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foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a guy who does not dance he
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business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
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[Music] it's been nearly eight years since Chelsea Small a hard-working mother of
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two was murdered in Taylor Michigan Chelsea Small picked up a shift and was working alone on November 12 2013 at the
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Advance America check cashing place on Telegraph Road around lunchtime a man with a gun walked in and shot small
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twice killing her officials said he took a small amount of cash from the scene according to the authorities and
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this man the shooter has never been identified Chelsea Small's murder was brutal and unprovoked but her family in
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the Taylor Police Department have not given up hope and we are hoping we can help in some kind of way to prevent the
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case from going cold all of the evidence in the case was gathered the day small was shot the bullets used were put into
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a National Database to track them no matches were found if robbery was the motive investigators
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question why Chelsea Small was shot first when she had access to much more money
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nothing in her background would indicate that the shooting was personal according
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to police and according to Detective stellini Taylor PD the ex-boyfriend was looked at people closest to the victim
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were looked at according to at least one news article it was determined that the
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X was not involved there is a hefty reward in this case 52 500 50 000 of that comes by way of
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the Advance America company and two thousand five hundred comes from the Michigan Crime Stoppers and if you watch
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the surveillance video footage and recognize anything or think of anything or should you have any kind of
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information at all we are directing everyone to Michigan Crime Stoppers and you can submit those tips by calling
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1-800 speak up that's 1-800-773-2587 or go online to 1-800 speakup.org to submit a tip this case
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has been covered very well especially in the Michigan area the Taylor Michigan area all of the major news outlets ran
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portions of the security footage on the day after Chelsea Small was killed shortly afterwards Billboards went up
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where they had a picture of Chelsea Small on one side in a picture that was taken from the surveillance footage on
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the other of the Killer asking people to call in with tips can you identify this
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man do you know anything in 2017 True Crime daily or crime watch Daily covered Chelsea Small's case and in 2018 the
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already gone podcast did a fantastic job covering the case as well but it was in
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that 2017 year here Captain where we learn some new information police starting to run out of leads and
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running out of tips decided it was time to release some new information to the public and this was a rather big piece
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of information in 2017 the Taylor Michigan Police Department announced that a silencer was used in the
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commission of these crimes the Killer's gun had a silencer on it when he walked into the Advance America building that
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day which when you look at the still pictures maybe you wouldn't notice it from the video but when you look at the
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still pictures the barrel of the gun looks thinner and longer so it looks like a typical gun
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with a silencer on it well and there's all kinds of different versions of that surveillance footage that has been
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released throughout the years in 2013 14 15 and 16 it was a much shorter version
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where they had cut out the information so you wouldn't see the gun with the silencer on it because when
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they posted this new information then it made its way around the internet there were people that commented and said uh
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who's investigating this case I could see a silencer right away well yeah you're seeing the the footage that was
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released after they said there was a silencer used right so this was something that the police were holding
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on to in hopes that it could help be the break in their case they needed to identify
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Chelsea Small's shooter now up until a couple of months ago I just thought silencers were illegal I
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only know them from movies and TV you know I picture B.A barakis or Steven Seagal building their own weapons but a
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silencer as they are most commonly called or a suppressor as others prefer to say what is the correct terminology
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is there a difference well according to silencer shop.com the short answer is there is no difference a silencer and
