Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BOMBSHELL IN CASE OF MISSING TEEN GIRL DACARA AFTER CAR FOUND ABANDONED

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

1:30 am,  August 23, 2025, surveillance footage shows Dacara Thompson parking her car in Hyattsville. A person who father believes is Dacara is seen walking away from the car, which is facing the wrong way and in is front of a fire hydrant. As she walks away, she uses the key fob to lock the doors as the lights on the car blink.  Dacara appears to be alone, nobody is seen walking with or near her as she walks out of frame.  That's the last time Dacara was seen.  Now a bombshell arrest in the case after police discover more surveillance footage. According to PGPD,  Thompson is seen approaching a black SUV in the early morning hours of Aug. 23. After speaking to the driver, Thompson enters the SUV. The driver then goes to a home in Bowie.  Hugo Hernandez-Mendez, of Bowie, Md.,  arrested on charges of first- and second-degree murder. Joining Nancy Grace today, Randolph Rice - Former Prosecutor and Current Criminal Defense & Civil Attorney at Rice, Murtha, Psoras, website: ricelawmd.com, IG, FB, X: @ricelawmd Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker,”  featured in hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock,  www.drbethanymarshall.com , Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter: @DrBethanyLive Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host: "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University) Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, Leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons, website: www.uspasecurity.com, Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security, former Marine and Iraq war veteran Dave Mack - Crime Stories Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young teen girl, Dekara, missing. Her car found abandoned. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us.

How does a teen girl 19 years old just disappear into thin air? I want you to look at this video. This video is obtained from a neighbor's surveillance, like a ring cam. Take a look at this. Surveillance footage shows Dekara, parking her car on Jasmine Terrace, Highestville. Now, her parents are convinced this is Dachara walking away. And if you notice, if we can, there you go, see the lights on her vehicle blink? She turns and locks her car.

now she also parks directly in front of a fire hydrant clearly marked do not park here then we see her walking out of the frame she is by herself she is not drunk stumbling on drugs she's walking purposefully forward even thinking to turn back and with her key fob lock her vehicle. Okay. Take a good, long, hard look at this. Joining me and I'll start panel. But first, how did the whole thing start? Listen. DeCara Thompson is the 19-year-old daughter of Carmen and Daniel Thompson.

The youngest of five siblings, Dakara is living with her father for the summer at his home in Lanham, Maryland. Around 10 p.m. August 22nd, Dakara tells her dad she's going to run out for a bit. but we'll return shortly. Daniel calls Dakara at 1150, but gets no response. So he texts her telling her he's going to bed. She immediately texted back. I got gas and I'm out. I should be back soon. I love you too. Good night. Straight out to Brian Fitzgivens joining us, Director Operations, USPA nationwide security. He leads a team of investigators specializing and

locating missing people at USPA security.com. Brian, thank you for being. with us. I find that extremely probative. The fact that she's with dad, that is not unusual. She's spending the summer there. Parents are split in Atlanta, Maryland. First, I want to find out, which I'll get from Dave Mack, the crime rate there and the crime rate in the area where her car's found. But it's just 10 p.m. She's 19 years old. Okay? She doesn't have to be at school the next morning so she tells dad she's going to run out then he calls her 11 to 50 p.m. and they text she texts back immediately i got gas and i'm out i should be back soon i love you too good night that's very probative to me brian what do you make of it yeah certainly you take this timeline nancy and then you

look at that surveillance video first of all you mentioned it in the intro that she was parked in front of a fire hydrant. One thing that wasn't mentioned is she was going the wrong direction of travel. All right. So she's parked in the opposite direction. This leads me to believe that she wasn't planning to be there long. Okay. So that she could have been making a quick stop to do something or see someone

prior to heading back to Lanham, which is only 10, 15 miles down the road. How often has someone parked in front of a fire hydrant or on a yellow curve or on a 10-minute parking only when you think, hey, you know what, I'm going to run in and run out? I'll be back before they can tow my car and maybe even put on your emergency flashers to suggest to the meter made, hey, I'll be right back. You're right. That is significant, Brian Fitzgibbon. She clearly knows what she's doing and she parks there. her parents agree that this was what they thought a quick errand and she would be right back. So you ascertained all that from the way she parked, Brian?

