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Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515

November 16, 2023 / 49:52

This episode covers the case of Tracy Sism, her disappearance, and the investigation surrounding her murder. Key topics include the discovery of her remains, the involvement of her estranged husband Michael Sism, and parallels drawn with the Jennifer Kessie case.

Tracy Sism was last seen in Indianapolis, Indiana, before her remains were found 70 miles away. The hosts discuss the circumstances of her death, which was ruled a homicide by strangulation, and the discovery of a box of ammunition in her abandoned vehicle.

The episode highlights the potential involvement of Tracy's estranged husband, Michael Sism, who had a history of violence and drug issues. The hosts speculate on the timeline of events leading to Tracy's death and the possible motives behind it.

Listeners are informed about the lack of information released by law enforcement and the ongoing investigation. The hosts express frustration over the case's unresolved status and the impact on Tracy's family, particularly her children.

The episode concludes with a call for information regarding Tracy's case and a reminder of the importance of justice for victims of violent crimes.

TLDR

Tracy Sism's murder case involves her estranged husband and unresolved investigation details, raising questions about her death and the search for justice.

Episode

49:52
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yeah yeah yeah yeah I want you to St yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I want you to stay
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14 days after 33-year-old Tracy system was last seen the Chevy Blazer that she borrowed from her father was found
00:04:10
abandoned 8 and2 miles from Tracy's apartment Tracy system's remains were found 70 mil from her apartment and as
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we know she had been dead for a while probably about 18 days and we also know that someone else was driving that Chevy
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Blazer after her death this reminds me captain of the Jennifer kessie Case by the way we covered the Jennifer kessie
00:04:35
case in depth in four parts that's episodes 362 through 365 if anyone wants to look those up I am in no way saying
00:04:45
that these cases are connected in any possible way just kind of stuck on this idea about the vehicles in both cases
00:04:53
Jennifer Cassie from Orlando Florida has been missing since January 23 of 200 and
00:04:59
six shortly after she vanished her car was discovered parked around a mile or so from her home a local security camera
00:05:08
recorded a person parking kesse's car and walking away now that person could not be identified due to poor camera
00:05:17
quality in the person's face and any distinguishing features being obscured now one glaring difference here is
00:05:25
obviously in the Tracy sism case we have found and recovered her remains and know
00:05:32
we also know that there was a couple a unknown couple that was driving the vehicle that alluded law enforcement
00:05:39
right so in the kessie case we're not certain what happened to Jennifer but in both cases we have recovered the vehicle
00:05:46
that the victim was driving and we know that they were moved by somebody else now again here we have a very similar
00:05:55
situation in the cisem case the Blazer that Tracy was Bor turns up with these weird people that we don't know we don't
00:06:02
know who they were so what were these two people doing in the Blazer doing with that Blazer were they simply moving
00:06:10
it and almost got caught along the way but were able to duck the police or were they responsible for you
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know does this mean that they're responsible for Tracy's murder or do we have something else going on here
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Captain because we have discussed this several times before in other cases here in the garage could this be just one of
00:06:31
those weird and rare situations that the real killer simply gets lucky and the case becomes more
00:06:40
confusing for detectives because our killer got lucky and what I mean by that is there seems to be a pretty
00:06:47
General belief shared amongst a lot of people that these two people that were seen driving the Blazer and then fleeing
00:06:57
the vehicle that they're just part of the story but don't really have anything to do with what happened to Tracy sism
00:07:07
well what we know about Tracy is that her body was dumped into a rural area a street that most people wouldn't travel
00:07:17
on unless it was a local situation MH but a distance away from where she was last scene you said 70 miles 7 miles is
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it possible that the Killer Tracy also abandoned that vehicle and somebody like you were saying this couple then happens
00:07:36
upon that vehicle that is kind of the general belief here uh that is shared amongst many people is that these two
00:07:44
people may have found this vehicle somewhere now keep in mind Tracy has last seen in Indianapolis a big city a
00:07:52
major city 70 M from where her remains are found it's very likely whatever happened to Tracy happened to her that
00:07:59
night at the apartment or right after she left her apartment that night so whatever happened to Tracy happened in
00:08:07
Indianapolis and if you're going to let's say you have a personal cause homicide where you murder someone that
00:08:17
is somewhat close to you that there would be an easy a direct connection for law enforcement from victim to offender
00:08:25
but you have killed somebody that you know person cause homicide and now you are tasked with a couple things right
00:08:34
you could just leave the body to be discovered and then they can go about their investigation but if you do that
00:08:41
you know that they're very quickly going to wind up on your doorstep knocking on
