Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 5 year old Lizzy disappears from her own bed, "uncle" draws map to her dead body

Episode Date: May 30, 2019

5-year old, Elizabeth Shelley, disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night. The frantic search ends in tragedy, as her body is found in a wooded area just a block from her home.Only one person knew where to find her, a close relative, who offered up information in exchange for no death penalty.Nancy's expert panel weighs in:Joseph Scott Morgan:  Forensics expert, and author of “Blood Beneath My Feet”Dr. Michelle Dupre: Medical ExaminerKathleen Murphy:  Family AttorneyEllen Killoran:   Crimeonline.com investigative reporter 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. It's the outcome nobody wanted, but unfortunately, as the days went on, it became more and more expected. Five-year-old Elizabeth Shelley's body has been found. That's according to the attorney for Alex Whipple, who is her uncle, the man accused of killing her supposedly with a knife. Now, if you look behind me, this is the area off of 500 West and about 50th North where the body was reportedly located and where police are concentrating their efforts right now. Now, this was the scene just moments after police cordoned off the area,

which is just a few blocks from Lizzie's home. Neighbors who have been following this case with bated breath all week, devastated by this news today. Alex Whipple's defense attorney saying his client told him where the body was located in an effort to provide closure for the family, but would not say why he allegedly killed the little girl. Alex has been homeless, I think suffering from some mental illness problems. The body had been covered up by some sticks, debris, dirt, things such as that.

It was not buried or anything such as that. It was on the surface. We have Lizzie, the quote that is on the banner of practically every crime and justice news today. Lizzie is five-year-old Elizabeth Shelley. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. After searching with canines by air, by land, the body of this five-year-old little girl has been found in a wooded area just one block from her own home there in Utah. Amazing to me how one block away from her home, she wasn't found. Now we're hearing reports that she was not buried, other reports that she was. It's a twist and turn at every angle in this story, starting with the disappearance of this five-year-old little girl from her own home.

When mommy arises to find her little girl is gone. You were just hearing our friends over at ABC4 News. That was Andrew Reeser. Straight out to Ellen Kalor in CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. E.K., let's start at the beginning. But I can tell you right now, this guy that they think may be involved in her kidnap and murder, apparently giving cops a map that leads to her body. You know, there's really

nowhere for the defense to go with that. You hand over a map that leads police to a five-year-old little girl's body. We know her skirt was missing because it was found bloody elsewhere. How are you going to say you didn't do it if you know where the body is? And all this BS about he handed over the location of Lizzie's body to provide the family closure? O-H-E-L-L, no, he didn't. He did it to save his own skin. Reports at this hour that he led police to little Lizzie's body in order to get the death penalty off the bargaining table. You know what? I believe I would have held out and found that body and not give away the opportunity for the death penalty. Because I guarantee you, in two weeks after sitting behind bars, he's going to fight this thing and say not guilty and put the parents through complete hell at a trial.

EllenKaloranCrimeOnline.com where you can find this and all other breaking crime and justice news and let's start at the beginning what happened nancy elizabeth was last seen at 2 a.m on saturday morning at her home in logan utah her mother saw her right before she went to sleep and then when she woke up the next morning a little after 9 a.m., Lizzie, as they call her, was gone, and so was her uncle, Alex Whipple. I want to first talk about the structure. Joining me right now, an all-star panel, Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. Also with me, Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer.

As you know, Ellen Kalora with Crime Online, and medical examiner joining us, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, Dr. Michelle Dupree. Jessica Morgan, I want you to analyze what we know about the home right now. Nancy, as you have previously mentioned, we talked about the windows, the access to this wood frame home that this little girl lived in. And we talked about how this appeared, at least to the police, that this was secure. There's no signs of forced entry. So what does this bring us back to? Whoever did this, in my humble opinion, had easy access to this little girl who could come in in the middle of the night. Well, hold on, hold on, Joe Scott Morgan. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Just because you don't see the door rammed in with a battering ram does not mean there was not a break-in. Yes, you would expect pry marks or, I mean, by the age of 12, I could break in our back door with a credit card. It's a lot easier with a driver's license. But long story short, just because you don't see overt signs of a break-in doesn't mean it's not true. Even with a screen on a window, you can tell if the screen was cut from the outside or the inside. Was it removed? There's a million ways to determine if there was a break-in, a forced entry or not. But that said, I agree with you, Joe Scott Morgan.