Yeah, I'm looking at this to add, you know, to the narrative that in questions that we want answered, that this looks like somebody who is not planning to stay there for a long time, right? If you're parked in that manner, it definitely makes me believe that. Guys, if you know or think you know anything about this missing teen girl, Dakara, please dial Prince George's County PD 301-772-8-970. Repeat, 301-772-8-970. As we say in the law, time is of the essence. Straight out to Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us, for now, psychoanalyst, joining us out of L.A., author of Deal Breaker. You can see her now on Peacock and find her.

Dr. Bethany Marshall.com. Dr. Bethany, I want to analyze very quickly before we move forward with more facts that I believe are pertinent what she said in her text to dad. First of all, she tells him she's going out. This is not her sneaking out the window

or surreptitiously sneaking out the front door in her socks so as not to make a sound and leaving with the lights off so he doesn't know she's leaving. Around 10 o'clock she says, hey, I'm going to run out. I'll be right back. Then he calls her about an hour and a half later, she didn't pick up.

He texts and says, I'm going to bed. She texts back immediately. And it sounds like her. You know, we've had those cases like in Gabby Petito, where Brian Laundry, he's killed her. He's murdered her. Now he's driving her Ford Transit back across the country. And he's responding to her family's text, but he screws up. He refers to grandpa by his full name.

Like, if I texted my sister and mentioned dad, my dad and she writes back. Yes, Walter Malcolm Gray Sr. loved decaf at night. Okay, that would be wrong. He blew it. He mistexted. But this text sounds like her and dad believes it's her and also she sounds upbeat. Hey, I got gas. I'm out. I'll be back soon. I love you too. Good night. Okay, analyze it. Help me. I'm grasping at straws, Bethany. So the response to her dad suggests that she's oriented to space and time. In other words, she's not high. She's not drinking, nothing like that.

The fact that her father was not alarmed until an hour and a half later, or perhaps not alarmed at all, just reached out to see where she was, suggests that this behavior wasn't unusual. 19-year-olds are very social, Nancy. So she could have been visiting friends, you know, sitting at a cafe, something like that. But also, I would want to know what is on that phone. You know, was she texting friends? Did she visit somebody? You know, her whereabouts in the hour and a half before her father reached out are very important. As, as her friends would also know, you know, 19 year olds talk to their friends. So did she talk to anybody about where she was going and who she was seeing after she went to the gas station?

Dave Matt, Crime Stories Investigative Reporter. Have you seen the other women that have gone missing in the last weeks in the same jurisdiction. Erica Perry and Sanchez-Dazir, they look a lot like her. And they're all missing. This isn't the last days, Nancy. We're not talking weeks here. We're talking the last days these women are going missing. There's no consistency here other than the fact that they were in one case,

Erica was out walking at one in the afternoon. Gone last time she's seen. All three women looked like they could be sister. When you look at those pictures right there, they look like their sisters and all are now missing from Prince George's County, Maryland. Wait a minute. Hold that photo. Hold the photo. Brian Fitzgibbonds, look how precious. Look how cute they are. And importantly, look at the similarities. Why do I care? Because, in my experience of having investigated and tried together over 10,000, yes, 10,000, after over 10 years trying cases in inner city Atlanta of cases, perps have a type. And I hate to boil it down to a word a type.