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your door asking you the tough questions what you're tasked with is I need to get
00:08:50
rid of this body A and B I need to get rid of this vehicle because it's a quick and easy leap from body to to vehicle
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when you go you know what okay who cares what she told anybody that day or the weeks
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before if they don't find her and they don't find this vehicle and as long as I can create that
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delay between them locating the vehicle or locating her the more and more this starts to look like the people maybe she
00:09:21
just took off maybe she just packed up her [ __ ] put it in this Blazer and took
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off well on every missing person case that we we cover we talk about those possibilities was there Foul Play did
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this person want to commit suicide did this person want to take off and start a life of their own well and we've talked
00:09:41
about several cases where people report somebody missing in the local law enforcement agency they don't have
00:09:48
something to investigate because the adult is allowed to go missing they finish your food before you talk so I
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think that's what you're looking at from a strategy point and from something you
00:09:57
brought up there's a good chance that whoever is responsible for this mhm may have moved her vehicle and left it
00:10:04
somewhere abandoned it and then these people found it and moved it and when they get pulled over by the cops they
00:10:11
get scared and they you know these could be drug users this could be people doing
00:10:17
a favor for somebody this could be homeless people it does not have to be somebody directly connected to Tracy or
00:10:24
her murder well cuz if you find an abandoned car and let's say you find the keys in the car party time well yeah I'm
00:10:32
going to go pick up the captain yeah and we're going to blast some bohemian raps
00:10:37
City uh don't vomit in the back seat yeah give if you're going to spew spew in this but when you have that scenario
00:10:46
and you're the driver and you see law enforcement you're going to assume that somebody reported the car stolen right
00:10:53
because you essentially stole the car and we've said it a thousand times vehicles are easier to find than people
00:10:59
and the weird thing here too is we have information that is telling us that the cause of death in Tracy's case was
00:11:06
strangulation and then you have that partial box of ammunition in the back seat it doesn't sound like some Rando
00:11:13
people that are moving this vehicle for you or that that found it abandoned that
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they would leave ammunition in the vehicle for any reason that's just another confusing part of the story that
00:11:24
may really have nothing to do with anything other than again if you could create a paper trail between that
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partial box of ammunition and somebody else especially somebody in Tracy's Inner Circle well now we have a problem
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now we have something to to talk about and something to investigate like you're also saying a really good
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strategy if something happened in Indianapolis have the vehicle be in Indiapolis yep even if it's 10 miles
00:11:57
from where Trace would have been you're not going to be thinking about trying to
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locate a body 75 miles away once you find that vehicle you're going to go okay well now her apartment is
00:12:11
considered a crime scene and this vehicle is now considered a crime scene so you might again you
00:12:19
would have to put 1 + 1 + 1 equal three you know MH yeah your strategy would be to want that vehicle to be in
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Indianapolis or as Chaz Barkley would say in the Anapolis but uh yeah you you would want
00:12:35
to separate yourself from the victim and from her from the crime scene itself too
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and the best way to do that is not have them find the body if you're the perpetrator of this crime and it seems
00:12:49
like police were were really working under the theory that yes she was killed elsewhere and then dumped in this
00:12:57
location but we have her last known whereabouts is that apartment so do they believe that she was killed or attacked
00:13:06
in that apartment or in the parking lot of her apartment complex and then you have the statement from the police this
00:13:13
is what's interesting though Captain we we people go why you really hyperfocused
00:13:18
on these ideas it's because police have not released very much information in these cases in this case they've not
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even officially released the cause of death so we know that very strategic about what they are allowing to come out
00:13:32
so they probably are only allowing things to come out that they know that they have other proof or evidence that
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this is very much case related this is information that we want to allow to go out to the public and what was that one
00:13:47
statement that they had that a neighbor or neighbors had seen a suspicious vehicle that they reported to be
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possibly a dark SUV that whole statement too and knowing that the last time she spoke with her mother was 700 p.m. that
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night I'm starting to feel like the sun goes down in Indiana that night and something bad
00:14:08
happened to Tracy in that General location after the sun went down because again I'm going back to the difficult
00:14:16
vague description provided to police by a potential witness of a possibly dark SUV something either their memory is not
00:14:27
great or something is causing them to not be able to see the vehicle extremely well over the next couple of years after
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Tracy's body was recovered in 2004 only little bits of information trickled out but nothing that really
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changed what we've already related to you thus far in this case Indiana State Police Sergeant Jeff Decker told the
00:14:51
Republic that the police were choosing not to release the cause of death so it would not create problems in any police
00:14:59
interviews Decker did confirm that they believe Tracy to have been killed elsewhere and dumped in the area where
00:15:05
she was found investigators continue to work the case and would say only that they continue to talk with people they
00:15:12
haven't ruled either way on this being in or out as possible suspects well people have to understand something
00:15:20
that's simple again you see this in like the deli case where people want to know
00:15:26
the cause of death they want to know what happened they want to know those details they think that somehow those
00:15:33
details are going to help them solve the case when they're doing their internet web sleuthing right mhm but in this case
00:15:41
you might have somebody that comes forward and says hey look I was talking with my boyfriend I was talking with my
00:15:46
girlfriend or whoever I was talking to and they said that they're responsible for her death well how did they kill her
00:15:54
oh well they said they shot her and if that's not the the cause of death then you're less likely to believe that lead
00:16:03
and people might naturally think that she may have been shot and it not be the case at all right right why would they
00:16:10
naturally think that because ammunition was found in her abandoned vehicle now one thing that did come out
00:16:16
this was in 2006 so just a so what you're saying is by releasing that information it's kind of a
00:16:26
deceptive way to put out information there that might not actually matter by law enforcement well not only that but
00:16:33
you may not have any control over it you may be going back and retroactively creating that strategy meaning if they
00:16:41
announced that the vehicle was found remember the vehicle was found before her body was located right and even
00:16:46
months before the body was even identified so there may have already been information out there to the
00:16:52
general public whether it was in a newspaper or on the news or just known in her Inner Circle that oh they found
00:16:58
they found her vehicle before they found her body and there was there was bullets
00:17:03
in that you know sitting sitting in a box in that back the back seat of that vehicle now one thing that did come out
00:17:11
in 2006 that the police discovered in their investigation and this is per the indie star was that Tracy sisum was
00:17:19
trying to kick a drug habit or recently had kicked a drug habit her family said that she had a troubled marriage and
00:17:28
that her body had no trace of drugs in her system so there was a toxicology report done on the body on the remains
00:17:37
and there were no drugs found to be in her system at the time of her death well that's what I wondered because you know
00:17:43
in the missing or the vanishing women case in chofy there was several victims that they thought were just
00:17:52
overdoses and and so if there's an overdose at a party they don't know what to do and and because they're all drug
00:17:59
addicts uh struggling with that addiction they don't want to go to jail so then they get rid of their they get
00:18:07
rid of the body well in this case we know for sure that it's a homicide the people who know Tracy told us that
00:18:14
Tracy's EST strange husband Michael sisum had a crack cocaine habit and that he had gotten Tracy hooked on drugs as
00:18:24
well but we know that they were not together at the time that she disappeared and we also know based off
00:18:31
of what the family has said that she was trying to kick the habit or had kicked the habit and then you have to go back
00:18:37
to the toxicology report that may back up that statement that she did in fact kick the habit and she ain't going back
00:18:46
to Michael sstem if he's if he's hooked on drugs and and part of the problem now
00:18:52
clearly based on this clean tox screen at her autopsy again we know that this shows
00:18:58
Tracy was moving forward moving on from that addiction but her troubles with drugs and an ongoing Court situation
00:19:05
with her first husband and her estrangement from her second husband and again the UN unknown identity of the
00:19:12
people driving the Blazer provided a fairly long list of potential suspects in my opinion yeah I agree in 2006 the
00:19:20
family announced that they were offering a $110,000 reward for credible information on Tracy's death her sister
00:19:27
Shelly told the indie star quote we are pleading for any information anyone will
00:19:33
have on my sister it has been too long years there is a void it makes you wonder how Cooperative these exes are
00:19:42
with law enforcement because you'd think that even her first husband look he has
00:19:47
a he has a dog in the fight in the sense they have children together MH and he would you know want to know her
00:19:54
whereabouts obviously and then for his children's sake he would would want to know one what happened to their mother
00:20:02
so he can explain that to them later but also who is responsible and to see that
00:20:08
Justice is done for the mother of his children well and along with this same announcement here captain of the family
00:20:15
offering up $10,000 reward for credible information on Tracy's death they did quote Rebecca Sandlin who is Tracy's
00:20:24