Continue. Yeah, and there's no signs, at least overtly, of forced entry. So who is going to be motivated? Who will have the access to her at this? Remember, they talked about how she was removed from the house at night. That's when she came up missing. Hold on just a a moment here, a few details you might want to hear. This is from our friend Lauren Steinbrecher at KTSU. Listen, police cars at every corner, a crowd of law enforcement going house to house, dozens searching everywhere in the grass, a canal hoping to find

five-year-old Elizabeth Shelley. There's not much to go on, and so we don't even know where to start, where to go. Family is just as puzzled as police. Police say Lizzie, as her family calls her, was seen sleeping at 2 a.m. when mom went to bed. When mom woke up Saturday morning, Lizzie was gone. She's been hysterical all morning, all day. She's still bawling. It's her worst nightmare. It's the worst thing. She just wants it to go away. She wants her baby back. So long story short, there was a massive search, a massive search for Lizzie. And you're telling me right at the beginning, you could tell that was an inside job, so to speak, Joe Scott. Yeah, that's my feeling, Nancy. Anytime that I've been involved in crimes where someone is missing and deceased like this, I'm always going to look at the intimates in that individual's life. I'm not going to look for some dark phantom that's out in the

night. I'm going to look for who has access to this individual, who might have a beef with this person. So this is what we're looking for. Guys, for those of you just joining us, everything broke during the night last night. The body of five-year-old Lizzie Shelley has been found just one block from her own home. And the location of her body in itself is a clue, is a major clue. Think back to the Robert Blake case where his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, was found dead behind Vitaly's restaurant. Okay, think about it. Her body's found there. The murder weapon is found in a dumpster a block away, essentially. That tells you that the killer really didn't leave the area area or they would have taken the

murder weapon with them broken the gun down thrown part of it over a bridge in the other part hopefully never the two would meet again the killer did not leave the area what does this tell you think about it in respect in comparison to top mom Casey Anthony. Kelly's body, two-year-old Kelly's body was found just nine houses away from the Anthony home. The killer didn't go far. That gives you a major clue as to who the killer is. And in this case, Lizzie's body found just one block from home. Listen. At about noon, we received word from both Alex's defense attorney and the negotiation was for Alex to share

information regarding the whereabouts of Lizzie's body. In fact through Alex's attorney we were provided a map of an area where we discovered human remains at about, it was a little after 2 o'clock, where we were actually able to find and confirm human remains. There's a process to go through as we deal with this situation. So this is obviously the break that we've been waiting for. This is the moment that we had hoped would come. Obviously not in the, certainly not the way we wanted it to happen. We certainly would have wanted to bring Lizzie home, but this nevertheless is closure and it helps us be able to now deal with the investigation and help the family through their grief.

There's a number of items that went into the decision to file charges. Not the least of which include, again, this distant time that we're dealing with. A knife with blood. This knife was broken. It is the brand of knife that's from the home, and there's a knife missing from the family's knife block. We have evidence, a PVC pipe that has red substance and a partial palm print in the red substance matching Alex.

There was a teal skirt with white lace that was hastily buried that had blood matching, and this particular piece of clothing matches the description of Lizzie's skirt. Plast blue ribbon beer can, DNA positive to Alex. More personal to Alex is his wristwatch and his sweatshirt contain blood that is DNA positive

to match Lizzie's blood. The palm print on the pipe in the red substance, palm print is positive for Alex's palm. You're hearing Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen speaking about evidence that led them to charge Alex Whipple in the disappearance and death of a five-year-old little girl, Lizzie Shelley. She's beautiful. She's absolutely beautiful. I've been looking at her photo for the last almost a week as a search went on for her.

She looks like the poster girl for everything good in our country. Her, her pretty brown hair comes down to her shoulders, big brown eyes, and a beautiful, beautiful smile with not a care in the world. How in the hell did this guy end up in that home that night? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We never, never thought that he would be a murderer. Over the phone, Bill Whipple says his troubled grandson's criminal history ramped up in 2017. He ransacked my house, stole stuff from me and Hawkins. Then he went across the street to my neighbors and stole their car. That led UHP troopers on a 40-mile chase.