Look at the people Ted Bundy initially picked out many of his victims, all slight, thin, white. Females, long, dark hair, typically parted in the middle brown eyes. They all look like. They all look similar. Look at the similarities in these three young girls. You cannot get away from it, Brian. Shocking, shocking similarities, Nancy. And what an anomaly to say that we have these three women missing within 10 days of one another in the same county,

in the same jurisdiction. This is a major anomaly. What do you mean by major anomaly? Speak English, man. We're not all with USPA nationwide security. Okay? You act like you're talking to a person who's very fortunate, unlike you and I,

that have never been exposed to violent crime, okay? This is out of the ordinary is another way to say it. that this is not a pattern you would expect, right? That this is something that you do not see often. Three women, similar descriptions from the same area, going missing within 10 days of one another, and that none of them have turned up yet. You know, to Dave, Mack, I want to talk about the area.

We're saying three women, similar in appearance, go missing, all unsolved, in the same county. We are talking about Prince George's County. What, if anything, do we know about Prince George's County? And while you prepare that answer, I want to look at the video one more time. Another thing I'd want to know, and this is very significant, Randolph Rice, you joining me from Maryland, former prosecutor, defense attorney, civil attorney at Rice Murtha Soros. You can find him at ricelawmd.com. Randolph, when I look at similar transactions, when I'm preparing a case,

for trial. And the defense attorney starts gnashing his teeth and switching his tail when I say, hey, I've got any similar transactions I want to bring in his evidence. You have to look to see, are the victim similar? Are they similar in appearance? Are they similar in age? For instance, did they all go to the same school? Were they all in the same class? Did they all work at the same spot or in the same area? One works at the library and one works at the Starbucks across from the library. You look at that. You look at the time of day or night did they go missing? You look at whether boyfriends were involved. You look at how they went missing. Were they all driving their own car? And you look at the area. Did they all

disappear within three or four square blocks? It matters. That's what I'm talking about. And the more points of similarity, why do I care? Because it points to one perp. Nancy, dare, dare I say, we might have a serial kidnapper in that county. And you're exactly right. You know, these consistencies, these are the things that prosecutors like you and I look for try to develop a pace against the person who has potentially taken these three women. So you're right. Is it the, is it the race? Is it the location? Is it a similar person they're meeting up with? And that's kind of what my theory is here, is that there is somebody that she is meeting, whether it be a potential boyfriend or a love interest or, dare I say, was this something that she was out at the

1.30 in the morning maybe meeting up with somebody that was a bit nefarious, something like a drug transaction, which I hope that's not the case. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, blah, blah, blah, hold on. Stop everything. Rice. Don't start with me. This young girl has no history. She doesn't even have a juvenile history, which is really hard to find out. No juvenile history, no current history, no current history, no drug problem, no nothing. She's not out meeting a dope dealer. What, all three women are out meeting the same dope dealer? Just stop right there. Okay. Do not drag the victim through the mud. We don't know anything like that. I understand, Nancy, but I just, I think that there are obviously

some more of this story that there's possibly something going on. Like my mother always said, nothing good happens after midnight. Well, this is after midnight. And I'm worried that something bad happened after midnight. You totally stole that from nearly every single closing argument I've ever given. And now you're saying you got it from your mother. All right, fine. You got it from your mother. That said, I want to talk about the area very quickly.

And I agree with almost everything Randolph Rice said. Veteran trial lawyer, former felony prosecutor, now defense and civil. Dave Mack, tell me about this Prince George's County. All right. Like every other county in America, it's pretty spread out, Nancy. And when you look at the area here, we're looking at where Dakara was living with her dad is in Lanham in Prince George's County. Lanham has a very average crime rate, actually a little bit lower than in other areas. However, Hyattesville, Maryland, okay, where we've got Dakara going

missing, where we have Eric going missing, that is almost double the crime rate in Hyatt'sville against the national average. So you have Lanham, Maryland, where Dakara is living with their dad, minimal crime rate or average. However, nine miles away in Hyatt'sville. You've got almost double the crime rate. And that's where we have all three of these women now going missing from this area around Hyattesville and Riverdale. Those, they're but, you know, they butt up against one another. So, yes, Prince George's County. But in the community of Hyattesville and Riverdale, where we've got our women going missing, much higher than the national average.

