Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 24-Year-Old Daughter Missing From Parents' Home

Episode Date: November 16, 2021

Jennifer Caridad leaves her family home in Sunnyside, Washington, to pick up her boyfriend. As the 24-year-old walks out the door, she tells her younger brother that she'll be back later. Caridad has not been seen since. The day after, the family reported her missing, and the SUV Caridad was driving was found at Berglund Lake. Blood was found in the vehicle and women's clothes were discarded nearby. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Kathleen Murphy - North Carolina, Family Attorney, www.ncdomesticlaw.com, Twitter: @RalDivorceLaw,  Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, www.drbethanymarshall.com, New Netflix show: 'Bling Empire' Justin Boardman - Former Special Victim's Unit Detective, West Valley City (Utah), Author: "I Was Wrong: An Investigator's Battle-cry for Change Within the Special Victims Unit", JustinBoardman.com, Twitter: @boardman_train  Christina Giardinelli - Multimedia Journalist, KTVL, News 10 (Medford, Oregon), KTVL.com, Twitter: @ChristinaKTVL Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful 24-year-old woman seemingly vanishes into thin air. Where is Jennifer? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. On August 8th, Jennifer left her family home in Sunnyside, 35 miles east of Yakima

to go pick up her boyfriend. She walked out the back door at around 5 o'clock and told her younger brother she'd be back later. He started to go pick up her boyfriend. She walked out the back door at around five o'clock and told her younger brother she'd be back later. He started to worry when she wasn't. The first thing I thought was, what happened to her? Where is she? I thought, oh, she's probably somewhere right now. So I messaged her saying, where are you? Call us. Are you okay? I didn't get a response.

How can a woman vanish into thin air? You hear her younger brother trying desperately to text her, trying to call her, no response. You were just hearing our friend Nancy Liu at News Nation Now. That is the worst feeling when you try and you try and you try to get somebody, they don't answer, they don't pick up texts. They don't respond to text. Then maybe you've got the Life 360 or Find My iPhone app and you look and you can't find them. Then normally people think, well, okay, they're at the grocery store or their phone went dead or they've got their phone turned off. But as the hours pass, everyone begins to get worried.

And that is exactly what happened in the case of Jennifer Caradad. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. First of all, Kathleen Murphy joining us out of North Carolina, renowned family lawyer at ncdomesticlaw.com. Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst to the stars, joining us from L.A. at drbethanymarshall.com. Justin Boardman, former Special Victims Unit detective joining us out of Utah and the author of I Was Wrong, an investigator's battle cry for change within

the Special Victims Unit. But first, straight out to Justin Boardman joining us, former Special Victims Unit detective. Justin, the location of a crime, a disappearance, is very, very important. And it depends, really, how the investigation will proceed. If you're living in a high-rise in New York City, in downtown Manhattan, the first place you're going to look is within the building, because there may be hundreds to thousands of people in that building. You go in and out through a central door. Think about Chandra Levy, for instance, the Washington intern that went missing. The first thing cops did was go to her lobby and speak to the doorman.

Then they tried to get video surveillance, but whoops, the surveillance re-racked every 72 hours, so that didn't help. But that's where you start within the building. I'm sure you recall, Justin Borman, because I believe we talked about it, the case of a beautiful pediatric dentist that was killed in her parking lot of a very posh high rise in Texas. First place they started looking was within the building because only key holders could get into that parking deck. So it matters. Are you there? Are you out in a rural area where nobody is near you for miles and miles?

That makes it less likely if you're in a rural area that a stranger upon stranger incident occurred because there are a lot of, not a lot of strangers driving around on rural routes. Get it? So what can you tell me, Justin Boardman, about this location? It's Yakima County, but specifically it's Sunnyside. What do we know about it? Well, Sunnyside is a small town of approximately about 17,000 people in an area of Washington that's down closer to the Oregon border. And it's a rural sort of area. And so it's sparsely populated.

It's beautiful. And that's actually very important. And with me, Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer. You know, I always am stunned when somebody says family lawyer because you think that's all warm and fuzzy. It's anything but. You know, I have had I've told you this, Kathleen. We've laughed about it. I think we laughed about it at CrimeCon last time because it's so ironic.

We laughed at the irony, not the comedic aspect that I have had lawyers, criminal lawyers, for instance, that only handle dope lords. They say they'd rather defend a dope lord or a killing than get in the middle of a domestic law case like a divorce, where there's a lot of money to fight over or there are children to fight over. People end up fighting over and taking a shot at each other about the pots and pans they got at their wedding. It's insane. So when we say family law, believe me, it is not warm and fuzzy. What I'm getting at, Kathleen Murphy, because you've tried a lot of cases, is this location is very deceiving because it is, like Justin Boardman told us,

it's beautiful. You know, it Boardman told us. It's beautiful. You know, it's the Pacific Northwest. It's gorgeous. It's rugged. It's a place where everybody wants to visit. And you don't normally see crimes like this in an area like this, Kathleen. You know, Nancy, if I could live there tomorrow, I would have the perfect life. It's a beautiful area.

I've been there. It is absolutely stunning. And I think that this family and the family of Jennifer probably felt that she was very safe, safe in their home. She was living with her mom and dad. You know, I'm glad you brought that up to Dr. Bethany Marshall. You know, when you hear somebody is living with their mom and dad, she's 24 years old. Gorgeous, by the way. You think, wow, that's a sweet girl. She's living with her mom and dad. What could be more safe than that, Dr. Bethany?

Well, not only that, when you have such a sparsely populated area, 17,000 people in this town. Everybody knows everybody. It's not like you're living by a main thoroughfare, as in so many crimes we've covered together, where anybody could be going up and down the freeway. Anybody could be going in and out of the local Walmart or the Target. This is a place where everybody probably knew everybody else. And if a stranger came into town, you know, maybe not everybody would notice that person, but somebody would. The other thing is that Jennifer's patterns would be very well known to her family.

As you said earlier, she left to go run an errand. Her brother had a sneaking feeling when she did not come back. You know, a 24-year-old living away from their family at college could go missing for a day or two, and then the roommates report them missing, and then you start looking at their social media, and it's, you know, very far removed from the family, but she was in the bosom of the family, so they would know all of her patterns, and they would know immediately when she went missing. You know, another thing, Dr. Bethany, and everybody jump in if you know about

this, statistics are showing that more and more young adults are living at home. And I remember, Dr. Bethany, I had originally started college at a very small college, Valdosta. Now it's Valdosta University. And when my then fiance transferred, I transferred home to where my parents live to be closer to him. And I loved it. I know that there's a stigma attached to being at home, but I finished up like one year of college living with my mom and dad. and I loved every minute of it. I eventually went back to the dorm and then went on to law school. But I don't know why that stigma attaches. What is that?

Because the numbers are going higher and higher and higher. It's not unusual. Well, I mean, I think the numbers are going higher and higher for two reasons. One is there are fewer economic opportunities for people in their 20s. But secondly, people in their 20s are valuing experiences like travel and being with their family and having friends rather than buying stuff like getting a mortgage, getting a house, building a career. They really want those attachments and those relationships with their family. It used to be stigmatized because there was this idea that nobody wants to regress or go backwards in life. You always want to move forward.

So you're a big loser? Yes, you're a big fat loser living in your mother's basement. You know, with me, it was not a well thought out plan. I decided the last minute I was going to transfer, I transferred under the deadline by the skin of my teeth to get back to Mercer University. They kindly let me in and I didn't have a dorm arrange. So that's how I ended up there.

And it was a very happy circumstance. So we've got this young woman, I digressed, 24-year-old Jennifer Kieradad, who seemingly disappears into thin air. I want to hear that sound again, Jackie. Take a listen to our friend Nancy Liu at NewsNation now. On August 8th, Jennifer left her family home in Sunnyside, 35 miles east of Yakima, to go pick up her boyfriend. She walked out the back door at around 5 o'clock and told her younger brother she'd be back later. He started to worry when she wasn't. The first thing I saw was, what happened to her?

Where is she? I thought, oh, she's probably somewhere right now. So I messaged her saying, where are you? Call us. Are you okay? I didn't get a response. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the disappearance of a gorgeous young woman, Nancy Liu, age 24.

Take a listen to Hour Cut 8. Our friends at News Nation Now. When I go someplace and I see some friends and her, I can imagine something. Where is my daughter? Why did it happen to her? It's been three long months of pain and anguish for the family of 24-year-old Jennifer Caradad.

Those who miss her dearly include two younger brothers, her mother, Lenore, and father, Enrique. I can't explain the big love for her. It's my life. Everything for me. I know I have two more kids. I love him. But he's a girl I love so much. And Mitch.

Dr. Bethany Marshall, that was just breaking my heart to hear her father breaking down like that and crying. You know, I've always considered my father, Matt, to have been my soulmate. And I miss him so much since he passed away. You know, he went through that grieving period with me, Dr. Bethany, those late nights of anguish after he passed away unexpectedly. But I remember he would cry over good things and bad things. And I just want to tell you a quick story.

I know you've heard it. So just talk amongst yourselves here in the studio. Okay. You remember Dancing with the Stars, Bethany. And you and I were together a lot then because we were in the same neighborhood at that time. And I will never forget, he and my mom came out to live and help me take care of the twins because they moved out with me to do Dancing with the Stars

and I will never forget as long as I live of course I was held in jeopardy every single program every program every time and the first time it happened I was in there with Metta World Peace

the great athlete. And I looked across and I saw my father across that big humongous stage. I saw him and he was trying to smile at me, but he was crying because he thought I was embarrassed and upset because I was in jeopardy and about to be kicked off, which I wasn't. Amazingly, I stayed on until almost the very end. But I looked at him and he was actually in tears. And nobody would have known probably if they had looked, but I knew I could tell. And it broke my heart.

I said, so help me, God. I'm going to stay in this thing one way or the other because it's making my father cry. Oh, my stars. And now that just hit me when I was listening to her father crying and he says everything he sees reminds him of Jennifer. Everywhere he goes, something reminds him of Jennifer. That just pain and not knowing. And Nancy, think about it. She's in a developmental stage where probably she's very close to her father. Just like when you had the twins and you were dancing on Dancing with the Stars. I mean, your dad was your cheerleader.

I remember when he came to your book opening, there was a huge party in New York City. Tons of people were there. Everybody wanted to talk to you and to kind of have a piece of you. And your dad was there in the background the whole time. And I remember at the end of the evening, he fainted and you screamed, Daddy, I have never, ever heard such a plaintive sound. And Nancy, what it really, I've thought about that so many times over the years, I feel tearful right now just thinking about it. It was a tie between a father and a daughter. And you two had a tie like nobody else. I mean, I call my 91-year-old dad every night. I took him to France two years ago because he's my travel buddy. At certain stages in life, we have special relationships with our parents that don't

replicate other eras. And think about Jennifer. She's 24. Is she dating? Is she going out with her friends? Does she come home at night and sit up late with her dad and talk about what's going on with her day? That's probably the type of relationship they had. He loves his other kids, his sons, but nothing is like his relationship with his daughter. Just thinking about that. And I want to go to our special guest joining us, Christina Giardinelli, multimedia journalist joining us from one of our favorite stations, KTVL. Christina, I'm sorry, I led Dr. Bethany and everybody down the garden path

about the father-daughter relationship. I want to get back onto the disappearance of this beautiful young woman. Now tell me, Christina Giardinelli, about the day that she goes missing. So she goes missing August 8th out of Sunnyside, Washington. Her family hasn't seen her for over three months now.

She leaves her home, like you said, at 5 p.m. In August, it would still be broad daylight there. So she tells her family where she's going, leaves her home, and then stops answering. Oh, so she had her cell phone with her. She did, yes, when she left. Do you know what vehicle she was driving, Christina? Yeah, so she was driving the family's SUV. It was registered in her father's name.

And Christina Giardinelli, the fact of the matter is that when a vehicle is less than about 10 years old, it's going to have navigation in it. So that's one way to find her. And I know you recall this case of Sherry Papini, Christina, where the mom goes for a jog and then she goes missing and she's gone. And I think it was on Thanksgiving Day, she is found. Her husband found her phone by using Find My iPhone. Recently covered a case where a woman was missing, a college student. Her friends found her phone by Find My iPhone. So she had her phone and she was in the family SUV with Nav to it, navigation.

They should have been able to find her relatively quickly, but they didn't find her. They didn't find the SUV in time to find her in it. Let's take a listen to the rest of 9A. Our friends at News Nation Now. Where are you? Call us. Are you okay? I didn't get a response. The day after, the family SUV was found at Berglund Lake in Yakima.

There was blood in the back seat and some of Jennifer's clothing was nearby, but not her. I can't even imagine what this family went through. They're praying, they're searching, they're summoning up all of their friends and relatives to go look for Jennifer. And then the family SUV she was driving is found. There was blood in the back seat, and some of her clothing is found

nearby. Back to our friend from KTVL, Christina Giardinelli. Christina, how far was the vehicle, the SUV, found from the family home? Yes, Nancy, that vehicle was found at Burland Lake in Yakima, which is about 38 miles from Sunnyside where she left. Wow. So she's about, I would say, in that terrain at least 45 minutes away. Justin Boardman, former Special Victims Unit detective and author. Justin, we always say a lot can happen in a couple of blocks. You know, all the stories of I'm going to go get a loaf of bread or I'm going to go get a pack of cigarettes and then they're never seen again. Here, this one was in the family SUV and it's found about 45 minutes away at a lake, Berglund Lake.

It's a reservoir there in Yakima County in Washington. And it's a big, big fishing spot. That's what it's known for. Yeah, this area is actually fairly close to the city. It's around a big area of, we call these things spaghetti bowls, but the freeways on and off ramps and so on and so forth, around half of it, it appears to be.

But there's also a river, a large river right next to it. And so as much as we think that it was super secluded, it's not as secluded as you might think. crime stories with nancy grace i want you to take a listen to our cut seven this is angela colonel at kima detectives have been collecting evidence all morning at bergland lake flying a drone and using a boat with an underwater camera. After they say they found articles of clothing and shoes, they say it may belong to the missing woman. They say they also found a tarp with blood on it in that same area. Sunnyside police and Yakima police detectives say they're working as hard as possible to bring Kari Dad home to her family, hopefully bring her back alive. We're going to keep working on it, and we're going to stay after it until we can come to some type of conclusion or location of where she may be.

So explain to me what you believe they should be doing right now. Kathleen Murphy joining us out of North Carolina, a crime scene vet. What should they be doing with that crime scene and specifically that SUV? You process this scene first by looking in the vehicle and seeing if there's anything in the vehicle that would detect DNA. Would it detect anything that occurred such as blood? Is there a body in the trunk? You want to go through and have the forensic team do a full evaluation of this vehicle and secure it immediately. And to you, Justin, what do you make of it? What should be doing for one thing if her shoes

are out of the SUV and somebody threw those shoes out? They've got to have prints on them. Right. You know, certainly that. But I'm going to start wide. I'm going to start by seizing the lake as much as I could, at least with the crime scene, and work my way in and gathering the evidence that way. I would also certainly be doing a rescue effort around in the surrounding areas, rivers, and so on and so forth to see if I can find if this person is alive. In the meantime, certainly we would collect some blood evidence. And although our state labs are usually so backed up, it takes forever to get

any sort of confirmation. That might be a time where you would use a private lab, at least for part of it, to see if that matches her DNA. And then we're going to be shaking down the camping spots for witnesses. We're going to be talking, trying to get a timeframe, how long it's been there, and then working our way into the vehicle. So the clothing certainly is going to get processed, but we're going to go ahead and document where it's at as if it was thrown out. Maybe it was taken off out there. We're going to be taking a look at all of that. Another thing is this lake is 12 acres. It's huge. That's a lot of ground to cover. If you're going to bring in divers,

if you're going to bring in side scan sonar, I know they've already had a boat with a camera on the bottom of it looking. That's a huge amount of water and an underwater search is very difficult, especially in a lake. I'll tell you why. The bottom of a lake, if any of you have ever touched it with your foot when you're swimming, it's always like gooey feeling. That silt comes up and if it gets disturbed, it makes the whole lake, you can't even see the hand in front of your face. That's very, very difficult for forensic divers. Go ahead. I think that you made a great point there is the sonar. It's more of a newer sort of technology in the last 10 or 15 years, but it's finding bodies from long ago all over the country. And I'm not sure is if they even deployed something like that. I know they had the boat with an underwater camera, Justin. And yeah,

I don't know much, right? Yeah, I think they should have used they should be using sky scan sonar. But let me tell you what happens next. Take a listen to our cut 14. Jennifer Koffedander. Most departments have what we call victim assist programs. The FBI has it. Most departments have it. And that is the liaison between the department in a case like this and the individual victims that are involved and that is a victim family and that provides information to these families so they know at least the status of the investigation. The big problem here is they are calling this a missing persons investigation. The commander has said we have no crime here. I would beg to differ.

You know, Dr. Bethany Marshall, we've gone over and over and over this. Why do police forces, sheriff's forces, insist on saying when a woman goes missing, she's just missing? They find blood in the back seat and her clothes laying by the SUV. She's not where she's supposed to be. She's 45 minutes away at least. Why aren't they calling it a potential homicide? Why do they always discount it when women are victims? Oh, she's just off with her boyfriend. She's just a big tramp. She's probably sleeping around. She's just missing. She'll turn up. Why? Nancy, they don't know this family. They don't know this girl. They don't know that she's a beloved member of the family. She'll turn up. Why? Nancy, they don't know this family. They don't know this girl. They don't know that she's a beloved member of the family. She's not out at the bars drinking

till four in the morning. She's not a street worker who just met the wrong person. And even if she was, it should always be considered a crime. Nancy, they're following their procedural guidelines. They're following their little book, but they are not looking at the big picture. A beloved daughter, sister does not just go missing for no good reason. Nancy, may I jump in here? Yeah, jump. I was appalled to read that they don't consider a crime has occurred. And if my daughter was in this situation, I would be banging down the doors.

And apparently the parents are going to the sheriff's department at least twice a week to ask them what's going on with this investigation. Can you imagine? You know what you're reminding me of, Kathleen Murphy? You're reminding me of Jennifer Kessie in Florida. They had to finally sue the police to get documents about Jennifer's disappearance. It's insane. Banging on the door, showing up all the time, trying to get evidence, getting nothing. As a matter of fact, take a listen to our cut 11, our friend Nancy Liu at News Nation Now. There has been no news from Sunnyside Police about the case. The department

refused an interview request but said it continues to partner with other agencies in their investigation. Several drone and dive searches of the lake have yielded no major clues. We just want to know what happened to her. If she's dead or not.

We just want to have peace. When I go to sleep, I ask him to God, take care of my daughter. I can do anything, but you can't. That's all to ask. Why to my daughter? Just hearing that father's voice is breaking my heart. So what more do we know about Jennifer's life? Take a listen to our cut 9B. Our friends at NewsNation now. Jennifer was said to be consumed with her boyfriend of eight months, 26-year-old Aurelio Escobar. The relationship soon overshadowed her work with kids at a child care center.

But the Caradads were less than impressed with escobar who was unemployed and moved in with the family over the summer it's not that i'm scared of them it's just that i just had a weird feeling i don't want to be involved okay that that's unemployed moves in with his girlfriend's family i bet they weren't thrilled about that but what bothers me the most is that the phrase used dr beth, this is when we really need you. She was, quote, consumed with him. You know, I would expect to hear, oh, she fell head over heels. She was so in love with him.

She was captivated by him. Consumed. That has a negative connotation to me. Yeah, it does, because it implies that she feels it's all up to her to hold on to him. You know, healthy relationships are based upon mutuality. Both people are mutually and equally invested and in love and meeting each other's needs. Consumed with him, and also that she kind of lost interest in her own work implies that she is suppressing her needs, her interests, her instincts to hold on to his love.

And I have this picture of him sort of being remote, maybe possessive and jealous and remote all at the same time. I was going to ask you that. Is it not consumed by him? Is it controlled by him? Because when you're in one of those controlling relationships, it's almost dictated to you that you stay away from your friends at work, that you spend more time with a controller, that you break or disassociate with your family. And it may appear to others that you're consumed by the partner, but in fact you're being controlled by the partner. Well, because what he's doing successively is cutting her off from everybody who loves her, who could support her,

and could actually step in and help her disagree with him. I mean, controllers remove the victim's social and psychological support so that they are the only influence in that person's life. And think about it, Nancy, he did not have a job. And what that also tells me, and he moved in with the family, is that he had a parasitic relationship with him. And when somebody has a parasitic relationship, think Jordan Vandersloot, he never earned his own money. He just grifted from place to place, living off the women he was with and living off his family. You know, it paints a scenario where somebody is not supporting their own life. So they need to dominate the victim to get money from them.

Justin Boardman. First off, I love parasite. That is such a perfect word when you talk about offenders. Manipulation. I mean, let's take a look at we're talking about the victim and it sounds very biased as far as what the police department and stuff is thinking. Let's flip it. Let's take a look at what he's been doing. Let's take a look at his parasite abilities and his manipulation.

So how is he controlling? It's a power and control relationship. He's manipulating. He's controlling the way that she thinks, separating her from her support system. Right system so that he can have complete control. Have her all to himself. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. So how does, in the midst of her disappearance of the family broken hearted, blood on the backseat, her clothes outside the family SUV parked at a 12 acre lake 45 minutes away. None of that is good.

How does a seemingly unrelated crime, a series of carjackings connect to Jennifer's disappearance? Take a listen to our friend Angela Kerndall at KIMA Cut 5. After several more armed carjackings in Oregon, police say 25-year-old Aurelio Escobar has been caught in Medford, Oregon, following a high-speed chase and a shootout with police. It gave us an instant sense of relief that he has been taken into custody so that we can stop him from creating more havoc along Washington and Oregon and before he victimizes anybody else.

Seeley says as soon as Escobar's out of surgery and able to talk, he'll be flying a detective down right away. Yesterday, we learned Escobar's girlfriend is also missing. We have to try to find the information that he's holding as to what happened to his girlfriend. Dr. Bethany, can you even imagine the parents, these parents that we're hearing crying, begging for help about their daughter who is living with them, the apple of their eye. And then the phone rings, they pick it up, it's the cops. They haven't found the daughter,

but the boyfriend is in the hospital after a high-speed chase following a carjacking. That's not what you want to hear. Nancy, it's shocking. And think about it. They probably brought him into the fold with huge regrets. They probably didn't even want him living with them, but they took him in to make the daughter happy. So now they're going to feel complicit. They're going to feel guilty. They're going to feel frightening, frightened. And those are a lot of facts to put together for just a normal family. Oh, the sense of dread that must have descended on them like a wet blanket. Take a listen to our cut for our friends at K.I.M.A. Police say after the shooting, the suspect drove to Wapato, attempted a carjacking,

then drove to Goldendale, where he stole another car, then on to Portland, where he left that stolen car and stole yet another car. He's basically moving from city to city, and he looks like he's heading south, and he's just committing crime in every city he goes to, and he's forcefully carjacking people at gunpoint, and he's willing to shoot people obviously for their vehicles my advice to the public is if somebody asks for your car keys and they produce a gun give them the car keys it's a prop piece of property that's absolutely

right justin boardman if somebody wants your car keys your car is not worth your life it's certainly not worth your life. Yeah. You just give it. You just give it over. You don't resist and you comply until they leave. Yeah. And then call authorities. Absolutely.

Now, how was he affecting the carjack? He's not one, but multiple. And this is who Jennifer's family finds out her boyfriend really is. He's been living under their roof. They had no idea what he was really like. Take a listen to our cut to our friends at KIMA. Officers say the victim was in the area behind me here with his young daughter and a friend fishing when a man came up to him with a gun demanding his car keys. And the victim gave his keys, which is what we would want him to do.

But then the victim started following the suspect and said, wait a minute, give me my keys back, I want my keys. The suspect turned around and shot him three times. To Christina Giardinelli, joining us from KTVL. Christina, I guarantee you Jennifer's parents had no idea what this boyfriend was really like, what he's really capable of. And in the midst of all this, their daughter's gone. That's right, Nancy. I did speak to those parents. September 27th, it was, and they said that he had been living with them for about

one month when this all happened. He had, you know, her father told me that he had asked permission to move in with them and that, you know, at the request of his daughter, she told him, you know, she loved him and he said, you know, what can I do? That's my daughter. I got to support her. So, you know, this is what the parents are telling me. And then when they find the vehicle, that's the first they hear of it. Guys, I want you to take a listen again to Our Cut Six. This is our friends from K-I-M-A. Police say they found what appeared to be a substantial amount of blood in the backseat of the car Escobar drove to Yakima before he demanded car keys from a man on the greenway next to Berglund Lake and shot him three times. Officers say that car belonged to Escobar's girlfriend's

parents. Authorities say 24-year-old Jennifer Caridad, who you can see here, has been missing since Friday and was last seen with her boyfriend Escobar at a Sunnyside gathering. So what that means to me, Christina Giardinelli, is the little brother was right that Jennifer says, hey, I got to go pick up my boyfriend, Aurelio. And this tells me she did pick him up. She didn't just drive to that lake all by herself. She picked him up because then he is spotted in the family's SUV before it's found at the lake. Right, Nancy. And of course, we don't know what happened there yet. But what we do know is the 24-year-old victim that you just heard about there, you know, he did tell police that he saw Escobar going, you know, to and from his SUV looking suspicious. So that is one fact that we know

from that situation. Guys, Jennifer is still missing. The tip line is 509-836-6200. Look at her. 509-836-6200. Jennifer Caradatch is 24 years old. Her parents still don't know where she is. Take a listen to Hour Cut 12. This is Cody Proctor, KEPR. Yakima Police say the man accused of going on a multi-state crime spree isn't giving them any answers about his missing girlfriend.

Detectives were finally able to speak with Aurelio Escobar, who's recovering after being shot by police several times. Investigators say as soon as they asked Escobar about blood found in the backseat of the car he was driving, he told them he wanted an attorney and stopped talking. Detectives think that blood may be from Escobar's missing girlfriend, Jennifer Caradad. Police say Escobar shot a man in Yakima and went on a spree of carjackings before getting in a shootout with police in Medford, Oregon. Divers returned to Berglund Lake Saturday to search for evidence. They say they didn't find anything. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, that's not what you would expect a loving boyfriend to say.

There's blood in the back seat of where your girlfriend was last seen in the car. I would go berserk if someone found blood where a family member was last seen. He just clammed up and wanted a lawyer. Now, but Nancy, think about this. What if the entire family was a mark? In other words, what if he solicited Jennifer's attention and love so that he could move in with the family, so that he could steal their van, so that he could go on a crime spree, on and on and on? I mean, we're thinking about him as being a controlling boyfriend. What if it's even worse than that? What if he's a sociopath like the sheep in wolf's clothing who moves into the house

and moving in with Jennifer's family is the beginning of the crime spree? That is where it all begins. And once he has a body, he has to do a daisy chain of hijacking cars and getting rid of one and getting another. Why does he have a body with him? I mean, what's going on? What is his goal at this point? Let's take a listen to the rest of our Cut 12.

Obviously, we're hoping that somebody will call in and maybe give us a tip and give us some information. But at this point, we've exhausted everything that we can think of. We've searched every area that we're aware of at this point, we've exhausted everything that we can think of. We've searched every area that we're aware of at this point. You were hearing the police chief, Jay Feeley, hoping that a miracle will happen and someone will call in a tip to the number I'm giving you, 509-836-6200. Back to our friend joining us, Christina Giardinelli. Where is Escobar

now? He's actually in jail here in Jackson County awaiting trial. So after the shootout with police. And still no word about Jennifer as her family waits. Distraught. Tip line again

509-836-6200. Where is Jennifer? Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.