He was sentenced to prison in March, but that sentence was suspended, and Whipple was ordered to 180 days in jail and five years probation. His grandpa is saying he ended up in Brigham City and just two weeks ago reached out to his sister, Lizzie's mother, for help. She picked him up, bringing him to Logan. It was a fateful, fateful thing, and she beat the fzie's mother, for help. She picked him up, bringing him to Logan. It was a fateful, fateful thing. And she beat the f*** out of herself for it. He says their relationship was fine, no red flags there,

but that his grandson was depressed and in denial. He would not accept any help. We tried. I told him many times, he looked at me one day and he said, Grandpa, am I crazy? And I said, yes, I believe you have problems. You are hearing Bill Whipple, Alex's grandfather, Bill Whipple, talk about Alex Whipple's criminal history. Why in the hay was he on the sofa that night that close to a five-year-old little girl? From what I understand, Lizzie's mom, who had not had very much contact with Alex Whipple, the 21-year-old uncle, but decided to help him out at the behest of the grandfather that one night.

I don't know. Is that right or is that wrong? To Ellen Kaloran, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, how the hay do you end up letting this guy in your home, much less in your home, to spend the night a few feet away from your little girl? Nancy, as we're hearing, as troubled as Alex Whipple obviously was, it doesn't seem like anyone in his family knew that he was capable of something like this. It sounds like Lizzie's mother just wanted to do right by her family and wanted to open her home and her heart to her brother who asked for her help. So it's her brother. It's the mom's little brother, Alex Whipple. Yes, that's right. Tell me exactly what we know about his criminal history. We know that he has violated probation before. We know that he has drug and driving

under the influence violations. But we also know that he doesn't have anything yet at only 21 years old that showed that he was capable of this level of violence. So really just, it sounds like a drug and alcohol problem, but he had to be on probation for something to have broken probation. Yes. We are bringing you the very latest in the search for a five-year-old little girl, Lizzie Shelley. She reminds me so much of my daughter, Lucy, at age five. And it's really hard. I know a lot of people will be throwing stones at the mom today. Why did she let this guy stay over? Why was he there? Why did she expose her children to this guy? You know, I can guarantee you, she did not plan for this to happen. She never imagined he could do a thing like this.

And I'll tell you what it reminds me of. I want to go out to Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer and veteran in this arena of family complications. It reminds me a lot of the Elizabeth Smart case where the mother trying to do a good deed picks up a day laborer to give him a job, a guy that looks like he's starving and needs help. What did he do? Bite the hand that fed him, comes back and steals Elizabeth Smart. Thank God, Elizabeth has now triumphed over what happened to her. But it was an odyssey of pain, of rapes, of mistreatment that went on for months and months and months. Today, she is alive and well with a family of her own, and it's truly a miracle. But back to the mom, a lot of people would would throw stones at her, find fault in what she did. She's just trying to do a good thing. I think that's what happened here.

I agree, Nancy, and I have four brothers. And I would never hesitate to have one of them come to my home if they needed help. But at the same time, if somebody is addicted to drugs and alcohol and they're not making good choices, you're going to have to be more vigilant, unfortunately, in this day and age. Well, I'm also concerned that the family encouraged his drinking. We know he's got a drinking problem. We know he's had a DUI. You know, I was just in a Girl Scout class with my daughter last night, and the woman stood up that was leading it for the evening and said, My mom has not had a sober day in 20 plus years. Every morning she starts off with a mimosa or a Bloody Mary and it goes from there. Both grandfathers were literally the town

drunk in small towns. And she detailed, you know, everything that had happened in her family. And she spouted out correctly a statistic. You have only a 12% chance of getting away from alcohol once you're addicted. Twelve percent. This guy, Alex Whipple, and this is no defense. Voluntary intoxication, as you know, Kathleen, is not a defense under the law. Bam. Be it drugs or alcohol.

But apparently the family went out drinking the night before to Ellen Kalora and CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Is that correct? The family had gone out drinking? Yes, Nancy, it's true that Alex and his sister and his sister's live-in boyfriend were all at the home drinking after Alex Whipple showed up on Friday night. It sounds like it was pretty late at night when he showed up there and they all had some drinks and his sister said, you can sleep on the couch tonight. Oh no. I mean, that's pouring gas onto a fire. This is what we know. Lizzie's mom allowed the brother, Alex Whipple, to stay over the night her daughter disappeared. And, of course, you can't prove a case by process of elimination. But when you go to a jury and you say this night of all nights,

Lizzie goes missing, it's the only night Alex Whipple had stayed there? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. So I know the question is going to be asked, what was the negotiation? And the negotiation was simply to take the death penalty off the table in trade for information that would lead us to Lizzie's body. It's been hard. A lot of phone calls have come in over the last... Everybody saw the congregation of police around the 454 West Center Street area. This is about one half of a block away from Lizzie's home this is the general area where we found several evidence pieces it's it's hard to believe I mean it's a wooded area it's a very very overgrown area it's hard to believe that

we've been through that area and were unable to find her. But the good news is now that we have found human remains. You are hearing Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen. For those of you just joining us, the body of 5-year-old Elizabeth Shelley has been found. All the news breaking during the night. To hear his lawyer tell it, Alex Whipple divulged via drawing a map the location of five-year-old Lizzie's body to give the family closure bs he did it to get the death penalty off the table because this child apparently was stabbed dead her little teal skirt found covered with blood, his clothing

covered with blood, a knife found. And this is why I say this, when you don't know a horse, look at his track record. When he first got there, he refused to divulge anything about who he was, about his criminal history, nothing, nothing whatsoever. so why suddenly would he decide to explain where the body was even drawing a map Whipple 21 years old was located hours after Lizzie goes missing walking along in the Hiram area there near Logan Utah refusing to tell law enforcement his name refusing to provide any information on his niece's possible whereabouts. Cops, volunteers, dogs, the works go on an exhaustive search, searching homes, yards, brush, canals, looking for Lizzie.

She remained missing. The search dragged on for five long days. Joining me right now, renowned medical examiner, Dr. Michelle Dupree out of North Carolina jurisdiction, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, which is incredible. Dr. Dupree, tell me this. I'm saying the child was murdered by knife. I don't know that. I'm basing that on circumstantial evidence of a knife being found, him being very bloody, her clothes being very bloody, her skirt having been buried. This child's body decomposed for five days, somewhat buried. Will they ever be

able to determine cause of death, Dr. Dupree? That may be difficult, but probably yes. Again, sharp force injuries are likely to hit bone. We'd certainly be able to discover that. I believe there's also a PVC pipe found nearby, so there may be other trauma as well, and we are likely to be able to discover that. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait. I'm drinking out of a fire hydrant here. What did you just say? It's too much too fast. A PVC pipe found. I know the pipe had blood on it. What do you mean other injuries as well? What kind of injuries are you talking about? There may be something like blunt trauma. There may be more than one modality. He may have done more than one thing. Well, wait a minute. A PVC pipe, Joe Scott Morgan, that's the hollow, white, heavy plastic pipe.

That's PVC pipe. How would that be a murder weapon? Well, I don't know that it would necessarily be a murder weapon, Nancy. But, however, it could be used to beat this little girl into submission before he would use a knife on her. There's any number of things he could have done with this pipe. And our imagination can run wild with that, sad as it is. Hold on just a second. I've got another question.

I'm trying to figure something out. Dr. Dupree, I'm going to circle back to you about determining COD cause of death. Where was Lizzie in the home? Did she have her own room? I know that that evening, after the little brother, Alex Whipple, age 21, shows up, the mom ends up staying up with him drinking and playing video games till 2 a.m. Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. That is not a felony unless you get in a car and crash, for Pete's sake. We know this. According to police reports, Lizzie's mother invited brother Alex Whipple over via Facebook messaging.

When Whipple got to the home, Lizzie was already in bed. He didn't even see her, although he knew she existed. Whipple stays up drinking and playing video games with Lizzie's mom and her live-in boyfriend. They go to bed around 2 a.m. Whipple's sleeping on the sofa. In the morning, when mom wakes up, he and Lizzie were both gone. Now, we know that Whipple was seen by one witness prior to his arrest. Take a listen to this. Inside the Hirons shortstop, it looks like business as usual, but outside, something unusual. Search crews digging through the garbage, gathering around SHORT STOP. IT LOOKS LIKE BUSINESS AS USUAL. 842. BUT OUTSIDE, SOMETHING UNUSUAL. SEARCH CREWS DIGGING THROUGH THE GARBAGE, GATHERING AROUND THE DUMPSTER OUT BACK, COMING THE STREET. A LITTLE GIRL GOES MISSING AND YOU KNOW SOMETHING LIKE THIS AND NOBODY CAN FIND IT.

NO ONE CAN FIND 5-YEAR-OLD LIZZIE SHELLY. NOT HERE IN HYRAM, NOT IN LOGAN WHERE SHE DISAPPEARED FROM HER HOME SATURDAY MORNING. POLICE SAY THEY THINK HER UNCLE ALEX WHIPPLE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED, BUT HE WON'T SAY. Hiram, not in Logan, where she disappeared from her home Saturday morning. Police say they think her uncle Alex Whipple knows what happened, but he won't say. So they're trying to fill in the blanks. The Hiram shortstop gave them some help. Ryan says he saw Whipple Saturday. Disheveled, like he had been on a binge of some kind. That was hours after Lizzie disappeared. You're hearing Ryan Linenquist

and he works at the High Room shortstop gas station and you're also hearing from KTSU TV's reporter Lauren Steinbrecher. Everything points to this guy. There's no way he's going to get out of this or can he? Take a listen to this in the police presser. Chief, what else can you tell us about the area where this body was found? Again, center block, that 400 West area, just north of Center Street. Again, heavily wooded, overgrown, very overgrown area. Anything else found in that yard? Once again, this was in the general area that we'd found several of the evidence items.

And we felt we'd searched that area hard. You know, I'd love to share a picture of the area that her body was found just because it's amazing, the overgrowth and the difficulty of seeing. So, yes. Would our divinity not disclose it? Well, it's been hard.

We haven't found her, so we're grateful at this point to have done that. Can you tell me what you had on that, Chief? I'm sorry? Once you did get a map to go to that area, I mean, not to include all the certain digging involved, did you be able to find him in the remains pretty quickly? No, we had to unearth, yeah. Unearth.

That means she was buried, contrary to other conflicting reports. Now, if you're feeling that this guy, this 21-year-old uncle, Alex Whipple, the mom's little brother, is trying to help out the family, I still say BS. His quote was that he gave the map, drew the map to let the family know she, Lizzie, passed, a five-year-old little girl. Not that he killed her. I mean, he's going to deny this to the end.

I do not see a guilty plea in this. The DP is off the table, but he can still fight it. He did his part. He drew the map. They took the death penalty off the table, but we don't have a guilty plea in this. I want to go back to Dr. Michelle Dupree, a renowned medical examiner out of North Carolina and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. So we're learning more and more about where the body of this little five-year-old girl was buried. Again, are we ever going to be able to determine cause of death? She had been there five days and in very, I would say, warm conditions for the area. Nancy, yes, it's entirely possible. Again, if it was sharp force injuries, such as a knife attack,

typically that is going to hit bone somewhere. We will be able to discover that. And again, depending on the condition of the body, there may be other things that we may be able to tell as well. If there is any blunt force trauma, we can tell that. There may be other things that we might be able to tell. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. There are not words to express the sadness and the heartbreak we felt today. This did not end the way we wanted it to, but in this sadness, we are comforted that so many people put forth so much effort to help us find Lizzie. You made the difference, and we are so very thankful.

We would never have expected this outpouring of help and support. We could not have gone through this by ourselves. We were able to feel the love of so many people, most of who we had never met. You all didn't stop. We have never seen so many people trying so hard and it was beautiful. You're hearing Jill Parker, the family spokesperson, trying to speak for the family in complete shock today after the body of five-year-old Lizzie Shelley has been found. Straight out to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Ellen Kaloran. Ellen, I'm trying to figure out why they didn't find the body already. They found several other items in that very same area. It was just one block away from the home.

The reality is, had they found her earlier, it would not make any difference about what happened. And I'm grateful that they found her when they did. Of course, they had to have a map drawn for them by the perp. But I'm surprised they had already found several items, including her bloody skirt there. What else do you know, Ellen? Nancy, that's a question a lot of people are asking. We know for sure that police had been in that area in the immediate hours after the disappearance, and they did take evidence from there. They were seen in the very same place. But we also know that

the remains, and we don't know the condition or the cause of death yet, but we know that the remains were under something. There was a lot of brush, there was a lot of debris, and they were not exposed. We know that, but we don't know how far they were buried. One of the things that I feel like we should know is this lawyer, Alex Ripple's lawyer, claiming that he's coming forward because he wants to help the family. He wants to do right by them. If he wanted to help the family, first of all, don't commit a violent crime. Second of all, don't wait until after you have been charged with murder to come forward with these details.

He has been in custody since Saturday. He lied to police about his whereabouts. He didn't disclose who he was. He knew that the entire community and multiple law enforcement agencies were putting all of their resources into this search day after day after day, and then only after he's charged and he's worried about death penalty does he come forward and give them the information they need to find her. I agree with you 300%, EK, 300%. As a matter of fact, when they first see him after speaking to the guy at the Hiram

gas station, they find him. They tell him to put his hands behind his head. They don't know if he's got a gun or a weapon with him. He refused to do that. And a deputy had to take each arm to cuff him. He tried to pull his arms away and actually tried to get away from the deputies. He was combative and, quote, was assisted to the ground, i.e. tackled and handcuffed. He was later identified as Alex Whipple. He had a metal baseball bat tucked in his back pocket and hidden in his jacket along his back.

A metal baseball bat. Now, that makes me wonder what will be the cause of death. Did he beat this child to death? In his wallet, they find a picture ID identifying him as Alex Whipple. And he began telling us that he telling police that he had paraphernalia and drugs on him. And he was, in fact, carrying a pipe consistent with drug use and a silver container of what appeared to be marijuana also found was a can of beer with his dna on it we know he had a lot of previous arrests some not so serious joyriding that's class a misdemeanor theft by

receiving stolen property that's a felony failure to stop at command of a police officer. It sounds minor, but think about what that means. A cop's telling you, giving you an order, and you refuse to do it. DUI, I took a plea deal in that case. I mean, it goes on and on and on, and I agree. This is nothing that would indicate to the mother he had a violent nature, but still you got a 5-year-old little girl in the home. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, medical examiner joining us out of North Carolina and author, Dr. Dupree, could a brutal beating

cause the same amount of blood? Nancy, absolutely. It depends on the location of those injuries. There could also be some internal bleeding, of course. But yes, it could absolutely cause that much blood. I want you to take a listen to what we learned from our friends at KTSU-TV. He was walking this way from the townhouses over there to come in here to buy something. Ryan Lillenquist says Whipple was by himself wearing an odd outfit. He was wearing a gray hoodie, and underneath that hoodie was kind of a suit and tie. That's something really weird. That was AT 1-30 P-M, RYAN

SAYS, EVEN CAPTURED ON THEIR SURVEILLANCE. LESS THAN TWO HOURS LATER, AUTHORITIES CAUGHT UP TO WHIPPLE NEAR SOME CORRALS ON A DIRT COUNTRY ROAD A FEW MILES AWAY. TWO-HUNDRED SEARCHERS, A TEN MILE SPAN, TWO DAYS, AND STILL

NOTHING. SOMETHING THAT'S BOTHERING RYAN AND THIS ENTIRE VALLEY. I FEEL TERRIBLE FOR THE PEOPLE. I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO BE A PART OF THIS. I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO BE A PART OF THIS.

I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO BE A PART OF THIS. I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO BE A PART OF THIS. I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO BE A PART OF THIS. And two days and still nothing. Something that's bothering Ryan and this entire valley. I feel terrible for the family. This is something that doesn't deserve to happen. Things like this shouldn't go this way. And I fear the worst. What is interesting about that is underneath his hoodie, he was wearing a kind of a suit and tie.

What's that about? Ellen Kalorin with me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Nancy, that's one of the many strange details that we've heard about this case that have not been explained yet. That witness account appears to have been corroborated by surveillance video evidence that shows Alex Whipple walking along the road in Logan at about 6.45 on Saturday morning. And he does seem to be wearing a hoodie or some kind of a sweatshirt over what looks like a suit, whether he went to an interview or who knows why he was wearing that. We don't know that yet. But we do know that he was seen alone at 6 45 saturday morning and that's several

hours before he was apprehended by police later in the afternoon to justice scott morgan a professor of forensics at jacksonville state university author of blood beneath my feet on amazon jose scott how will they be processing multiple crime scenes well they're going to have to take it step by step nancy keep in mind the the this knife knife and this hoodie are found in a separate area, and they claim that they were buried in a dirt bank. So that could complicate matters, but they'll still be able to get to the heart of the matter with this. She is in another location.

This all sounds very hasty to me, this shallow, depressed area that she's in, whether or not it's a grave, we know that there was probably debris covering her. I don't know how much dirt was on her, even though that has been alluded to. So they'll have to take their time. I'd be fascinated to know if they could come up with what kind of instrument was used in order to dig this area out. Did he do this by hand, for instance?

You know, when I've seen the images of him, he looks, you know, kind of dirty, disheveled, disoriented, this sort of thing. But going back to the suit. Whoa, wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Don't even start with me about disheveled and disoriented. Okay. Disoriented sounds to me like you're heading down a mental defense. He knew to take this child out in the cover of darkness. He knew to lie about her whereabouts. He was wearing two outfits, concealing a suit and tie under a hoodie.

He knew to hide evidence, to bury evidence in different locations, to somewhat bury her body, to lie about everything until somebody said death penalty. And suddenly he wants to help out the family to give them closure, to give them closure. They will never have closure for the rest of their lives. They will never have closure. There's no such thing for victims, families of violent crime. They will hurt and ache and say woulda, coulda, shoulda for the rest of their lives. And their dying breath, on her dying breath, that mother will say, Lizzie, may he rot in hell with his buddy, Satan. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.