MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF: Lynn Messer

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now wherever you get your podcasts. [00:30] Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And let me tell you about the mysterious death of Lynn Messer. [00:39] Music [01:10] At the time of our story in July of 2014, Lynn lived on a 260-acre farm in Missouri with her husband, Carrie. She and Carrie worked the farm with their two adult sons, Aaron and Abram. Whoa, those are really biblical names. Well, they were a very religious family. You see, Carrie not only worked the farm, but he was a lobbyist on behalf of the Missouri Family Network.

[01:40] very right, very religious and would push causes related to anything involving family, homeschooling, right to life, gun safety, Christian, biblical values, like all of that stuff. So they had like old school Christian values, like wives obey your husbands and listen, like not knocking any faith. Like Britt, you and I grew up in a church that we are no longer a part of, but was very much like that. I would say it sounds really familiar. Yeah, yeah. Not so much anymore. But I totally support people having faith in God. But I don't know. [02:10] What I don't support, which I think we see a lot of in this story, is this idea of the perfect family. I think it creates a really unrealistic expectation for people. And no matter what your faith, we're all human. But Carrie really believed in the idea of the perfect Christian family. And it's going to come into play later. [02:30] Now, though Carey was probably the most invested in maintaining the look of that perfect Christian family, he certainly was not the only one of faith. Lynn herself was very invested in the church, and one of the things that she was most passionate about was teaching a vacation Bible school class for young kids. And actually, on July 7th, Lynn had even went to Walmart to buy a bunch of art supplies for her Bible class the next day on the 8th. But... [02:56] Lynn would never be able to teach that class. In the early morning hours of the 8th at like 4 a.m., Carrie is startled awake from a thunderstorm. [03:06] And when his eyes are open and he's really alert, he realizes that Lynn isn't in bed with him anymore. But she had been in bed with him earlier that night. So he lays awake for a while thinking maybe she just went downstairs to grab a drink or maybe she went to the bathroom or maybe she went on a really long walk. Lynn was known to do that if she couldn't sleep or if she was stressed or sad. And she had a lot on her mind that July.

[03:36] she had a condition that caused her severe hip pain. And this condition would make it difficult for her to keep up her busy life on the farm that she loved so much. So a little time goes by, but after Carrie is laying there for a while, he realizes he isn't hearing anything. Not Lynn rustling around in the kitchen, not the flush of a toilet. So he decides to go looking for her. And he searches each room of their house, but she's nowhere to be found. [04:06] right away. They had actually been having problems with their septic system. So he thought maybe she'd gone outside and tried to use the bathroom in their barn. So he goes out to look for her there. And when he goes outside, he realizes that one of the family vehicles is gone. And this is what sparks concern in him. Carrie decides he needs to go check with his son Abram and his wife [04:36] reason she went there. It's now 4 15 in the morning and Abram and Elizabeth are woken up to pounding at their door. Carrie had tried to push open the door but he was surprised by a chain latch that he didn't know they had installed. So Carrie starts pounding on the door over and over calling out his name Abram Abram and as Abram remembers it his dad was just going crazy trying

[05:06] happening. So Abram runs to the door and he finds his father there shirtless and scared. Behind him is his car still running with the headlights on. Immediately when he unlocks the chain and opens the door all the way, his dad asked that four-wheeler over there, did you bring that up here? And Abram's totally caught off guard. Like why is his dad at his door at 4.15 in the morning yelling about some four-wheeler? And he's like, yeah, yeah, I brought it here after work the [05:36] in the midst of all this confusion, Carrie just looks at his son and says, I don't know where your mother is. And then he leaves. And Abram is left in this kind of weird whirlwind. Like what just happened? But he isn't freaking out like his dad. As he's recounting this story to his wife back inside, he comes to kind of a similar conclusion that Carrie had come to earlier. Like, oh, I bet mom just went to find a better bathroom because of the septic problems they were having. [06:06] they also had like an apartment on their property and Abram, without skipping a beat, is like, I bet she went there maybe she fell asleep or maybe she got confused about where she was. What does that mean, got confused as to where she was? I grew up on a farm a pretty big one and [06:22] We always knew where we were. Right. So this actually stuck out to me as well. And when he is asked about this later, he said that his mom had just never been good with directions. Which, like, listen, hi, that's me. I don't even leave my house without turning on Google Maps. But A, like, this is your property, a really big property. I'll give you that. But she's lived there all of her life. And kind of like you said, Brett, you're like my phone a friend, friend with a giant farm. Like, yeah.

[06:52] is about 250 acres now. And [06:56] My mom is [06:57] very terrible with directions and we have a ton of outbuildings there. [07:02] Uh, what did property... [07:04] I would trust her to know where she was at any given time. Yeah, so I think we all agree it's strange that it seemed normal for her to just get lost on her property. What's stranger is that Abram uses an example to like back up this story. And he recalls one time from his childhood when he was like 10 or 11. He said that he woke up and he woke up to his mother crying. [07:34] oriented and couldn't find her way back to her room like from her dining room so though it's not noted anywhere in anything i've ever read about lynn i think there could have been something bigger at play here along the lines of maybe alzheimer's or dementia but it's just so striking to me that she would have had this one incident when they were so young and then no other symptoms throughout her life other than oh she kind of gets confused yeah that seems really bizarre but even you know [08:04] confusion. Like none of this is odd enough to make Abram worry a ton. So he ends up going back to bed, assuming that she's going to be found by his dad that night. She's probably just confused. He's going to find her. You know, you always assume that like nothing bad's going to happen to you or your family. So the next morning, Abram wakes up assuming everything's fine. And this could be seen as strange, but I've said this before, like I just did, like it's very natural to believe that some bad things don't happen and they happen to other people. So. And there's going to be a

[08:34] explanation for this right so he just starts going to work and it's not until his brother Aaron arrives on the farm with his kids that the first signs of panic begin to swell up when Aaron arrives he sees his dad riding on the four-wheeler down this hill of their farm towards him and as their dad approaches Aaron he asks Aaron what his plan for the day is and Aaron tells him [08:58] You know, I'm, you know, going to work the steers. I've got some side work in this town, just one town over. So mom's going to watch the kids for me. And that's when Carrie casually just mentions like, well, I can't find your mother. And she left a note that has me concerned. Yeah. [09:14] And wait, [09:15] A note? Exactly. And this is the first we're hearing of a note. And when Aaron hears this, he gets immediately concerned because he has this thought, what if Lynn might have killed herself? And the note kind of plays into that. It has a very apologetic tone. And the first lines of the note read, I'm sorry, Pa, to put you through this. I love you with all my heart. And then it goes on, but they've never released the full thing. [09:43] Now at this point, Aaron starts to panic. Like, have you checked the house? Have you checked the barn? And Carrie says he's been looking for her since four in the morning, but says, listen, I'll keep looking. Why don't you just take your kids home? Before he can even ask more questions of his dad, like Carrie just rides off on the four-wheeler. But Aaron was not going to leave. He searched everywhere, like basements, attics, like even worst case scenario, he was looking in the trunks of cars. He looked in that apartment, in the loft.

[10:13] in the barn and checked there looking for his mother. Aaron started to drive back eventually to his house when he couldn't find her. But as he's driving, he begins to think and he decides that this is crazy. If his dad has been looking since four in the morning and he's not able to find her, they need help. So he calls 911 from his house. The operator said that she was going to have an officer call him back, but Aaron doesn't have a home phone and his cell phone reception is [10:43] gives the dispatcher his parents' home phone on the farm. But when he hangs up, he realizes, like, shoot, I don't know if dad is even going to be back at the house. So he calls Abram, who's been working on the farm, who lives on the farm, and asks him to be there to answer the call. But when he talks to his brother for the first time that morning, he grows even more concerned. [11:07] So when Aaron calls Abram, he's like, where are you at? And Abram tells him, listen, I'm working on a farm and dad has me moving like all of the steers to a new pasture right now. They needed to be moved. And this was normally Lynn's job, but Carrie insisted that morning that that be done. He gave Abram that job. And Aaron says, well... [11:28] "Do you know what's going on? Like, has dad called the police yet?" And at this point, Abram still didn't know that anything really serious was happening. And Aaron asks, [11:38] Well, did Dad tell you about the note? [11:41] And he's like, what note? This was the first time he was hearing about any note. If he would have known about that note, like earlier that morning when his dad came pounding at his door, he would have been way more worried about his mom. That could have changed everything for him. Both men decide to go to the main farmhouse and wait for the police. But their dad met them at the house before the sheriff did. And when he found out that they called the police, he was furious. They said you could almost see like the steam coming out of his ears.

[12:11] And as the sheriff pulled up into the driveway, both Carrie's sons looked at him differently, wondering if he was telling them the whole truth. [12:23] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [12:42] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [12:49] wherever you get your podcasts. [12:53] When a sheriff's deputy arrived on scene, the whole thing hit them wrong as well. They lived in a town of like 18,000 people. People don't just go missing in the middle of the night. So when the sheriff learns about this apology note, he starts to ask some probing questions. Did Lynn at any point in her life suffer from depression? Immediately, Carrie jumps in. No, never. No. [13:19] Okay, was Lynn ever on any antidepressants? Absolutely not. And... [13:26] Carrie's saying all of this, but Abram is stunned to hear his dad say all of this because he knew, as did the rest of the family, as did anyone who was close with Lynn, that Lynn had been on antidepressants for over a decade. And at this point, Abram's wife jumps in and says, Abram, did you tell them what happened in the barn?

[13:46] Abram proceeds to tell the sheriff about an incident that happened six months earlier, where Lynn had taken a gun into the barn and contemplated suicide. She didn't end up going through with it and was able to fight another day. But both Abram and his wife thought it was important that the sheriff have a complete realistic picture of Lynn. But right away, Carrie flies off the handle. That never happened. Stop making things up. But Abram's wife, [14:16] back down. She says, stop yelling at me. That did happen. And I know it happened because she told me. Right away, Carrie just like backs off and says, [14:27] Well... [14:28] I didn't know you knew about that. [14:31] and [14:32] Abram is shocked. His dad is so caught up in this charade of having a perfect family that would he really risk hindering the investigation? Was it just that he didn't want people to know his wife had depression or was there something more sinister at play? And to me, [14:50] I'm not even sure one is worse than the other. For like him to be ashamed of Lynn for being depressed or for medicating to help is really gross to me. Like newsflash for everyone. There is no perfect family. We are all wonderfully imperfect. Depression, anxiety. And like that's what's real. And not to get like on a preachy side tangent about mental health. But I just feel like it's an important issue. No one talks about their depression because they feel very alone in it.

[15:20] so much more common, regular and real than any fake picture of a perfect family that people want to put on. Totally. But I do have to say I and I think you would agree, like the environment that you and I were raised in. [15:35] really echoes... [15:38] his sentiments and his actions, in my opinion. Oh, 100%. Like, again, I cannot stress enough that we are no longer, like, in this weird culty church that we grew up in. [15:50] But... [15:51] That's exactly how we grew up. Like you weren't depressed because God loved you and you shouldn't be sad. And, you know, mom and dad are perfect and nobody has any flaws. And that has nothing to do with religion. And like God makes everybody exactly how they're supposed to be, like whatever God you want to believe in. I mean, again, I feel like we're getting like weirdly preachy, but. Well, I mean, you, you know me and you know how severe my anxiety can be sometimes. And I didn't [16:21] realize that that's what it was till I was like a very grown adult. Right. Because I mean, it's something that like we weren't even allowed to talk about. So yeah, [16:30] I feel like we have a really good understanding of [16:33] of the family that they were growing up in. And though it's insane and I hate every bit of it. And not like our families are. I want to point that out too. Yeah, I know. We can't say it enough. Like no longer is this the case. [16:45] But I... [16:46] I understand the mentality and like almost like the brainwashing that goes into like wanting this kind of family. So off my soapbox, all we know is that Carrie is covering up something, whether that's him being ashamed of Lynn or something more sinister. And it's too soon for the sheriff to tell either way. And the only way they're going to know for sure is if they find Lynn. So they start searching. They search the fields. They search the woods.

[17:16] Highway Patrol, they like grid off the whole property and have hundreds of people walking straight lines searching inch by inch. The more they look. [17:26] the less probable the idea of suicide becomes. You can't kill yourself and then hide your own body. They would have found her by now, or at least that's the thinking. But they haven't found her. Now, that's not to say that there were no leads, because when they brought in the dogs, they were able to pick up Lynn's scent. [17:48] Before they lost it, it led the dogs directly to a pasture, the same pasture that Abram had moved all of the cows to that very morning. So police want to talk to Abram. In fact, they want to talk to all of Lynn's family members. So they were all brought in for questioning. And the first thing they really want to drill in on, why did you move your entire herd of steer to that other pasture? What are you hiding? [18:18] And Abram says over and over, listen, [18:21] I did it because that's what my dad told me to do. And they probe him more and more like, oh, you didn't think it was weird? Like, that's not normally your job. Your mother is missing. And he says, no, it wasn't strange at the time. When my dad asked me to do something, like, you just do it. You don't ask questions. [18:39] Again, coming from my experience, just because the person who usually does it isn't there doesn't mean it doesn't still need to be done on a farm. Exactly. But it still seems fishy to investigators. So that's when they tell Abram what they know. They say, you moved the cattle...

[18:55] right to where your mother's scent trail ended. Now police are thinking Abram looks fishy, but Abram is thinking, oh my God, my dad told me to do that. What is he hiding? They keep grilling Abram for nine straight hours. They learned that not only did he move the steer, but a week before Lynn went missing, they had a huge blow up argument where he even screamed at his mother. [19:25] they had made amends just days after and he would never do anything to hurt his mother. He loved her. [19:31] After those nine hours, they don't get anything incriminating from Abram. So they move on to questioning Aaron and Carrie. They drill into Carrie about the cattle rotation as well. Why did you tell your son to move them on that morning of all days when your wife is missing? And Carrie says, well, Lynn told me they were overdue for moving. And Brent, like, I assume you have to do it. It's like the grass is green, like. [19:56] Lay some farm knowledge on us. Yeah. So assuming you have multiple pastures, you want to move your herd from pasture to pasture so that they don't deplete the resource in one and also keep the others kind of at bay. Okay. But like, could it wait a day? [20:11] If someone was missing, can it wait a day? I would say yes. But I also don't know the soil conditions or the pasture conditions. I'm going to nerd out really quick. So please stop me. Yeah, I'm going to stop you. And that's kind of like what Carrie is saying. He's like, listen, the farm still has to be maintained. Whether she's missing or not, this is our livelihood. So while the sheriff is interrogating the men, the search continues at the farmhouse. And they find something odd in the bathroom.

[20:41] several bottles of bleach, like on the main floor in one bathroom. And when they confront Carrie with this, he says, oh, well, that's just because we make our own bleach to save money. And apparently they were pretty big penny pinchers. So this wasn't anything that police really latched onto. And personally, I think that sounds crazy. So let me phone my farm friend again. Britt, do you make your own bleach? I don't even know how that would happen. [21:11] some bleach on the farms occasionally to disinfect things but... But that you would buy. Bleach is not that expensive. Right, like it's not like... [21:19] a really big ticket item. So police aren't super concerned about this, though, like for whatever reason. Another strange thing the sheriff noticed is that the bed of Carrie's truck looked freshly washed. And he says it's because he just washed their dog in the bed of his truck, which like, again, who does that? Seems inconvenient. I mean, just wash them on the ground like you're outside. Yeah. [21:46] But police tested the bed of the truck. They couldn't find any blood. It's just another suspicious-looking dead end. And there are more and more of those. Really, the only lead they seemingly had to go off of was that note that Lynn had left. But the more her family looked at that note... [22:04] the more they wondered, [22:06] Was it really her who wrote it? [22:10] You guys, we are finally rolling into summer, and I am ditching the sweaters, packing away the coats, but I am still wearing quince. Because quince is quality I wear all year round, in the field, on stage, at the office, quince, quince, quince. Their clothing and accessories are timeless and long-lasting because they focus on high-quality, beautiful everyday essentials, like 100% European linen pants, dresses, and tops with styles starting at $32.

[22:40] 80% less than similar brands. No lie, I have a silk skirt from a big department store and I have a silk skirt from Quince. And dead serious, my Quince one has held up way better and was way cheaper and machine washable because ain't nobody got time or money for dry cleaning, but I want to look like I do. So elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to Quince.com slash crimejunkie for free shipping on your order [23:10] Crime Junkie for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash Crime Junkie. [23:17] The more Abram and Aaron looked at that note, something felt really off. It seemed like their mother's handwriting. But what was it about it that felt so different? [23:31] It was the type of writing. Yes, that was it. Almost all [23:36] Always, anytime Lynn left a note, it was in cursive. Like, here, Brett, I am going to send you a note that Lynn had recently left her daughter-in-law. [23:47] Oh, yeah, that's... [23:49] That's really cursive. That's all cursive, actually. [23:53] Yeah, and it doesn't look anything like... [23:55] the I'm sorry note, I guess that's what we're going to call it, that she supposedly left the day that she went missing. Yeah. You sent me a picture of that note too. And... [24:04] It's almost block letters. Yeah. And the one that we're comparing it to, the one that she left her daughter-in-law, this is how most of her handwriting looked. So why choose to write in block letters now? And it's because, you know, it's not even like you can't read the cursive. She has very nice penmanship.

[24:22] And there was something else, something that actually Lynn's granddaughter was the first to notice. Her granddaughter said, "Grandma didn't write like that." And when Aaron asked his daughter what she meant, she said, "Well, Grandma didn't call Grandpa Pa." Because if you remember in that note, it read, "I'm sorry, Pa, to put you through this." Well, [24:46] Her granddaughter even knew, like she called him Pop and her grandpa would get actually really frustrated. He would correct her because he wanted to be called Pa, but she called him Pop. Everything seemed off, but no one can pinpoint what exactly happened or why. I mean, if Lynn did something to herself, where is she? If Carrie did something to her, what was the motive? [25:11] Will months go by, [25:13] Eventually, official searches are called off and only family and friends are left searching. Then, seven months after Lynn's disappearance, Carrie drops a bombshell on the family. He has a girlfriend named Spring. And Spring had been a family friend for over 20 years. When Abram's wife, Elizabeth, hears about this, she immediately recalls a weird conversation she had with Lynn before she went missing. [25:43] Riding in the car one day, [25:44] and Lynn tells her, [25:46] You know... [25:47] If something happens to me, [25:49] I want Carrie to marry Spring.

[25:52] And Elizabeth still to this day regrets not probing more. She didn't say, if I die. If something happens to me. Oh my God. [26:02] What did she think was going to happen to her? Both Lynn's sons find the relationship incredibly suspicious. Carrie insists that it started after Lynn's disappearance, but they wonder, did it really just come out of nowhere? And there's some strangeness around spring as well. Conflicting stories about when the last time Lynn and Carrie actually saw her. Carrie said it had been months, but people who are close to Lynn knew that she'd gone to see spring [26:32] so before she disappeared. Could Spring be at the center of what happened to Lynn, or is this just a crazy red herring? Both Spring and Carrie stopped cooperating with the investigation eventually, and 2015 went by with no answers, then most of 2016. [26:53] Until, one day, Aaron is walking their property looking for a good hunting spot, and something on the ground catches his eye. [27:03] it was bones now in all of the searches for his mother they had come across so many bones it always ended up being animal but this this was distinctly human it was a skull and Aaron knew because it was laying on its side and he could tell by looking at the teeth and he knew right away that he'd found his mother

[27:28] Aaron made his second call to 911 and they dispatched a team to check it out. A complete human skeleton was recovered from the area. That area, by the way, was directly below the pasture where the cows had been moved to. The exact pasture that the dogs had tracked to. [27:48] Okay, so this is clearly foul play, right? Well, there is a reason I didn't call this episode murder. I called it mysterious death of because after testing was done on the remains, it was determined that it was in fact Lynn, and she had in fact been there the full two years. She had likely been dead since the time she was missing. But, but... [28:14] Her body had never been buried. So from the testing they were done, it had just been laying there the whole time. [28:24] which again, this is where I'm like phoning my farm friend. I find this incredibly hard to believe, but like all of the investigators say it was there the whole time. Her family says it was there the whole time. But in my mind, if dogs led to that pasture, and even if the cows were put there to like throw off their scent trail, because obviously they did get confused. They kind of lost it. But to me, that's a perfect place to start. When you talk about like doing grid searches, [28:54] In the open... [28:56] For two years...

[28:58] And nobody finds her? [29:00] I was thinking the exact same thing. How many cases have we covered where there are people like arm in arm [29:08] going across [29:09] Acres and acres of land just looking for anything, a scrap of clothing, hair, bones, anything, and finding things. How did this go unnoticed? How did this just appear like this? Yeah, again, this is what baffles me more than anything. And I don't see, you know, there's been a lot of interviews from her sons, Aaron and Abram, and I don't see any speculation from them, at least that I've been able to find, where they, you know, postulate that maybe she was moved after the searches. [29:39] somewhere else on the farm again 260 acres that's a lot of land but [29:45] For it to be near the exact area that everyone was so suspicious about. And to not be found. Again, so hard for me to wrap my brain around. So... [29:55] After all the testing is done, her cause of death is ruled undetermined. They did run toxicology on strands of hair that they found with the remains, but even those are inconclusive. Abram and Aaron are still convinced that their father isn't being honest. I don't think they're 100% convinced that he hurt Lynn, but I think they believe that if she did take her own life, or if her death was the result of her mental illness somehow, in some way, [30:25] he thinks it makes him look bad.

[30:28] She either took her own life... [30:31] And for some reason went to that area and she was left there and somehow no one found her. Or it's possible that she had gotten confused. You know, there were actually stories people had told of her every once in a while mixing up the drugs that she was supposed to take. She had pain medication for her for her hip disorder. She had some other stuff. And, you know, one time she got in a car accident. So maybe she'd mixed something up. Or again, maybe there's bigger mental health issues at play. [31:01] Dining room. [31:03] Or there's a third option. [31:05] Maybe she was murdered. And I will say... [31:10] the investigators who are looking at this case, for them to keep it open and rule it undetermined... [31:17] There's a quote. Let me just read it from one of the investigators. It's a quote. There may be stuff that we're currently looking at that we can't talk about because it is an active investigation. Our hope and our dream is to be able to determine what caused Lynn's death and to be able to give them some closure on that. [31:36] End quote. [31:38] So, [31:39] I think the police have some suspicions about what might have happened, and hopefully they're able to prove it one day. [31:46] if you guys want to see the side-by-side notes give us your opinion if you think she wrote it or not you can go to instagram at crime junkie podcast or our website crimejunkiepodcast.com and be sure to follow us on twitter at crime junkie pod and you guys we want to hear your

[32:16] discussion group is super active. We have a thread for every single case. Jump in there. And don't forget, if you need an extra fix, you can go to patreon.com slash crimejunkie and start the binge all over. [32:38] *music* [32:40] *music* [32:42] *music* [32:45] *music* [32:48] you [32:50] you [32:53] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [33:00] Okay, Crime Junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [33:19] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. [33:23] I think you'll love it too. [33:24] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.