00:00:07
[Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to true crammed garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:00:44
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that would rather die of exhaustion than starvation
00:00:50
he is the captain and I'm just like post Malone I'm always tired baby it's good to be seen and it's good to see you
00:00:57
thanks for listening and thanks for telling a friend this week we are drinking sleepy bear by work force
00:01:08
brewing in Plainfield Illinois garage grade four and a half out of five bottle caps strong caramel and chocolate
00:01:15
flavors in this Russian Imperial Stout that is full of roasted malts rye oats honey malt brown sugar and plenty of
00:01:24
hops the ABV is high here nine point six percent so enjoy one of these at home in
00:01:30
your garage and let's give some thank-yous and shout outs captain first up thanks to Alexis from Tall Timbers
00:01:36
Maryland a big shout-out to Maria and Amish country Pennsylvania next here's a good old southern cheers to Alison in
00:01:44
easily South Carolina and that big C is mates to Brian in Chandler Arizona and one of our favorite stops here captain
00:01:51
we have Chris and we have Sicily in parts unknown population growing though because we also have Jill and parts
00:01:58
unknown as well so thanks everybody for filling up the fridge for this week's show if you want to help us out with
00:02:03
next week's go to true crime garage comm and click on the donate button and I like to give a special shout out to
00:02:08
Craig from the YouTube channel team Richey I've been following you from the beginning I just want to say cheers to
00:02:15
you and your success and Jeff we don't quit thanks captain and hey a quick little reminder for all of our new
00:02:22
listeners out there check out the stitcher app it's free we've been around for a long time we keep getting requests
00:02:28
for cases we've already covered yeah so get the stitcher app it's free all of our old episodes are available right
00:02:35
there waiting for you to listen yeah and I think it's in the left hand corner there's actually a date I'll say like
00:02:42
2019 can actually click on that and it's a drop-down menu so you can go down to like 2016 and listen to those shows or
00:02:51
2018 whatever there you go true-crime garage on the stitcher app alright everybody gather round
00:02:57
grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] [Music] tonight in the mystery surrounding the
00:03:29
missing mom Michele Fiori with WBBM news radio 780 what happened well the latest
00:03:38
information I have for you Nancy is that I did speak with Plainfield police this
00:03:41
afternoon and they tell me that tips are now coming into their department and that is significant because over the
00:03:47
weekend when I first met with the deputy police chief he told me they had nothing
00:03:50
at that point they were desperate for leads and now they are finally coming into the station iding says any lead
00:03:56
even saying one that may seem insignificant to people can be just the tip that they're looking for and that
00:04:01
can help bring Lisa stem back home to her family Jim what would the circumstances of her disappearance well
00:04:06
it was April 30th was the last time that she was seen and she works at a school cafeteria so she reported for work that
00:04:11
day they saw her her husband is the last one that says he saw her late in the afternoon on April 30th ed said that she
00:04:18
normally would leave in the evening to go to exercise she come back 10:30 or 11:00 she was never seen again her
00:04:24
children though there are two children have the same story that the father has but the last time they saw their mother
00:04:29
was late in that afternoon so to you Michele Fiori with 780 WBBM Newsradio both children who are allegedly out
00:04:37
buying some candy the father says he was working in the yard when she went jogging or to work out they back up the
00:04:44
dads claimed he saw her at 6:00 p.m. we have not spoken with the children at this point I'm sorry I couldn't hear you
00:04:51
repeat we have not spoken with the children at this point what do it what can you tell me about the husband
00:04:57
refusing a polygraph Michele Fiori you know what Craig stomach declined to take a polygraph test that was offered to him
00:05:05
by the Plainfield Police Department it was on the advice of his attorney who is also his divorce attorney in the
00:05:10
proceedings that he filed against Lisa Stevic in this past January police tell us that
00:05:16
besides Craig other family members and acquaintances of Lisa also been offered a polygraph test they
00:05:22
would not tell me exactly how many have taken it or if any have taken it at this
00:05:28
point joining us tonight is a very special guest it is Melanie Greenberg this is the missing mom Lea systemics
00:05:34
cousin Melanie thank you for being with us Thank You Nancy for this opportunity to get Lisa's picture out there to a
00:05:41
national audience we're hoping someone will see her and have some new tip or lead to give to the Plainfield police
00:05:49
they need something new to go on even if it seems like an inconsequential fact please call the pillion field police and
00:05:58
bring Lisa home safely to her children and her family tonight with us Melanie Greenberg this is Lisa's cousin I wish
00:06:07
you peace I was did she find her alive I can't even imagine going through what you're fit not not knowing if she's dead
00:06:17
or alive or possibly alive somewhere needing medical attention or needing help tell me the last time you saw her
00:06:26
well as cousins and a large family our last big family gathering was in December at a holiday gathering her
00:06:36
sisters are extremely close to Lisa and they last spoke with her on the Thursday
00:06:42
before the Monday that she was missing they had a lengthy conversation Lisa was in very good spirits and you know it
00:06:50
just it's a total mystery to us Nancy we just can't understand because there's no
00:06:55
way that she would leave her children [Music] Plainfield Illinois is a comfortable
00:07:16
town close enough to commute to Chicago for work but far enough away to have a small-town feel with the population
00:07:24
growing rapidly in the last 25 years open spaces and farms mingle with newer subdivisions the old sections stand in
00:07:33
contrast to the new developments but the neighbors are friendly regardless if you
00:07:37
live in one of the new golf course communities or in one of the older sections this is a community where you
00:07:43
can live safely and raise your family in the comfort the Plainfield encourages now the newer houses are not just from
00:07:51
the economic boom that has allowed families to leave the familiar suburbs and venture further out down I 55 to