mother as saying quote someone out there did this to her it's not fair they are living eating breathing having fun
00:20:32
acting like nothing happened no something happened something terrible [Music] happened
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it's a definite but we've been some through some trying times yes and we're all in this together so a little stat
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for you and a hopeful stat is that there were three phases of the Spanish flu so
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we're in the third phase of covid so maybe we're closer to the end than the beginning so keep your fingers crossed
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and here here's something that I found online here captain that I want to make sure that we send out to the whole world
00:24:03
here because it's a case that's near and dear to our hearts the Tony Muny case which was one of our bonus episodes that
00:24:10
we released years ago and still is available to this day for purchase and download to listen to but on Sunday
00:24:18
August 29th and again this is something I found online this is not a direct advertisement so don't don't hold my
00:24:26
feet to the Flames here everyone but on Sunday August 29th at 10 pm Eastern Tony's episode will be airing on TV on
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the Investigation Discovery Channel so if you want to continue to follow that case and that case was successfully
00:24:43
solved check that out on Sunday yeah you can find our episode on our website truec garage.com or also in the iTunes
00:24:53
Store you can buy it directly from iTunes I'd recommend getting the episode listening to it and then sitting down
00:25:00
and watching what id has to say Yeah in 2008 Tracy's case was featured on a deck
00:25:07
of playing cards now we've seen this in several other cases throughout the years
00:25:12
this is a deck of playing cards that is handed out to inmates in the state prison system they will often put
00:25:19
missing persons or unsolved homicide victims on these playing cards and give them out to the inmates because they
00:25:27
have time to sit around and play cards and they're hoping that maybe someone will see her picture get a little bit of
00:25:36
information maybe they know something maybe somebody on the inside has told them something or maybe someone they
00:25:41
knew on the outside told them something and then they can pass that information along to law enforcement now remember
00:25:49
that Tracy's body was found wrapped in a quilt far from the apartment that she was vacating found in Rural Brown County
00:25:58
investigators said that they had not been able to uncover any Nexus between Tracy and that area Tracy was from
00:26:05
Indianapolis and had no connection whatsoever that they could find to that rural area at all Brown County
00:26:13
prosecutor Jim Oliver told the Republic quote she was last seen in Indie she lived in Indie we don't know what the
00:26:21
Brown County Connection is he said he believed investigators should focus on May County where Indianapolis is located
00:26:30
this seems like a very important hint that officials believe that whoever killed Tracy was close to home now
00:26:38
before we proceed any further it has to be said that this is one of the most frustrating cases that we've looked at
00:26:44
in a while due to the lack of information our efforts to obtain documents and reports were stonewalled
00:26:51
in every direction we submitted foyer requests for police reports and autopsy reports those were denied but again this
00:26:59
case is 17 years old right we've not seen a ton of movement on it it's time it's time to put out some more
00:27:06
information well it's so frustrating because you know that there's people involved or people that are
00:27:13
possibly close to her that have information that they're sitting on mhm and it's you know why wait and this idea
00:27:22
that somebody committed this murder and just sitting around like eating their Cheetos having a good time no this is
00:27:31
Weighing on them well it weighs on them all the time we manag to unearth some information some more information and
00:27:39
talk to some sources that we will relay to the listeners in hopes of stirring up
00:27:44
some interest in Tracy Sis's case we did a lot of digging in this case to try to
00:27:50
get to the bottom of who killed Tracy our feeling was that police have to know a lot more than they are saying and and
00:27:57
I think we're right our sources people close to the case we are not naming them tell us that there is indeed a prime
00:28:05
suspect a number one suspect in the murder of Tracy sism and police know exactly who he is we are talking about
00:28:13
Tracy's estranged husband Michael Lee sism according to our sources when Tracy went missing and then turned up murdered
00:28:21
police went after Michael sism incredibly hard that's what she said I bet you they thought that they were
00:28:28
going to get an arrest and soon a conviction early on in this case right police were convinced that Michael had
00:28:36
shown up to the apartment that night that Tracy was cleaning out and that the two had some kind of altercation and he
00:28:43
killed her and then dumped her body sism was a Indianapolis native as well growing up in the same neighborhood as
00:28:52
Tracy did but our sources tell us that Michael sism had many ties to Brown County as well that he grew up hunting
00:29:00
in that area and that he is intimately familiar with the area where he dumped Tracy or where her remains were found
00:29:09
that is interesting we're being told that this guy is the prime suspect we're being told by law enforcement that Tracy
00:29:17
system has no ties we can't find any connection between our victim and where we found her body Brown County how now
00:29:25
brown cow yeah but we're being told by the sources that not only is this dude the prime suspect but there are obvious
00:29:34
connections between him the suspect and where the body was later found according to the sources Michael