Hmm. Okay. Brian Fitzgivens, let's analyze what he just said. if you've got the same perp snatching these women first of all if they're being lured the crime rate area of the area

doesn't matter but see what I mean because it's not like random crime they go out in a high crime rate area and they get mugged and killed or kidnapped or raped it's high crime

but if it's the same perp go with me on this if it's the same perp that is alluring them in some way he could be doing that from anywhere in Prince George. See what I mean? So crime rate does matter if it's not the same perp. If it is the same perp, then it's not as relevant.

I mean, we cannot discount it, Brian. Yeah, the relevant common connection is where the last known location of all three of these women was in Hyattesville. Okay, so that's going to immediately, and we know a general time for each of them, the date and a general time for each of them. And in the carer's case, we have a very specific time. So that's going to lead investigators to be able to analyze traffic cam, license plate readers, any security footage around the last known locations of all three women. Oh, my goodness.

Look at her. Look, guys. Look, look, look. Look at her. She's going to a dance or something. Oh, my goodness. She's so beautiful. Where is DeCara?

Listen. Daniel Thompson wakes up around 10 a.m. on August 23rd and doesn't see his daughter or her car parked outside. Calling and texting fails to get an answer or reply, so Daniel calls DeCara's mother, Carmen. She hasn't heard from DeCara, so she immediately begins tracking DeCara's iPhone. Her current location was off, but it did show her last known location near the intersection of Jasmine Terrace and Riggs Road. In the last hours, news about Dakara.

Dave Mack, what have you learned? Nancy, police have been playing the investigation close to the vest, but in a shocking turn of events, police now say they were able to find additional surveillance video from the night. DeKara Thompson parked her car in front of a fire hydrant facing the wrong direction. in this new video, it shows what happened after Dakara walks past the post office receptacle that was sitting there, and it reveals another vehicle, a black SUV, and the driver inside begins talking to Dakara. Now, something we've learned about Dakara, Nancy, is that she's not a great driver, and considering the time of night, it's like 1.30 in the morning when she parks her car and how her car is parked, you know, in front of a fire hydrant the wrong direction, and you could, can tell it's parked several feet off the curb. Is it possible that she was confused and maybe even lost,

and she's talking to the man in the black SUV for just a moment and then gets in the vehicle, he somehow convinces her to get in? Investigators are able to track that vehicle. This is the big issue here. Investigators are able to track that black SUV to a home in the 12,000 block of Cambridge Drive in Bowie, Maryland, more than 25 miles away from where she parked her car in Hyattsville. Dave Mack, do we know with COD?

Nancy, a search warrant was served early today at the home on Cambridge Drive in Bowie, Maryland. In particular, they searched the room where Hugo Hernandez-Mendez lives. Evidence indicates Dakara was murdered in that room. Then her body was moved to the location where it was found. No cause of death has been released at this time. Dave, Mac, I don't understand how her body is found. 20 miles away, at least 20 miles away from her car. Still a lot of unanswered questions at this point.

We don't know why suspect Hugo Hernandez-Hemendez was in Hyattsville, Maryland at the time he came in contact with Dakara. However, Dakara does get in his SUV. He takes her back to his room in Bowie, where he allegedly kills her, and then drives another 20 miles from Bowie to where he dumps her body near Annapolis, Maryland. Dave Mack, who is the perp? suspect is Hugo Hernandez-Mendez. He's 35 years old in the United States illegally. Here's the kicker. Hernandez-Mendez was arrested back in April on a DUI charge, but he was released pending

his trial and appearance in court. Now, he's sitting in jail charged with first and second-degree murder. He is in custody and being held without bond. On September 5th, detectives from the Prince Georgia County Police Department's homicide division developed probable cause to present charges for the murder of Dakar Thompson. This morning, criminal charges were issued for first degree and second degree murder. WSA9. Using the Find My iPhone app, Daniel Thompson arrives at Jasmine Terrace and Riggs Road in Hyattsville and finds Dakara's 2013 white Ford Edge parked going the wrong direction in front of a fire hydrant, but Dakara is nowhere around. Daniel Thompson calls police.