00:07:59
Plainfield but some are replacement houses for the ones destroyed by the August 28th 1990 tornado this tornado
00:08:07
killed 29 people and injured 350 people more than 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed the tornado made it across
00:08:16
more than 16 miles in only eight minutes this tornado destroyed the only Plainfield High School at the time that
00:08:24
is now called Plainfield Central High School Lisa Michele ruinberg was born on May 19
00:08:30
1969 in Park Ridge Illinois she went on to attend Libertyville High School where
00:08:36
she competed on the swim team and was involved in dancing Lisa graduated in 1987 then attended at Southern Illinois
00:08:43
University before going to Kendall College Lisa earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management and she worked
00:08:50
in hotels in Lincolnshire and Northbrook Lisa met Craig Stevic at a party they dated and later got married on April 6
00:08:58
1993 this was in Jamaica as the two eloped two years later the couple celebrated the birth of their daughter
00:09:05
Alexis and their son Zachary followed about a year later the couple lived in Waukegan
00:09:12
but Craig Stevic he was a pipe fitter so he traveled to the Plainfield area a lot
00:09:17
for work so they eventually moved there léa systemic was 37 almost 38 years old when she went missing on April 30th 2007
00:09:26
Lisa was married for 14 years to Kraig Stevic and there are two kids were 10 and 12 years old when she suddenly
00:09:33
vanished but before we get to the day in question April 30th let's look a little
00:09:38
deeper into what was going on in Lisa's life leading up to her having gone missing in March of 2006 so just a
00:09:46
little more than a year before the day in question Lisa started working as a custodian for the Plainfield School
00:09:53
District she was already working in the cafeteria at Lincoln Elementary so the fillin custodian position
00:10:00
required her to work nights after her children were in bed in addition to her daytime lunch duties about a year later
00:10:08
she stopped the custodial work at the time of her disappearance she was only working at the Lincoln Elementary School
00:10:14
cafeteria sloppy joe sloppy joe meatloaf sandwich she was employed by Sodexo foodservice she prepared lunches for the
00:10:23
school students and earned less than $10,000 a year now as a part of her routine she would work out about three
00:10:31
to four nights a week starting around 6:00 until the gym closed which was at 8:30 p.m.
00:10:37
she used the gym at the local high school she was easily remembered at the gym for her energy and how happy she was
00:10:45
when she was there before she vanished she recently lost about 30 or so pounds good for her
00:10:52
Lisa posted a profile on aerobic friends calm she was seeking female friends to workout with on the websites profile she
00:11:00
said she wanted to include her children in her exercise routine she also posted to health dot exercise friends comm
00:11:09
asking how she could find running or walking partners in the area again she was hoping to find quote female friends
00:11:16
only end quote to join her and exercise right but mmm I'm just going to put this
00:11:23
out there she might only be looking for female friends but I'm sure that anybody could
00:11:30
browse the different people looking for friends oh yeah you know I mean so there could
00:11:35
be some Jim creeps out there you know scouring the internet for four women looking for workout partners nothing
00:11:43
like a good old-fashioned gym creep no no that give you the creep eye but it's also the stink eye
00:11:48
well Lisa listed her workout goals to include increased cardio tone up and simply get out more meet new people and
00:11:56
just have fun she stated I am a parent and I would like to include my children in my health activities she wrote in one
00:12:03
of her postings she was looking for partners to get out and enjoy nature well first of all Lisa is a saint
00:12:10
because any lunch lady is the same because I I would not have made it this far in my life because I want to eat
00:12:18
most of the time if it wasn't for the kind of lunch lady's second she's trying to improve her life not only physically
00:12:25
but also hey you know I've been married for a while I have some kids I want to I
00:12:32
want to meet some new positive people and so this seems like she's on the right path of doing so and she's a hard
00:12:39
worker she's working two jobs at one point well and this is always a good thing too because you know some people
00:12:45
and I've been there I've been on both sides of this some people work out because they feel like they have to you
00:12:51
know to maintain a healthy lifestyle right and then you have others that are able to make it a hobby where they
00:12:57
actually enjoy doing it and spending time working out and being healthy and that's what it seems like to me that
00:13:03
this was her way of getting out of the house and doing something for herself she probably needed a little bit of
00:13:09
alone time yeah the only thing I disagree with her on is the cardio thing because cardio is the devil well the the
00:13:17
stem experiment in January of 2007 they filed for a divorce FY most publications report this was
00:13:26
filed in January however I did find a couple that stated December of 2006 regardless we're talking about a small
00:13:33
window you know difference of time there yeah but again we have this individual that
00:13:38
is trying to improve herself and maybe it's I'm going to get a divorce and I want to look good and try to find
00:13:44
somebody but at this current time it doesn't look like she's looking for you know the next
00:13:49
man no she's obviously concerned and involved with her children's lives so that seems to be the focus there at the
00:13:58
time now during the process of this divorce Lisa and Craig lived together with their children in the family's
00:14:04
house Lisa would sleep on the couch while Craig used the master bedroom Lisa told
00:14:09
friends that she slept with her phone and her purse next to her because she was afraid that Craig would take them
00:14:15
you know take the phone and or purse and possibly destroy them right during the divorce Lisa befriended a co-worker
00:14:22
named Ruby and would often spend her evenings at the gym with Ruby and then often afterwards going to Ruby's house
00:14:30
for a glass of wine and some chitchat often Lisa would bring her children with her when she would visit Ruby's home
00:14:38
Lisa went out on a couple of dates with a recently divorced man a short time before her disappearance I do not know
00:14:47
this individuals name could not find his name but what I could find was that he was 45 years old or so this would be
00:14:54
about 7 to 8 years older than Lisa at the time well yeah but most women like older man or or older captain what I
00:15:03
gather from this information what little information we have on this dating situation yeah I don't feel like I don't
00:15:11
gather that this was a serious thing right I think we have somebody that's going through a divorce and someone
00:15:17
recently divorced likely they were probably hooked up let's say or you know somebody playing matchmaker probably put
00:15:25
them together something right so now is her husband seeing anybody at the time no there's no indication that he was
00:15:33
seeing anybody at the time there's also not 100% evidence that he was aware that
00:15:39
she was dating someone right again I don't think this was a serious thing I think it was very casual I don't even
00:15:47
know how many times they actually went out on a date together I don't think it was much one sometimes if you're going
00:15:53
you know especially when I went through my situation I'd meet women that were going through a divorce
00:15:58
and we'd go out to lunch or hang out go shopping that I mean somebody on the outside could go oh well that's a date
00:16:06
there weren't dates there were almost therapy sessions I was gonna say the same thing anybody that's been through a
00:16:13
tough breakup you find yourself sitting across from someone having a cup of coffee or sharing a a drink and it's
00:16:21
really just you need somebody to vent wait somebody to talk to somebody that's kind of going through the same thing
00:16:27
there might not even be an attraction there really at all well let's face it - I mean women they can kind of get their
00:16:34
stuff together and start moving a lot quicker than most men most men especially married for 14 years he's
00:16:41
probably looking a little schlubby he probably has to get his stuff together well let's go through the day of the
00:16:48
disappearance according to all reports Lee systemic was last seen by her husband on April 30th 2007 but it's not
00:16:56
just that simple right so let's go through this Lisa had spent most of the day going about her typical
00:17:03
routine she worked at Lincoln Elementary School the lunch shifts were typically somewhat of shorter shifts so Lisa left
00:17:12
the school around 2:30 p.m. she picked up a sandwich from Jimmy John's on route 59 and ran some errands before returning
00:17:20
home her routine was to pick up her ten-year-old son Zach from Walker's Grove elementary school at around 3:30
00:17:28
p.m. though no one could say with certainty that Lisa picked up Zach that Monday friends say listen they don't
00:17:38
know who picked him up well I mean he came home at the normal time so everyone just assumes that the typical routine
00:17:46
was for her to pick him up right at 3:30 p.m. so we're gonna assume that she picked him up yes we just don't have
00:17:53
anybody that says I specifically saw Lisa pick up Zach that day well won't he know that's one of the tricky things
00:18:02
with this case and we'll get into that in a little bit so friends say that Lisa almost always made sure that she was
00:18:11
home with Zach her twelve-year-old daughter until Craig returned from work in the evening time
00:18:17
at 5:40 p.m. Craig comes home from work and gives the kids money to go get some candy now later Lisa's friends stated to
00:18:26
media that Lisa strictly forbid the kids from eating candy or any type of processed sugar so they question this
00:18:35
activity 5:45 p.m. the children leave on a bike ride to go to Walgreens to get their candy
00:18:43
between 5:45 and 6 p.m. Craig starts working in the back yard we should point out here that Craig and this is
00:18:50
mentioned by all the neighbors he was one of those guys that was often seen out working in the yard this was very
00:18:57
typical behavior for him yeah at approximately 6:00 p.m. Craig says that he re-entered the home and Lisa had
00:19:04
already left he assumed that she went to work out as per her regular routine now
00:19:10
some reports say that he thinks that he heard her leave but says he didn't see her right regardless Lisa fails to show
00:19:18
up to work out at the high school which was her regular routine and that me at what time at 6 o'clock is when Craig
00:19:26
believes that she left the home right but what time does she know I'm gonna work out this would be shortly
00:19:32
afterwards she would often arrive in the 6 o'clock hour and stay to about 8:30 p.m. you're given us ly information so I
00:19:38
just want to clear this up so her son gets picked up from school 10 years old mm-hmm we know that he gets home yes we
00:19:47
can assume that it's her you have nobody saying that they saw her but assume it's
00:19:52
her then the husband gives the kids money to get candy which she wouldn't be down with but we're also assuming that
00:20:02
she's at home at this point mm-hmm and then he states that she leaves the house roughly around 6 o'clock yeah and you
00:20:10
know what her friends Lisa's friends and family have made a lot of this thing of
00:20:16
her husband Craig sending the kids out to get candy right because it's against what Lisa would typically allow I under
00:20:26
stand why you question that because if something were to go down in that home in you know the two witnesses would be
00:20:33
the children right right so I understand questioning that but at the same time it
00:20:38
could be something as simple as we're going through a divorce we don't even talk to each other we don't get along
00:20:43
right this is dad's rules not mom's rules here's some here's some money let me be the let me be the star of the
00:20:49
night and go get some candy yeah but it also seems a little hush money you know I mean could be yeah it feels that way a
00:20:59
little bit but again I'm all for Lisa I'm all for the working out I'm all for cardio but
00:21:07
kids with no candy come on well here's one thing that I think is very key to this case and it is
00:21:14
you know Craig's word that we have to go off of here we do know Lisa left her car
00:21:22
at the family's home but according to Craig she took her purse and cellphone with her
00:21:29
I've seen some statements that say that she took her car keys as well right but that seems to be more in question than
00:21:35
fact so let's just point it out there at this point over sometime around 6:00 p.m. according to Craig's story his wife
00:21:43
Lisa has left the home and her purse is gone and her cell phones gone but her car is at the house right but you would
00:21:51
assume if she's taking her purse she probably has a house key that she's taking her car keys with her right well
00:21:59
between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. the kids returned from Walgreens and they go directly to Target with their father to
00:22:07
purchase a birthday gift for someone some unnamed person with their father right right now between 10:00 and 11:00
00:22:15
this is when Craig said would be the usual time that Lisa would return home after going to the gym or going out she
00:22:23
does not return that night the next day Tuesday May 1st and 8:50 a.m. Lisa's co-workers received a phone message from
00:22:34
Craig asking if his wife had reported to work at 10:00 to 10:15 a.m. Craig called the
00:22:41
next door neighbor to inquire about Lisa the neighbor reported her missing to police a little after 10 a.m. this is
00:22:49
shortly after this phone call right Craig and the kids went about their typical day after he called the neighbor
00:22:56
he drove the kids to school and then he went on to work now before we get too far along captain here is a description
00:23:05
of Lisa at the time of her disappearance right she is 5 feet 2 inches tall 120 pounds Caucasian with brown hair and
00:23:13
brown eyes now to celebrate her new start in life I'm guessing this is you know once there
00:23:19
the divorce was working its way through Lisa got a butterfly tattoo on her lower
00:23:25
back with her children's names on each side yes this is a very bad decision she already had a small rose tattoo on her
00:23:34
ankle this had her daughter's name on it yeah that's not so bad it's just uh the
00:23:40
butterfly on the lower back and and she had also told friends that she would wanted a tattoo somewhere else that
00:23:47
would have her son's name on it there is a reward for information in this case and anyone with information no matter
00:23:54
how little you should you should get in touch with the Plainfield Illinois Police Department right and that goes
00:24:00
for everyone everywhere not just in Illinois because there has been some speculation tied to the state of
00:24:07
Michigan in the state of Wisconsin and as you and I know very well captain we have seen good very good information
00:24:15
come from further away than just a state or two when discussing these cases yeah
00:24:19
so what's interesting here is that we have a situation where they're going through a divorce wewe don't it doesn't
00:24:28
sound like it's that messy as far as she's sleeping on the couch he's sleeping in the bed yeah I mean she
00:24:36
holds her phone tight and our purse tight but you don't know why that is I mean who's she talking to maybe she just
00:24:44
wants to keep that stuff private now because they're going to be divorced so she doesn't have any reason for sharing
00:24:51
that information so it's kind of strange and they're not you know logically you got this guy that
00:24:59
goes well she normally comes home pretty late but she didn't but you don't know he he might have some he might be
00:25:09
speculating a little bit that she's on a date mm-hmm and then it's like then he's
00:25:14
probably thinking well it's not my place to call her and ask her where she's at or text her because you know we're
00:25:21
getting a divorce like this is what's gonna be happening a month from now anyways two months from now anyways you
00:25:28
sure I mean well well the the big thing that you have to question here regarding
00:25:33
the situation of her not coming home whether it be 10:00 11:00 or you know whatever time her not coming home at all
00:25:40
is there was some turmoil going on in this divorce and there there was some bitterness I think in what what we will
00:25:50
see here going forward is the reports about that do seem to be one-sided it seems to be Lisa telling some people
00:26:00
that some things are going on but it also seems like they were if if there was a lot going on if there was a lot of
00:26:08
hostility inside that home it was kept fairly quiet and I think too that you have to call in a question is what kind
00:26:18
of situation on craig's end are we talking about are we talking about a jealous husband that that is wondering
00:26:25
where his soon-to-be ex-wife is you know pacing the floors at their house are we
00:26:31
talking about a guy that's already moved on and he doesn't really care you know he just he doesn't become alarmed until
00:26:36
she doesn't show up to work the next day that's why I'm saying two very different
00:26:40
situations you know I totally agree and I think just on the surface right now it
00:26:45
seems like because there's no call it at night mm-hmm you'd think that if he was like a real
00:26:51
jealous dude hmm that he'd be texting one of her friends or calling somebody there'd be some kind of effort made at
00:26:59
night cuz he'd be thinking she's with some guys who stay in the night oh my god right mm-hm
00:27:05
but since that doesn't happen and he waits until the morning that now he's going and he got it remember their
00:27:11
they've been together 14 years they had two kids together I'm sure there is some
00:27:15
kind of love there you know even going through a divorce we still care about the person for the most part or you
00:27:22
should and so now you have this individual that's going hey wait a second okay she didn't show up last night
00:27:29
that's one thing but now this is I'm getting a little worried mm-hmm well let's take a quick beer break and
00:27:35
when we get back we'll talk more about Craig stabbing and we'll also take a deeper dive into what was going on with
00:27:42
this divorce [Music] do you want a New Year's resolution that you can actually keep save time and
00:28:07
money this year by using stamps calm we love and we use stamps calm state of calm is a must for any small business
00:28:16
owner stamps.com brings you all the amazing services of the US Postal Service right
00:28:21
to your computer so you can print official US postage for any letter any package any class of mail anywhere you
00:28:28
want to send then the mail carrier picks it up no more lugging mail into the post
00:28:33
office no more hassles better yet with stamps calm you can get discounted postage rates that you can't even get at
00:28:40
the post office not to mention it's a fraction of the cost of those expensive postage meters and there's no equipment
00:28:46
to lease and no long term commitments we love and we use stamps calm every week to ship out the garage merchandise so if
00:28:54
you've got some grudge merchandise you got that because we sent it with stamps calm and right now you can enjoy the
00:29:02
stamps calm service with a special offer that includes a four week trial plus postage and a digital scale so start the
00:29:09
new year off right go to stamps calm click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in garage that's
00:29:16
stamps calm and use our promo code garage I'll say it again stamps calm it's a must for all small business
00:29:24
owners if you've been thinking about the credit cards you used over the holidays
00:29:28
make this your new year's resolution lower your interest rate and save with a credit card consolidation loan from
00:29:35
light stream get a rate as low as six point one four percent APR with Auto pay and save thousands in interest the rate
00:29:44
is fixed so as rates continue to rise your low rate won't budge get a loan from five thousand all the way up to
00:29:51
$100,000 and you can even get your money as soon as the day you apply the application is 100% online and there are
00:29:58
no fees their website is easy to use and there are no good excuses not to save money this new year with light stream my
00:30:06
listeners can save even more with the additional interest rate discount the only way to get this discount
00:30:12
go to light stream comm slash garage that's Li gh t stre a.m. dot-com / garage subject to credit approval rates
00:30:23
include 0.5% auto pay discount terms and conditions apply in offers or subject to
00:30:30
change without notice visit light stream comm / garage for more information that's life stream comm
00:30:36
/ garage you spend a third of your life in sheets so if you're looking for a new
00:30:41
year's resolution better sleep is a good place to start with Brooklyn and you can
00:30:46
finally get 5-star Hotel quality sheets easily and without breaking the bank because Brooklyn and works directly with
00:30:52
their manufacturers and passes the savings on to you mix and match over 20 colors and patterns and explore
00:30:59
Brooklyn's collection of towels robes and sleep masks to add a splash of luxury to your daily routine going into
00:31:08
2019 I love my Brooklyn and sheets slept on them last night everybody knows from
00:31:13
listening to this show I have purchased several sets of Brooklyn and sheets even
00:31:17
given them as gifts because I love these sheets my Brooklyn and sheets are the best most comfortable sheets I've ever
00:31:24
slept on now it's time for your upgrade Brooklyn and Comm is giving a exclusive offer to my listeners get $20 off and
00:31:32
free shipping when you use our promo code garage at Brooklyn and dot-com Brooklyn is so confident in their
00:31:38
product and all their sheets comforters and towels come with a lifetime warranty
00:31:43
the only way to get $20 off and free shipping is to use promo code garage at Brooklyn and Comm that's BR ook Li in e
00:31:53
in.com promo code garage Brooke linen is really are the best seats ever [Music] all right shears me mateys
00:32:17
Cheers captain let's take a closer look at Lisa's husband Craig Stevic Craig was
00:32:22
a former private investigator who was working as a pipe fitter at the diol corporation based in Montgomery Illinois
00:32:29
Craig stetic earned more than $80,000 annually at his Union job he was working there for at least five years that I
00:32:37
could tell and it was not unusual for him to have several weeks in between jobs he does have one prior arrest when
00:32:47
he was arrested with his father on October 8th 1995 I believe this was looked at as a possible like illegal
00:32:56
hunting type situation according to the police report fresh blood was discovered
00:33:02
inside somewhere on the truck on Craig's truck but no animals were found police believe the two hid them in one of
00:33:12
hundreds of mining pits that can be found in iron County Michigan Craig Stevic was charged with two felony
00:33:19
counts of unlawful use of a weapon after police stopped his vehicle about a thousand feet from a school at 9:00 in
00:33:27
the morning police found a 10 gauge double-barrel shotgun a 44 Magnum pistol a Ruger and an ak-47 semi-automatic
00:33:36
assault rifle in his Toyota pickup we-we-we red flags going off hmm I think that's what a lot of people are probably
00:33:45
thinking that's a lot of guns right but like we're talking about earlier maybe not so much there's a lot of people in
00:33:53
this country that hunt all the time regardless if it's hunting season or not correct and one thing we should point
00:33:59
out here is that Craig's family I believe it might be his father someone in his family owns a good deal of
00:34:07
property up in Michigan that they use often for hunting purposes and you know just to get away and what what you and I
00:34:16
do know from you know several friends and things like that certain parts of this country people just hunt when they
00:34:22
feel like hunting especially if they have a good deal of land now Craig was also charged with four
00:34:28
misdemeanor counts of unlawful use of a weapon operating an unsafe motor vehicle
00:34:33
and driving while his license was revoked so like you said most people thinking a good deal of red flags the
00:34:41
only real red flags here are the obvious this man owns several guns if he was hunting illegally well we do know he was
00:34:50
operating his vehicle illegally this is a guy that is going to kind of do what he wants when he feels like doing it so
00:34:58
let's take a look at this divorce shall we this was a mutual thing and this was actually the second time around with the
00:35:06
divorce proceedings for the statics the first time the divorce was called off by
00:35:11
Lisa after the birth of their daughter then Craig Stevic filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage in January of
00:35:19
2007 so just three or four months before Lisa disappeared Craig says he filed for
00:35:25
divorce when his wife declared quote she didn't want to be married to me anymore
00:35:30
and quote he said the couple rarely spoke in six months living separate lives under the same roof his divorce
00:35:38
petition cited irreconcilable differences both parents sought joint custody of their children with Lisa
00:35:44
Stevic as the residential custodial parent child support and division of their marital properties so that doesn't
00:35:53
seem to be anything crazy going on there right it all seems kind of very mutual we're gonna split up our properties
00:35:59
we're gonna have shared custody you're gonna have the kids most of the time all pretty regular stuff in my opinion well
00:36:06
to me it sounds like this guy's gonna hey look you don't want me you don't want to be married to me okay but he's
00:36:13
taken the steps he's not doing one of these maneuvers where the guys go oh you don't want you don't want me you don't
00:36:19
want to be married to me you're gonna have to divorce me he filed the paperwork so he uh on some level it
00:36:27
looks like he's going okay well let's get this process going and let's get this over with and we both can move
00:36:33
forward with our lives as an outsider looking in it appears to me captain that these two were probably
00:36:39
staying together or trying to make it work for some time probably just for their children yeah so Lisa's complaints
00:36:48
against Craig were somewhat different she states that he's unnecessarily relentless he's cruel and considerate
00:36:55
domineering and verbally abusive now in the divorce proceedings there's a claim made by Lee systemic that Craig her
00:37:03
husband is an unfit parent and she cites one instance where she claims that one of the children was allowed to handle
00:37:10
one of his loaded guns she also says that he was very very lackluster in the way that he cared for these guns meaning
00:37:19
the way that he just kind of kept them around the house right according to Nancy Grace and CNN on the day Lisa
00:37:26
disappeared she mailed a petition to her attorney seeking to have Craig removed from the home Craig Stevic says he knew
00:37:35
nothing about these papers yeah but this is kind of weird too because it seems like they're both filing for joint
00:37:43
custody and so she's saying that you're verbally abusive you're not a fit parent but I'm
00:37:50
gonna give you custody half the time mm-hmm that's just contradicts itself yeah it's
00:37:56
it's weird but what I think that this filing filing this petition to have him removed or a evicted you know we should
00:38:03
say from this home may point out a situation where the proceedings weren't moving along fast enough for Lisa at
00:38:12
some point I mean they're living together that's got to be incredibly uncomfortable we've talked about other
00:38:17
cases where this stuff happens where people decide we're just gonna we're gonna share the same roof we're gonna
00:38:23
get through this somehow and then one day we'll be separated that's not a comfortable thing for either person I
00:38:31
have to guess it's the worst thing you can imagine however bad you think it is it's worse than that mm-hmm I once was
00:38:40
doing the dishes and had my ex come up and and she was laughing with anger for no reason I
00:38:48
haven't talked to her in weeks she was laughing with anger and said I can't wait til you're happy yeah it's like
00:38:55
what did I do I haven't talked to you for three weeks yeah my parents used to tell me the same thing
00:39:01
the only prior police action regarding the step exhale Plainfield police were called to the
00:39:08
home at red star Drive for a report of a non-violent that's very keyword non violent verbal fight between the couple
00:39:16
in an interview this took place on May 10th 2007 craig said he called the police when his
00:39:22
wife showed up intoxicated after being out all night so Craig called the police now later a friend of Lisa's said that
00:39:31
Lisa told her Craig locked her out of the house so regardless Craig was the one that made
00:39:38
the the phone call you know something happened that police showed up that well look during that whole time yes it's not
00:39:47
your wife anymore or it's not gonna be your wife they're still your wife I think there's a lot of people that are
00:39:54
separated quote-unquote separated and they just start acting immature and I could see it going both ways oh yeah
00:40:03
she's gonna go out for a little bit just goes and has some drinks maybe she forgot her house key somebody picked her
00:40:12
up and I'm gonna lock you out yeah or it's so late that you just think oh you just expect me to stay at home and take
00:40:20
care of the kids while you go do whatever you want to do lock the door well and again though I think the key
00:40:26
word in there is nonviolent that is not Craig's words that's not Lisa's words that is the words of the responding
00:40:33
officer to the call yeah now after she went missing after Lisa disappeared of course the search and investigation
00:40:41
began immediately first of all the husband no matter what we need to look into oh yeah but the fact that they're
00:40:47
going through a divorce it's like double checked that box please yeah we have shirts true-crime garage shirts that say
00:40:54
the husband did it for good reason why we used to have I think they're sold out we still had that that in his own way is
00:41:02
funny yeah in that same interview that I just mentioned this was with Fox News Craig said that he thinks someone picked
00:41:08
up Lisa for her exercise class the night that she went missing now on Thursday May 3rd just two days
00:41:16
after Lisa is reported missing there is quite a bit of searching going on specifically searching the area behind
00:41:24
the Stebbings house Plainfield emergency management agency personnel searched the
00:41:30
park across the street from the Stebbings house because Lisa reportedly walked and jogged they're often paid to
00:41:37
cut you off but I think the idea is that we have this story coming from her husband and he was working in the
00:41:45
backyard all night mm-hmm so then it starts becoming well.we nobody has really seen her once the boy is picked
00:41:52
up from school right so who knows if he did something to her during that time period and was he burying her in the
00:41:59
backyard well in and you know what this is a good time to kind of lay out the property a little bit for the listeners
00:42:07
so their home it was a pretty nice house and it was in a pretty nice neighborhood
00:42:12
for what I could tell look there's a park across the street from their home their backyard was surrounded by a
00:42:19
privacy fence because they had a in ground swimming pool right so this looks to me from the pictures I saw to be
00:42:28
probably a six foot tall fence so someone that was working in the backyard I mean if you needed to conceal
00:42:35
something this would be the place for searchers to be looking in in my opinion right now police also searched Stevic
00:42:44
skom puter files for a lead Plainfield deputy police chief mark edding told foxnews.com that craig stabbed 'ok
00:42:53
voluntarily handed over the family computer to the police of course we did but now remember he was a private
00:43:00
investigator a website WWF I le systemic comm is started and missing Flyers were
00:43:09
distributed again this is the Thursday after she went missing right the next day on May 4th
00:43:14
Lee systemics cousin Naperville resident mark Greenberg and his wife Melanie held
00:43:20
a press conference in front of Lisa's house on Sunday May 6th Plainfield police told reporters that
00:43:27
they have no reason to suspect foul play so far in the stem experence they have investigated craig Stebbings computer
00:43:34
records spoken to his friends and associates and interviewed static himself several times police also told
00:43:41
reporters Lisa's cell phone and credit cards have not been used since her disappearance on
00:43:47
April 30th yeah but is it tell me if it's just me it was a private investigator for a while mm-hmm does it
00:43:55
make you a little more suspicious doesn't make you a little like you wouldn't know what to do
00:44:00
yeah this guy he's playing with a little information mmm right so great that you
00:44:09
turned over the computer records but what what does that mean you know right is there another computer that we're not
00:44:16
aware of yeah and here's the thing too that everybody needs to completely understand it's not so much like it's
00:44:22
not like Craig shows up to the police department and goes here's my computer thought you might want to take a look
00:44:27
it's more of a hey Craig we want to take your computer and look at it and he goes
00:44:32
well okay you know it's it's so when they say voluntary that's the situation yeah we're gonna see the time okay but
00:44:39
it shift quite a bit here though it was creepier if he shows up with this computer right right I get my computer
00:44:47
for ya it's still in the box from Best Buy hey listen a true-crime garage they study computer here's a shift in the
00:44:56
tides Oh captain because now we have friends of Lee systemic who are telling the media that Lisa was frightened by
00:45:03
Craig and she was attending counseling at the guardian angel this is an agency that provides services to battered women
00:45:10
friends also say Lisa suffered verbal abuse from her husband and after divorce proceedings began would sleep on the
00:45:18
living room sofa where she kept her personal belongings constantly by her side on Monday May 7th a 20,000 dollar reward
00:45:27
for information is announced women are natural snoopers right ok it's true put down your cell phone for a while
00:45:37
and just see if they pick it up they're gonna pick it up they're gonna look through it their natural snoopers
00:45:43
they're a little nosy that's ok but you wonder is this guy I mean what was his motivation to be a private investigator
00:45:53
anyways I just wonder if he's a natural Snooper too and that's one of the reasons that she's keeping all these
00:46:00
things beside her when she's goes to sleep because he's a natural Snooper even if he's not like jealous even if
00:46:08
he's just like yeah we're getting divorced whatever but he might go well it's kind of funny she didn't come home
00:46:14
that day ah she's at the bar pretty long that night and he just wants to know maybe he's not even jealous about it
00:46:20
well you know there might be some truth or a lot of truth to him being controlling because one thing we do know
00:46:30
regarding her cell phone this was a phone that he kind of supplied to her right and it looks like he was pretty
00:46:39
much in charge of this cell phone everything I could find suggests and points to that it was a prepaid cell
00:46:45
phone and that he was kind of in charge of the the minutes that were applied to this cell phone and he would keep the
00:46:52
minutes quite low that's nice yeah well on Tuesday May 8th Craig Stevic refuses a polygraph test at Plainfield
00:47:01
police station and is refusing to go into the police station for further interviews and he asked that law
00:47:08
enforcement not interview his children as well now this other bit is less fact and more speculation but there are
00:47:16
stories out there that on the same day Craig stetic supposedly does not answer the door when FBI agents show up on his
00:47:23
doorstep yeah that's odd but back to the polygraph test are you what do you take
00:47:30
1 no I mean we've pointed that we pointed that out a bunch of times on on the show yeah but yeah because it
00:47:37
to that but the idea for me would be there's what's the wind I mean even if you pass it nobody believes it anyways
00:47:44
right yeah it's a it's a you can't win situation right now on Wednesday May 9th Craig Stevic was seeking temporary full
00:47:53
custody of the couple's children his lawyer Dion Davi said he filed the custody petition in will County
00:48:01
Courthouse in order to protect his client from the possibility that Leigh systemic could return and then disappear
00:48:09
again possibly taking the children with her on Thursday May 10th firefighters and boats searched Lake Renwick in
00:48:17
Plainfield forwardly systemic note the lake is about five miles from the step ik home of course they didn't find
00:48:24
anything and also authorities in Crystal Falls this is in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
00:48:29
searched a cabin there this belonging to someone in Craig's family actually I believe it was his father as we
00:48:36
discussed this earlier but nothing came of this search as well Saturday May 12th
00:48:42
officials from the Plainfield Emergency Management Agency continued to focus on large water areas retention ponds bike
00:48:50
and jogging trails parks and natural areas within the village of Plainfield volunteers distribute hundreds of
00:48:58
carnations to businesses throughout the Plainfield area attached to each flower is a photo of Allie systemic and contact
00:49:06
information to report tips on her whereabouts so volunteers gathered at a gazebo around the corner from the stetic
00:49:14
residence this was to pin Stebbings photo to the carnations to be handed out on Mother's Day in hopes of someone
00:49:21
identifying her alongside the gazebo was a makeshift memorial with flowers stuffed animals and a sign that read
00:49:29
Lincoln isn't the same without you Lee systemics husband Craig did not participate in any of the weekend events
00:49:38
this according to Suburban Chicago news.com but is this another situation where it's a no-win situation if you
00:49:46
helped out and you do something odd the event or you say something wrong or some a.m. you say something and they
00:49:56
they think that you implied something else like is does that become headline news
00:50:01
well by I see what you're saying and it's a tough situation okay so let's say that he is grieving or wants to protect
00:50:09
his children from the media right but what ultimately is going to happen and we've seen this with the Scott Peterson
00:50:16
case in other cases along the way what's implied here is that you from the general public is that you don't care
00:50:24
that your your efforts aren't being focused on finding this missing person and why is so many other people focused
00:50:32
on finding her do you know something we don't know so that's what I believe is implied here whether whether that's
00:50:38
correct or not remains to be seen now on Monday May 14th Plainfield police and FBI evidence response team and special
00:50:47
operations unit from the Joliet Police Department conducted a midnight search of the step exhale and vehicles they
00:50:55
raided the statics home taking pillows blankets and towels they also confiscated the family's two vehicles a
00:51:03
2002 Chevy s10 pickup truck and a 2004 Ford or Saturn Ion both vehicles were registered to Craig stomach but the
00:51:13
Saturn was used by Lisa some little confused they raid the guy's house but when they asked him for things he gives
00:51:19
it to him other than that polygraph yes well but I mean you're gonna count on finding things that you wouldn't find in
00:51:28
a voluntary search if you just show up in the middle of the night maybe he's unprepared and you can find the evidence
00:51:34
that you're looking for it's clear that at this point even though they're they're not vocal about it the local
00:51:39
police department believed Craig had something to do with his wife going missing possibly or they just don't have
00:51:46
any other leads or have anywhere else to go so they just keep circling back around and guess who's going to be the
00:51:53
first person you circle back around to right well on Saturday May 19th Lee systemics family and friends celebrate
00:52:00
her 38th birthday with a candlelight vigil a and Craig Stevic was absent from the
00:52:06
vigil as was the couple's two children please well I know I don't know if I could agree with the kid thing but all
00:52:15
of her friends were going through a divorce and now there's bad thing look it's just weird that it doesn't seem
00:52:21
like there was so many bad things said about this guy until she went missing on Sunday May 20th the Naperville Sun
00:52:29
exclusively reported that blood found on a tarp in Craig Stevic struck matched the DNA of his wife Lisa
00:52:38
Craig Stevic speaking through the door of his home on Sunday told NBC 5 that the blood may be from a deer adding that
00:52:47
he had been deer hunting in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan recently a DNA test though determined that the blood on
00:52:54
the tarp was in fact Lisa's and authorities used that information to convince a judge to issue a search
00:53:01
warrant that was executed at the statics Plainfield home so take that all into factor there what we're finding out
00:53:11
later this seems like news on Sunday May 20th however what we learn on that day is remember back when we took these took
00:53:20
their vehicles we found this information and this is what allowed us to gain access basically to their home and
00:53:26
property whenever we want because we have a judge saying so all right so hold up hey this tarp they test the tarp that
00:53:36
they find in his truck right and it's definitely her blood they determined through DNA testing yes her blood no and
00:53:43
then look there's there could be some logical explanations for that but that seems very very suspicious extremely
00:53:53
suspicious we should point out though usually when you have a situation like this this indicates that they probably
00:53:59
found a very small amount of blood the reason why I say that is we have seen cases where they find a situation with a
00:54:08
large amount of blood right and they determine that hey we need to make an arrest because we probably have a murder
00:54:14
investigation going on not a missing-persons case right so the situation here appears to
00:54:20
be a very small amount of blood because they do not arrest craig Stevic but this
00:54:25
I mean the the police essentially at this point are sharks circling this dude and they're gonna be circling closer and
00:54:33
closer and closer right on Tuesday May 22nd Craig Stevic goes to court for the child custody hearing now the judge
00:54:42
denies Craig the motion for full custody as his wife is missing at this point right and then on Thursday May 24th NBC
00:54:52
5's Amy Jacobson reported that the FBI seized high-powered assault rifles and handguns from the Stebbings home no
00:55:01
surprise to us captain we know that this is a guy that has a lot of guns you know
00:55:06
on Friday June 8th police announced that they would interview people as far away
00:55:12
as Iowa and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan looking for clues and Plainfield police chief Donald Bennett
00:55:19
confirmed that cadaver dogs were used during the search for static quote we did have cadaver dogs in the residence
00:55:28
and quote I can't give any specifics about what the dogs did or didn't do while in the residence he said now on
00:55:37
one of those prior searches cadaver dogs were brought in and made a positive hit
00:55:43
this is according to an unnamed source that they made a positive hit on an article in the home it was not
00:55:52
immediately clear whether the dog zeroed in on an article of clothing a piece of
00:55:57
furniture appliance or some type of other item in the home yeah on Sunday June 10th police searched ditches along
00:56:05
a construction site in Montgomery and around Silver Spring State Park they said that they were looking for
00:56:12
Stebbings older model cellphone and her small black purse decorated with rhinestones now this type of cell phone
00:56:19
are we gonna get a cell phone pinging off of it they were looking for pings regarding shortly after the time that
00:56:26
she was last seen at the home yeah this phone didn't ping anyway not only was it it appeared to have not
00:56:33
been used and again they openly stated that her credit cards that would have been in her purse were never used after
00:56:40
the time that she was last seen right but hypothetically if she is killed in her house they turn off all the
00:56:48
electronics at when it pinged now there is a scandal that goes along with this story we already mentioned WM AQ NBC 5
00:56:59
reporter Amy Jacobson who was covering stem extort well on Friday July 6th she was caught
00:57:06
on tape by the pool in a bikini at Craig Stebbings home this was she was caught by the rival channel channel 2 now this
00:57:18
led to her exit from the TV network so Amy Jacobson left her job that's what they they say left her job
00:57:26
after a video surfaced showing her in a swimsuit at the home of a man whose wife
00:57:31
disappeared two months ago a story she had been assigned to cover Jacobson told her bosses that she was on her way with
00:57:39
her son's to go swimming at a local club when Craig Stebbings sister asked her to
00:57:45
go to his house to talk about the case the video posted on the rival stations website shows veteran reporter Amy
00:57:53
Jacobson wearing a halter bikini top and towel near the pool at Craig Stevic suburban Plainfield home Jacobson's two
00:58:01
young children were there as well and a shirtless Craig Stevic are also shown in
00:58:06
the video the station decided to air the video once it quote was clear Jacobson's
00:58:12
own conduct was in question by the people she worked for end quote so she was let go from her job because
00:58:20
basically she's at a pool party with this guy who many consider to be a suspect in the disappearance of his wife
00:58:30
[Music] all right so much more to get to tomorrow and part two for everything true crime check out true crime garage
00:58:48
com we will see you all back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't
00:58:54
litter [Music] [Applause] [Music]