Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Chase Massner Found: Waiting for an autopsy & arrest

Episode Date: August 2, 2017

With the discovery of human remains believed to be missing Iraq war vet Chase Massner in the backyard of a Georgia home, the man who lived there says he's "lawyering up." Nancy Grace and the Crime Stories team has been digging into this 3-year-old case for months, working with the cold case unit. This episode features on the scene reporting and calls from Chase's friends. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. His wife told us she dropped him off at a quick trip in Cobb County where he works. His family says he was last seen at a friend's house in Kennesaw three years ago on March 27th. It's like he vanished from that home not to be seen or heard from again. Living the last three years with the not knowing and without him here is pure hell. Despite some intense searching, few clues have been found. She tells me that as a mother, in her heart, she feels her son Chase is dead. We have absolutely no answers at all, not even the slightest clue in three years. We have been on the search now for months and months, joining together with a family in grief, a family looking for their boy, a boy turned man. A boy that turned into a soldier for our country. A

father. A husband. The search for Chase Masner. Finding Chase Masner. Today answers. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. We learn in the late, late afternoon. The worst, I believe, the worst possible scenario unfolds. Joining me right now, Daniel Wilkerson from Channel 46. Daniel is standing outside the medical examiner's office. Daniel, what happened? I'll tell you, it's been a shock for everyone. Right now, I'm standing outside, again, the medical examiner's office here in Cobb County, and we think we may get the preliminary results. Right now, they have just

told us that they found a body in the backyard of that home in Kennesaw. They have not made a positive ID as of yet, but I was speaking with Chase's mother, Stephanie, late last night, and she feels that this is Chase. Police told her something that has made her think that apparently there was something that they found with the body that makes them think that this is in fact Chase. I wonder if it's the cell phone or some other object belonging to him that she could easily identify. But the reality is Daniel Wilkerson, come on, get real, my man. I mean, a body is found underneath basically a porch under cement. And it is at the home where the last sighting of Chase Masner went down.

Of course it's him. I don't need a medical examiner to give me the dental records or the DNA to tell me this is Chase Masner went down. Okay. Of course it's him. I don't need a medical examiner to give me the dental records of the DNA to tell me this is Chase Masner. We have found Chase Masner. And I really wonder, I really wonder, Daniel Wilkerson, if it weren't for you and your reporting and our digging and showing up at the police station and trumping through the neighborhood and reinvestigating the case if anything would ever have happened because really what it boiled down to is taking dogs back to the scene tell me how the whole thing unfolded daniel wilkerson well about a month ago uh team chase it was really team chase who organized a canine search we took two canine dogs out yeah you're right you're absolutely right hold on I've got

to give them the credit because they were on this before you were on it, before I was on it, before anybody else was on it. This team of people that would not let it go as they call themselves Team Chase. Okay, tell me about them taking a dog back to the scene. Yeah, and we invited the Cobb County Cold Case Unit to come out. Of course, they were with us, and Tracy, who has a canine team, she brought her dogs out. We first went into the basement there in Kennesaw of that home, Brad Clement, his old home. The dogs looked around. They did not find anything in the basement, and then they took them to the backyard, and it took a little while. They did not initially search up close to the backyard and it took a little while uh they did not initially search up close to the house just thinking you know that you know who would

bury a body uh that close to a home and then uh about midway through the day they took the dog one at a time uh near the back door uh there is a deck that comes off of that back door. And strangely, there was a piece of cement. It looked like a makeshift foundation about the size of a body that was just in the middle of the underneath that deck. And it looked strange. She brought one dog and all of a sudden that dog just sat down right in the spot right next to that concrete and then she then went and got another dog took the other dog back got another dog he sat down in the same place and we were just flabbergasted okay let me set this let me set the scene because there is a no way no way that this was an accident, the burying or the disposal of this body. And that leads me to

my next conclusion. If you bury a body in secret, the question is why? Okay. Why? Why don't you call 911? Why don't you scream out for help? Why? What is it about the body that makes you go bury it under a porch, under cement in the backyard. Let's start at the beginning. I jumped the gun and went to the end. With me, Daniel Wilkerson from Channel 46, standing outside the medical examiner's office right now, waiting on word because the cause of death on Chase Masner, man, I never even thought I was going to be saying those words. I always held out. There was a chance, just a chance, that he had dropped off the grid and was living under a bridge in California. I don't know what I thought. I guess I was hoping this would not be the outcome.