00:29:42
was dealing drugs when the police were pressuring him about Tracy's murder and the cops started badgering his drug
00:29:49
Associates about his activities so the the heat was getting too hot hot in the hot so he skipped town he ended up in
00:29:58
Oklahoma and then he was in Missouri for a while where he beat up a guy who owed
00:30:03
him money from a pool game apparently he beat this guy up so bad that he was arrested in January 2006 and he was
00:30:11
facing a decades long sentence for the assault some have said that the woman that he married right around that same
00:30:19
time he married this quote unquote girlfriend so that uh she could not testify against him
00:30:27
and that all of the other Witnesses were deemed incompetent in that case because
00:30:32
they had all been drinking in the bar when the fight occurred so these charges Captain end up getting reduced to felony
00:30:39
theft right so he beats up this guy the motive for beating him up was because the guy owed him money from a pool game
00:30:48
well apparently after he beat up this guy he took that money from the dude so they didn't charge him with the physical
00:30:54
assault they charged him with stealing the money well how much money I you know I don't know how much it was but what
00:31:01
happens here is a $5 bill in a Coke not only do the charges get reduced but the sentence gets reduced as well so he he
00:31:11
ends up looking at decades long or more charges originally this ends up only being with him ple taking a plea deal
00:31:19
and getting sentenced to six years he ends up serving one now here's what we've learned obviously Michael system
00:31:26
has a violent past in which he faced charges for that assault right but women who have dated him say
00:31:34
that he would choke them and that he was abusive during their relationships what
00:31:39
a romantic they said that at first he would come across as a great guy but then he would become emotionally and
00:31:45
physically abusive and manipulative he assaulted one woman he lived with an Indiana after his release from prison
00:31:53
and when she filed charges and S trining order he sent someone over to tell her to keep quiet so there is a conviction
00:32:04
on his record relating to that incident a misdemeanor battery charge for the assault which occurred December 23rd
00:32:14
2008 he also has a disorderly conduct conviction in Indiana from 2002 and as we said he did a little bit
00:32:22
of time in prison for that Missouri assault on the pool player so has a violent temperament and he likes to put
00:32:29
his hands on women that's what we are being told Tracy's family has not spoken out to the media directly about Michael
00:32:36
and Tracy's relationship and whether it was violent or not uh but we do know the two were
00:32:42
aranged and Tracy was living on her own in that apartment that she was clearing out when she vanished and our sources
00:32:49
tell us that Tracy had filed for and been awarded a restraining order against Michael so if if if the dead could talk
00:32:59
then that's Tracy telling us that yes this guy was violent to me toward me as well MH Now Tracy and Michael met I
00:33:09
guess much earlier in life when they were in high school Michael actually dated Tracy's younger sister Shelly now
00:33:16
Shelly was the most vocal advocate for her sister's case shell would even call up Michael sism and beg him to provide
00:33:25
the family with answers in Tracy's death asking him to confess to the murder for
00:33:31
the sake of their child cuz remember the two had a kid together and not only that
00:33:36
residents of the Titanic Community where both Tracy's family and Michael's family
00:33:44
live I'm being told that it they all seem to know that Michael had something to do with Tracy's death that this is
00:33:50
sort of an Open Secret in that area well here again let's go through the list real quick violent temperament puts his
00:33:58
hands on women we have a restraining order that was issued against him from the victim and he has connections to
00:34:06
Brown County which he would his connections are not just that he knew the area but he's very familiar with the
00:34:14
Royal parts of the area because he went there to hunt not only that some are saying the specific area where Tracy was
00:34:22
later found right now let's go back to 2004 Right Around The Disappearance time when Tracy disappeared Michael sisum was
00:34:32
telling people who asked about you know what happened to his wife that she had left permanently that
00:34:40
she had taken the two girls and left and then went to live in various crack houses in
00:34:46
Indianapolis he said that he had gotten her out of the crack houses and moved her in with his mother and that one day
00:34:53
she went to pick up her child support payment from her ex-husband and he warned her not to blow it on drugs and
00:35:01
she just never came back okay so of course this story is absolutely ridiculous this is what our
00:35:07
Prime Suspect is telling people in town so this okay this weener spanker he is saying oh no no no no no she she lefted
00:35:16
and and she was she was going to all these different crack houses and I'm the one that that was trying to get her
00:35:22
clean yeah he's saying hey don't be doing that stuff around our kids and don't be spending your money on drugs
00:35:29
but the problem with his story Captain is this does not account for any of the time that she's living on her own in her
00:35:35
own apartment or moving in with her mother borrowing the Blazer from her father to move you know what I mean it's
00:35:43
it's like a convenient way for him to explain away why she is not around anymore and blame it on the victim and
00:35:51
what's interesting here too you go okay well what does any of this mean does it mean anything Nick and I say yes it does
00:35:59
it what it means to me is you have her other family the rest of her family are going where is she we don't know what
00:36:05
happened to her oh but this guy's got a story right right he's got a story a story that we know does not line up with
00:36:12
the facts of her life leading up to her disappearance how convenient and he can say whatever he wants I I that's the
00:36:20
unfortunate truth here that's the harsh truth here is that the the possible offender
00:36:28
lives to Die Another Day and and can tell whatever tale he wants between between then and now she's not here to
00:36:36
to defend herself and and and tell us exactly what happened what we do know from the tox report Captain is that
00:36:45
drugs were not found in her system when she was murdered right so look like you said he can say anything he decided to
00:36:53
create some story some fictitious bull [ __ ] and it doesn't make any logical sense with what we know that she was
00:37:01
moving out of her apartment that she was going to move in with her family that she borrowed her father's vehicle it
00:37:08
doesn't make any logical sense but it doesn't matter to him he just this is the story I'm going to tell and I'm just
00:37:15
going to stick to that and you can you know it's [ __ ] cuz you go doesn't make any Lo logical sense well and what
00:37:21
it looks like to me here Captain is that the family's theory is that Tracy was at
00:37:26
her apartment loading things into the Blazer as she said to everyone Michael must have shown
00:37:32
up despite this restraining order the two argued he strangled her then he wrapped her body in a quilt and drove
00:37:39
her to another part of the state a part of the state that he is familiar with to
00:37:44
dump her and here's the thing too it it would be really important and I know that the
00:37:50
family's not been very vocal and Shelly was really Tracy's most vocal advocate it sadly shell has passed away in the
00:38:01
years so it would be really interesting to know and I think it would be important to know whether the quilt
00:38:06
Tracy was wrapped up in was this recognized by her family as one that belonged to her or the family or is this
00:38:14
something that we can put up there and say look this this quilt did not come from the victim did not come from the
00:38:22
victim's family our most the best explanation we would have is that it belonged to the
00:38:28
killer well and the tough thing here again is if the point of interception or the
00:38:35
point of abduction is her apartment what was she doing at the time she was packing up stuff so the killer would
00:38:43
have plenty of opportunity especially when you're moving you have your boxes everywhere and things are open and
00:38:49
you're packing blankets that you normally don't use did they just pull this quilt from our own belongings did
00:38:56
they move her body with her father's Blazer mhm these are things obviously we don't know but very good point if the
00:39:05
family goes we don't know who quilt this is never seen it before but but then the
00:39:11
difficult thing is is if you say well this quilt is from her ex-husband well one could argue well
00:39:18
maybe she took that with her when she moved out MH so that that becomes the difficulty thing or if you go well that
00:39:28
quilt is from you know uh from his mother's house or something I still think that
00:39:37
becomes difficult to prove because they they did have a relationship they were married they did live together for a
00:39:43
time period some of his belongings could have become hers another thing that would be very helpful to know is what
00:39:51
happened with this Chevy Blazer right how did how did it get into the possession of this man and woman who
00:39:57
ditched it when they were pulled over by police well I bet M her I would bet money that maybe her ex he said there
00:40:04
going oh yeah I had to go around to different crack houses and get her out of those crack houses okay you're a
00:40:11
crackhead yourself that means you run in circles with crackheads it probably won't be that hard to sell that car for
00:40:20
a little bit of drugs it's a nice vehicle hey if you just give me some drugs I'll give you this vehicle well
00:40:26
and this look he's not a great guy he's not even a good guy right this Michael guy that we've discussed oh he's a bag
00:40:33
of [ __ ] but everything I've been told is he's a you know he's an intelligent man
00:40:38
and that he's would not be dumb enough to if he killed Tracy he would not be dumb enough to be driving around the
00:40:46
Chevy Blazer that he would have known better than to drive around the vehicle that was tied to his missing and
00:40:52
murdered wife with whom he was not supposed to be in contact with right but people close to the case believe that he
00:40:59
likely ditched it somewhere which makes sense so that somebody else could magically come along and steal it in the
00:41:04
middle of the night or that maybe you know if he if he is dealing drugs then maybe he traded it off to one of his
00:41:14
drug Associates or called in a favor from somebody well again that goes back to the circle of people that he runs
00:41:21
around with you have a currency that's different than money because you have addicts M and so they
00:41:30
sometimes they'll do things that they normally wouldn't do maybe at some point they were a good person but because of
00:41:37
this addiction they'll steal from their families they'll steal from others they'll burglarize the neighborhood uh
00:41:44
they'll steal from little kids they might even murder somebody well and you have a situation here that I find to be
00:41:51
very interesting Captain where we have the potential of other suspects right we have a fairly large suspect pool that I
00:41:59
would say we have it could be an unknown person it could be these two unknown people that were seen driving the
00:42:04
vehicle it could be her first husband but what we end up having at the end of the day is sources telling us no it was
00:42:12
the most recent husband it was Michael sism and he had a violent past he was not supposed to be around her and he
00:42:18
probably was trolling her and bothering her and that somehow they met up or he found her that night cleaning out the
00:42:27
apartment and they got into some kind of altercation well no and I I would lean towards that cuz I think the other thing
00:42:33
too is she's not found with drugs in her system and so that was probably a control technique for him hey I'm using
00:42:42
drugs if I get you hooked on drugs I can control you more we already know he's abusive and one of the things that
00:42:50
abusive men do is they divide and conquer divide them from their family divide them from their their actual
00:42:58
personality by getting them hooked on a substance and one of the things that I believe and I don't I don't know if how
00:43:06
true it is but what I believe is sometimes these guys get in these horrible rages when they realize I can't
00:43:15
control this person anymore I have lost the ability to continue the path of abusing them and doing whatever I wish
00:43:24
to them and having them under my control so we already see some kind of Separation she's living in her own
00:43:31
apartment but maybe he shows up that day and realizes she's clean she has kicked
00:43:36
the habit she's kicked me out she's kicked the habit she's moving back in with her parents I can't control her
00:43:43
anymore and then flies into a rage and not only that if everything that we're being told is true Michael was an addict
00:43:51
himself I don't know his current situation but you just said all all of the things that that people that are
00:43:58
drug addicted may do for money or for whatever other resource he was an addict at the time of her
00:44:07
disappearance so that becomes a a whole another possibility it could be it could
00:44:13
be that the drugs are more responsible for his actions than he is and that's where look he got a plea
00:44:19
deal one time in in Missouri there's still time if he in fact did this there's still time for him to do the
00:44:27
right thing and if he's not going to do the right thing there's other people out
00:44:31
there that know I I'm convinced of that that there would probably usually these people even in personal cause homicides
00:44:39
usually they tell somebody something and I gotta believe man if this guy is hanging out with people that aren't so
00:44:46
much on the up and up or if he had a call in a favor to have the vehicle moved or or help him in any part of
00:44:53
cleaning up and covering up this murder right right somebody definitely knows something well it makes you wonder what
00:45:00
happened to the children cuz like you're saying this 17 years ago mhm and yes she
00:45:05
had three children they're all grown adults now they grew up without a mother but they also grew up without knowing
00:45:14
what happened to their mom yep and again like we said what we suspect is that she
00:45:19
kicked a habit that she was turning her life around and like I've always said like and we see it a lot lot of times
00:45:26
with True Crime cases where they don't get as much attention because you find out that the person was suffering with
00:45:33
an addiction and I always go well it's just as sad to me because they lost the opportunity to turn everything around
00:45:41
they lost the opportunity to become maybe what they were supposed to become all along but they got sidetracked and
00:45:49
so these poor children grow up not knowing what happened to their mom probably being fed lies from from other
00:45:56
parts of their family they deserve answers just as well as the rest of her family does her oldest two were raised
00:46:03
by her husband you know their father and then her youngest who she had with Michael system was eventually raised by
00:46:15
Tracy's family they're probably all in lock step with of trying to figure out what happened not just to their mother
00:46:23
but to their daughter their sister and so on now as we said Captain this is a very frustrating case Tracy deserves
00:46:30
Justice and so far she has not received it based on what we were able to learn this is one of those cases like another
00:46:37
Indiana case that we've covered of a murdered wife Sharice Bingham where police know who did it but for whatever
00:46:45
reason the powers that be don't feel like they have enough to bring charges we can only hope that the Indiana State
00:46:52
Police Detective Chris fears who told us that this is an open and active investigation is correct and that this
00:47:00
case is being worked and might one day be solved the recent arrest of Heidi fergus's husband Nick 11 years after her
00:47:09
murder also gives us hope that this even after all of these years have passed that these murdered wives can find
00:47:16
[Music] Justice [Music] if you have any information that can help in this case of Tracy sism or any
00:47:36
of the other Indiana cases that we have mentioned in today's podcast please contact the Indiana State Police at
00:47:45
1317 232-8262 or for other ways to reach out to the Indiana State Police you can go
00:47:55
on their website at in.gov can't thank you guys enough you filthy animals can't thank you enough
00:48:03
for listening to us every week in the garage joining us in here being our friends being our buddies and for that
00:48:11
we we got a little something for you how about some recommended reading thank you
00:48:15
Captain this week we are recommending the corridor Killer by prolific in New York Times best-selling true crime
00:48:23
author Katherine ramsin this book B the corridor killer is not about just one particular killer but about several true
00:48:31
crime stories from the great state of Delaware check out the corridor killer and for more recommendations visit us at
00:48:38
true Crim garage.com till next week be good be kind and don't [Music] litter [Music]
00:49:20
you can live out your Master Chef dreams when you find a professional on Angie to tackle your dream kitchen
00:49:33
remodel connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well inside to outside
00:49:40
repairs to Renovations get started on the Angie app or visit angie.com today you can do this when you Angie
00:49:50
that

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 60
    Most shocking
  • 60
    Most surprising

Episode Highlights

  • Tracy's Mysterious Disappearance
    14 days after Tracy was last seen, her abandoned vehicle was found. Her remains were discovered 70 miles away, raising questions about the circumstances of her death.
    “This reminds me of the Jennifer Kessie case.”
    @ 04m 05s
    November 16, 2023
  • Family's Plea for Information
    In 2006, Tracy's family offered a $110,000 reward for credible information regarding her death, emphasizing the long-lasting void her absence has created.
    “We are pleading for any information anyone will have on my sister.”
    @ 19m 24s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Tony Muny Case Airing
    Tony's episode will air on Investigation Discovery on August 29th at 10 PM Eastern.
    “Check that out on Sunday!”
    @ 24m 31s
    November 16, 2023
  • Frustration Over Lack of Information
    The investigation into Tracy's case has been hindered by a lack of information and stonewalled requests.
    “This is one of the most frustrating cases we've looked at.”
    @ 26m 41s
    November 16, 2023
  • Michael Sism: Prime Suspect
    Sources indicate that Tracy's estranged husband, Michael Sism, is the prime suspect in her murder.
    “Police know exactly who he is.”
    @ 28m 05s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Lost Opportunity
    Tracy's children grew up without knowing what happened to their mother, missing the chance for closure.
    “These poor children grow up not knowing what happened to their mom.”
    @ 45m 51s
    November 16, 2023
  • Justice Delayed
    Despite knowing who committed the crime, authorities have yet to bring charges in Tracy's case.
    “Tracy deserves justice and so far she has not received it.”
    @ 46m 30s
    November 16, 2023
  • Hope for Closure
    The recent arrest in another case gives hope that justice can still be served for Tracy.
    “Even after all these years, these murdered wives can find justice.”
    @ 47m 16s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • It makes you wonder how cooperative these exes are with law enforcement.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • Someone out there did this to her, it's not fair.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • We're all in this together so keep your fingers crossed.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • This is one of the most frustrating cases we've looked at.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • They deserve answers just as well as the rest of her family does.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515
  • This is a very frustrating case. Tracy deserves justice.
    Tracy Sissom /// Part 2 /// 515

Key Moments

  • Tracy's Last Seen04:05
  • Mysterious Vehicle04:10
  • Family's Plea19:24
  • Hopeful Reminder23:55
  • Prime Suspect Identified28:05
  • Violent Past31:34
  • Family's Advocacy33:16
  • Seeking Justice46:30

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown