Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Beautiful Teen Disappears From Own Bedroom After Texting "I'm Scared," Body Just Found

Episode Date: June 19, 2019

The family of 15-year-old, Riley Crossman, assumes she walked to school just like every other day. Panic sets in when they get the call that she never arrived. After her body is found in the woods of West Virginia, police arrest a man who was let into her home.Nancy's Expert Panel Weighs In:Karen Smith:   Forensics expertDarryl Cohen: Criminal Defense AttorneyAshley Kelly:  Licensed Clinical Social WorkerDr. Michelle Dupre: South Carolina Medical ExaminerDavid Mack:   Syndicated Radio Host Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I talked to Riley's dad and he tells me that he kind of feels like a pinball because any tip that they get they go chasing after it in hopes that something will lead them to Riley. Thus far, nothing. The 15-year-old hasn't been seen in a week. Her mom says she walked into the teen's room last Wednesday morning, but she wasn't there. And so she thought that that was normal, that Riley had just, you know, left for school already.

Volunteers canvassing the area, searching for anything that could lead them to Riley. This is today happening in that area. The last person that Riley called last week was her boyfriend, but he didn't answer. This was last Wednesday. After that, radio silence. So there's been no phone calls. There's been no text messages, no postings of anything on social media. Riley's parents believe their daughter was abducted.

They say she would never run away. That is our friend Erica Gonzalez at NBC4. Riley Crossman just turns 15. And when I say that she is a young 15, I don't mean like a 15-year-old who's already dating and staying out till 11 to 12 o'clock at night, experimenting with drugs and booze and wearing slouchy outfits. That is not Riley at all. And when her parents say she would never just disappear, they're absolutely right. She has never disappeared or even been late actually before in her life. 15-year-old Riley goes missing. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Joining me, an all-star panel, syndicated talk show host Dave Mack, South Carolina medical examiner, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, Dr. Michelle Dupree. Out of Arizona, licensed clinical social worker Ashley Kelly. Daryl Cohen, renowned defense attorney. You can find him at DarylCohen.TV.

Karen Smith, forensics expert, founder of Bare Bones Consulting. Straight to you, Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host. Tell me first about Riley's disappearance, then we'll analyze the clues. You know, Nancy, you mentioned that she was a young 15, a beautiful young 15-year-old. Riley was described by her mother and family members as being a reliable teenager. As you mentioned, not a child that would go off and do something like this. Her regular day was she would get up and actually walk herself to school. They lived within walking distance. Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, right there. Right there. Did you know,

I'm just putting it out there that, um oh gosh, I got to get the right, hey, hey, Jackie, get me the stat, if you don't mind, on how many abductions take place at or around the school bus pickup spot, okay? When you said walking to the school bus stop, that's a big deal. People go missing there all the time. Sorry, Dave, Matt, go ahead. So she's last seen walking to the school bus. Actually, no, walking to the school. That's what her mother assumed.

We don't have any proof that she actually did. What we have is, again, a reliable teenager and a mom who works late at night as a waitress. Riley's regular schedule is she would wake herself up in the morning get dressed and she would walk to school not to a bus stop she would actually walk to school to the high school. To Daryl Cohen joining me a renowned criminal defense attorney out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Daryl I don't know how or where you grew up I know that we prosecuted in the same office but that's I don't know how or where you grew up. I know that we prosecuted in the same office, but that's, I don't know you're growing up, but my mom, when I would wake up, would be already up and gone by 7 a.m. She'd have breakfast laid out, a bowl of grits and a cup of coffee mixed with milk

every morning. She'd be gone. My dad worked the night trick, as he called it, And we would get up on our own, get ready and go to the bus stop. Now this girl walked to school. Did you grow up like that? Or did you have someone, you know, shepherding you along? Mine was sort of a hybrid, Nancy. My mom woke us up, prepared breakfast, and we either took the bus to school, or we walked to school. It's a little long walk, but it wasn't a bad walk. And so we had just a little bit of both, actually. So that's the first thing that piques my interest, Dave Mack, is that she was en route to her school, not her school bus stop. Thank you for telling me that. Okay, so then what happens? What happens is that, again, in the timeline, Nancy, we're basing it on what we hear from Riley's mother about Riley's normal routine.

And as I mentioned before, this is a reliable teenager. But when you actually back up and break it down, I don't know when we actually know she was in the home that night, before that morning. Because her mom says that she went to check Riley's room at 7.15 that morning and Riley was already gone. So she assumed that Riley had gotten up and walked to school. Her first class started at 7.45 that morning. So it wouldn't have been out of the normal for Riley to leave at 7.15 or before then to walk to school. You know what you're reminding me of right now, Dave Mack? Oh, yeah, we got the correct stat now. It's between 38 and 40 percent of all stranger

on child abductions are related to walking to school or the school bus stop or coming home from the school or the school bus stop. That is a staggering number. That's almost half. I want to go back to something you just said, Dave Mack. The mom says she gets home from work around 10 p.m. that night and Riley's door was shut and she thought Riley was in her room. And from what she knew, she had reportedly texted her boyfriend around 10 30 that night and other friends until midnight. Then she tried to video call her boyfriend around 5.40 a.m. via Facebook Messenger. Okay, and that's exactly, I don't know if you remember this case or not, Dave Mack, but Nicole Lovell. Okay, she was just turned 13. Okay, she was barely out of 12, and she found a, quote, boyfriend on Kik, K-I-K, turned out to be an engineering major at Virginia Tech.

He had been the valedictorian. He's a track star, the whole shebang. And he had been molesting this child and ended up luring her out of her home and killing her. But the mom that night, Nicole went to bed and shut her door and the mom didn't think anything about it. He came up and lured her out of the window. So Dave Mack explained this timeline to me. We're talking about a little girl, Riley Crossman, who goes missing. Take a listen to our friends over at WDVM. This is Toa Tarr. Search efforts from sheriff's deputies to the FBI along with the Department of Homeland Security continue to actively search for Riley Crossman who's been missing since the evening hours of May 7th to

May 8th. While sheriff's deputies are facing some challenges with the weather, one thing's for sure. We're investigating all possibilities. We don't have any belief at this point in time that she ran away. Volunteers have been looking in the immediate Berkeley Springs, Morgan County area. Riley was last seen at her mother's home in Berkeley Springs. Her parents were alerted when Riley missed school. Her father lands desperately asking for the public's help. Everyone's trying really hard to find her. Once the weather subsides, Sheriff Moore anticipates searching new areas.

In situations like this, you want to search areas such as waterways, lakes, noon dumping spots, things of that nature. The police are working very hard. We really want her to come home. So please share the story. Okay, that sends chills up my spine. Joining me right now out of Arizona, licensed clinical social worker Ashley Kelly.

Ashley, you know, when the parents are standing by and the child goes missing, what can they do? Their heart is breaking, but other than run up and down the streets screaming for their child, what can they do? How do you deal with that and become useful in the search? That's a really good question, Nancy. It's difficult when you're in a state of shock like that, missing a child, to be able to think clearly and remember details, anything like that. It's really hard, Ashley. Yeah, absolutely. I would usually advise somebody to work with me on mindfulness activities and being able to breathe through it to bring our frontal lobe online to be able to think clearly and be able to offer

whatever help they can. I can't imagine being a parent in that state trying to help. So Karen Smith joining me out of the Florida jurisdictions for an expert founder of Bare Bones Consulting, the crime scene. I mean, if we have a crime scene, what do we do? Well, at this point, we don't, Nancy. We don't have anything. The last place that she was seen apparently was inside her home. So you start there. You start there and you work out if there's any evidence that, like you said, that the one girl who was abducted at her window was her window open. You look at small things like that. You look at her texts. You look at

any Instagrams or any Facebooks or whatever she might have in the way of social media that might have some clues leading up to her disappearance. You talk to her friends at school. You start with the interview process because at this point, we don't have a scene to work forward from or backward from, which is very unfortunate. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Missing flyers are posted on almost every storefront and telephone pole here in Berkeley I'M STORIES WITH NANCY GRACE. MISSING FLYERS ARE POSTED ON ALMOST EVERY STOREFRONT AND TELEPHONE POLL HERE IN BERKELEY SPRINGS. AND SEARCHES HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT EVERY DAY SINCE HER FAMILY REALIZED RILEY WAS GONE. BUT SO FAR, HER DISAPPEARANCE REMAINS A MYSTERY. When we did not find her at the end of that night, that's when I knew that something was really, really wrong. THAT SOMETHING WAS REALLY, REALLY WRONG. LANS CROSSMAN HAS SPENT THE LAST SEVEN AGONIZING DAYS SEARCHING SOME OF THE MOST

REMOTE, DEEPEST, DARKEST CORNERS OF THE WOODS FOR HIS MISSING DAUGHTER, 15-YEAR-OLD RILEY. I HAVE TO BELIEVE IN MY HEART THAT SHE'S STILL OKAY, SHE'S STILL ALIVE, WHICH MEANS SHE'S GOT TO BE INSIDE

SOMEWHERE. AND SO, OBVIOUS PLACES WOULD BE CAVINS, SEEDY MOTELS. SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE TAKES YOU DOWN RABBIT HOLES THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD GO DOWN AS A FATHER, AS A PARENT. SO, YEAH.

I THINK IT'S A GREAT WAY TO TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER. I THINK IT'S A GREAT WAY TO TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER. I THINK IT'S A GREAT WAY TO TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER. I THINK IT'S A GREAT WAY TO GET TO KNOW YOUR MOTHER. IT'S A GREAT WAY TO GET TO KNOW YOUR MOTHER. YOU KNOW, YOU'RE IN HOTELS, SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE TAKES YOU DOWN

RABBIT HOLES THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD GO DOWN AS A FATHER, AS A PARENT. SO... YEAH. RILEY WAS LAST SEEN AT HER BERKELEY SPRINGS HOME LAST TUESDAY EVENING BY

HER GRANDMOTHER WHO WAS WATCHING HER WHILE HER MOM WAS WORKING. YOU KNOW, HER MOTHER ARRIVED HOME FROM WORK LATER THAT NIGHT BUT DIDN'T ACTUALLY CHECK, YOU KNOW, DIDN'T in. But she assumed she was in her bed. Her mother got up in the morning. Riley was not there. But again, that's not unusual. She gets up on her own and walks to school because it's across the street.

Wow, we're talking about 15-year-old Riley Crossman, just turned 15, who goes missing ostensibly on the way to school one morning. Her mom works at night, comes home around 10 and sees that her door is shut. She's been there with her grandmother. And Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host, joining me. How many times do I dash out and leave the twins with my mom? She's 87 years old. I turn on the alarm. The children know not to go to the door. I try not to be gone over an hour and but the mom did everything possible now what do you make of the fact that the following morning she contacted her boyfriend at 5 40 a.m well here's what we know Nancy is that that phone

call that that 5 40 uh40 video chat never actually connected. So we know that in the night before, according to everything, that she was texting on her phone up until just before midnight, 540 in the morning, a video call is attempted, and there's no connection. Again, mom looks in the room at 715. Riley's gone. Riley hasn't been seen for, really, 12 hours, seven o'clock the night before when grandma saw her. Okay. Let me understand something. The grandmother says she saw her

the night before when she went to sleep, right? When she went to her room. Sorry, about seven o'clock that night when she came home and went to her room. Yes. Okay. Wow. So the following morning when she tries to video call her boyfriend, that doesn't mean anything, but I am curious, and I'll tell you why I'm curious. Daryl Cohen, that could have been someone using her cell phone, just dialing last known call, and then clicking off before the person could connect. I don't know enough about that connection. Did the boyfriend not pick up and there was no connection? Did he see her face briefly and then it went bad? I mean, I don't know about that connection.

What do you think? Could someone else have been using her phone? Well, certainly someone could have been using the phone. It always concerns you when what you want to happen doesn't. So then your mind goes, is there someone else using the phone? Was there a possible glitch? Cell phones glitch. She wasn't seen that night. That's very concerning because was she there? Did she actually go to school? We don't know. Okay. Let me ask you about this, Dave Mack. When you say that morning, 5.40 a.m., she tries to video call her boyfriend, but there was no connection. Did he hang up? Did he see her face to video call her boyfriend, but there was no connection. Did he hang up? Did he see her face at all? What do you mean there was no connection? No, ma'am. He

actually missed that video call, according to what he has said. Because they had been video conferencing the night before at around 10.30 at night. And when in 5.40 the next morning, there was a video call made, but he missed the call. Okay, that's what he made clear. Okay, so picking up from right there, Karen Smith, a forensics expert, I think I would be looking at her window, a screen on the window. Was it open from the outside? Was it cut? Was it pushed out from the inside?

Are clothes missing to suggest she had run away? Did it look like there had been a struggle in her bedroom in any way? I think those are the clues I would be looking for in her bedroom. And I would try to find out, did she lock her door? One more question, Dave Mack. That morning when the mother sees at 7.15 she's not in her bed, did the mother believe she had already gone to school? Yes, ma'am, because it was not out of the ordinary. They live close to the school, so getting up and being out the door by 7.15,

giving her time to see her boyfriend. In a particular case, her boyfriend had a field trip that day and was at school a little early, so there was no hint there was anything wrong when mom looks in at 7.15 and she's gone. Wow. Okay, so that means there's a 12-hour lead because the grandma had eyes on her at 7 the night before, 7.15 in the morning, she's gone. So the mother did not think to call the school. Why should she? So Karen Smith, back to the bedroom. What do we do? If anybody to do a video chat, you know, a phone call would be a little different. You could hang up and try to mask that. But you know, I don't take video calls because most of the time my hair is

piled on top of my head. I have no makeup on. So I take phone calls, but not video calls. That's a pretty bold thing for a suspect to do with a victim's phone in my eyes. The bedroom, as far as the screen, all of those things need to be checked. Okay. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I hear what you're saying, Karen. At first I was disagreeing with you because I thought you were saying the boyfriend wouldn't pick the phone up because he had his hair in a towel. Okay. And I'm like, yeah, no, I think he would pick up. But you're saying if a perp had her phone at 540 a.m. and he called on a video chat.

Right. Then that's pretty, that's pretty gutsy. That's a big dare because the boyfriend could have picked up. Translation, you think that was her making the call? I do. Okay, go ahead. That's just my contention. Yes, I do.

Which kind of narrows a little bit of a window. It doesn't mean she was in her bedroom when she made that call. It doesn't mean that she was home when she made that video call. We don't know where she was. So the bedroom, let's go back to that. The screen, the window. Yes, Was there a lock on the door? Did anybody hear anything? Was there anything weird going on in the house? I mean, obviously everybody's probably sleeping at that point, especially the mom, since she works nights. You know, this is very, very strange. You have a very responsible young girl who just disappears.

So yes, her bedroom should have been the first focal point for investigators, for sure. We are talking about a young girl going missing in West Virginia. Riley Crossman goes to bed that night, goes to her room around 7 p.m. Grandma's watching over her while mom is at work. The next morning, mom gets home at 10 p.m. the night before, thinks daughter's asleep, doesn't wake her up. Next morning, 7.15, she's gone. You know, this past week, this past week, and don't laugh, this past week, Dave Mack, the twins went to their first sleep away. Okay?

Scout camp. As you probably know, now girls are scouts and boys are scouts too. So it was, you know, boy and girl. They both went. It was their very first time ever sleeping away from home. Okay. Of course, mommy went. Mommy also went to scout camp and forced my husband, David, to go to scout camp as volunteers.

Okay. Let me just say that not at one moment did Lucy ever know that I was stalking her. Okay, I hid behind every tree, every outhouse, every tent. So she, my point is, you know, every morning and during the night, I've heard so many of these stories. I go look at them no matter what, you know, before I, before I even, you know, go make a cup of hot tea. I check and make sure that they're in there. At least I don't check to make sure they're still breathing. OK, which I used to do.

Now I assume that they are breathing. But this is so scary to even hear this. So the mom, 7.15 a.m., thinks that, oh, she's gone to school. Oh, my stars, the guilt that poor woman must be living with right now. You know, Nancy, it's still shocking, but when you actually go back to the night before, when we last see Riley, when mom gets home, there's a couple other children in the home and a boyfriend, and they're all asleep in the living room. Boyfriend's on the recliner. The other two are just sitting up on a couch. And Riley's in her bedroom.

And Grandma's, you know, purring around or whatever she's doing. And so if you can imagine the calm and the normalness of this home that night when Riley's mom gets home from work and goes on about her business. It was just business as usual until she wakes up. And then again, you know what? All that day, she had no idea that Riley never made it to school. She doesn't know that. Oh, gosh, that's just killing me. Comes home, everything's normal. The other children are there. The boyfriend, she has a living boyfriend. He's there. Riley's in her room asleep. Everything's fine. The TV's going. They all go to bed. Next morning, she wakes up. Riley's

gone to school. Take a listen to our friends at Fox 5. Morgan County Sheriff Casey Boer says they have scoured Riley's social media, interviewed her boyfriend, family members, friends, and teachers, but so far, no leads and no answers. Anytime that you investigate a missing person, the longer the period of time passes, you start being very concerned that it's going to be a happy conclusion. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace the search is on for 15 year old riley crossman who literally goes missing from her own bedroom where is riley and then the search the search. Dave Max, syndicated talk show host, tell me about the search for Riley. What did it entail?

It entailed the whole community, adult volunteers looking in every nook and cranny, looking in dumpsters, looking in city hotels. That was one of the things your dad talked about, was having to go down this pathway of considering all options, looking out in the woods. They scoured hundreds of acres. They did it by drone, by four-wheelers, by volunteers showing up. They went all over this area in every possible way looking for Riley. And then this presser. This morning, officers from the West Virginia Natural Resources Police were assisting law enforcement attempting to locate Riley when they discovered a decomposed body in the 5,500 block Okay, I just feel sick to my stomach. This little girl's body apparently thrown down an embankment in a heavily wooded area

off a remote West Virginia mountain road, five miles from the interstate. The interstate opens up an entire plethora of possibilities because is this somebody that was just driving by and sees her from off the interstate, a total stranger. That's like finding a needle in a haystack, if that's true. And it has happened many times before. I'll never forget the Dillon and Shasta Groney case. They're out playing in the above ground pool in the backyard. A guy drives by on the interstate, spots them, pulls off and waits for the moment to go in, kill the family and get the girl and the little boy, ending up killing the little boy. It's overwhelming now that I know it's just five miles off the interstate,

but interesting, not visible from the interstate. You'd have to know how to get to this home. And now her body found down an embankment. Joining me right now out of South Carolina, renowned medical examiner, Dr. Michelle Dupree, and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Right now, body down an embankment. What do we do? Nancy, the first thing we do is we actually go down that embankment.

We look at the body. We recover as much evidence as we can in situ or at that location before we remove the body. And then, of course, we do remove the body and take the body back to the morgue where we examine it thoroughly. You know, I heard them say the body was already decomposing at the time they find it. What does that mean to you? Well, Nancy, that can mean a couple of things.

One, a body decomposes most quickly where there are injuries. So I would be thinking that there were injuries that were observable on the body, and that's where the decomposition will start first. It, of course, also depends on the climate and the weather, things of that nature. Now, when you say something like that, Dr. Dupree, it depends on the climate and the weather. What do you mean? Well, hotter weather, bodies decompose faster than in colder weather. Colder weather tends to slow down the decomposition.

It also depends on the environment. Is it a damp area? Is it moist? What are the other environmental conditions? You know, when you have a case like this, you start looking close to the person. Yes, it could be some nut that sees her off the interstate. Yes, it could be somebody that sees her at the local shopping mall. But every investigation starts at the nucleus. To Daryl Cohen, criminal defense attorney, why is that? I mean, you start with the mom. You start with the dad. Hold on, Dave Mack,

you keep mentioning a dad and a boyfriend. So the guy living at the home is the boyfriend, then there's the bio dad, right? Yes, ma'am. Riley's parents were divorced. Okay, so they were divorced. Daryl Cohen, why do you always start at the nucleus? Well, you start at the beginning and you work out because you want to always exclude every possible person who may have had a last meeting with Riley, last saw Riley, see exactly where they are, and then you exclude their testimony or you include it, and then you go further. Okay, well, let's do that. Dave Mack, in the home, you got the grandma.

Let's just go ahead and rule her out because statistically, the grandma killing the granddaughter, I mean, it has happened. Very, very rare, okay? There's not even a name for that. Okay. Like parenticide or, you know, there's not a name for that, but okay. Then you've got the children. What children? You said siblings were home. Who are they? She's got two younger brothers. And again, they're, they're not suspicious at all. wait a minute. Let's talk about sibling murder. You know, the big drama when JonBenet Ramsey's brother, Burke, was accused in the press of killing JonBenet. I said from the get-go, sibling murder, very rare. Statistically, almost never happens.

And in this case, of course, Burke was totally innocent. That was a big mess. But in this case, of course, Burke was totally innocent. That was a big mess. But in this case, you've got two much younger brothers. Highly doubtful there's going to be a sibling murder. The mom, we think, was at work. Highly doubtful the mother kills her child. Then you've got the BF. Who is he? Who is Andy McCauley? What do we know about him, Dave Mack? Everything we know about Andrew McCauley. Nancy, it's bad. This is a 41-year-old man without a driver's license who works construction. And by the way, and these are all pertinent facts to this overall thing.

A 41-year-old man without a driver's license? Yes, ma'am. And living with his girlfriend. I mean, the children, mine are 11. I've already taken them out in a field and make it in my minivan and taught them how to drive. Okay.

This guy is 41 without a license. That must mean he's got a DUI or something in his past. There's a lot in his past, Nancy. And why didn't you tell me that at the beginning? What's in his past? He's a known drug user. He's got a lot of previous convictions for for drugs dui and things like that which is why he don't he doesn't

have a license and apparently and well i'm not knocking day workers or people who work construction they're wonderful do a lot of great work but that's the kind of job he somebody built that okay so tell me about that's why i was being clear on the construction plays into this. OK, and this is a guy who has a history of drug abuse, can't keep a job, doesn't have a driver's license because of past convictions. And apparently based on his discussions with he's a habitual liar. When this guy's talking, he's lying. So he was on the police radar. Now, wait a minute. Again, that could be said of a lot of men. Dave Mack, Daryl Cohen, no offense, of course, but, you know, sorry, but okay, never mind. I'll just let that lie. But Jackie Howard head is spinning around like an owl, like out of the exorcist. What is it? What is it, Jackie? Just speak up.

Quit with the head spinning. What is it? I don it, Jackie? Just speak up. Quit with the head spinning. What is it? I don't understand why this woman, if this guy has such a horrible history. Would be in the home. Okay, let me throw that to Ashley Kelly. Ashley Kelly, you're the licensed clinical social worker. Why, if you know the guy's history, would you have him around your children? That's an excellent question, Nancy.

Unfortunately, a lot of times dating relationships, people will look past that thinking that people can change. But unfortunately, behavioral patterns tend to repeat themselves. And that is absolutely a concern that he was in the home with children. Let me just tell you my armchair psychologist opinion. Do you need a man that much? Do you really? Tell me, what do you know, Dave Mack, about the texting? I didn't know that there was an 1101 text from her to her boyfriend the night before. Tell me about that. All right.

You know, we identified earlier that she had a video chat with her boyfriend at 1030. Well, the police mentioned multiple text messages between 11 and midnight. All right. At 1101, Riley sent a text to her boyfriend saying that Andy, Andrew McCauley, was in her room. About 15 minutes later, she says, Andy is in my room and I'm scared. She didn't like Andy. And Andy was apparently in her room when mom, mom, remember, comes comes home at 10 thanks to Riley's asleep in bed and he's asleep in the recliner now here we are at 11 and 1115 Andy is in her room Riley is supposedly in bed and here's Andy the live-in drug boyfriend and he's in the room and she's scared crime stories with nancy grace

the discovery of this little girl's body rocking the whole community and now cops have their sights set on mom's live-in, Andy McCauley. We've learned from Dave Mack, talk show host, that he had quite a record. And the timeline, very, very disturbing. Because apparently, whatever happened to Riley happened after mom is home. Karen Smith, forensics expert, would you agree with that? Yes, I would. If he is in that bedroom and she's texting her boyfriend that she is afraid of him, this is the first place police went. They had him on their radar from day one. They knew this was a bad guy. And those text

messages sent chills down my spine, Nancy, when you read those. You know, now you have a crime scene. You have a body found down an embankment. Give me those clothes. Give me her clothes to look for trace evidence, to look for DNA, to look for hairs, fibers, and any other evidence that was evident on her clothing. And I'm telling you right now, I will work that back and it will link directly to Andy McCauley every single time. You know, I'm very, very curious. Back to you, Dave Mack. Police are now saying that Andy McCauley, the live-in boyfriend, was a suspect from day one in her disappearance. What was it about him that made police suspicious? Because right away, Nancy, he talked about his drug use and lied about it. He actually lied and contradicted himself in his

very first interview with police. So imagine you've got a family home where you've got a live-in boyfriend with an active drug problem, drug charges. He claimed he didn't drive, but we've got evidence of him driving a green Dodge pickup truck with ladders on it at the construction site. Dave Mack, isn't it true that we learn McCauley called Crossman multiple times in the early morning hours and blocked his phone number. We also learned that Macaulay, Andy Macaulay, mom's live-in, calls her, Riley, at 3 a.m., 3.34 a.m., and 3.52 a.m. Dave Mack, what's behind his early morning phone calls? What's that all about?

You know, I don't know, Nancy, other than the fact that he is obviously, she's afraid of him, as we know from the previous night's text, you know, to her boyfriend at 11.17 at night. Andy's in my room and I'm afraid. So apparently she's able to get him out of the room somehow. Again, remember, her mom is at home and in bed. She gets him out of the room and now he's trying to call her, but he's blocking his number so she will hopefully answer.

She won't answer. And we don't know. We just know that's the timeline we have of contacts on her phone, but she's not answering those calls. Well, I think it's highly unusual. Let's just look at the facts. Daryl Cohen, you're the defense attorney, and I know in your mind you're going to say it proves nothing. But for a live-in boyfriend, a dad figure, to be calling his

girlfriend's daughter, teen girl, at 3.30 in the morning, to be blocking his number to call her, calling her repeatedly, it sounds like something happened in her room, like a molestation happened that night, and he's trying to call her to get her not to tell the mom. That's very, very possibly what could have happened. It also could be that he knew something has happened to her that he has perpetrated, and he's calling her to see if she's alive, to see if she will answer the phone. But he certainly doesn't want her to know it's him. So he blocks it. He tries to make it as if, hey, I'm just checking on you. Everything okay?

But why would he be checking on her at 3.30 in the morning? Take a listen to this. After a week of searching, Riley's body was found about 30 miles away from her home here in Berkeley Springs. The Morgan County Sheriff has charged 41-year-old Andy McCully for Riley's murder. He's the boyfriend of her mother and was a person of interest since she first disappeared. But investigators have not yet released a motive. That's from our friends at Fox 5 to Daryl Cohen. It will bite the cops in the neck when it comes out at trial that they zeroed in on him day one.

Now, will that preclude a guilty verdict? Probably not. Why is that a problem for them to come out and say that at the beginning? So, Nancy, let's fast forward. We're at trial, and the defense argues he was a suspect from the very beginning. He wasn't just a person of interest. He was a suspect, and all other suspects were immediately ignored. They just said, we've got what we're looking for and we're going to go for him. Well, that's a problem unless law enforcement can show that yes, he was remaining their person of interest,

remained their suspect, but they did not exclude anyone else, whether it's the grandmother, whether it's coworkers, whether it's neighbors, whether it's even a possible school bait who may have done her in. To Dave Mack, let me ask you this. Are the charges against Andy McCauley going to stick?

What's the evidence against him? I've got to have more than weird phone calls at 3 a.m. There's a lot of information. Of course, you know, immediately the police interviewed Andy McCauley, and he began lying immediately. They were able to track his movements from that morning when he goes to work at the construction site. Then they're able to track his movements from that morning when he goes to work at the construction site. Then they're able to track him when he leaves the construction site

because there's video surveillance and things like that. The police did amazing work on compiling. What do you mean they tracked him? They've got Andy McCauley in the green Dodge pickup truck with two big ladders going down the side. They've got him on surveillance video leaving the neighborhood. They've got, you know, the cameras they use on interstates and things like that. They've got him on that going down a specific route back to the home in Berkeley Springs. Okay, so, so far, wait a minute. You've told me nothing suspicious. They've got him on video going back to the home and leaving the construction site.

Why does that tie him into a murder? That makes no sense. He lied about everything. He lied about the direction he went. He lied about how long he was gone. He lied about driving the truck. He lied about the direction that he came back to the construction site. And there's physical evidence in the back of that pickup truck that they used cadaver dogs to find. Okay, let's talk about that. Let's talk about which way you drive means nothing to me unless you're leaving the crime scene or

going to it. And I didn't hear that from you. So let me repeat my question, Dave Mack. What is the evidence against him? Andy McCullough left the construction site and drove directly back to the home. When he drove from the home back to the construction site, he took a totally different route that actually took him right by where they found the body. And it was not the quickest route. Also, not the route that he claimed he took so he's lying about everywhere he's going and the only thing they can track him with is that he's going back to the home where the car was that his truck was seen in the driveway back in and then they tracked him to the location of where the body was later found and he still says he went

a different direction and then he claims he goes straight back home he's only gone for an hour and a half but in fact he's gone for four hours and 40 minutes. And he goes way out of his way in an area where they found the body. So, bottom line, he disappears for a big chunk of time, and they've tracked him to near where the body is. To Karen Smith, forensics expert, founder of Beer Bones Consulting, what can you tell me about drywall mud having lime in it? Absolutely. It's got lime. It has all kinds of compounds in it. And it was in the back of that pickup truck. Apparently a five gallon bucket had spilled

and it had spilled in the back of that truck. And when they recovered Riley's body, there were traces of that drywall on her clothing. What did I tell you? Give me her clothing. You take samples of the drywall mud from her clothing. You take samples of the drywall mud from her clothes. You take samples from the truck and you run that through GCMS or gas chromatography mass spectrometry, which breaks down the molecular. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Not everybody knows about mass spec. Okay. What she's talking about is what is used to determine drug compounds. It's a chemical breakdown. In regular talk, they're going to compare the particles on her clothing, the drywall mud with lime in it found in his pickup bed to her

clothing, and they can determine if it's the same lot, the same batch, the same everything. Speaking of evidence against him, Karen Smith, what else do we know? Well, Dave Mack had mentioned cadaver dogs tracing to the truck. That's huge. Those dogs are trained to sniff out human decomposition and nothing else. They traced that truck and said that a human body that was deceased had been in that truck. So now you have the timeline. You have his motions.

You have the video surveillance showing the truck going to the area where her body was found. You have the decomposition from the cadaver dogs. You have the drywall on her clothing, the drywall on the back of the truck. Every single time, that hypothesis circled right back around to Andy McCauley. I don't think they're going to have a problem at trial at all, Nancy. This drywall mud, which is used to repair holes in walls, splattered in the bed of the truck underneath the utility box, also carried the scent of a dead body. And again, her body had drywall mud on the shoulder of the body, on her foot, and on her clothes.

We wait as justice unfolds. Andy McCauley, Mom's live-in, now charged in the murder of her teen girl, Riley Crossman. If you have information, 304-258-1067. Repeat, 304-258-1067. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.