But let's start at the beginning. Lee Egan from CrimeOnline.com has also been on the case from the very, very beginning. Lee, unfold the scenario. Chase goes to Iraq, okay, comes back home, beautiful wife, two little girls, Amanda, and she was under suspicion too. She had not been ruled out in my mind, but when I met her and talked to her, there was really no doubt in my mind. Amanda had nothing to do with this. Tell me how it all unfolds. He comes home, they start having financial problems and what happened lee egan yeah he was the rumor was that they were fighting a lot um when we spoke

to amanda last time she wasn't a rumor lee she told me amanda told me okay well the rumor was that she was constantly throwing him out of the car which i don't know how much of that is true she did say the one night they got in a really big fight, her children were in the back seat and they stopped the car and he got out because they didn't want to fight in front of the kids. And it was that little thing right there that sparked all kinds of rumors that she was possibly involved, which after we met her, I do not think she is whatsoever.

Well, wait a minute. I also remember Lee Egan, Daniel, Daniel. We'll always have the flop house, Daniel, me and you, because you remember the morning that we showed up bright and early because I said, look, anybody that stays out all night and parties and drinks, et cetera, they're like vampires, okay? They want to sleep late. And we showed up at his door. I don't even know what time it was.

Early in the morning. Started banging. Pretty early. Sure enough, he was in there asleep. And we got him. And we talked to him. And his story did not exactly fit together. But his demeanor. He seemed

friendly and affable. But then, Daniel, every time we tried to reach him to take his polygraph, he'd leave town or he'd have an excuse. Or right after we were there, he suddenly quit his job and left. He did. You know, all the signals were there. Every time we got close to him, he'd disappear. So take it from there, Daniel Wilkerson, Channel 46. He comes home.

They have problems. And yes, Amanda put him out of the car. She told me that herself. Lee is right. So then what happens that day? She put him out of the car. She said that she was not just going to leave him on the side of the road. She tried to calm him on the side of the road. She was able to talk him back into the car, and they decided that Chase would be dropped off at his place of employment. He worked, of course, at the QT, the quick trip. They're in Kennesaw, probably less than two miles from Brad's home. They went to the QT, and that is the last time that Amanda says that she saw her husband. And so once at the QT, Brad, excuse me, Chase places a call to Brad. Brad tells Chase that he is at that point at a computer store picking up some parts. Chase tells Brad that he wants him to come pick him up.

And so that is what happened. Brad shows up at the quick trip. He says that they stayed there for about 30 minutes. We had heard rumors that inside Chase was acting kind of erratic. Brad said that it was just Chase being Chase. Other people said that as well. of Brad and Chase, and they go to Brad's home. This is all according to Brad, where they sit in Brad's home, in his bedroom all night discussing the problems. The relationship. Yeah, the relationship problems. So hold on. Daniel Wilkerson joining me right now is a key member of Team Chase

who's been looking for Chase Massner from the very, very beginning. Kim Harris joining me. Kim, thank you so much for being with us. First of all, I want to hear your reaction to what we now know. That is Chase under that patio. I know that it's him. I don't need a medical examiner to tell me that. I want to hear your response. I agree. I'm in shock that it took over three years. And I feel like we all knew three years ago, but none of us would have ever expected it to be in for him to have buried him in his own backyard. And basically for it to be right under everyone's noses this whole time right here's the thing absolutely so where daniel left off daniel wilkerson left off so chase and amanda have another argument look you don't go to school your whole life go become a war hero come back

to go work at the quick trip. You don't grow up thinking, hey, I want to sell slushies at the quick trip. No, you don't think that. But he was having all sorts of problems, allegedly having post-traumatic stress syndrome from being in Iraq, really hard time being away from his mom. They were very close with his wife his two little girls had a really hard emotional time comes home it can't assimilate back into civilian life

it's not working he and amanda fight all the time they've got a brand new baby no money you know just a really bad scene for everybody. A lot of arguing. So there's no doubt about it. Kim, she puts him out of the car, right? And ultimately that night says, okay, okay, I'll take you over and you can go be at Brad's, stay at Brad's place tonight. They go to the quick trip. She leaves him. Bam. Never sees him again. It's amazing to me, Kim, that all this time he's been right there. So that night, Brad Clement, good friend, Brad Clement, he says they stay up all night long talking about the relationship and that the next morning Chad chases asleep,

