:33
feared what it truly might mean. Investigators confirmed that skeletal remains found on April 17th in an
01:03:40
abandoned house in Cleveland belonged to that of Paige Coffey, the woman whose disappearance had haunted her family and
01:03:49
friends and the broader community since the year of 2019. The remains had been discovered in a
01:03:56
house in the 3800 block of East 142nd Street. Uh for for days, the find sat at the center of of careful work, of
01:04:07
careful forensic work. And behind the scenes, they were working these methodical steps to figure out who
01:04:16
they had found. And the family, Paige's family, unfortunately already had lived through years of uncertainty.
01:04:25
Now, they were facing the possibility that the search had reached its end. Late last month, the Cuyahoga County
01:04:33
Medical Examiner, using DNA to identify the remains, confirmed that it was, in fact, Paige Coffey. The
01:04:42
announcement brought answers, and answers the question, "Where is she?" That was a big
01:04:48
part of this mystery, but another question remains, "What happened to her?" While we have
01:04:54
the answer of where she was found, we don't get any answers as to Look, this grim discovery changes everything, or at
01:05:05
least the direction of things as far as the investigation, where the investigation sits. But when detectives
01:05:12
and forensic teams responded to that house on East 4 142nd Street, they don't have immediate clarity. I don't we we
01:05:21
would like to know was this a scenario where something was found and called in or was
01:05:28
there suspicion or reason for them to go to this location in relation to Page's open case. But, even after this DNA
01:05:37
identification, officials said the cause and manner of death were still under investigation. No additional details
01:05:44
that I could find were released at that time. Things like how long were the remains
01:05:49
had they been there? What were the circumstances that led to her death? What were the circumstances that led to
01:05:55
finding these remains? And while authorities did not announce an arrest or a clear narrative of what happened,
01:06:04
what they did say directly and repeatedly was that this investigation is continuing. Well, sometimes law
01:06:11
enforcement gets lucky. A body is found and then a confession comes afterwards. This the suspect here, Patrick Samar
01:06:20
Mason, Jr. or PJ as many folks that know him call him. The he has spoke to police. He has done
01:06:30
interviews with the FBI. He's been locked up on and off again before this happened and after
01:06:37
Page disappeared. The part that's weird about this is Brattleboro Police Department, look,
01:06:45
sorry to bring up open up old wounds here, but they weren't so interested when Page was first reported missing to them.
01:06:54
Yeah. And and then the FBI gets involved, the media gets involved, and Brattleboro police all of a sudden are
01:07:00
interested. Fine, I'd rather you be late than not show up at all. So, they did show up and they've done good work since
01:07:06
then. So, I'll give you that. But, something that the FBI is the I think almost like the puppet master
01:07:15
here in this investigation. There's something going on or something that they suspect him of. We know that he had
01:07:20
federal gun charges. We talked about that at length in our original coverage. I'm almost suspicious that there's
01:07:27
there's more that they think that he's involved in than just Paige Coffey's murder. Uh possibly, or we have these
01:07:36
federal gun charges and we know that he might be linked to this murder investigation. And so, if you're
01:07:44
if you're the FBI, you want to finish the job. You want to put a period at the end of the sentence. And as we said,
01:07:49
well, you know, investigators continue to work this case, Paige's family they received the confirmation first. Uh
01:07:57
so, they police did this the right way. Contact the family before you make the public announcement. Her family has
01:08:05
asked for space in a statement that they shared with the group Cleveland Missing, which is
01:08:10
actually how we met Paige's family. Right. Uh through Cleveland Missing. Her family described the loss as too fresh,
01:08:18
and they kept their words brief. They thanked the people who searched and the media outlets that continued to tell
01:08:24
Paige's story. And as we said, this is a local police matter, but also the FBI has been involved in this case in some
01:08:31
form or fashion for a very long time. Now, some a little more behind-the-scenes stuff here, garage
01:08:40
behind-the-scenes stuff. We met Paige's family at Missing Cleveland, and this would have been in mid to late 2021.
01:08:50
And immediately took a liking to her family and wanted to tell the story, and at first didn't
01:09:00
know that there was more beneath the surface to the story other than at the time there was there was some very
01:09:08
what you would call a news brief. Several news briefs on this case that were a 30-second read and a 60-second
01:09:17
read. But when we really started getting to the heart of the matter, maybe that's
01:09:22
not a great term, but when we got down to what was really going on in Paige's life around the time and leading up to
01:09:29
her disappearance, all centers around this PJ character who is very violent, was very
01:09:36
violent toward her according to what she told family and friends. What You know,
01:09:41
one part that we chose to We We left out some of the things that she has told her family. We didn't need
01:09:48
to pile it on. I'm pretty sure that we left this portion out that we talked but we talked a lot about the abuse that she
01:09:57
said she had endured over the years being with this individual that she had told some of her family. She was a
01:10:03
little more reluctant to share this with family than she would be friends. I think that maybe that's a natural
01:10:09
kind of a natural thing. You get embarrassed when you try when you tell your family that you're going through
01:10:14
this and and Well, you can get embarrassed, but you can also not want the pressure. Yeah. You're in a very
01:10:21
difficult situation, maybe one that you're fearful. And then if you have your family
01:10:27
constantly telling you I don't I don't want to hear about this guy. I don't want to hear about what
01:10:31
he's doing to you. We just want you out of this situation. Well, and Paige was smart, she was tough, and I don't think
01:10:38
she wanted her family to see her as a victim, which she truly was. Look, it's been reported that she had
01:10:45
some mental health issues, some struggles there. I'm a big believer having reviewed her her case
01:10:52
and this story and talking with her family. Her family didn't say this to me. I want to be perfectly clear about
01:10:58
this. This is my own suspicion. I think she may there there may have been a touch of
01:11:03
this, but you know, you and I live in this world and we we try to not shy away from mental health issues and
01:11:11
I'm firmly believe, Captain, that the trauma that in the violence that this guy was putting her through
01:11:20
took whatever she thought she had or may have had and it just exacerbated that to to the point where
01:11:27
she was having obvious obvious problems. And I think it all stems from I look, you can't be treated that way. You can't
01:11:36
be treated that way and you can't be victimized like that time and time again and I think and she was afraid for a
01:11:42
very long time. This man isolated her, kept her away from her family, wouldn't let her work, kept and managed to break
01:11:52
down communication between her and her family and her and her friends. And Yeah, that's what they try to do. They
01:11:58
try to divide and conquer. And and this was truly hearsay. Well, I actually it's not truly hearsay because
01:12:07
we we do have one of the witnesses, but I I think I can't go back 5 years ago and tell you why we left this portion
01:12:13
out, but there was this a story that her mother had relayed to us where she had to go pick
01:12:22
up Paige. And this was after an altercation between her and PJ that went down somewhere in Shaker Heights.
01:12:30
>> [snorts] >> She says when Paige got into her car, she reeked of gasoline. Like Yeah. as in
01:12:37
gasoline poured on her body or on her body and she wouldn't talk about what had happened, you know, but we know that
01:12:45
she she did at one point tell her mother that that PJ on one occasion had strangled her to the point of
01:12:52
unconsciousness. We talked extensively in our episode about guns in the relationship and that one officer
01:13:03
telling the family that he feared, this is a seasoned officer, telling that her family that
01:13:10
he was Look, these guys and these men and women on the police force, they respond time
01:13:16
and time again to domestic situations. >> Yeah. And he said, I see the road that
01:13:22
this is going down. This This ends in a murder-suicide. >> Or, you know, if you're just a giant
01:13:28
piece of you're not killing yourself. Right. >> But but but the thing here is we've been
01:13:32
doing this for 10 years. The amount of missing person cases that they they treat as runaways
01:13:40
and this idea that so many people are just going missing to start a new life, it's a very small percent of the people
01:13:49
going missing. A higher percentage is foul play. And and that's how these cases need to
01:13:56
be treated. So we're not sitting here 7 years later trying to find answers. Yeah, and I
01:14:04
I guess I just don't get it and then and everybody has a boss, so maybe if the problem starts at the top then it the
01:14:09
every part of the outfit's a problem. >> every now and then you have to tell your
01:14:13
boss to off. And every now and then you you just you go rogue a little bit. Maybe I got too much GI Joe in me, but
01:14:20
look, Bratton is not a a crime-ridden area. It's not overwhelmed with violent crime
01:14:29
to the point that you get a call like this. Look, you signed up to help people, but you you also signed up for
01:14:36
uh moments where you can try to save someone. Where where you get the opportunity to save someone. Right.
01:14:45
And this was an opportunity that was missed. Now, in fairness to Brattleboro Police, it does look
01:14:52
to be that I think she was missing and something bad had already happened to her many
01:14:59
days before the time she was actually reported missing. And because of the way that this man was isolating this young
01:15:08
woman and keeping her from her family is all part of the equation here. They didn't know she was missing because they
01:15:17
had gotten used to not hearing from her because he was not allowing her to do so. They were aware of this shitty
01:15:26
relationship that she was in and that she couldn't get away from this guy and it was only when the stuff truly hit the
01:15:34
fan that they went and reported her missing. So, she's when you look up this case, the first
01:15:40
thing you're going to see is that she's been missing since May 17th, 2019. When in all actuality, the last two
01:15:47
times that we have positive identification of her being alive and well is on May 6th and May 7th. And in
01:15:56
both of those occasions, on both of those occasions, she's in the company of who?
01:16:01
PJ. On the 6th, she's at work with PJ and on the 7th, they are seen on surveillance footage together
01:16:08
at the Steel Yard Commons. There's a leaving the Home Depot there. The two went in, each purchased a candy
01:16:16
bar, and I and a one other item. I can't recall what it was, like washer fluid or something of
01:16:22
that nature. But, they were seen, unfortunately, there's no surveillance footage in the parking lot at that time
01:16:28
in that that Home Depot, so they couldn't find what, you know, no direction as to where the vehicle
01:16:36
that they were traveling in went or what vehicle they were traveling in. So, truly she was missing since the 7th as
01:16:43
far as we can find on our timeline and but and we had said this before and I I hope that this was done. He This guy's
01:16:52
got a record. He had a record in 2019. No And even though that there even though the
01:16:58
trail there's a big gap in your trail here of 10 days between the last time she seen and when she's reported
01:17:04
missing, we had said I hope that they had subpoenaed his cell phone records just
01:17:10
to see the movement of his phone because her phone magically is not available after that night. Can you put his phone
01:17:19
in this location where those remains were eventually found? Probably. Or you can put it, you know, is there a
01:17:26
time period that his phone goes offline? But look, it's it's it's a pathetic situation. Somebody goes missing, she's
01:17:32
been reported missing. Yes, there might be a time gap, but when you have evidence of verbal threats Mhm. and then
01:17:42
you have evidence of physical abuse and if he is strangling her or he's putting gasoline on her,
01:17:50
putting a gun to her head, >> This is This is attempted murder. Yeah. So, what are we What are we doing here?
01:17:58
It's it it's Look, it's >> To to even suggest the idea that she might have walked away,
01:18:04
come on. Right. Let's get a get a freaking brain. >> I do want to thank her family, Paige's
01:18:11
family for talking with us back in 2021 and and giving us some of the details that were not available in the news so
01:18:18
that we could tell the story in an effort to hope hope to provide some kind of help the best we could and some of
01:18:26
you know that after meeting lovely members of Paige's family at the event in Cleveland in mid
01:18:32
to late 2021, we took the case to our friends at Abjack Entertainment, long time friends of the garage, Jess
01:18:38
Betancourt and Mike Morford. We did our episode December 7th, 2021, Missing Persons. Their great podcast did
01:18:47
an episode on this case the same week. That was a coordinated effort to really get this
01:18:53
story out there, sort of a podcast version of a media blast. We we were just trying to put all hands on deck and
01:19:00
tell the story and we know what a fine job Jess and Mike do at Missing Persons, so we got them involved immediately. So,
01:19:08
thank you for their help. They may be running an update on this here shortly. I don't know. I've I've yet to talk to
01:19:15
Mike and Jess, but shout out to both of them. Again, this case is is still open.
01:19:21
It's a newer case, which I often think that that can be a little more hopeful than some of these long cold cases.
01:19:30
Yeah. Police and authorities are still asking for public's for the public assistance on this case.
01:19:40
More information. Look, this PJ guy, a lot of people knew him. They they had a big group that they hung around on and
01:19:48
off again. Somebody absolutely knows something. This guy's too dumb not to talk. Mhm. So, please, please, please.
01:19:58
Again, jet fuel on this investigation. Hopefully, be a part of that. If you have some information, if you know
01:20:05
something, I hope that this reaches your ear balls and you decide to do the right thing.
01:20:11
Tips can be provided to the FBI Cleveland office at 216-522-1400. There's also Crime Stoppers that remains
01:20:20
an option as well at 216-252-7468. And again, this case is ongoing and we're hoping that this is just the first
01:20:31
While this is not the answer that anybody was hoping for, we hope that this is the first answer in a series of
01:20:37
answers that will bring this to a close and that we can get justice for this young woman.
01:20:49
>> [music and bell] >> Want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage. Thanks for telling
01:20:53
your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. For everything true crime, check out true crime garage.com. And
01:20:58
make sure you subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Join us back here in the garage for another true crime story.
01:21:05
And until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter. >> [music] [music] >> Geico presents a 30-second podcast
01:21:47
between your podcast. Today's story is shared by one of our listeners. It's called Betrayed by Bill.
01:21:54
It was in that moment I caught who was staring back at me in betrayal, or more like what? My insurance bills. With
01:22:01
trembling hands, I grabbed my phone and switched to Geico, saving about $900 in the process, and never to be betrayed
01:22:08
again. Now, that was bloody riveting. It feels good when the story ends with savings.
01:22:13
It feels good to Geico.