Inside the car, they find Dakara's purse with $60 cash, her driver's license, debit cards, bank cards, and house keys. On September 4th, several search warrants were obtained and executed pertaining to this case, which led detectives to obtain enough probable cause to take Hugo René Hernandez-Mendez into custody and present him to the court commissioner for the murder of Dakar Thompson. U.S.A. 9. Crime stories with Nancy Grace.

Back to the facts of the case. Dr. Kendall Crowns is joining us. Renowned medical examiner, chief medical examiner in Tarrant County, that's Fort Worth. He is an esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, and he's a star of new hit podcast, Mayhem in The Morg. All that's well and good, but what I care about is the literally thousands and thousands of autopsies and investigations he has performed. Dr. Kendall Crowns, this is why I say, I believe she was taken in a car or she's in a structure.

Because if they are doing the search, as I believe that they are, cadaver dogs and scent dogs would have been brought out. A cadaver dog will hit on dead tissue, dead human tissue. How long would tissue a body? How long would it take until a cadaver dog would sense it? When does a body start decomposing? There's really not a nice way to put this. When does the body begin to smell?

So bodies start decomposing the moment after they die. You body starts breaking down the minute your heart stops ceasing, you start breaking down. But what you're talking about is when it gets to the moderate stage of decomposition, when the body begins to bloat and gases begin to form and you start getting the smell of death, which people like to talk about. So that would be at about two days, two to three days-ish, depending on the weather. If it's hot outside, it would be quicker. If it's cold outside, it'd be slower.

but on average, under perfect circumstances, about two to three days, you'll start seeing the bloat, the green discoloration, and you'll start seeing the, or you'll start smelling the gases that are formed. That's usually when the vultures start circling. Dr. Kendall Crowns, I'm going to ignore the vulture imagery and move forward with a scientific discussion of bloat. Why does the body bloat, and is that when the body begins to smell? So bloating is the swelling of the body from the decompositional gases produced by the bacteria in your body breaking you down into like a liquid form, basically. And the bloating that occurs causes the body to diffusely swell, the face, the breast, the abdomen, the genitalia. And that is from the gas that is being formed. And the gas being formed is what causes the smell.

Dr. Kendall Crowns, you've dealt with this literally thousands of times. are you saying that after two to three days dogs would absolutely, cadaver dogs would absolutely have hit on her if she were lying out in the open? I would think so, yes. Dr. Kendall Crowns, would it matter the COD cause of death?

Would her body be more quickly findable by cadaver dogs if she had been shot versus asphyxiated, versus ligature strangling, versus stabbed? the manner, the cause of death, cause of death, does that in any way enhance the smell for dogs to find? So decomposition rates can be affected by the manner or the cause of which the individual died. In times when they're beaten or strangled or where there's a large amount of like physical activity associated with the death, that will actually increase the rate of decomposition and cause the individual.

to decompose faster. So, yes, it matters if they're beaten or strangled, but if they're shot or stabbed, it may not matter. Also, if they're using some sort of drug like cocaine or methamphetamine, that can also increase the rate of decomposition and make these smell occur quicker. You see where I'm going with this, Brian Fitzgibbon's USPA nationwide security? That's what I'm saying. She is not lying out in a forested area or in a dump or behind a Dixie dumpster. she hasn't been a throne in a trash bag on the street behind one of those buildings we were looking at at that video. Let's take a look at the video again because dogs would have found her immediately. They haven't.

That tells me she may have been taken in a vehicle or she's in a structure. What do you think? Yeah, and adding to your point, you know, this area that she was last seen is densely populated. Number of large apartment complexes nearby. if she were somewhere laying in that area, hidden in that area, she would have been discovered pretty quickly. Let's analyze this, Dave Matt, crime stories, investigative reporter. The dad uses the Find My iPhone app.

He arrives at Jasmine Terrace and Riggs. Okay, important note right here, the dad, when he realizes, wakes up, see, she hasn't responded to text and calls, he immediately calls 911. You know what that tells me? That she, hold on, let me go to Beth. on this, Dave, hold on. Bethany, that tells me that this was not an every night occurrence because if she routinely didn't show up the next morning, he wouldn't call police. He go,

ah, she slept out again. No, he immediately calls police. That tells me something, Bethany. She never stays out all night. This is extremely unusual behavior for her. So something did happen to her the night before. That's what it tells me. Back to Dave Mac. He uses Find My iPhone app, And we've seen that in a lot of other cases. And he gets to Jasmine Terrace and Riggs Road, that's Heightsville. He finds her white forward-edged parked, as pointed out earlier by Fitzgibbon's wrong direction in front of a fire hydrant. He immediately calls police in the car. They find, well, you tell me, what did they find in Dakara's car?

Nancy, they found her purse with $60 cash in it. They found her car keys. They didn't find her key fob, but we see when she's walking away, it looks like she's using the key fob to block it. They found everything except her phone and again, the key fob. Everything else left in the car. And by the way, it's left on top of the seat. It was like she got out, but was planning to come right back, parked in front of that fire hydrant going the wrong way. Not known as a great driver, but it seems odd that she would leave all of those things sitting right there like she was just hopping out for a minute.

and when she, but she never comes back. That's why God love her, her mother, Carmen, actually where they found the vehicle, she stayed there. She stayed there waiting to see if her daughter would come back for 48 hours, Nancy, for 48 hours, this mother, Carmen, you see the picture of her right there. She waited for 48 hours in that spot, praying, hoping her daughter would come back looking for her car. You know, Dave Matt, my heart's already breaking, but to think of her mother, refusing to leave DeCara's car, just standing there, waiting, pacing, crying, begging, praying,

waiting to see her daughter walk around the corner of one of those apartment complexes and come back to mom. To Randolph Rice joining us, former prosecutor, current defense attorney and civil lawyer, this is important. Why do I care if she was going to come straight back to the car? She wasn't planning on leaving the jurisdiction. She wasn't going on a trip. She wasn't going away for the weekend because nobody in their right mind and she was texting and speaking coherently and joyfully up until she disappeared. Nobody in the right mind would leave money, their pocketbook, driver's license, debit cards,

bank cards, and house keys on the seat. No, that would not happen. This is telling us something. What about it, Randolph? Well, what this also tells us is this is not a robbery or a theft. So the fact that those items are still in our car, whatever happened, the next step, whatever we see outside, we don't see outside of this frame, didn't involve somebody coming back to the car to get those items, which is very telling to a prosecutor. That could be something that, again, you know, there's somebody else involved outside of this frame. This is where cell phone records come into play because you've got the pinging off of tax.

all around this area. And my thought is, if I'm the prosecutor, I'm getting my detectives to start collecting cell phone tower data immediately to try to find a connection. And with all of those apartments and businesses, clearly they've got ring door cams, they have surveillance video. Where is it? I want to see it. Guys, you were looking at a 19-year-old teen girl who's staying the summer with dad says,

hey, I'm going out. I'll be right back. She's never seen again. This, as we now know, three women disappearing over the last weeks in the same area. This was not a carjack. This was not a theft. What was it? Listen.

Her purse was in her car. It had $60 cash in it. The only thing she had with her was her phone and her key file. Mom, Carmen Thompson, says since all of Dakara's money, wallet, and purse were in the seat of her vehicle. She thought she was coming right back. The only thing Dakara has with her when she leaves her car is her phone and key fob. As the search begins for Dakara, her mother won't leave and remains at the spot where her SUV was parked for the next 48 hours, waiting for her daughter to return. I sat there for two days for 48 hours just to see if she or someone else would come back to look for the car and nobody ever came back.

crime stories with nancy grace when she left her father's home the night of august twenty second she said she was going to get some gas and be out for a bit but would return shortly investigators find surveillance footage at a shell gas station at the east gate shopping center in lanham prince georgia county showing dekara getting out of her 2013 white fort edge as she gets gas this is before the vehicle was parked in front of a fire hydrant facing the wrong direction in Hydezville about nine miles away from her father's home in Lanham. She hasn't used any money. So I'm like, what is she eating? She has the same clothes for seven days. Something has to be wrong. Somebody has her. Somebody has her. That from our friends at W.S.A. 9. And you hear mom saying, what is she eating? Is she starving?

She hasn't used her money, her debit cards, credit cards. She's wearing the same clothes for seven days. something is wrong. Somebody has her. That's what mom is saying. Now, in the last hours, listen. We believe the murder occurred in the home on Cambridge Drive in Hernandez's bedroom. Her body was taken to the location that it was recovered at by Hernandez. At that time, at this time, there are no additional suspects. However, this investigation is ongoing. Okay, Dave Matt, crime stories investigative reporter, let me understand. A body has been found near another disabled car. Correct.

Authorities are saying the body is not connected to the disabled car. I'm not really sure how they know that, but that's what they're saying. They're also saying they have not identified the body. All I want is a yes-no. Is all that correct? Yes. Okay. Dr. Kendall Crowns joining me, Chief Medical Examiner, Terran.

County and star of mayhem in the morgue podcast dr crowns what they can't ID the body and now wait a minute that's been um several days one two three four five days going on six you can get a DNA match within 24 hours it's not going to be a one in five million DNA match but it'll be a one in 800 DNA match. So if they can't ID the body and why can't they look at the body and tell me, is it her? Is she wearing the same clothes? I can see her clothes that she's wearing. That makes me wonder, is the body unclothed?

Is the face disfigured? I mean, we've had plenty of time for a DNA match, Dr. Crowns. That's correct. You can get DNA matches quite quickly on individuals with rapid DNA. screens. Okay. What is that rapid DNA screen? Rapid DNA. The crime labs that we use here in Texas have rapid DNA screens where I know they can do a rapid analysis to get identifications on bodies quicker than the average DNA turnaround times. I mean, Dr. Kendall Crowns, immediate DNA matches have been made in times of war. Promptly, immediately. This is not new technology. So,

a DNA match can be made within hours. Again, it's not going to be one in eight octillion. It's going to be one in 800 or one in 1,000, which in this case is good enough. So that leads me to a whole host of questions to Dr. Bethany. This could mean any number of things. All they're saying is the body found is, quote, similar. What does that mean? Remember, Gabby Petito's body had been so destroyed by animals eating her. There's just really not. A lot of people say animal activity to make it somehow sound better. Ryan Laundrie left her dead body out there for animals to tear apart.

She was first identified by a unique t-shirt that she was wearing. So we're not getting a match to Dakara. Why are we not getting a match? It could be any number of things. What do you think? Well, what I'm thinking about, it's hard to speak to that, but what I'm thinking about is serial killers. Serial killers and was she the victim of one? And is there a serial killer in the area who's going on a killing spree? So here's the thing about serial killers. They are very

mobile. Once they've had victims in one city, they will drive and drive and drive to another one. They often go underground for long periods of time and then they strike and often they'll have one, two, three more victims and then they go underground again. They have the same victim types. And these women look so similar. The two other women disappeared in the afternoon, Nancy, like they were snatched. Now, the fact that serial killers are so mobile and they spend a lot of time looking for just the right victim tells me that possibly there was some killer driving around these neighborhoods. Just like Brian Coburger. with the white elantra i think it's important for the police or the investigators to look at all the

surveillance footage in the area and say who has been driving driving driving around that's what i think is important and you don't and see that video because you're playing it again it looks like a mailbox in the corner did you notice that and then she goes out of the frame and she also lifts her arm up to the right, just a little bit after she's already locked the car. So I was wondering if she was pulling a piece of mail out. Also, I would ask her parents, you know, 19-year-olds don't normally mail things, but did she have an application, a college application or something that she really needed to mail? And was that something on her errand list? To Randolph Rice joining us, former felony prosecutor now criminal and civil defense attorney at Rice, Murtha, and Soros,

Randolph, what do you make of this? The fact that they're saying, oh, it's similar for all I know is one of the two other victims that go missing in the same time span as Dakara or, Lord help us, a fourth person. Now, Nancy, I was thinking the exact same thing because the state police and the Prince George's County Police Department are being so tight-lipped about the fact who this actually is, which body this is, it's possible it could be one of these other women that have gone missing in the past. couple of weeks. So that same question arises when I think about this body found off Route 50, which is a heavily travel road. This is the road that connects Baltimore and Washington, D.C., to the eastern shore of Maryland. And this time of year, there are thousands, tens of thousands of cars traveling that road every single hour. Now, what do you believe, Brian Fitzgibbans, USPA, nationwide security, jumping off what Randolph Rice just said, what does that have to do

with this heavily, heavily traveled area. Yeah, you have three major roadways leading out of Hyattesville, heading to Route 50 in Anarundale County. You know, off the top of my head, I don't remember the route numbers, but there are three major routes that are going to have license plate readers that are going to have surveillance cameras. So my, what I really think is that the police are going to hold back

some information about this body as they start to analyze, who she could have been meeting up with, who drove out of that area in the days, you know, the hours following her disappearance. You know, another issue, Brian, is the heavily populated area where she walks away from her vehicle. Look, that's what we're seeing from that side. But what we're getting is clearly ring cam surveillance video from another dwelling. So you see the walkway leading right up to it.

So she's walking through a lot of homes, a lot of residences. They've got to have ring cams. What can we learn? Yeah, you would think that there's more security footage as she heads towards Riggs Road here. And another thing to point out, you know, Dr. Bethany, you know, pointed out that her arm was up. My first inclination there is, is she communicating with somebody? Is she speaking to somebody who's off camera there? you know that that was my first reaction to that i don't see anyone what do you make of that

dave mac i don't notice for speaking to anyone off camera do you see that i went no i went frame by frame on that video nancy to see what else could be found nobody in the car nobody's standing near the car nothing just i don't know why her arm was pointing up maybe double checking the locking i don't know but sadly that's all we have right now and by the way this didn't come from the police This actually was given to the family by the guys, by the man who actually had this video. So he gave it to the family and to a local TV station. That's how we got it. Another question that we didn't bring up is her phone was a disabled.

Does that mean it was cut off? Does that mean it was cut off? It didn't run out of battery. Dave Mack, it was particularly, it was intentionally cut off. That's what we've been told is that she was disconnected off. No idea at this point. Nancy. According to her family, she never cut her phone off.

Ever. And that's why they tracked it by the Find My iPhone app because they gave them the last known location. But it was off from that moment. The minute she gets there, her phone's off. For whatever reason, once she gets past that mailbox, it's done. A search warrant was served early today at the home on Cambridge Drive in Bowie, Maryland. The suspect is Hugo Hernandez-Mendez. He's 35 years old in the United States illegally.

No cause of death has been released at this time. If you know or think you know anything about the disappearance of Dakara or the other ladies, please dial 301-772-8-970. Repeat, 301-772-8-970. We remember an American hero, Officer Tara Cook, Whitfield County. Georgia killed in the line of duty, leaving behind a grieving husband, Seth. American hero, officer Tara Cook. Rest in peace. End of watch. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast.