Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Found Murdered in Car with Toddler Son: Police

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A shocking crime out of Washington State. A young mother found dead in her car and her child was with her. Now the search is on for the person who killed Courtney Clinton. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Starting point is 00:00:23 Courtney Clinton was a mother to three children, and sadly, those three young children are now without their mother. On Friday, November 1st, police in Vancouver, Washington were called to the 300 block of Blandford Drive. Looking at this photo from Google Maps, it looks like a nice, pretty peaceful area. Police say they found Clinton dead in her car, and her one-year-old son was in the car with her. The child appeared to be unharmed, according to police. It's really unimaginable what police found, a mother dead in her car in the early morning hours with a child. It was 4.25 a.m. when police got the call. A local TV station reported that the medical examiner

Starting point is 00:01:02 determined that Clinton had been assaulted by another person and that she had incised wounds of the neck. Those are basically slash wounds. The ME also said it was unknown where Clinton had been killed. And that just adds to the mystery in this case. A mom found in a car dead in the middle of the night with a child who appeared to be unharmed. It's very, very strange. But more than that, it's tragic. Also curious, Clinton didn't live in Vancouver. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

Starting point is 00:01:31 Portland and Vancouver are about 10 miles apart or a 20 to 25 minute drive. Police remain tight lipped about the case. They've released very few details and we don't know if Clinton was in Vancouver for some reason or whether the killer drove her there after taking her life. There's another twist in this case that's also very sad. Courtney Clinton's brother was murdered in July. Dante Eugene Mathis was found dead in a motel parking lot in Portland. Courtney wrote on Facebook the next day, I will never be the same.

Starting point is 00:02:01 This don't feel real. I love you so much, bro. Now, this is tragic. It makes you wonder, could there be some type of connection? We have no way of knowing at this point, but I'm sure police will look at that. Meanwhile, Courtney's family has started a GoFundMe for her three children. Her sister wrote, this has left us in a difficult position as we strive to honor her memory and give her the dignified service she truly deserves, we are now seeking help to cover the costs associated with transporting her body back home so that we can properly celebrate her life and say our goodbyes. In addition to these immediate needs, we are also focused on caring for her three young children who have been left behind.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Courtney's sister then talked about her. Courtney was known for her immense love and generosity, always willing to lend a helping hand or offer a listening ear to those around her. Her spirit touched many lives and it is important for us to ensure that she receives the farewell that reflects the beautiful person she was. I want to tell you about Upside.

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Starting point is 00:03:30 the description to download Upside or scan the QR code on your screen and use our promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CRIMEFIX for extra cash back. I want to bring in Dave Sarney. He's a retired NYPD detective to talk about this case. Dave, it's so sad and there's a lot we don't know at this point, but talk to me about where the detectives would start in this case. I'm assuming they're going to look at victimology. That's where they look at the victim and everything that she's been involved in and her history and things of that nature? Absolutely. What you're going to do is, unfortunately, you're going to start where the body's recovered and pretty much take a time step backwards. You're going to go look into her phone,

Starting point is 00:04:17 see if there's an opportunity for the car and the vehicle itself, because they sometimes have computers. So you might be able to get an idea of where it started where it ended sometimes uh you have to this is another tragedy it's so sad you see these things happen and way too often but with the victimology i mean you have to look at it is it possibly domestic given the fact that the child is in the car with the mother uh there had to be some sort of trust involved to have that child in there or some sort of relationship the person had with the victim at this point, the murdered victim at this point. So you can look back, surveillance cameras, interviews of family, everything you normally do in an investigation like this. That's the interesting part about this, too, and really the tragic and sad part about this. There was a child, a one-year-old little boy in this car with his

Starting point is 00:05:05 mother. The ME said there were slash wounds, but the ME can't say where she was killed. So she could have been put in the car and driven there from Portland since that's where she lived. And it's a short distance away. We don't know if her life was taken in the vehicle. It just seems really strange that she's found there with the child in the car and really cold and callous as well. There may have been a relationship of trust there, but we have a one-year-old left in the car in the middle of the night with his dead mother. Yeah, it's a heinous crime. It absolutely is. You cannot believe that someone would actually leave a child in there. And this person actually got out of the vehicle after whatever happened in the car or prior to and leaves the child. We don't know who made the 911 call at this time. We don't know any of the parameters of where the body was in the car. We say, actually, actually, it's the driver's seat or passenger seat. We don't know anything about that. At least the police are being very quiet about this. So I'm going to think they have some good leads in this case right now.

Starting point is 00:06:13 They just don't want to have anything leaked out to the public or the media. It also makes me wonder, was her cell phone with her? Is there going to be an electronic and a digital trail here? And so talk to me about how important her cell phone is going to be in this case, if they're able to recover it, if it was with her, because she had three children, yet she's found with one of the children. Right, right. So with this cell phone that you're going to get, whatever information you have, you can do a geofencing, find out where the phone was at any particular time. Once they get into the phone and get access to the account itself, they can backtrack and maybe look at any text messages that were there that were maybe trying to be erased. Whatever contact she had prior to getting in to being in this car at all.

Starting point is 00:07:05 And having the child by, you know, what was the situation with her bringing, with the child being in the car? Was it something that was already there? Was the child was there already at the time? And this is a notification or this person was dumping the body. Right now, you have to leave every avenue open. Right now, you investigate this as a homicide because you have nothing else to go on. I'm going to presume the weapon wasn't located in the car.

Starting point is 00:07:30 I'm also based on the ME. It doesn't appear that the injury took place inside the car. So with that, you still do the investigation. We never leave any stone unturned. You really have to make sure that everything is found in this case, which means cell phone location, any banking records, anything that you, any vehicle surveillance video that's there. Maybe there's a car dash cam in there. We don't really know right now. They said, you know, the police are doing their due diligence. They're just not going to tell everybody what they're doing. Because again,

Starting point is 00:08:03 you don't want to maybe spook the person, the people of interest that are looking at persons or persons of interest. Because one person either walked out of that car and got into another car with someone driving. So somewhere along the line, there's got to be some sort of connection or nexus between maybe one person or more involved in this. There's also something about that area too. I mean, it just doesn't look, it just looks like a residential area when I looked at it on Google Maps. It's just, there are trees surrounding the area. It just doesn't seem like the kind of place where you would ditch a vehicle. I don't understand why that area was chosen. I'm sure the police will

Starting point is 00:08:42 look at that as well. I mean, maybe this was a situation where the killer panicked and just drove to a location and dumped the car. I don't really know, but it seemed like an odd location. Yeah, that's why that's why when you look at this, it's residential. What was the connection for that residential location? Even if you panic, where did this person go? Did they get into another vehicle? Did they get a ride out? Did they get an Uber or a Lyft vehicle? What was the mode of transportation out from the vehicle, out of the area?

Starting point is 00:09:11 That's what you have to look at too. So I guarantee you, they're doing canvases in the neighborhood, interviewing anyone that might've heard or saw anything unusual at the time this car was found. There's also this strange occurrence or really a sad coincidence, I should say, with her brother having been murdered back in July. And so that seems incredibly tragic and too

Starting point is 00:09:35 coincidental. Does your gut tell you, Dave, and I know I'm asking you to speculate, but does it tell you at all that maybe there could be a connection there? Well, I don't doubt the investigators are looking at the tech as they're looking at some sort of connection because, you know, these cases you're hoping, you know, they may be singular in nature, but are they patternable? It can be based on what they have on that murder investigation and compare and contrast to anything related to this death, this murder. So I will, you know, you leave everything open. You don't want to just shut it out completely,

Starting point is 00:10:10 but you also don't want to just say it's an absolute connection. So you have to really be open-minded in this investigation. So it sounds like your gut is telling you that the police may have some decent leads because everything they've put out, it's just a few sentences. And we don't expect them to lay out their whole case, obviously. I mean, that's just not how these things work, but it sounds like you think they potentially have a couple of suspects in their sites or maybe one suspect in their sites and they may have some good hunches based on interviews with family members

Starting point is 00:10:43 and things like that? I think there's some leads. And I think what happens is anytime an investigator has a case, and especially a murder investigation, you don't want to give any more information detailed out to the media because you don't want anyone to catch on to that. So I think there's probably leads to that because they didn't speak anything about any property recovered from the vehicle. They kept it very vague as far as the manner of death. They really haven't said very much. And given that fact and doing it as long as I did in the past, I don't want anyone to know my case either. Once I get everything done, my eyes are crossed, then I put it together. Once we get the individual or

Starting point is 00:11:25 individuals in custody, then we can relay information about the case. But until then, they try to keep most law enforcement agencies really don't want to talk anymore. And I understand why. How important is that vehicle that she was found in? I mean, that could be, as far as evidence goes, physical evidence, a treasure trove. Massive. That's where the body was recovered. And anything in that car that could be found. And I will tell you, when we do cars, they're doing from bumper to bumper, top to bottom of that vehicle to see if there's anything that may be pertinent to the investigation. Even if it isn't, you still do everything you can to make sure this investigation is done thoroughly.

Starting point is 00:12:04 So that car is paramount. And anything in that car is also evidence. So they're going to do what they have to do to find the people or person who did this. The thing that gets me is that it was the middle of the night, and she could have been in Vancouver since it's so close to Portland where she lived. Or she could have been driven over there from Portland. We just don't know at this point. But it seems really strange that you'd have a woman with a baby out in the middle of the night, just out and about without having something going on. So it almost makes me think that she may have been driven over there from Portland. I don't know that, but that's kind of the feeling I'm getting. Yeah. There's a lot of whys that we haven't figured out yet. And I think that why is she

Starting point is 00:12:58 out late at night with her kid in the car? Was she killed prior, then they put the body in the car and then drove off. We don't really know right now. And it's something that, as an investigator, you really dig into this. This is a case you really dig into. You want to make sure that everything is found that you need to find. And that car, and I'll tell you, they're not telling you anything because I guarantee, I feel there are many leads to this case that they have. They're just going to work those leads. And if it determines they have a person of interest and eventually a suspect in this case, they'll make the apprehension,

Starting point is 00:13:32 but it's going to make sure the evidence is all secure and no one knows any more than they have to outside the investigators. Well, it is definitely a tragic, tragic case. And I'm sure they're working those leads. It may take some time as well, Dave, for them to get it back, any forensic evidence out of that car. Also, it could take some time for her phone to download and for subpoenas and search warrants to be returned on those things. Am I right about that? Yeah, right. Because what happens is when you have a phone, depending on the cell service, it may be difficult to retrieve all the information. But with an investigation, you'll do the subpoenas.

Starting point is 00:14:12 Hopefully, there's been a rush on the subpoenas and a rush on the work by the phone companies to give the information to the detectives because, I mean, that's important. We don't want to wait longer than we have to. Unfortunately, she was killed, and it took a period of time to find her. Once they found her, now the clock is ticking. You want to make sure you get it done. And I guarantee you, if you have a treasure trove of information on that phone, the detectives are working with due diligence, working hard enough to get that stuff available to them so when they can translate it, get the enough to get that stuff available to them so when they can translate

Starting point is 00:14:45 it, get the paperwork, get everything down, and then create that timeline from finding the car to where she was beforehand. They're going to do it. Again, it's a tragic case and we'll keep an eye on it to see where it goes. Thankfully, that little boy was not hurt and the children are being cared for by family members. Dave Cerny, thank you so much. Thank you very much. Have a good day. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Found Murdered in Car with Toddler Son: Police

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Found Murdered in Car with Toddler Son: Police

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