Anatomy of Murder - Please Forgive Me

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

A 25-year-old young woman goes missing. Her family has every reason to believe that the person responsible is someone very close to home.For episode information and photos, please visit https://anatomyofmurder.com/ Can’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

9-1-1, where's your emergency? I have Charlene on the line. She'd like to report her 25-year-old daughter as missing. I've been calling and texting her all day. I went over there at 4 o'clock and her car was there. She's still not home. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anastasia Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction.

And this is Anatomy of murder. Today we're talking about Stephanie Pars and the lengths that her parents went to to bring their daughter justice. And you're going to hear why this case is important for multiple reasons, but let's start by pointing out something that may not be so obvious. It's always hard talking to family members

when you're talking about someone they've lost to homicide. But here we're talking to her parents after they lost her only about a year ago. And that always makes it particularly hard. And as a prosecutor, it was always one of the toughest things, but yet the thing that gives you that drive to work those cases. And with her family, it's going to be very clear how painful and fresh

her loss really is. Stephanie Pars was 25 in 2019. She was raised by her two parents, who I spoke to, Ed and Charlene Pars, in Freehold, New Jersey, which is about 50 miles south of Manhattan. We've been here for over 35 years. My wife's been here since she's two years old. I've been on the rescue squad for 37 years here. This community's pretty tight-knit. Anytime people here are in need, regardless of what it's for or what's going on,

there's always a gathering of people that'll help. She came from a big family, and it was a family of four girls, and Stephanie was the oldest. Stephanie Parz, she's described by her family as a petite little firecracker. You know, I like to look at her, Anastasia, as tiny but mighty. She was 4'11", brunette, always had a smile on her face. Stephanie was always the life of the party. If something was going to go on, she'd be the first one to walk through the door,

kick on the music right away, throw off her shoes, and away she went. She really wanted to go into art. That was her passion. I'm actually looking online because you can find it online in different places if you look up her name and on Facebook. And her art wasn't just what people think of. It was body art. And I'm looking at a picture of her that she has drawn on herself. It is nothing less than what you would see in a mystical Disney movie, which actually brings me to a story her father tells about taking his family to Disney World. We went to Disney World one time and she had painted everybody's favorite character on

these painter's hats. The tiger hat had the tail going off the side of the hat into the shirt and they were fluorescent green. So they stood out like a sore thumb. And it not only caught the Parrs family's attention as they put on all this gear, but it caught the attention of Disney as well, basically after they walked into the park. When the lady came over to me, she walked over to me and she says, who did the artwork on the hats? And I said, they're my daughter. And she says, it's incredible. She goes, do you guys mind being

the Grand Marshal at today's parade? I was like, let me ask. It's a once in a lifetime thing. It's like crazy. I mean, we're in this elite car and at the parade, and people that we know are there, and they're waving to us, and it's pretty wild. We said there were four daughters, but Stephanie's mom, Charlene's mother, Stephanie's grandmother, had been ill on and off. So Stephanie had agreed to move into her house

just to help her along with her being in and out of the hospital for many, many weeks. And she'd actually been there since 2015 when her grandmother had started to get sick. But now we're fast forwarding to 2019. She'd been there about four years. Her grandmother had already passed away, and she was planning and looking to move out. And in fact, that's exactly what her family was talking about, where her next move was going to be. And they were actually planning on getting her an apartment.

She had an opportunity to take care of a couple of kids for these people. And she just liked it. The money, of course, you know, to pay really well. You hear about the struggling artist. Well, we all know that that is absolutely true and true for her, too. And so this enabled her to work on her portfolio at the same time while paying her bills. She always loved kids. You know, it was one of her dreams to settle down.

She was very affectionate. So the story takes us to October 30th, 2019. The sisters were all going out to a comedy club together. When they got back here, they all, you know, said their goodbyes and so forth and got in the car and Stephanie kissed her mother goodbye and dumped in her car and started heading home. And pretty much halfway home, she Snapchatted, you know, a little picture of her passing. And so we knew she was on the way home.

Charlene had told her, you know, we text this when you're home or call us when you're home so we know you're home. And we didn't get any text messages that night. You know, Charlene had texted her a couple times, called me in the morning if she fell asleep, whatever. So she went to bed thinking that everything was absolutely fine and it was just another night. But unfortunately, that was not the case.

The next morning came and we didn't get any calls or anything from her. And she had to be at work at like 730 in the morning. Let's just talk about new technology. For all the great things that it's done in keeping in touch, think about from a parent's perspective, it's kind of that double-edged sword. Because then if you're used to hearing from every moment, what if all of a sudden you don't? You've got to think that for every parent, their automatic mindset goes to, why is there maybe a problem?

You know, I'm totally guilty of it, honestly. And they call it a dead in the ditch syndrome, because you're always thinking the worst. And maybe it's because I've seen so much in my career. But before cell phones, we never had to, or our parents never had to worry about calling us constantly to make sure that we are okay. So I do think while the communication device, a cell phone is a great thing to have, you know, when you're watching after your teens and Stephanie was in her mid twenties, you still have that tether in a sense as a parent. So the first thing Charlene thought about was, I can't reach her on the phone. I know she has to be at work. Let me head over to the house and just make sure she's okay.

And that's when this case began to unravel. So we went over there and check it out and her car was in the driveway. So Charlene got out and went in the house and I waited outside. Five, six minutes later, she comes out and says... All the lights in the house were still on, even going down into the basement, which is very odd. Car's here, all the lights in the house are on on, even going down into the basement, which was very odd.

Car is here. All the lights in the house are on. And she's nowhere to be found. And then at that point, her mom used the app that she had on her own phone to find my phone app that many of us know all too well. And when she used that app to find the phone, she heard a ring. And that's when we found her phone on the side of the couch underneath blankets. And that's where, for me, my radar is automatically on high alert. And I can only imagine for Stephanie's parents, too. My stomach just dropped.

I'm like, there's no way she would go out all day long without a phone. So when she grabbed the phone from underneath the pillow and she looked at it, she also noticed something else. It was a notification on the front of her iPhone. Now, we know that when the phone is locked, you could still see a portion of a message when it comes up. A message came through, which was from her nanny, saying, are you okay? Come show up for work today.

We all know for privacy and legal reasons, they had to say, no, we cannot give you access to her phone. And so for her parents, they had the phone, but it wasn't getting them very far. The phone company told her basically she would need to reset the entire phone, which would mean erasing all of the data, all of the photos, all of Stephanie's

messages. And at that point, Charlene wasn't convinced that anything was wrong. She had the feeling there was, but wasn't convinced and still thought that would be a difficult move if Stephanie would come home and find all of her stuff erased on the phone. Then I started calling a lot of her friends and no one had seen her. One of her friends offered to go to a lot of her friends and no one had seen her. One of her friends offered to go to a lot of locations that she hung out. He searched everywhere, couldn't find her. So then that's when we decided that we were going to have to call 911. 911, where's your emergency?

County, this is Hal with the 911 transfer. I have Charlene on the line. She is in freehold. She'd like to report her 25-year-old daughter as missing. Okay, Charlene, you there? Yes. When did your daughter go missing? She left me at 10 o'clock last night. She was going back to my mom's house where she's staying, and I told her to text me or call me when she got home and nothing. And I've been calling and texting her all day. I went over there at four o'clock and her car was there,

but she was supposed to be at work from nine to six. And we still haven't heard from her. She's still not home. So she didn't leave in her car? No. You know, what I first noticed about the call is that she had mentioned an on-again, off-again boyfriend that seemed to be of concern.

No, and apparently like her so-called ex-boyfriend, my one daughter reached out to him to see whether or not he had seen her. And he said that he saw her last night. He stayed there and she was getting for work this morning. Okay. What is her ex-boyfriend's name? John Osgligen and has not heard from her since all day. John was the last person to see her though, correct? John. John.

John. Okay. So when a 911 call is placed, we all know what happens next. The police show up at the door and they speak to Stephanie's parents. So investigators arrived at the Parr's house. Stephanie's dad, Ed, did have some critical information that he had recently gotten from one of Stephanie's ex-boyfriend about her new boyfriend that would become a critical part of this investigation. The person Stephanie's ex-boyfriend was telling about was her new boyfriend, or her on-again, off-again boyfriend, John Osborne, who was a 29-year-old guy originally from Staten Island, but had moved with his family to Freehold, New Jersey. She said he worked as a so-called stockbroker in Staten Island, but had moved with his family to Freehold, New Jersey. She said he worked at a so-called stockbroker

in Staten Island, living in Freehold, and he was trying to do well with his job. Other than that, we didn't know much more about it. They had only met back soon after July 4th of that same year. She kept on saying, just friends of him, friends of him. I think they just started talking on Facebook one time and started off from there, I guess. We have an annual family rafting trip that we do every year. And he did come on that.

That's the first time that we met him. From the minute I saw him, I didn't like him. He had a rule in his house that as soon as somebody comes in his house, they come to see me. They say hello and, you know, introduce them and so forth. Well, Stephanie introduced them, and there was no outreach of a handshake, nothing like that. It was just a, yeah, how you doing? Didn't really look me eye to eye or anything like that. So I was not happy.

Stephanie's parents, you know, when you ask them, well, what was it that she saw in him, they said, you know, we just really didn't get it, you know. She was outgoing, and he was quiet. She would talk up the room and he would basically give one or two more answers. But they really said they thought that it came down to the attention that he gave her that really set her off to the races

and began their relationship. Then she got sick. She had double pneumonia in August. The hospital thing changed everything. You know, went to go visit her in the hospital. I found that he was there every single day and he stayed with her overnight. And he was at the hospital at her beck and call for, I think, three or four days. You know, they got very close.

I even said to myself, maybe I misjudged the guy. Then when she was released at home recovering, he continued to really put her up on that pedestal, bringing her dinner and snacks. And, you know, I think Stephanie's age plays in a bit here and where she was in life because 25 means different things to different people. You know, for some, they are out and they're running around and it's just about casual dating or living that single lifestyle or their career. And for some, they're starting to look to settle down, which means that if they're looking for that someone, if they want to move on to the next stage in their life, that maybe they're sometimes more forgiving of oddities too.

Then the real person came out. Within a month of dating, Stephanie would reveal to one of her ex-boyfriends that their relationship with John had already gotten violent. Called me up and he said, you need to watch this guy. He's putting his hands on Stephanie. I asked him what happened. He says, well, Stephanie said they you need to watch this guy. He's putting his hands on Stephanie.

You know, I asked him what happened. He says, well, Stephanie said they were just roughhousing and it was her fault. He kind of pulled her hair, hit her in the head or something like that. I forgot what it was. You know, at that point, he wanted to go talk to this guy. And I'm like, no, I'll take care of it. I mean, you probably already got in the sense just hearing from Ed during this podcast recording, the type of guy that he is. And he is the father, the lion who is going to protect his girls.

And the first thing he did was tell Stephanie it was time for a sit down. I love the way you just described that, Anasika. He did not want to think for a moment that somebody was raising their hand to his oldest daughter. Not too long after that, I actually their hand to his oldest daughter. Her face changed, like immediately. She knows I'm not the calmest person in the world when it comes to somebody touching my kids. She got kind of like afraid and like defensive a little bit. Took her a few minutes, but she finally came out with, you know, we were fooling around and I fell and hit my head on the thing. And I'm like, I said, okay, stop right there. I said, because I know you're lying.

I can see it in your face. I said, tell me exactly what happened and why did he hit you? And then she finally became clear that he got a little upset and this and that. That's when I went into, let me tell you what's going on. I said, what I've seen in my lifetime. Let me tell you what he said to you first of all. After you threw him out of the house and he left, he starts calling you and he starts texting you and he's apologizing to you to death and never do it again.

Please forgive me, I love you this whole nine yards. And then you being as mad as you were, all of a sudden started to melt and turn back into, I'll give you another chance, which is exactly what his plan was. You know, a friend of mine who's a psychiatrist, Dr. Judith Joseph here in New York City, she talks about the first stage of how abusers kind of bring their soon-to-be victims in, and she calls it love bombing. And I love that term because it really says it all, that they just fire every bomb of love, every bit of attention, every bit of putting that person up on a pedestal just to get them exactly where they want them, which is head

over heels, thinking this is the person who is going to take care of me and who wants the best for me. And we all know that's kind of exactly what happened here when Stephanie was so sick. The person that was there with her every moment in the hospital and afterwards was John. These people manipulate. This is how they get off. I said, he's going to butter you up. He's going to bring you things. He's going to do this. I said, let's talk about his text messages. Here he is screaming at you on a text message. And five minutes later, he's asking to butter you up. He's going to bring you things. He's going to do this. I said, let's talk about his text messages. Here he is screaming at you on a text message. And five minutes later, he's asking you to go out to dinner.

Don't you see a problem with that? I said, do you see me yelling at mommy that way? And saying, okay, let's go out to the movies. No, it's not normal. What they do is they try to get back into your good graces. And they promise you the world. So you take him back in. And then the next time he's with you again

and things don't go his way, it gets a little more escalated. Instead of just banging your head this time, next time he punches you in the face or smacks you across the head. Okay? Who knows? It could get worse. You need to get away from him now. He's already put his hands on you, so he's done as far as I'm concerned. He's not welcome here anymore.

He's not welcome with the family. He'll never be accepted with us. Don't bring him near me. And I did tell her that I would take care of him. He will not bother you anymore. It's a difficult balance, I'm sure. His daughter's 25. He has confidence that she can handle herself.

But it's still his daughter. And it's still an alleged attack on her by her boyfriend. Well, at that point, she pretty much begged me to back out and let her handle it. And I said to her, I said, well, you have so long to do that. And here's where we start to talk about the things that you read about, but here is a real-life example. I think it's a good moment to step sideways, Anasiga, and talk about the impact that domestic violence has in our society and how so many victims, whether it's just of the domestic violence abuse or even domestic homicide, how important that is within the cases that we cover. Domestic violence is something that happens everywhere. It could be the person sitting next happens everywhere. It could be the person sitting next to you. It could be the person with the fancy handbag. It could be the person who,

you know, is walking down to the local food bank. It walks across all lines, all people, and a lot of people who never thought that they would be the one pulled in to a relationship like this. At that point, she's not showing any fear as far as being like afraid for her life or anything, but she is sharing concern. And she was sincere when she told me she would take care of it. On September 22nd, only a few weeks later, Ed and Charlene, they're watching TV and the phone rings, Charlene answers. And as Ed describes it, all he hears Charlene say is, All I heard my wife say was, who hit you? She had called me crying and told me that she, that he hit her and she was hiding outside trying to get away from him.

I guess it was getting a little hot in the house and she took it to the front porch and he, you know, hit her on the top of the head. She tried blocking it with her hand and she always had nails on and everything and actually ripped, you know, the nail off plus her nail, but she just ran and she had called me and I picked up the other phone and called 911. And meanwhile, my husband started heading over there and her other two sisters just started heading over there. Ed jumps in the car and races over there. As he's turning the corner in a wooded area behind his daughter's house, he notices something.

I spotted her in a corner of my eye. She was in the woods and I slammed on the brakes. And she had no shoes on. She was bleeding. Her hair was all over the place. And I put her in a corner of my eye. She was in the woods, and I slammed on the brakes. And she had no shoes on. She was bleeding. Her hair was all over the place. I put her in the car. She was petrified at that point. I said, where is he?

And she said, he's still in the house. I said, hold on. He's far away. I was heading right through the house directly. And I got to the driveway. I got cut off by a police car. And thank God for that. The police officer took Stephanie at that point and was starting to talk to her.

And I just waited out until they got him out of the house just to make sure that he was getting arrested. So here's where we get more into that domestic violence cycle again, because she is fearful and she is hurt. And she says, this time I'm going to go through with it. And they go down to the precinct and Osbaldin has been now taken in. And so Stephanie is speaking to a counselor. She's speaking to investigators. And then within hours, by the time she's leaving the precinct, she's already made that turn. I'll say the story went downhill from there because at that point she started falling into So now we head back to October 3rd of 2019. And remember, it was the next day that Stephanie's mom and her dad

discovered she was missing. What is her ex-boyfriend's name? There's a history of domestics. John Osgligen. And she wasn't saying anything about, you know, going somewhere, you know, over the weekend, like maybe going out for a Halloween thing.

No, my daughter has no money right now. And she had started a job two weeks ago. And I've reached out to friends and no one has heard from her. Her sister tried to contact John. And he had told her that he did sleep over the night before. She was getting ready for work. However, she was running late and he had left prior to her. But the funny thing is, like if this guy John slept over last night and like she was getting ready for work,

like why would her phone be on the side of the couch instead of like in the bedroom where she gets ready? I mean, so I don't know whether he's just saying like he really slept over and has, you know, saw her this morning. Yeah, I don't know. I's just saying like he really slept over and saw her this morning. Yeah, I don't know. I've participated in searches before, and I knew that we only had a certain window to find her. My instincts just kicked in right away, and I started reaching out to everybody. We had people from just about everywhere reaching out to us and saying, what can we do, what can we do, what can we do?

So we just started off with anything we could physically give them to do, like put flyers out, make flyers up, all the social media. So that's where this incredible search for Stephanie began, and the parents turned to the media. We were talking to 30 to 40 different media networks a day. It was out of control. The whole living room was set up as a studio. We were doing interviews every day. We had 50 people in this house between police officers and searchers. We had somebody set up a meal train. Normally a meal train, I found out, goes for maybe 30 days. Ours went for four months. And this case really

became huge in the media very quickly. You know, I saw it on the news multiple times, reading about it. And it really kind of took on this life of its own. But what I didn't know at the time was that it was Ed and Charlene what were really pushing it behind the scenes to really keep it up there at the top of the media's list. And it's all about pushing them forward to try to find Stephanie. And that is really all that was on their minds. They kept the story alive. And

behind the scenes, law enforcement were also conducting searches. I mean, there was independent teams of law enforcement investigators, hundreds of searchers combed the town and surrounding wooded areas looking for Steph day after day. Horses, dogs. Now remember, it's 2019, so drones were even deployed. In 88 searches, my sole purpose in life was getting the media involved, getting the story out there, keeping the story out there as long as I could possibly keep it out there. And we did everything we could possibly do to do that. Because I knew as soon as the media died, this was over. So my job became this.

You know, when a crime occurs in a very tight-knit community, whether it's a violent assault or even murder, it's always incredible to see how friends and even strangers can rally around a family in the worst of times. And that's exactly what happened in Stephanie Parsons' case. If the people that were here weren't here, I think we would have cracked up. I mean, they got us to it. And all this is happening in one week's period because it's really just about a week after Stephanie went missing that police arrest John.

But to her parents' surprise, it has nothing to do with Stephanie's disappearance. So clearly John Oswaldgen is at the top of the suspect list. And also feeding into this was some other interesting, albeit disturbing things about Oswald Jen. You know, according to Stephanie's father, this wasn't the first young woman he'd had a problem with. There are three reported incidents of issues with other women, one of them being Stephanie that we've already talked about. There was a restraining order in place with another girlfriend or ex-girlfriend of his. And there was also another report where he had put his hands on another young woman

and actually dragged her by her hair. So you have three times in the last year allegations of abuse. Pattern, you decide for yourselves, but it's all feeding in to the investigation and the desperate search for Stephanie. And while an active search for her is ongoing, investigators were ready to make their next move. And they believed there was enough probable cause to get a search warrant for John's phone.

And let's talk a little bit about why they were so interested in his phone. There had been texts from John Osborne to Stephanie, even just the night that she went missing. Well, the night they went to the show, she wasn't answering him, partly because she was at the show and she couldn't really put her phone on while they were in the show. But after that, he kept texting her. He wants to come over to send that. She was pretty much ignoring him at that point. Ten unanswered text messages sent in just nine minutes. As we found out, that's his trigger. So he went from zero to 100 with the belligerent, disgusting text messages to her, pretty much calling her every name in the book.

They already knew that that was one of this guy's triggers, that the trigger to get him fired up would be to ignore him. But certainly for investigators seeing that, they wanted to see what else they could find in his phone. Of course, cell phones contain more than simply a list of contacts with people of whom you've spoken to and obviously your address books. Now they contain text messages, emails, photographs, videos, all sorts of data regarding your location, following your movement from cell tower to cell tower. And once a warrant for John's phone was granted, the investigation took a dark and disturbing turn.

So they go to his home, knock on his door, and the first thing they notice about him are several scratches on his neck. Now, investigators were able to get a warrant for that phone, and they were able to get into the phone digitally, and they would find an image. And I'm going to quote directly from the police report, depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child. Investigators recovered multiple images, nine specifically, on the suspect's phone,

and that was enough for them to issue an arrest warrant. So on November 8th, 2019, he's arrested for what they found on his phone, and he spent the next 11 days in jail, and he was released on November 19th. Now that arrest had nothing to do with the disappearance of Stephanie Pars, but it gave law enforcement an opportunity to digitally go through his phone and also to start to build the timeline. Remember, building the timeline helps you build a potential case. And now, if any of you out there are saying, well, wait a second, we're talking about Stephanie Pars and all these signs that it was him that did something to her, but he's only arrested for a charge of possession of child pornography. What about Stephanie? It's all part

of the process. While everyone may be thinking it and even deep down knowing it, if they don't have the evidence to prove it, then it's not ripe, at least not yet. And now also important to note is that when Oswald Jones was released from prison on those charges, prosecutors announced that he was a person of interest in Stephanie's disappearance. And so while everyone suspected that he had done something to her, remember, Stephanie had not been found. And there was no direct evidence at this point that he had done something to her. After 11 days, they let him out on the endangering the welfare of a child, possession of child pornography charge.

But building the case against him for Stephanie didn't slow down for a moment. Once they took his phone, we started making our timeline and the route of travel. They were able to determine through trap and trace or pinging his cell phone that he had spent some time at 3 a.m. specifically in a park in Staten Island. So that triggered a tremendous massive canvas and search by the NYPD.

More than 100 volunteers went to various locations on the south shore of Staten Island, a park, Tottenville, Prince Bays, and Wolf's Pond Park, all looking to see if Stephanie was there. Now for her parents, as they've made abundantly clear, for them, it wasn't person of interest. It was, what did he do to her? Where's her body? And would police be able to build enough of a case to issue an arrest warrant? Me being me, I started thinking about somebody's going to dump somebody. If they should kill somebody, they're only going to dump them within 50 to 100 feet off the road. I said, so we need to check every corridor, every section, downhills, overpasses, everything, everywhere. Then on November 22nd, almost a month after Stephanie was missing, police would discover a body.

But it's not Stephanie. So on November 22nd, police found a body, but it wasn't Stephanie's. It was John Osbogen's. He had died by suicide. I believe he was in jail for 11 days. He came out, and a few days later, when he took his life. Police found him inside the garage of his parents' home, and he had hung himself. Now, Stephanie's parents found out because they actually got an anonymous call telling them what had happened.

Let's just stop for a moment and talk about here we have death by suicide. Now, you know, we could do days of podcasts and talk about all the issues surrounding that. But here in relation to this case, and one of the things with suicide is that you don't know why. Was it about the images found on his phone? Was it just about that charge? Was it guilt for doing something to Stephanie and guilt and feeling responsible? I mean, was it something else that we don't even know? I mean, it's so hard to tell what a person's inner demons might be. Because so often with death by suicide, you just don't know. Before I left the house, the first thing out of my mouth that my wife was everything that anybody knew just died. At that time, the police had arrived, and I said that to the parents, that you say anything to the parents, you know, that does anybody know anything? Of course, nobody knew nothing at that point.

Nobody would tell us anything at that point. At this point, the Pars family wanted to know is why he did it, and did he leave a note? And would it help them answer the question, which remained unanswered, is where is Stephanie? And yes, he left a note, but it was weeks before Stephanie's parents knew anything about it, because police didn't reveal the contents right away. But what did happen during those weeks, as the days are ticking by, is that the search didn't back off at all. Because while John Osborne was now gone, there's no longer a case to be built against him. They still didn't have Stephanie.

So the search for her still continued. Well, the day that happened, I got bombarded with phone calls and the media. And they asked me, I was like, now what? There is no now what. We don't change the game plan. I said, you know, my daughter's coming home. One way or the other. Doesn't matter what was left.

We have to find her. And we proceeded as planned with all the searches. And we just kept going and going and going. Just a few months later, January of 2020, by now more than 60 locations had been searched by armies of investigators and volunteers. Dozens of dead ends. All the while, still no sign of Stephanie. But on this day in January, two teens would be walking along Route 9, where thousands of motorists would drive by every single day.

In fact, an area that the searchers had been close to, they make a discovery. I got a phone call from a friend of ours, one of our searchers, who said, you guys better turn on the news or something. Something's going on in Old Bridge. I don't know what happened to me, but I just got the gut feeling that this is it.

At that point, I grabbed the phone and called the detectives, our detectives. You know, nobody was answering. So that's a sign usually whenever they didn't answer me when I called and something was going on. I was getting a little nervous. A few minutes later, they did call me back and said, we're on our way over the house. So they came over the house. And a few minutes later, I said, what's going on? And he said, well, way over the house. So they came over the house and a few minutes later I said, what's going on?

And he said, well, they found the body. It does match the profile of Stephanie's description. So now police would have to go through the process of identifying if this was Stephanie Porras. We actually sent some pictures of her tattoos and stuff. Her jewelry and stuff like that. And all that's happening with

a span of hours because now the next morning at 9 a.m. her parents get a phone call from the advocate's office at the prosecutor's office in Monmouth County. And they told us. And they told us the two detectives walked in the house. And that was that.

Hearing her parents talk, one thing that really stands out to me is the rocks that they are for each other. And I heard it during my conversation, and I'm sure you could hear it too. And I just think about how fortunate in all this incredible misery for them to have that through all this. It's so difficult in these situations when these parents hold out hope, but also have in the back of their mind that the information that's put in front of them is painting a very dark picture, and it comes true. At least now, they had their daughter back. The community, they came out in force, helping us funeral, and most beautiful funerals you ever saw. Now, Stephanie's body's found, but what about John Osbelgen?

We know that he died, death by suicide. But, you know, prosecutors made a statement soon after his death that, you know, and I'm quoting from the Monmouth County prosecutor saying, John Osbelgen was responsible for the homicide of Stephanie Pars. And so while there are still some pieces of evidence that remain unknown to all of us, they certainly got some clues from the note that they ultimately did release that he left upon his death. We choose not to read his words, not to give him a voice within this story, but certainly he does take responsibility for her death. And we've seen so many domestic violence cases that the cycle of violence is years. This is something that happened in just a few months. The explosion of violence happened so quickly. What does that say about this relationship? What does that say about this person? There's no trial like we're used to.

There's no conviction. You don't have that ultimately answer. But I still think you got that closure because number one, they were able to bring Stephanie home. And to really, to so many minds, they got the answers when they looked at the whole of this about at least the who did this to her. But her family, they haven't stopped yet. Our mission basically is to provide education, intervention and support to families and individuals dealing with domestic violence and sexual abuse and missing loved ones. There's only one place that you will live

for the rest of your life, and that's your body. And that's one place that you have to care for all the time. You know, these victims that are out there, they need to take care of themselves. They are the number one priority. Talking to family members of these victims, don't hesitate. I hesitated. 24 people per minute and more than 12 million men and women each year are victims of rape, physical violence, stalking by an intimate partner. Nearly half of all female homicides are killed by a current or former dating partner. That is a staggering statistic. Stephanie Pars' family, for all the energy they showed during their search for Stephanie,

now they've taken that energy and they actually established a foundation, the Stephanie Parr's Foundation. The foundation's mission is to provide intervention and support for domestic violence, sexual abuse, and missing loved ones. You could find information about the foundation if you Google the name, they're on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, but the website is SMP Foundation. That's her initials for Stephanie Nicole Parr's SMPfoundation.org. And obviously, if you could donate, that's a huge step in the right direction. But more importantly to this family is that if you are in need in any way, whether it is you're a victim yourself or know that someone who is, that you reach out and that's exactly what this organization is there to help with.

Her legacy is going to live through this foundation. We're going to do everything we can to help as many people as we can in her name. We've already had numerous victims write letters to us and let us know that because of Stephanie's story, that they're safe and they're out of their situations. So if there's any kind of legacy to that, I mean, she didn't die in vain. I remember being in uniform and the most volatile calls you can ever answer are calls of domestic violence. And I would separate the parties and you'd say to them, you know, if you're afraid of your partner, that is a big red flag. You know, you may be scared to say what you think, but no matter what the reason is, fear has no place in a healthy relationship.

And those words, I think, still ring today. And I think that we all know that domestic violence is a very real threat, but I think everyone still thinks, unless you're in it, that it happens to somebody else. But really, any one of us, no matter who you are, can find ourselves there. And as her father said best, do not hesitate. If you find yourself there, get away as fast as you can, because you never know when it escalates. And certainly Stephanie

never saw this coming. Tune in next Wednesday when we'll dissect another new case on Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an AudioChuck original, a Weinberger Media and Forseti Media Production. Sumit David is executive producer.