MURDERED: Kara, Kelsey, & Jessica

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[01:34] Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And before we jump in today, I have a quick favor to ask. It's something we haven't asked in a long time. But if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, will you please leave us a five-star review? I have this crazy, like, personal goal. I want to get to 100,000 five-star reviews. And I know that sounds crazy, but we're actually pretty close. I've only seen one other podcast that's gone over 100,000. And if you guys like me and you just want to, like, make me feel good, [02:04] That's pretty much all it's for. I would appreciate it so, so much. It's just a goal that I set and I've been waiting and watching and I thought I should just [02:12] ask you guys for, you know, what I want. Yeah, it can be our half birthday present. Yeah, let it be. With that request, let's get on to our story. And today is a story of three separate cases that have been intertwined over the years. [02:31] Thank you. [03:02] Our story first starts back in May of 2007. On May 4th, a young 17-year-old girl named Kara is heading off for a normal day of school. Now, her mom offered to drive her, but Kara said, I'm going to walk. I want to smoke a cigarette, and I want to do it by myself. And Kara's mom and her stepdad didn't approve of her smoking, but they felt like their control over Kara and her decisions were becoming less and less as she got older.

[03:32] She was just asserting her independence more than just smoking. She'd been doing a lot of things recently that they didn't approve of. They said that her attitude had really changed after she started dating this guy from her school named Kyler. [03:46] He had since dropped out and they felt like he was driving a wedge between Kara and the family, which, as we've talked about many times before, is something that is one of the first signs of domestic abuse. Kara's family said she became more isolated from them, started skipping school regularly. On her 16th birthday, she'd like run away for a night and not extremely long. Again, just one night, but it was long enough for her parents to call the police out of concern for her. [04:16] was her life and she was going to do whatever she wanted with it. But the tides were changing a little bit. Recently, Kara had broken things off with that guy. She had started talking about plans for after high school. She wanted to go to a community college, get her degree. She was planning a future for herself. So that morning when she wanted to smoke and walk herself to school, it was a fight that her mom did not want to pick. She said, listen, I have to choose my battles [04:46] call from her. Cara needed a couple of favors. One, she'd forgotten her school book at home, which she needed for class that day, and she wanted her mom to bring it. And two, she asked her mom if she could wash her uniform because she had to work a shift at Popeye's Chicken after school that day, and she'd forgotten that her uniform was dirty and at home. So her mom agrees to do both. She throws the uniform in the wash before dropping off Cara's books at school on her way to work herself.

[05:11] Now, she didn't actually see Kara when she dropped off the book. She just left it at the office for Kara to pick up. If she would have known what was about to come that day, she probably would have tried to see Kara, to hug her one more time. But that's the thing about tragedy. It's often unexpected, and you never know when your interaction with someone could be your last. So her mom went off to work, none the wiser that she would never see Kara alive again. [05:41] Kara's stepdad, Jim, got home that afternoon. He actually worked really early shifts, so he would always be home before Kara returned home from school. But on this day, Kara didn't return home right after school. And this was a little concerning to Jim because even though it was her life and she was going to do what she wanted, like she said, most of the time she at least had enough respect for them to let them know what exactly it was that she was going to be doing. He tried calling her cell phone a couple of times, wasn't getting any kind of response. [06:10] calls Cara's mom, Rhonda, lets her know that Cara hasn't come home and he can't get a hold of her. And when he's on the phone with her, though, he does make one suggestion. Maybe he thinks she got in detention or something. Like if she got caught using her phone or texting, which by the way, apparently kids can like text in school now. I was just recently in high school and phones were everywhere. Like back in the day, you would get detention for texting in class. So he's thinking that maybe her phone got taken away. Maybe she's in detention. So he's like, listen, I'm going to [06:40] to see if she's there but by the time he goes to the school it's like deserted it's a friday afternoon he couldn't find anyone around much less cara

[06:49] His next stop is to Popeye's Chicken, where Kara was supposed to have worked after school. And when he goes by there to talk to the manager, he finds out that Kara isn't there, but was supposed to be. She was scheduled for a shift, but was a no-call, no-show, which was, again, like really unusual for her and is starting to make her stepdad more and more concerned. He waits around the restaurant for a while, hoping that maybe she's just going to roll in late, but she never does. [07:20] In her room is her freshly washed uniform, so he knows that she hasn't even been by to pick that up. [07:26] Her mom is home by this time to help look for her, and she's just been going through their cell phone records, like their past bills, calling all of Kara's friends, trying to see if anyone's talked to her, anyone has seen her, and not a single person is able to help Rhonda. So Rhonda and Jim decide it's time to call the police and officially report their daughter missing. [07:56] is walking into the police station to report her missing as well. But the stories of Kara's disappearance don't quite match up. A deputy is sent out to Kara's home to take an official report. Kara's mom and her stepdad recount the day's events to the officer, but right away they're concerned that he isn't taking it seriously. He knew about the runaway incident the year before, and he says to them, you know, she's probably mad. She'll show back up in a day or two.

[08:26] They're insisting like, no, she's never totally out of communication like this. Something is wrong. But the officer says, listen, I'm going to file this report, but wait a day. And if you still haven't heard from her, let us know. OK, but what was the friend's story? Well, when the friend came in, this person said that they hadn't seen Kara since May 2nd. That's two full days earlier. OK, that's maybe a little bit weird, but why wouldn't she go to Kara's house first? [08:56] like a huge escalation to go straight to the police. I agree. Like if I couldn't find you, I would like call your husband and then your sister and then your parents. And I think police thought that it was weird too, because they ask her like, why are you coming to us? Have you talked to her family? And she says, no, I don't feel comfortable going to Kara's parents. If she elaborated on why that was never released to the public, but it's something police have in the [09:26] to say that Cara was still missing and she still had not been in contact with them. Police tell the family about the other report that's been filed. And they're so confused. Like the family is saying, why would this person say she was missing for two days before? Like we saw Cara on the third. We saw her on the fourth. And this would become a point of contention for years because later on, years later, the police reports would get put out to the public.

[09:56] Missouri, the police have it documented that they called Rhonda on the 4th about the other missing persons report that was filed. And from what I can gather, the person who filed the report thought Cara was with someone specific. Now, none of the news articles at the time would state an official name. So according to this report, so they call Rhonda and tell her this. And according [10:26] And then she goes on in this report or according to this report to say that she thinks Cara is with the suspect willingly and not being held against her will. [10:37] That's nothing like the initial story. No. And Rhonda says that they never changed their story. She said that that report is a flat out lie. She said we never thought she was a runaway. Even the same day we called in to report her missing, we were trying to get it taken seriously. And the police are the ones who thought that she ran away. She reiterated that she saw Kara on the third and the fourth. So she would have never said that she was missing or taken against her will on the second. [11:07] police chief issued a statement basically saying like, nope, our reports can't be wrong. They're probably misremembering because all of our stuff is written down. It's dated. So we're right. Nothing's changed. That's pretty bold stance to take against the family, don't you think? Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little harsh and it's weird. And you can see how the relationship between police and Cara's family became strained. Like right off the bat. Well, no, again, so that took years to do. This discrepancy didn't come out until like four and

[11:37] went missing. So in the initial days, her family really was relying on police. But if these reports are true, I just want everyone to understand like what the thinking of police might have been at the time, even if they didn't tell the family like, hey, we made this report that says you say she's a runaway. I think that's the conversation that they're having internally. Yeah. [11:58] Because of this discrepancy, I don't think it's surprising that they started looking at her stepdad, Jim, as a prime suspect. They interrogate him. They give him a polygraph test, which he takes willingly and then passes. Now, when police start to look outside the family, they want to get as much attention for Kara as possible. They want her picture on the news. So maybe anyone who might have seen her in the last couple of days would come forward. [12:28] in the investigation. The same night that Kara went missing, a massive tornado storm hit Greensburg, Kansas, which was very close. And that took out like 95 percent of the town and killed 11 people. So that was all that was filling the news stations at the time. And any attempt to get on the news was just totally kind of thrown out the window. Not getting her picture out was putting the [12:58] reporter who picked up the case and pushed it forward. He did a story on Kara's case, and he was just as concerned as her parents were. Kara hadn't taken her cell phone, her iPod, or like any of the things you would expect a teenage girl to take if she was going away voluntarily. While this reporter is doing his story, the police are still working to track down leads to determine Kara's last movements. Now, they're able to get the security footage from her school and quickly

[13:28] in the morning cara is spotted in like the common area of her school walking out of the women's bathroom she stops in the hallway to talk to another girl for a quick bit and then she is seen walking out the school's exit doors at 9 19 and this is the last time she was officially seen [13:49] No one followed her out, and police don't know if she was going to meet anyone. It just appeared as if Kara was skipping class like she'd done so many times before. [14:04] Why would you ask your mom to bring... [14:06] your book if you're just going to leave? Well, from what I gather, she did actually pick up the book from the office, but I don't know anything about her class schedule. Like she could have used the book before she left early, or it could have been for a class later in the day, because I guess it was pretty normal for Kara that she would skip like, [14:27] a couple specific classes in the middle of the day, not the entire day. She just hated a few specific classes and said that the teachers didn't like her. So she would like leave for a couple hours and then come back. So I would assume, based on everything we know, that she was planning on coming back that day. And this is confirmed when police tracked down the girl Kara was seen talking to that day. She said, yeah, Kara asked me if I'd leave with her, but I couldn't afford to skip class

[14:57] to track down her phone records and find out who she might have met up with that day. They find a connection to someone in Kara's life and a disturbing police report that was filed just days before she went missing that could have been a warning of what was to come. [15:15] You guys, I feel like we all have that one friend with that niche expertise. Like they have the best outfits, the most unique decor, amazing vintage jewelry or whatever. Well, imagine if you could shop right from their home or closet. That is what it's like on Whatnot. Now, if you've never been on this app, it is great. It's this live shopping experience where you can bid on the best stuff. I was just eyeing these like three container porcelain kitchen set thing. I think you put like flour and sugar in it. I don't know. I was gonna have three different cookie jars basically, but I'm redecorating and I'm really [15:45] flair to my new space. So I have been deep into the antiques and decor side of whatnot. But truly, there is a category for everything. I mean, with over 10,000 fashion, beauty, and bag sellers on whatnot, there is always something for every buyer to discover live right now. And the best part is the deals are unbeatable. You almost never pay full price. It is name brands, but without the retail prices. Download the whatnot app today and get free shipping on your first order. Just search

[16:15] start scoring amazing deals. [16:19] When police get her phone records, they see that Kara called her ex-boyfriend the day that she went missing around 9.13. This was just before she had left school. And then she gets an incoming call from him at 9.20, one minute after she was seen on the camera leaving. Now they had a new last person to talk with Kara, and they wanted to talk to that guy. Okay. [16:43] Was this the same guy, her ex, that her parents said changed her behavior? Yes. So his name was Kyler Eust, and he had a bad reputation. He was into some really bad stuff, not the guy anyone wants dating their daughter. Police find out that not only did he talk to Kara the day that she was last seen, but just days before she went missing, she had filed an order of protection against him. [17:13] of April, she had gone to the Belton Police Department to report that Kyler had forced her into his car after work one day. And then in her handwritten statement, she also goes on to say that there are prior instances that he restrained her once he held a knife to her throat and was threatening to cut it. And Kara was apparently supposed to testify against him. [17:33] But conveniently for Kyler, Cara ended up going missing days before the hearing was scheduled. Oh, my God. Now, in Kyler's initial statement, when police talked to him, he flat out lied. He said that the last time he talked to Cara was on May 3rd, which phone records quickly disproved. Now, as terrible as he looks, police interrogate him. They give him a polygraph, which they tell the public that he passes.

[18:03] clear him, they do their best to keep following down other leads, although those are few and far between. [18:10] Two weeks after Kara had gone missing, sightings of her get called into the police. On more than one occasion, people report seeing Kara in a town about 40 minutes away. The first sighting was at a Burger King, which police sent someone to almost immediately. And of course, as luck would have it, the cameras weren't working that day. Of course not. I know. So the best that they could do was show her picture around. [18:40] her in here before and she was with a young guy. So they put a composite sketch together [18:48] But this guy looks nothing like anyone Kara knew. And Bert, I'm going to send it to you. He looks a lot younger than I was expecting. I know. He truly looks like a kid. And it made me think like, oh, well, if she was with someone like this, like maybe it was willingly. Like he's not the overpowering abductor that I was picturing by any means. [19:11] Now, the police follow another sighting to a grocery store. Someone says that there was a girl working there that is Kara. And when police get there, they are shocked. The girl working looks so much like her. [19:27] but it isn't Kara. The more they talk to this young girl, they realize that she has a friend who matched the boy in the composite. And they realize that all the sightings in town have been this girl. And they've been going down a rabbit hole, chasing their tail to nowhere. Yeah.

[19:46] More and more time goes by, and all of the mounting evidence is pointing to a single theory. Kara didn't leave willingly, and she isn't coming back. Her bank card had been left in her locker, she'd never picked up her paycheck from Popeyes, and the money in her account had never been touched after she disappeared. [20:07] just a month out from her disappearance, and leads were beginning to dry up. There wasn't a ton of media attention anymore, just rumors around town about her shady ex-boyfriend. But all that changed on June 2nd, when another case would bring a spotlight to Kara again. [20:30] Less than a month from the date that Cara disappeared, an 18-year-old girl named Kelsey Smith left her home to go buy her boyfriend a six-month anniversary present. It would just be a quick trip. She was going to pop in and out of a local Target, get him something she'd been thinking about, and then be right home. She had to be right home because Kelsey and her boyfriend had plans at 7.30 that night, and she left just shortly before 7. [21:00] there. And at first, it's no huge deal. Maybe she's running late. But after another 30 minutes pass, Kelsey's boyfriend and her parents start to worry. Even though she called her mom from inside the Target store around seven, no one can reach her on her cell phone now. After another 30 minutes pass, they can't just sit around and wait anymore. Maybe Kelsey was stranded in the parking lot. Maybe she was in an accident. They had to go find out. So they drove the route to Target, expecting to

[21:30] either on the way or in the parking lot, but it wasn't there. No car, no Kelsey, and no sign of where she might be. Now, Kelsey's dad is trying to remain calm. You see, he is actually a police officer himself. He knows what to do. So he starts following like a checklist procedure in his mind, checking off all the places that she could be. And he calls around to local police agencies, seeing if there had been any accidents, seeing if maybe she'd gotten pulled over, [22:00] But call after call and he gets the same answer. No Kelsey. While he's making these calls, her family goes out trying to look for her. And they're driving around, driving around. And mind you, it's well into the evening at this point. And they spot something not too far from the Target Kelsey said that she was going to go to. In the parking lot, just across the street from Target, was a Macy's that was attached to a mall. [22:30] parking lot was Kelsey's car. They rushed to the car hoping to find her inside, but it's quickly clear that the car had been abandoned and what's inside the car just adds to the pressure of needing to find Kelsey fast. Inside, they can see the present that Kelsey bought for her boyfriend and her purse. Why would she leave her car abandoned in the middle of the lot with her purse

[23:00] is that she wouldn't, not willingly. The rest of the family is called in and they tell them about the car and Kelsey's dad insists, do not touch the car. In that moment, he had the wherewithal enough to make sure to say, you know, if something bad has happened, we cannot tamper with potential evidence. But it takes everything in her dad's power not to rip the car apart when he shows up [23:30] Yeah, but... [23:43] then where is she? No one knew. And now, within a month, you have two girls about the same age, about the same bill, just 30 minutes from one another, who are both missing. And Cara's family couldn't help but wonder if there was some kind of connection. And this speculation brought more attention to Cara's case at a time when the public was already losing interest. [24:10] 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. [24:29] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now.

[24:36] wherever you get your podcasts. [24:39] Though the cases looked somewhat similar, I believe they were handled much differently. Kara was treated as a runaway in the first day, whereas in Kelsey's case, within a day, police were pulling surveillance video. They were trying to track her down. The first place they look is at the Target where she told her dad that she was going and they know she was like on the phone with her mom there. So she had to have made it. They're quickly able to spot her on video. [25:09] 6.54 and then enters the Target store at 6.55. And anyone who's ever been in a Target store knows that there's like a zillion cameras. So police are able to follow her every single move. And they keep looking for something to pop out at them, a person who she was talking to, maybe even an encounter with a stranger. But there was nothing. So [25:33] You can see her talking on the phone to her mom. She picked up the present, picks up some wrapping paper, goes to check out, walks to her car, then pulls out of the parking space a few seconds later and drives away. And this was almost more confusing. Like if nothing happened to her at Target, she planned to come right home after that. Where could something bad have happened to her? Yeah. Where did she go? What could have happened? They had no leads. [26:03] to take one more detailed look at the footage. And they get like 10 people in a room together. They blow it up on a screen, just looking for anything that stands out. They watch closely and they see the same thing. She shops, she's calm, she checks out, she goes to her car and leaves. But one investigator says,

[26:28] Wait. [26:29] "Did you see that?" Rewind it again. [26:33] Now the footage we have of Kelsey leaving is hard to see. Her car is in the very corner of the screen, and it's a blurry shot. What they had seen all along was Kelsey put her bags into the passenger side of the car, [26:46] Then she walks behind the car to the driver's side. [26:50] And it's here. [26:52] when Kelsey is on the driver's side, that the investigator spotted something, just a blur maybe to the naked eye. You literally don't even catch it when you're watching the video the first couple of times. But when someone points it out, you can't unsee it. [27:09] It's a person, presumably a man, who rushes across the parking lot aisle and attacks Kelsey. Within seconds, he has her in the car and they're driving away from the scene. And this is in the middle of a parking lot in like broad daylight, right? Yeah, this is taking place in the summer. So at seven o'clock at night, it is bright outside. The video is broad daylight. No one saw a thing. And the parking lot was packed. [27:39] heard a thing. Oh my God. She was, [27:41] rushed by someone, forced into her car, and then driven off. [27:46] I watched an interview with her dad that he did, and I just started weeping when he was talking about this part because he said, this is when I knew. I knew someone had her, and I couldn't do anything to help her. Now that police know she was attacked in the parking lot, they decide to go back through the footage a third time and try to determine where her attacker met or spotted her.

[28:16] Like I said before, she hadn't talked to anyone in the store. But now that they knew what they were looking for... [28:22] He was easier to spot. [28:25] Their blur that rushed Kelsey was wearing a light top and dark pants. And when they relook at the footage from inside the store, this time they notice someone in the same clothing. A man. And he isn't following close behind Kelsey. But every time she's in the frame, so is he. Keeping his distance. [28:55] determining when he can make his move. [28:58] Police see that when Kelsey goes to check out, the man leaves the store and makes a beeline for the parking lot, presumably to lay in wait. [29:08] Now, again, to reiterate the difference in Kelsey's case versus Kara's, this is day two. And we have all of this info. Granted, it's not like we had a ton of video from where Kara went missing. We didn't see anyone pick her up. But in this case, things just seem to be moving so much faster. So they have this image from Target. They get a clear photo of their mystery man. They put it out to the public. [29:38] flooding in. Oh my God. Now people are calling in, you know, suspecting every person they've ever met. And it's not until the next day when they're able to determine what this guy was driving, that they're able to narrow down their suspect pool.

[29:52] They spot him. He's driving this like blue pickup truck and he arrived in the Target parking lot just seconds before Kelsey. Oh, like not... [30:02] after i kind of assume that he followed her no the more police look into this the more it's clear that this might have been a totally random act which again i think is one of the reasons people are wondering like oh my gosh could this be connected to cara's case if this is just some maniac we have in town who is randomly attacking young girls that he sees it's not like a target [30:32] more terrifying exactly [30:34] With the information they now have about the vehicle, they're able to narrow down their suspect pool drastically. And one name that was called in looks like it could be their guy, a man named Edwin Hall. They track him down. And of course, he says he's never met her, doesn't know her. Like, oh, sure, I might have seen her in Target, but we never had any contact. But his story begins to change when they confront him with the fact that his fingerprints, [31:04] were found inside her car. [31:07] Three and a half days after Kelsey went missing, searchers found her nude and lifeless body. She'd been sexually assaulted and strangled, and she was found just minutes from Kara's home, which again made family and the public question even more if these cases were connected.

[31:25] Edwin ended up confessing to Kelsey's murder to avoid the death penalty. He said... [31:32] That day, he had just decided to attack someone. And then he saw Kelsey at Target, thought she was really young, made a comment about how he liked her legs and picked her out of anything. [31:45] everyone in the store. Never met her before, didn't know her, would have probably picked someone else if they wouldn't have crossed paths. But he swore... [31:56] that this was his first murder and he didn't have any involvement in any other case. I'm going to call BS on that. Same. One of the investigators on Kelsey's case is like, listen, we haven't been able to link him to anything else. We haven't been able to link him to Kara's case. In fact, we think they're not involved. But every bone in my body, everything in my gut says that this was not his first attack. [32:26] as disappearance? So again, like early days, I think, [32:31] they thought possibly he could have been. And I think for a long time, but then something changed, you know, as police learn more about the victim, they learn more about their perpetrator. They said that they weren't connected. And even though police said they weren't connected, the public continued to speculate that they might have been. For years and years, people would look at Kelsey's case and wonder if Edwin was just keeping his mouth shut. Like the police officer

[33:01] And it doesn't seem like this was his first time. And they still had another girl that was missing. Now, Kelsey's case renewed interest in Kara's for a while. But just like before, the interest eventually wound down. [33:15] And here and there, leads would pop up like once two years after her disappearance. There was a sighting of someone who looked like her in New York City. It was a young girl who like was homeless. She had amnesia. It seemed like a great fit. But pictures and dental work and DNA all confirmed that it wasn't Kara. Then at about the three year mark of Kara's disappearance, there was a massive search done for her, like way bigger than anything that was ever done. [33:45] immediate time after she first went missing. Okay, why now? Well, at that point, no one knew. Police swore that it was just something they'd always wanted to do, but never had the resources to do. And then finally, on this April 7th of 2010, that was like the first weekend that all these different agencies could coordinate and search for her. I mean, they had like upwards of 230 people [34:15] But like, this was 10 times what anyone had done before. Why now? And why couldn't this have happened earlier? But maybe it wouldn't have mattered because after three days of intensive searching, nothing was found. And it felt like all hope of finding Kara was lost. Years passed with no sign of her. And to outsiders, it looked like there were no leads.

[34:45] and those who listened close would hear the answers about what happened to Kara. [34:52] . [34:53] 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. [35:12] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now, wherever you get your podcasts. [35:23] The earliest reports of these rumors were in late April 2010. We know for sure that someone went to the police on April 26. It was actually a former roommate of Kara's ex-boyfriend, Kyler. And this person, only identified as the initials NY in reports, contacted police and said that sometime in 2009, Kyler had been talking about Kara. [35:52] her because she wouldn't love him. And he thought, you know, the age old thing you've seen, if I can't have her. No one can. He then told this person that something bad had happened to Kara. This seems... [36:07] like it might be connected with the search like they aren't that far apart right yeah so that's like the weird thing so again the police at the time swore the search wasn't based off of anything this official written report is like april 26 about this person coming in the search was done weeks before like april 7th but i have to wonder if like police weren't attuned to all of the rumors going on you know what i mean yeah if there were like rumblings and they were like let's

[36:35] Kind of [36:36] kick this off in the beginning of the month, see if anything happens. And then it kind of came out. Yeah. And then maybe they're like, they're hearing these reports and maybe they like, we're like leaning on somebody who used to live with him and be like, listen, we've heard this report from everyone else. Like we just need to hear it from you. And maybe that's when they made the official report. I think the timing is super strange. If the search was based on that person coming forward, great. If not, it almost looks like nothing came of the person coming forward. [37:06] But no arrests were made and there was no break in the case based on this. Then in January 2011, a woman came forward who said that Kyler had confessed to her. She said that he told her he choked Kara and then disposed of her body in the woods. Now, the same person came back to talk to police again just a month later in February and told the same story, but this time with more detail. [37:36] what it was like actually watching Kara take her last breath. He described like falling back onto a chair, [37:44] watching, just staring at her body for a while before disposing of her in the woods. But [37:50] Apparently, this third-party confession still isn't enough. Without a body, without some physical evidence, they couldn't arrest him. [37:58] Now, in August of 2011, one of Kyler's ex-girlfriends comes forward to say that Kyler once told her that he had killed girlfriends in the past and wouldn't hesitate to kill her, too. Now, luckily, this ex ended up pressing charges because in this statement, she also talks about a time when he attacked her and he ends up pleading guilty to domestic violence. Like in this report, there are allegations that he choked her.

[38:28] so again he pleads guilty for this nothing comes up in Kara's case almost another year passes and another person comes forward in June of 2012 to tell police that Kyler confessed to them as well and their story is almost exactly the same as the person told before about watching her taking her last breath leaning back looking at her and then taking her into the woods and [38:54] Now, by September 2015, Kyler is in prison on drug charges. Absolutely nothing related to Kara. And police have been trying over and over and over to talk to him and they go try to talk to him in prison. But he refuses to speak about Kara. But after that police interview, his cellmate said that he was acting super weird and told him that he needed help with an alibi. Okay. [39:19] Sometime in 2016, Kyler is let out of prison. And despite multiple people who had come forward saying he confessed to them, there still wasn't enough to build a case against him. Even though, again, in this small town, these rumors are just flowing. He walked free and met a new girlfriend, a 21-year-old girl named Jessica Runyans. And a familiar story would play out. [39:49] was the oldest of her siblings and at the time she was working as a pastry chef in a retirement home while making plans to go back to college. On September 9th though in 2016 one of Jessica's family members reported her missing. Apparently the night before she had arrived to a party with Kyler then left with him and the two had been arguing. Kyler was said to have been drinking

[40:19] her car was found burning. Now, luckily, though, she was not inside. And this time, there was someone who knew Kyler's secret. The same day that the car was found, a person only known by the initials JC came forward to tell police that he was there when Kyler set the car on fire. Secondhand confessions don't do much, but they had an eyewitness and that police can work [40:49] They go arrest Kyler, and even if they didn't have the eyewitness, Kyler's appearance gave him away. [40:58] Oh, wow. Yeah, his face is definitely burned. Right. I mean, at that point, I think everyone's thinking like, oh, my God, they got him. But [41:06] All they had him on was burning a car, which burning the car of a missing person is pretty incriminating. But he wouldn't confess. He wouldn't give police the location of the bodies so they couldn't move forward on any murder charges, at least not then. [41:25] in April [41:27] A mushroom hunter was scouring the woods when he came across human remains. When police were called out, the skeletal remains were identified as Jessica. And right near her body were a much older set of remains. And that's where Kara had been laying for 10 years waiting to be found. [41:49] Finally, in October 2017, Kyler used was formally charged with two counts of first degree murder and two counts of abandoning corpses. Kyler is actually set to go to trial this November in 2019.

[42:07] I think a key witness has been lost. Do you remember the JC who I said turned him in for burning the car? We just have the initials. Yeah. Well, news outlets reported that JC could be the initials of Jessup Carter, who is Kyler's half brother. Jessup. [42:27] actually recently died by suicide in prison last September. Now, his death is undergoing investigation [42:36] And I don't know what not having him does to the trial. He was supposed to be a key witness because he was the one that witnessed him burning the car, was with him right after. Right. But now they don't have him. So I don't know what that means. I mean, you would hope that... [42:52] they were able to prosecute Kyler with more than just this eyewitness. Like there has to be more that they have. Otherwise, they wouldn't have taken it to trial. Well, they were they took it to trial before he died. But you think that they I don't know, maybe would back out on it if that was like their key thing. They have to have more, right? It's possible. Again, we're easing up on November when his court case is supposed to go to trial. I would be shocked if they drop based on that. I mean, now that they officially have bodies and [43:22] be both of these girls are out there living their lives I mean I think it's easy to prove that he had a history of violence with Kara I think it's easy to prove he was the last person to talk to her he was last seen with Jessica the night that she went missing so I'm sure having Jessup would have been like the nail in the coffin I would be shocked if they dropped I pray they have enough

[43:45] I kind of wonder if there are more people [43:47] victims connected to this guy like before Jessica was ever murdered he told his girlfriend I don't remember that statement he's killed girlfriends before like plural yeah was he just talking to seem scary or are there actually more people connected to this guy [44:05] Kara and Jessica deserve justice the same way that Kelsey got justice. But in the end, the most important thing to each one of these families is that people remember the girls and not the men behind their deaths. Those men didn't define their lives or who they were or the people that they were going to become. Kelsey's parents actually became very strong activists because of their tragedy. [44:35] actually the law that provides law enforcement with a way to quickly ascertain the location of wireless telecommunication devices. So back in the day of Kelsey's, what they were trying to do, they were trying to ping her cell phone to see where it was. And at the time, Verizon was like, I don't, we can't do that. We don't know if that's an option. Like, you can give us a subpoena, but like, you know, this is uncharted territory. They wouldn't do it. And it's a privacy concern. Yeah, they would only show past locations. So now this isn't even passed in all of these states. [45:05] ignorant, but [45:07] It's only passed in a little over half the states, I believe, and her family is still working to get that legislation passed in every state. In addition to passing the Kelsey Smith Act, the family has created programs to promote personal safety. Before them, most safety programs were targeted toward children. But like we preach on this podcast, it is so important for adults to be constantly thinking about safety, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, what time of day.

[45:37] in the middle of the day in a heavily trafficked parking lot. You can never let your guard down. If you want more information on the safety programs or the Kelsey Smith Act, you can visit kelseysarmy.org. [45:53] as always you can visit our website for a link to kelsey's army for pictures on this case that's crimejunkiepodcast.com and be sure to follow us on social media we are crimejunkiepod on twitter [46:23] Cropet of the Month story coming at you. [46:48] you [46:50] *music* [46:52] you [46:55] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?

[47:10] Okay, so today's preppet is a sweet old girl named Daisy, and I am going to ruin everyone's day with her story. So this story comes from one of our listeners. Her name is Heather, and she wrote in to us telling us about her preppet, Daisy. And back in 2008, Heather and her husband lived in a college town. [47:33] And one day, their friend finds this big, beautiful dog just wandering around. Maybe she's a lab mix, but she's really big. Maybe some Great Dane. [47:44] And we've talked about this before, like a couple of times where obviously, Ashley, it was the best decision of your life. But getting a dog in college is not always the best idea. No. Yeah. I mean, the best thing I've ever done, but the most inconvenient time. Absolutely. Right. But. [48:01] Evidently, some people are monsters. And at this college in particular, [48:05] at the end of the school year, there would just be tons of pets, flooding shelters, being abandoned by students because they had gotten them during the school year. They couldn't take them home to their parents. And it's it was kind of a thing. And so, well, you know, so many people, too, I've even heard of where like roommates will get a dog together and then nobody is like thinking far enough advance to be like, what happens to the dog when we graduate? Like, I don't know. You are going to fail at life if you're not thinking that far ahead. That should be like [48:35] Like, how do I think about what's happening next year? Right. So their friend finds this dog and they spend like two weeks trying to find its owner. But...

[48:44] everyone is pretty sure that it's a student who just left it behind. So the friend brings this dog by Heather's husband's workplace. And he's like, I don't want to take it to the Humane Society. Does anybody want this dog? And that's around the same time Heather gets a call from her husband and says, hey, I really need to talk to you. Can you stop by my shop? And she goes, [49:06] to both. [49:07] Okay, sure. And when she walks in, she sees this big, beautiful black dog and immediately goes full Susan Simpson at CrimeCon and gets on the ground and is like, come here. The dog. [49:21] comes right up to her and she's like oh my gosh this dog is beautiful who's is it and everybody's just looking at her and that's when she realizes that it's her dog and the dog licks her and she was chosen and they take the dog home they're talking about names and at the very same time [49:38] Heather and her husband say, [49:39] Daisy and that's how Daisy got her name. Stop it. Had they like talked about that before? She didn't say in her email. It's literally they just got a dog one day and then they also named it Daisy the same time. It's adorable. I'm obsessed. I can't. So cute. So a couple years later, Heather and her family had to move and they couldn't take their pets with them. And they now have two dogs, Daisy and another one and two cats. And they were [50:04] Able to rehome Daisy and her kitty mama, Skittles, Skittles chose Daisy as her pup, they were able to put them in the same home. And obviously it was really, really sad, but they felt really good about being able to keep the dog and the cat together and give it to one of their friends to take care of.

[50:22] They eventually were able to get pets in their home approved, but they felt kind of weird going back to their friend and being like, "Hey, now that you have our pets, can we take them back?" So they ended up not taking Daisy and Skittles back, which [50:38] She wanted to point out that they did immediately get a dog named Sasha, but this is not Sasha's story. This is Daisy's story. Maybe Sasha will get her own turn. And three years later... [50:49] heather's just on facebook scrolling around and sees that the friend that she had rehomed daisy and skittles to was [50:56] leaving their life to live life on the road, which sounds like a very interesting story that I actually want to know more about. [51:04] And she had no plans for the pets. [51:06] 20 minutes later, guess who's in the back seat of Heather's car? Aww, reunited. Yeah, so she calls her husband, and he's like, [51:15] And she's like, hey, I'm on my way home. When I get there, I need your help unloading some stuff from my car. He's like, OK, whatever. So she pulls up. He walks out and sees his big old puppet, Daisy, and he just bursts. [51:29] into tears. Oh my god, I love it so much. So this is great, right? Reunited and it feels so good. And that's when Heather and her family had to move into a third-story apartment. And remember, [51:42] Daisy was... [51:43] a full-grown dog when they got her back in 2008. It's 2018, they're thinking she's at least 13 or 14 years old. [51:52] Thank you.

[51:53] They knew it would be hard on her hips. They knew she didn't be in pain. And that's when they got into the position to purchase their first home. So they're going around and they're like, no stairs, not for our Daisy girl. [52:06] I love I we did the same thing. Our but ours is like about the pool. We're like, oh, we can't have a pool with a liner because we need Charlie to be able to get it. He doesn't even get in. But we definitely like made decisions about our home purchase based on our dog. It's a totally rational thing to do. Right. So. [52:20] There are, like, absolutely no stairs. But we also want a yard. Like, Daisy has never had the yard that she deserves. And they actually just closed on their house back in May. It has no stairs. And it has a big, beautiful yard for Sasha and Daisy. And Heather believes that that... [52:39] is what Daisy was waiting for. Because... [52:42] On July 10th, Daisy passed away. [52:45] Why would you do that to me? I thought this was like a... I told you, it was a sad line. [52:50] I thought the sad part was when they had to, like, leave each other. No. [52:54] The sad part is Daisy is now buried in her big, beautiful backyard, surrounded by daisies on a hill. Oh, I'm happy she got to, like, be reunited with her family. I know. She got to spend her last years with her family and... [53:11] her family got to spend her last years with them. I mean, it's [53:16] It's a sad one, but there's so many high points in her story, I couldn't let it go. I know. But let this all serve as a lesson for people in college who cannot commit to owning a dog for the life of a dog, which I'm praying to God is 30 years.

[53:32] Just go volunteer to shelter. There are so many dogs that need to be walked at shelters. Like... [53:37] Oh, I just can't. Or even foster dogs for shelters. Like it's so important. [53:43] Oh, yes. Yeah, we can't stress it enough. And guys, in the spirit of that, there are so many good shelters out there. There are so many dogs that are real for adoption or for fostering. We're going to have one posted on the PrevEpt page as well. [53:56] You guys know this. We're super passionate about this, too. It's True Crime and PrevEpt. Yeah, True Crime and PrevEpt. Yeah, go check it out. If you have room in your home for a forever buddy or even just for a foster buddy, do take the time to look and open up your home and your heart. [54:12] Thank you. [54:22] 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? [54:41] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now, and I've been listening for years. [54:44] I think you'll love it, too. [54:46] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.