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suppressor mean the same thing technically I prefer suppressor as silencer gives off the wrong impression
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it's not silent you know there still is a noise the definition of a silencer is silencer also known as sound suppressor
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suppressor or sound moderator is a muzzle device that reduces the acoustic intensity of the muzzle report or sound
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of a gunshot and The Recoil when a gun is discharged by modulating the speed and pressure of the propellant gas yes
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from the muzzle and hence suppressing the muzzle blast this is incredibly unique it's an incredibly unique aspect
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to this case for several reasons first according to Taylor police detectives they say they only have about three four
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maybe five homicides a year and it's very rare that they go unsolved most homicides somebody gets mad at
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somebody for something they attack them they kill them or fight escalates somebody is brutally injured
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and dies right easily solved so homicides rare in Taylor Michigan one much more rare that they go unsolved
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second robberies are fairly rare especially when a gun is used and very very rare when shots are even fired
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in Taylor Michigan and here's the big thing too they could not they being the detectives
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in Taylor Michigan could not find a single case where a silencer or suppressor was used
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in any crime in fact they reached out to surrounding police departments they couldn't find any crime where a
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silencer was known to have been used so extremely rare and then you go well maybe this helps us
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find the killer so I went and I spoke with some well I have a question real quick yeah
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because does the suppressor or silencer does it alter the bullet in any way because let's say you had
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a family that was murdered all by gunshots but you didn't have any surveillance footage
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you wouldn't know if that gun had a suppressor on it or not unless it affects the way the bullet
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comes out or the impression that's left on the bullet well yeah that's correct when when something's unknown it is
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unknown so they're simply saying in cases where they know what happened they know it went down they have evidence as
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to how it went down weapons used things of that nature there's no record of a suppressor being used
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and any other crime and that they could find in Taylor Michigan kind of makes you wonder like was this just a hit job
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because now I could shoot her and and broad daylight and as long as people just don't hear it I can get in and out
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really quickly right so the the suppressor is certainly going to make it less likely that people would hear a
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loud gunshot but again it doesn't silence the action right but what I'm but what
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I'd like to know is like if somebody shot somebody in a car and the windows were up
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would I know it was gunshot if I was next door if I was in one of the stores next door to this murder would I even
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have heard any loud noise or Ruckus would I would I known it was a gunshot at all it's difficult to say I mean
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every eyewitness is a different situation and one's general knowledge of things and experiences in their life all
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determine that so I mean we have had situations where people are firing guns without
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suppressors and people didn't hear gunshots right and so I cannot say what the you know we did say two of the other
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businesses were occupied so you were hoping that somebody would see or hear something but from everything I'm being
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told there's there is no one that saw or heard anything in in this case so it's it's it's kind of like if a tree falls
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in the in the middle of the Woods kind of scenario but so I I went to some gun experts
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because yeah I I have a couple guns I do not know much about them at all uh so again I thought silencers were illegal I
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wanted to find out more than just what the internet could tell me so I want to give a shout out to uh my guys over at
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Don's loans on Africa Road they are gun experts if you're looking to buy or sell
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those are your dudes what they told me Captain was that only certain and this makes sense why somebody like me would
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think that they may be illegal because they're not sold in every gun store in fact the gun store I went to didn't
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have any you have to hold a certain kind of license to be able to sell an item like a
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suppressor now let's take this a step further if you want to purchase one you have to hold a certain kind of
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License to purchase one so what is that you have to get a suppressor tax stamp and I'll go through this because again
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this is to to really illustrate how rare it would be that somebody would have one of these
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in their possession and then then use it in a homicide so a suppressor tax stamp
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is a two hundred dollar federal tax that was introduced in 1934 for the purchase
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of NFA Firearms when it was first implemented two hundred dollars you know 1934 was an astronomical fee
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so what that means is they made the fee so high that back then nobody would really be able to
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pay this or want to pay this to own an item like this no but but that's not how all criminals
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work then I'll go well let me go pay for this suppressor fee they find another way to get a suppressor well yes thank
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you that is absolutely true but again trying to illustrate how rare these items would be so now today 200 bucks is
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not a lot of money back in 1934 for an example the average net income was three thousand one hundred and twenty five
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dollars so 200 bucks would be about 6.5 percent of one's annual income so a big amount
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of money back then 200 bucks now you know people that's a steak dinner and a night out on the town people can part
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with that where you come into an issue is if I were to walk into a gun store today that has the license to sell such
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an item I walk up and I I purchase the item I pay for the suppressor that day and then I'm handed forms to fill out
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I fill out these forms and this is me applying for that tax stamp this tax stamp
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is for the ATF this goes to the feds right and the thing about this is I have to be
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approved so you can become Steven Seagal and our government doesn't do anything fast so that approval process is
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approximately six to nine months that's your cooling off period if you will so it's a long time from wanting to buy
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it paying for the suppressor applying getting approved and then actually receiving the item being able to own the
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item the stamp itself where it becomes even more significant is it's a federal document it's a federal stamp so meaning
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at any time like you and I here captain let's say you own a suppressor I have three and you sell it to me on the
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street never sell you anything well at any time for the rest of your life the ATF could
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knock on your door and say Mr Captain we want to see your suppressor physically show it to us we
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see that you have a tax stamp I'd say come on in have some cake it's Sara Lee so that is where it becomes an issue of
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you know how did this guy get this thing did he obtain it legally if he did he's probably on a fairly
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short list yeah if he obtained it illegally where did he get it from if he bought it
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from somebody then there's somebody that that sold it to him illegally Steven Seagal
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um and that's where a lot of things come into question now we're going to take this a step further
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because one possible lead in this case when it comes to the suppressor angle of it
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is from this this is from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco firearms and explosives the ATF for short they left out the E
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for whatever reason they are offering two thousand five hundred dollars this is a reward for
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information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man responsible for the burglary and theft of several firearms
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and Firearm silencers from a Jackson gun store the article goes on to say that on May
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8th this is 2013 sometime around 4 30 p.m a man went to a Showbox Showbox I hope I'm saying that right nope
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s-c-h-u-p-b-a-c-h Sporting Goods store on Pearl Street and hid inside of a closet
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after the business closed around 8 PM the man stole multiple firearms and Firearm suppressors from the store
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the thief is believed to be a white male with a stocky build brown colored collar
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length hair that covers his ears he was wearing a long dark colored shirt dark colored cargo pants a dark colored watch
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on his left wrist and light colored shoes or boots and how much time was this before the murder took place so
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this Captain would be six months in a couple days before Chelsea Small was shot and killed because if you see a
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picture of this individual he looks a lot like the individual in the surveillance footage was it called
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advanced Advance America yeah Advance America surveillance footage the problem that a lot of people have with this guy
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being a suspect is he looks like he's considerably heavier six months beforehand
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but it doesn't mean the guy didn't lose some weight in the meantime could have lost weight again the other thing too
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though in both cases we I think would be remiss to think that even though it's not obvious that he's
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wearing any type of Disguise he could be wearing some type of disguise right you
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know I've often wondered in Chelsea's case the Hat is the Hat simply made to make sure that the wig doesn't fall off
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because that hair is is pretty big right like it almost looks a little fake and I'm
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not saying that it is this is all speculation on my end but yeah but if you said to me that you know for a fact
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that that's fake hair just the eye test I'd go okay I buy that that makes sense well here's the really
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weird things that that I'm going to take it a step further in comparing the two crimes and again we can't we're not
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saying that they're absolutely connected I find it very bizarre that there is someone that steals suppressors
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and there's a suppressor used both seem to be extremely rare crimes yeah how bizarre they take place about six
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months apart from one another and in the correct order the suppressors are stolen
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before the victim is shot right right and and then the guys go ahead the guy looks like the same
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type of character yeah I mean you're you're not looking at both of the this camera footage and immediately going
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nope not the same guy yeah if I was looking for a fat [ __ ] murderer to play in a movie this you know either one of
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these guys could fit the role he could play both roles maybe yeah and so the other thing too Captain if you want to
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drive doorstep the doorstep from this uh Showbox Showbox I'm never gonna pronounce that correctly
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shop box people in Michigan are yelling at me right soapbox I love you Michigan yeah anyway uh if you were to dry from
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the sporting goods store to the Advance America again six months apart but doorstep to the doorstep it's like an
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hour and five minute drive yeah so it puts this individual in the same vicinity yeah so let's take this a
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step further too the the things that I'm thinking about one with Advance America
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the day of Tuesday the the shortest hours of operation four hours they're only open for four hours on that day
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she's by herself if he in fact planned this out and his plan his Target was the victim and not necessarily the money
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or let's say it was a random killing that you're targeting a victim you just don't really care who it is
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he picked a good day because it's short hours less people to encounter in the parking lot inside less
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staff to encounter inside he doesn't seem to make a move for the safe as the investigators point out
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she had access to more money if that's what he was looking for again maybe he maybe he got tipped off
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that she hit the alarm and and that was the result but it looks to me like he's producing the gun and ready to shoot
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very quickly in once he walks into the building yeah but we've all seen Point Break before once you realize you can't
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go for the safe you know that's that's one of the biggest mistakes but first degree murder is a is
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a hefty charge for two hundred dollars if that's your end goal and yeah but but we don't know if the
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end goal was 200 right then goal would have been to obviously get more money but
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but you know going into you're not going for the safe is what you just pointed out right no but what I'm what I what
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I'm saying is if this individual came up with a plan okay this is what I'm going
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to do I know that there's only one worker at this spot I know they're only open up for a few hours I'm going to go
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and maybe he had a a a ruse I'm going to say this depending on what she does or if I see her go for that button I'm
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going to shoot her dead and then I'm going to go to this area and gather up all the money I can and it was a perfect
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plan other than other than the fact that when he got out of the place he went I got about 250 bucks of course certainly
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a possibility I'm wondering though how methodical this individual is I'm convinced he's wearing gloves I'm
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convinced that the outfit that he is wearing was purposeful that it was put together by him I believe he was working
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alone I believe he chose that day I don't know if he was targeting Chelsea Small specifically because how would he
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know how would he know that she was covering for somebody else exactly I also think that it's likelihood that
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he may have parked somewhere if he was working alone that would have had to have been the case now again
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Advance America and the other businesses are bookended by additional parking he could have simply parked further from
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the door uh in one of those parking spaces but then let's go look at the sporting goods
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theft okay this is very interesting to me the store we know what time he entered
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the store approximately at 4 30 pm and then he manages to hide in a closet I don't know if this was like a dressing
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room or or utility closet or or what they don't specify but he hid in a closet and he doesn't come out and steal the
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stuff until 8 PM now why do I think that that shows some significance okay this shows planning to me again the store
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closed at 5 pm he knew that he walked in at 4 30. he knows it's not going to be long before
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they close up for the day and at some point these people are going to leave a dumb criminal would have been impulsive
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and would have come out from that closet could be while there were still staff members in the store yes he waited a
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long time the dude seemed to be very patient now I I can't say for certain Captain we can't obviously maybe he's in
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there and it's very obvious he can hear people talking or noises and he knows that there are people still actively in
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the store yeah well I think he we've all worked in these types of businesses and
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usually it's a it's a staggering process of of the employees leaving right when a
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store closes there's usually a good amount of people that shuffle out fairly quickly well I think he had a couple
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jelly donuts and passed out by accident you know just because I got a little tired got a little carb heavy and had to
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take a nap and then you may only have um one single person locking up for the night at some point that some in some
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cases has to stay there an additional hour or hours after the other people has let have left
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so let's take this a step further too with the theft I want to I want to stay on your point for a second because I
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think it's a really good one we don't know exactly why he would have waited that long but it could be just to
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play it safe well one to play it safe maybe somebody was picking them up at eight o'clock maybe whatever
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transportation that he had or maybe he thought that uh maybe he knew something about the
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police department is there a changeover around that time so it'd be harder for them to get to him quickly once the
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alarm went off that's very interesting because it could be a multitude of different reasons why he chose but the
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fact that he was disciplined enough and and that's and that's what I'm wondering if he's just simply going hey
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I'm going to Rob this store and this is this is my plan and I'm going to stick to my plan
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well I only got 250 bucks and maybe that's why he hasn't done it since the risk was not worth the reward
00:27:35
foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign to your point you bring up an interesting thought there again in the
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gun theft case at the sporting goods store we don't have anybody saying they see this guy get into a vehicle we don't
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have surveillance footage of him getting into a vehicle no vehicle description at
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all and then let's go through the description of the perpetrator in the gun theft as well
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one more time he has collar length hair that covers his ears stocky build believed to be a white male he's wearing
00:28:49
a long dark colored shirt dark colored cargo pants a dark colored watch on his left wrist
00:28:56
and a light colored shoes or boots okay we had light-colored shoes and boots in the Advance America shooting right the
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other thing too in this description there's no identifiers again it's all kind of plain
00:29:10
Jane not identifiable clothing solid colors very nothing to indicate where this guy might be from anything that
00:29:20
he's interested in things of that nature I mean if I had a bed it's the same dude
00:29:25
well if anybody has information in that case that one you should not contact Crime Stoppers or
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the Taylor Michigan Police Department because they may not be connected the ATF the feds are investigating this
00:29:41
thing and you can call them at 1-800 ATF guns to report anything that you think you may be seeing in the the footage or
00:29:49
the pictures of the person that stole that the thing that I do want to point out whether these crimes are connected
00:29:55
or not both of these individuals are very very dangerous people right the public is not
00:30:02
safe with either of these people out running around yeah one clearly showed how dangerous he is he just walks into a
00:30:09
business and guns somebody down well that's what I'm saying and it could have been a random person if me and you
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sat down and based on every movie we've seen right and we came up with this wow look you
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know we work right by this check cashing place and they only have one employee on
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Tuesdays so me and you we're going to go in there together well what if she recognizes us okay well if you sit down
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right that's what I'm saying if you sit down and try to create a plan you'd go okay well let's just get this out of the
00:30:44
way I just shoot her if I shoot her and kill her then we don't have to worry about any eyewitness
00:30:51
and when you say oh well the best eyewitness he didn't get rid of the camera really they're taking better pictures on
00:31:00
Mars you know I mean how many times have we seen but again no it is the best it's
00:31:07
the better of the two eyewitnesses if she doesn't know him because this is something you can show
00:31:13
to a thousand two thousand ten thousand other people well look I I believe if it's the same
00:31:20
individual and if I had a bet I would bet that the guy that robbed the gun store and the guy that that committed
00:31:26
this murder and robbery are the same person he was in that gun store multiple times beforehand I believe he was in
00:31:33
this check-cashing place multiple times before that so yes would she uh recognize him maybe
00:31:41
and and maybe I think the gun with the silencer on it it was already set in his mind leave no
00:31:50
eyewitness and maybe that's why he picked a shorter work day where there was only one employee
00:31:56
so he he wouldn't have to you know maybe he was looking around to make sure there's only one employee but almost
00:32:02
seems like he knew the short day one employee gloves on the hands silencer on the gun tells me we're dealing with
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someone who is very careful very planned out very methodical very careful the individual that sits and remains inside
00:32:18
this closet for three and a half hours manages to hide inside the closet without being seen going in there and
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then Waits three and a half hours before coming out and stealing these items yeah you watch Home Alone too very very
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thought out and careful so let's I want to go into some of the details of this theft though this is according to WILX
00:32:41
News because other than the description of the man by the ATF we don't get a lot of
00:32:47
information there but in this article there is more information it says the individual came out of hiding and stole
00:32:53
two firearms and 15 firearm silencers or suppressors Donald Dawkins at the Detroit ATF field office told WWJ news
00:33:05
radio 950s this is a rare case because the thief scene took a few handguns but passed up several high-powered automatic
00:33:16
weapons to grab several silencers quote but he had the opportunity to take many more meaning guns and he did not Dawkins
00:33:25
said we believe he had been in the store before and he knew exactly what he wanted to take those Mufflers those
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depressors were his main target and Dawkins goes on to ask the question why would someone go by pass up the firearm
00:33:45
arms to go for the suppressors well like you said it's you have a waiting list you have a waiting list you have and
00:33:53
your name tied to that item forever and your name tied to that forever so so one
00:33:57
if you want to commit another crime using one this is a great way to get one but it's also probably a great item in
00:34:05
the black market an item that has demand in the black market that's for sure and
00:34:11
yes there are also a smaller item than a gun so a lot easier to carry and again we don't know this
00:34:17
this guy could be riding a bicycle for all we know well and I think it goes without saying but we're going to say it
00:34:23
anyway because we should we're we're asking the public for their help we're asking we're telling them hey we're
00:34:29
going to tell you and show you what we know now can you tell us anything in return and one thing that the police all
00:34:38
the Departments involved because you have Taylor Police Department in Chelsea Small's case you have Jackson Police
00:34:43
Department in this gun theft and plus the ATF working the gun theft and suppressor theft as well
00:34:49
but all of the agencies are saying the same thing about these individuals whether it's the same guy or not the
00:34:56
same guy they're saying the same thing the person that did either of these crimes or did both of these crimes is
00:35:03
obviously very experienced with guns they would have a great knowledge of firearms yeah probably a military
00:35:12
background could be military background police background they even said you they would be concerned about people
00:35:18
that work at gun ranges frequent gun rages they're hoping that by getting out this information that somebody can go oh
00:35:25
I well I know a guy like that or I know a guy that owns similar items or I've seen him using or talking about these
00:35:33
items and to take it a step further you know we put it in the ATF case in the theft where they say we're pretty
00:35:41
certain this guy knew what he was looking for knew exactly what he wanted to steal what he wanted to leave the
00:35:47
store with that day and and then in Chelsea's case remember we have two shots fired and one shot that
00:35:54
malfunctioned it either jammed or malfunctioned for some reason now the officers have said a few things about
00:36:00
that I find to be very interesting one there is more surveillance footage we're seeing a shortened version of that but
00:36:11
what they have told me is that they are not certain why the gun malfunctioned and he had to drop that live round but
00:36:20
that's something that you actually that's an action you have to do right as the the operator of that firearm you
00:36:28
have to recognize that it jammed or malfunctioned you have to clear that round and then load the new one
00:36:33
and what they're saying is that this individual did it like it was a natural thing a second nature to him without
00:36:41
thinking where somebody like me it's goodness it would it would jam me up for a couple
00:36:48
minutes he he they say he very quickly corrected the problem and then fired the second
00:36:54
shot and to them look they didn't say this to me but this guy appears to me to have a better working
00:37:04
knowledge and understanding and expertise of using that particular firearm than what most police officers have with
00:37:14
the firearm that they carry but also notice this in the pictures and and tell me if I'm wrong
00:37:22
but everybody's seen the video and stuff of like Bridge guy and stuff you see some
00:37:30
kind of details on the individual's face there's none here I wonder if he has something underneath
00:37:37
his jacket that either once he got into the building or before he got into the building well I know I take that back I
00:37:48
don't think he would have put it on before he got into the building but it's almost like
00:37:51
he pulled something up above his face maybe around his nose area pulled it all the way up because there's not a single
00:38:00
picture and I'm looking at about 20 different pictures where I can even see like ear holes or outline of his nose or
00:38:09
anything he just looks like he has a blob for a face old Captain blob face it's like on uh Dick Tracy the blank
00:38:17
yeah it's like you can see you can see the whole body and everything but the the face is almost blank that's in the
00:38:24
Chelsea Small case in the Advance America case in the the Firearms thefts at the at the sporting goods store I can
00:38:30
make out some features on that guy's face right and I think it helps that he's not wearing a hat in that situation
00:38:36
but again it's very hard for me to sit here and not believe that these are connected in some way it seems too
00:38:47
too rare of a crime in both cases and too close in proximity both you know time and space wise
00:38:57
that I I don't know I have a hard time sitting here and going that there this is not connected in some way some form
00:39:05
some fashion yeah I mean the silencer is the red flag one bit of new information that we can State here today
00:39:12
that we did receive from the Taylor Police Department in regards of the Chelsea Small case the caliber of gun
00:39:21
that was used in that shooting and that homicide was a 45 caliber so we're looking for someone that owns or owned
00:39:30
in 2013 a 45 caliber handgun with a silencer a suppressor now mind you these are these are threaded items right you
00:39:41
have to kind of thread them together and one thing that the detective did tell me
00:39:47
was and and this is where it gets a little tricky for me here Captain because I'm not an expert on either of
00:39:53
these items the fire the handgun or the suppressor well fake it till you make it
00:39:57
but from what I've been told is that they can be made to to specifically fit a certain firearm or he may have used
00:40:07
one that didn't specifically fit his handgun and that may have been cause for the
00:40:13
malfunction they're not certain you know until they have both items in their possession they
00:40:19
can't say for certain but that's one thing to consider one just like you said the guy stole what 15 of them or some
00:40:26
crazy amount 15 suppressors and only two handguns according to that one article that I found and that was really the
00:40:34
only article that went into description of the item stolen well let's just think
00:40:39
about this if he if he let's see he targeted the two handguns he gets those he wants to suppressor but he knows that
00:40:47
they're made for different makes and model they're pretty small let me just grab 10
00:40:52
15 of them and one's bound to fit one of my guns yeah that's a good call that's a
00:40:59
good call the thing here is and I'm not saying that it's related I I really though believe
00:41:05
unless makes look they these guys look similar they could play the same character in a movie oh no I was going
00:41:13
to try to I was going to bring up another case entirely oh okay and I again I'm not saying that they're
00:41:18
connected but the just the similarities between them are striking to me it's the I-70 killer that we
00:41:25
talked about months ago everything looks very similar in the sense that there was
00:41:31
nothing to indicate that the I-70 killer knew the individuals that he was attacking yet he managed to in more than
00:41:38
one occasion walk into a business during their slow hours on a slow day when the
00:41:44
business was only being manned by one person make the attack make the killing only
00:41:49
take something small insignificant and then hit the road and in all of those cases we don't have a vehicle
00:41:58
that's ever spotted we have a vague description of the shooter of the Killer and clothing non-descript these were all
00:42:06
businesses that backed up the neighborhoods now I know that it's fairly common the businesses back up the
00:42:11
neighborhood so that's not such a big deal but that is what we have in the Chelsea Small case as well I'm not
00:42:17
saying that they're connected I'm just saying that I see a lot of similarities between the two there was a unique
00:42:24
firearm that was used in the I-70 killings that was not used in Chelsea Small's case but at some point the I-70
00:42:33
killer switched handguns yeah but this is a big claim it was always profiled by the FBI that they believed that the I-70
00:42:40
killer lived in or around the Indianapolis Indiana area not terribly far from Michigan
00:42:46
so you look at these cases and of course that's where my brain jumps to is previous cases that we've covered or
00:42:54
cases that I've I've read about or learned about in the past and when they are unsolved you look for similarities
00:43:02
to soft cases and unsolved cases to try to help you gather more information and give you some leads in this currently
00:43:11
unsolved case I share the same opinion as Chelsea Small's family they seem to believe that the case needs
00:43:22
to get more widespread more in front of more people and more people seeing that that footage
00:43:31
they think that the the right eyes have just not seen the surveillance footage and therefore
00:43:38
we don't have that tip that has led to the apprehension of this individual what I can say is with how quickly this dude
00:43:48
moved and how it seems to me that if especially if he did not know Chelsea if he just went in there to kill whomever
00:43:55
was working that day that he picked it based off of more of location and thinking that he would find
00:44:01
an individual by themselves this person strikes me as someone who was probably killed before
00:44:07
this crime and would very likely kill again and again I cannot go into too much to
00:44:17
convince everyone how dangerous I believe this type of individual is and so I'm hoping that somebody that the
00:44:25
right set of eyes will see this and recognize something I have also had the you know I asked the
00:44:33
the detectives bear with me because when we're working with so little here in this case the
00:44:39
guy's only in the store for 70 seconds he doesn't leave any clues other than the the shell casings in the the live
00:44:45
round and the surveillance footage and as you say somehow this magic this guy magically appears appears to be blank in
00:44:54
the face Captain blob face I said could you bear with me and speculate a little bit
00:44:59
and I already told you they believe the probability of solving this case is very
00:45:03
high one they point out that it's only been eight years it's not been 30 or 40. but they point out I'm not going to go
00:45:10
into too much detail with this because I don't I want them to still be holding some cards at the end of the day there's
00:45:16
multiple Avenues multiple ways that the information could lead them to their killer
00:45:24
so that's very positive but the other thing too I said do you what does your gut tell you is this guy
00:45:33
local or is he not local and they said look you go in One Direction you're on the
00:45:39
freeway in a minute or two you go in the other direction you're on a different freeway
00:45:44
in two and a half to three minutes this guy could have popped on and popped off a Telegraph Road very quickly
00:45:53
they also believe they're like look we put up Billboards we've released the footage to the news outlets we released
00:45:59
it again years later showing the silencer they share the same speculation as the family that the guy is more
00:46:06
likely not to be local because he's gone undetected the public has not been able
00:46:11
to produce this guy one sad sad turn of events and this is a bizarre thing that seems to be not
00:46:18
connected to the murder itself but should be reported here Captain is in November of 2020 last year
00:46:27
Chelsea Small's grave site in Gibraltar Michigan was vandalized and this is kind of a weird sentence to
00:46:35
to say but her grave site was beautiful yeah they decorated very nice but it wasn't so much that it was vandalized
00:46:44
right it was is more that there was decorations that were stolen yes there were decorations that were stolen and to
00:46:51
me the headlines are always vandalized I I've not seen the before and after pictures but I imagine you're probably
00:46:58
looking at pictures of her grave site right there the family throughout the years
00:47:03
have put like little statues yeah and then and that's what was stolen and so to me I go it could be the same guy it
00:47:12
could be it's not messing with people well and that would that would show something similar to Superbike where
00:47:18
this guy had just such mad revenge against these people that just you know boiling up so much that he had to go in
00:47:26
there and gun people down but it sounds to me that they are pretty certain they know who stole those items
00:47:35
and it doesn't sound like there's a connection between the person they believe stole those items
00:47:40
and who they think uh killed or or maybe here's where my mind goes and I'm not this is not information that I
00:47:51
know for certain either way this person's a [ __ ] sniffer this is just a guess usually theft and vandalism are
00:47:58
teenager type crimes and we can look at the surveillance footage of Advance America and know that
00:48:05
we're not seeing a teenager in in that case so um that's where my mind goes and I did
00:48:13
see on record where they said they they're pretty much believe they know who saw who committed that and they were
00:48:21
the hopes were that they could get the items returned yeah now when it comes to these two crimes I think our gut feeling
00:48:28
is these guys if I had a bet would be the same individual when you're looking at the
00:48:35
surveillance footage make sure you look at the logo or the white spot on the hat
00:48:40
and also there's a white spot on his belt and and if anybody can make out what those items are yes and hopefully
00:48:48
people will look at pictures of both of those uh crimes and and determine for themselves if they think they're seeing
00:48:55
the same person and take it a step further show other people as well so we can finally get Justice for Chelsea
00:49:02
Small her family her two kids and again there is a reward for information in both cases
00:49:11
if you have any idea of who committed the gun theft in Jackson Michigan you should contact the ATF
00:49:18
if you have any information in Chelsea's case if you have any idea who her killer
00:49:23
is or recognize any of his clothing or the gun itself or know someone that owns a 45 with a silencer or a suppressor
00:49:31
or someone that has bragged that they obtained either item illegally there's a 52
00:49:40
500 reward in Chelsea's case and information can be sent to 1-800 speakup.org or by calling 1-800 speak up
00:49:56
[Music] I want to thank all you crazy filthy animals for joining us here in the garage check out our bonus show called
00:50:13
off the Record and if hey you want to check it out for free I've been putting up little preview clips of every week so
00:50:20
if you go to our website truecrime garage.com you can see a preview of this week's episode where we break down what
00:50:28
happened and all the happenings at crime con 2021 Colonel do we have any recommended
00:50:35
reading we do but I do want to point out if you sign up through our website I believe you get a whole month of free
00:50:42
listening try it out for a month and see if you love it I think you will recommended reading this week Captain we
00:50:49
are recommending the cadaver King in the country dentist a true story of Injustice in the American South by
00:50:56
Radley Balco and Tucker Carrington this is about the murder of two young girls in Mississippi and the two innocent men
00:51:04
convicted of their crimes they both spent a combined 30 years in prison before being exonerated in 2008 this
00:51:12
book tells the story of how the justice system let this happen Dr Stephen Hayne and Dr Michael West built careers on the
00:51:21
backs of that Justice structure together they help to put countless mississippians in prison but then some
00:51:29
of those convictions started to fall apart check out the cadaver king and the country dentist a true story of
00:51:36
Injustice in the American South and check out our recommended page at truecrime garage.com and until next week
00:51:43
be good be kind and don't let it thank you thank you [Music]