won't wake up. And then for some reason, inexplicably, he invites a construction crew working on his house for a barbecue in the backyard. And in the middle of all that, he catches the backyard on fire. I'm talking about Brad. I mean, Kim, how obscure is that scenario? It doesn't make sense. And now we know why it was all a coverup, Kim. It was. And I actually am the one that talked to Brandon Duck on the recording that you have. And everything that he told me, the walkthrough of the house, all of that was coverup. I knew it from the very beginning. We all knew from the very beginning. And it just, it makes it so tough because he was an adult and he had the right to walk away. And until they were able to have enough evidence to say that he didn't just walk away,

we were stuck and never did we think it would be three years later. And honestly, you guys thank us, but we thank you guys because without y'all, we wouldn't be here right now. You know what? I just wish that with all of Daniel Wilkerson's work and all of Crime Online, attention to it and writing about it and conducting interviews, I just wish there had been a different outcome. Let's take a listen to what Brad Clement, the last person to have seen Chase alive, had to say what he told me and Daniel to our faces. Listen. Did you go under the premise

that Amanda had come and picked him up from your house while you were at Lowe's? I always thought she picked him up when I was either like right where I was at Publix or right when I got back like because when I went upstairs to go get him um I mean I was like I ran up there because I had set the backyard on fire and I was like man did you you know I just remember I was kind of like really you know I had a lot of energy because I just put out this big fire in my backyard. And that's when I realized he wasn't there. And then I, you know, the roofers, because they had just come inside because I had to get them off the roof because it was so smoky. And, you know, I asked them, I was like, did y'all see my buddy leave?

And, you know, they were like, you know, who? You know, it didn't, like like nobody was there like type deal and you know the other three hispanic guys didn't really speak english so you know i just kind of you know talked to the one yeah brandon yeah but i mean i was always in the impression that they thought that they saw him leave just because they were up there on the roof and you know I was coming and going and you know but they didn't I guess not I mean I always thought they did but there was a voicemail wasn't there a voicemail where you left chase a voicemail on his phone hey man where did you go something like that in there yeah okay yeah I mean that's that's when I was like calling him you know trying to you know figure out you know but that's when I was, like, calling him, you know, trying to, you know, figure out, you know.

But that's what he always did. He always left, you know, and just wouldn't return my calls, like, for a couple days. And then we'd be like, yo, man, I'm all right. You know, I'm doing such and such. I left with Amanda. Because that was the first time I talked to him. That's the same thing he did. Like, he just left, you know, and didn't tell me he was leaving.

And, you know, Amanda would just show up all of a sudden I think she'd be like hey I'm here come on let's go and that was that. But in the voicemail didn't you say hey man the roofers saw you leave where'd you go something like that? I mean I don't know I was probably just saying that just so he'd come back like I mean because I just wanted him I bought all this food too and I had like you know just a bunch of it went to waste I wanted him to come back just to kind of you know eat some food and kind of squash the whole thing with him and Amanda like I really wanted to like I really thought I was helping at this point so I really wanted to talk to him like both you know and kind

of just like like I said I mean at this point I thought it was helping out you know and you know I guess you know they had their own agenda or whatnot I mean when you went over there to see her that night after she called you and wanted you to come over mm-hmm did you ever say well didn't you pick him up yeah I mean that's that's the whole thing I told her when she called me the first time. She's like, no, I didn't pick him up. And then that was that. And then we would talk about something else. It was just, that was the big thing, was that she just never seemed that worried. She never seemed like she didn't know where he was. Like, it was, you know, she was more wanting to get stoned

or just kind of wanting to, you know, I guess just, you know, get on with her life. I don't know. It was just, she never seemed that concerned. So that is what Brad Clement told Daniel and I that early morning. And we were there forever. Daniel, we wouldn't let him out of our sight. No. In fact, we guarded the door.

Did I even let him take a shower or no? No. You know, when we came in, one thing that really struck me, you kind of talked about his countenance once we got there. If you remember, Nancy, when we got there, we went in. You sat on his bed. He grabbed a chair. I sat on the side, and he in. You sat on his bed. He grabbed the chair. I sat on the side.

And he went and grabbed a bowl of cereal from the refrigerator and started eating it. He got done with it and said he wanted to go smoke a cigarette. You said, hey, you can go smoke a cigarette on the patio. Come back. And we stood right there and stared at him so he couldn't get away. Yes. And I will admit that when I kept saying I had to go to the bathroom, I did go search his bathroom.

I was just trying to find out if there was anything in there that could connect back to Chase Masner, okay? Say what you want. I know you laughed at me later. I did. Yeah, I went through everything I could find just looking, just trying to find anything, anything that would relate back to Chase. So on that day, he gave this story. And I did notice then that he kept adding obscure,

odd details to things. And he really, you know it, Daniel, he really pointed the finger at Amanda. And he cooked up the scenario that while he was out running errands that morning, the morning Chase was killed. Chase was killed sometime during the night of the morning because he gave that tour of the home to people on the construction crew. I don't believe any of them ever saw Chase and he blamed it. Brad blamed it on Chase moving bedrooms. I don't know if he was even alive that day. I think he may have been killed during the night. Well, I will tell you, you mentioned that fire in the backyard when he went out to barbecue for the roofers. I spoke with Brandon Duck after the dogs hit in the backyard because I wanted to know exactly where that grill was and what part of the backyard caught on fire.

And in fact, it was, according to the roofer, it was the same area where those dogs hit. Whoa. Well, speaking of Brandon Duck, who was running the construction crew, I seem to believe I got a piece of him, too. Take a listen. How would you describe Brad's behavior during those two days or while you guys were eating the barbecue? He was just all over the place, like on edge, real hyper, didn't have much of an appetite. Didn't what?

He didn't really have, he was talking all over the place, talking real fast all the time. Took him a while to eat. Did he ever even mention Chase? Yeah, he said his friend was gone. And that kept happening since we saw him leave and stuff. We never saw him there to begin with. There was something you tripped over in the backyard? Yeah, it was like a little grave that he said was for, I think, a dog or something.

It was right outside the fence. There's like a little headstone. So that was Brandon Duck. I had heard so much about him, but he seemed pretty straightforward when I spoke to him. And I believed him. The only story that really never made sense, despite his demeanor, was Brad Clement. The story just didn't fit together. And do you remember, you remember Daniel?

He kept pointing the finger at Amanda and even cooked up the scenario and gave it to me and you with a straight face that he thought while he was gone or at some juncture that Chase got a call from Amanda, went outside, and she picked him up and left, and nobody ever told him. That was what he told us. Remember? Yes. Yes. Yes, yes. And then you have to also remember the fact that he took, according to his own admission, he took Chase's phone for a couple of trips. Yeah, we didn't think that made sense either.

Why would you take somebody's cell phone? And he told us, Daniel, he did it so Chase wouldn't leave. And he kept pounding home to you and me. He kept saying, that was Chase's M.O. He would just get up and leave and never tell me. Remember, he kept saying that over and over and over. That was a big red flag. He kept blaming Amanda, just outright blaming her.

But when we spoke to Amanda, she didn't blame Brad. She pointed out problems with the story, but she wasn't trying to point the finger, really, at anybody else. Guys, I want to thank our partner. In addition to our awesome guests today, Daniel Wilkerson from Channel 46, who's been on the case. Kim Harris, who's been on the case from the very beginning, trying to find Chase Masner. Lee Egan from CrimeOnline.com, who never gave up. Alan, the Duke, joining me also on the story. I want to take a listen to what who emerged as a

potential suspect but I'm telling you after I met her and her sister and really got to know them and then she pursued me to come back for a polygraph. I mean, I've never had a potential suspect in a case. Ask me, will you please take my polygraph? I'll fly back to town with my children in tow, and you give me a polygraph. Never happened in the history of the earth by a person who's guilty. After she did that, I'm like, oh, you know what? You're fine. Don't worry about it. But take a listen to what Amanda Masner say. She took a lot of heat online. A lot of people blamed her when she packed up and moved out of town. Why? Because everybody was treating her like she was the killer, but she wasn't. And now we know the truth, the whole truth. Listen to what Amanda says. So the day he goes missing, you're in court. Correct.

When did you start trying to find Chase? When I got out of court. I mean, I was texting him, like on and on. Did he ever text back? No. I didn't speak to him one time that Thursday. The last time you spoke to him was when you dropped him off. Or that night when you sat him checking to see if you were okay.

Correct. Do you believe Chase committed suicide, either on purpose or inadvertently? It doesn't matter what I believe. It matters to me. Well, then maybe off the record you and I can talk about that. We're trying to figure out if you, the person that knew him the best, thinks he was killed or met with foul play. I don't believe that.

You don't believe somebody killed him? I don't. Do you think there's any chance he's still alive? No. You just heard Chase's wife, Amanda, and the pain and the emotion of all this is still just below the surface with her. She burst out crying. Her sister started crying after we had spoken with them.

I mean, it just doesn't take much to really, really bring out her emotions regarding the disappearance of her husband, the father of her children. They're alone now. They got nobody. True, she and Chase argued a lot after he came home from Iraq for many different reasons. But that doesn't mean she doesn't love him to this very day. And to find out he's buried beneath a patio, beneath a slab of cement. Well, you know what? I couldn't write this if I were writing it in a crime novel. I couldn't make it up.

But last night, believe it or not, Brad Clement calls Daniel Wilkerson. Listen. They OD'd at my house. I would have just called the cops. I called 911. I'm on the nurse. Like, I know. It's not like they would have arrested me if you would have OD'd at the house.

So you're saying you were just as shocked when you heard that there was a body. How did you find out about it? Wait, just came over to my house and told me about it. I mean, I don't understand why they didn't find it the first time. If it was when they searched the dog. Well, Tracy, the one with the dogs, Tracy, she told me that she thought Cobb County police had searched. She said she never searched your backyard.

I mean, I thought they had already gone through there and searched it before. Like, I mean, they had horses back there. Like, I'm pretty sure they had gone back there before. Well, I was there when the dogs came, when they brought the dogs out. And I mean, both of the dogs independently went and sat right in that area where they found chase or where they found the body I'm sure they'll offer you a public defender. I mean, if you couldn't afford an attorney. Well, I'm just trying to see what reason would a person have for setting you up, though?

That's a much better question i just i just don't see how or why it's just like why what the so daniel wilkerson let's break down what Brad Clement tells you. They find a dead body in his backyard. Okay. What do you make of his conversation? Well, you heard him there. He says that it is a setup and that he was as shocked as anyone.

He told me, like you said. A setup? By who? The construction crew? That's what I asked him. I said, who would set you up, Brad? He said, I don't know. He said, why would I kill Chase?

Yeah, why would he? That's my question. I'll tell you what's going to answer a lot of questions is what the medical examiner has to say. If Chase ends up with a lot of drugs in his system, it's a lot different than if he ends up with a blow to his head. Okay? So the medical examiner is going to have a lot to tell us. Right, Daniel?

That is right. That is right. And like I said, we expect that preliminary report, and we'll just see. But, yeah, Brad, he says that he doesn't feel like he should have to lower you up. But at this point, he says that's what he is going to do. Hold on. Kim Harris from Team Chase is with us in addition to Lee Egan and Daniel Wilkerson and Alan Duke. Kim, what's your response?

A setup. It makes no sense. Someone went to the extreme to set him up. And mind you, Brad made it very clear to us in the very beginning, week one, that he has video cameras, had video cameras around the entire property. So for someone to bury a body in his backyard and then be so nice to come back, however long later and cover it with cement, it makes no sense. Yeah. I mean the, the setup, hold on guys. I think joining me right now is another very special guest that may shed light on this.

It's Sherry and Marietta from Team Chase. Sherry, what an unfolding of events. I had been hoping against hope for a different answer, Sherry, but literally it was right under our noses. We've all been tromping through that yard. It's just incredible to me that it's taken three years. Sherry, weigh in. I'm with Kim. I think it's for somebody to go to that extreme. She and I both stood in the driveway the first night that we went to speak to him. And like he said, there's cameras. There's

a camera that just last week is still there. As a matter of fact, I went by the house myself. There's still a camera right outside the garage door, right where you saw the truck taking the medical examiner's truck yesterday. And to not be able to go back and get that to see who did that to him, come on now. If you've got cameras, go pull it up. Go show us who did this. But we all know who did it. Sherry, the fact that there are cameras really limits what he

could have done how he could have disposed of the body if the cameras were even working let's go out to the lines joe in florida hi joe what's your question hey there nancy i have i have a few comments uh which which lead to questions uh i can't believe the stupidity of so many perps uh to bury a body right in their own backyard i mean even well he did manage to trick us for three years though so yeah he got it over on us for a while even a despicable casey anthony buried the baby a few blocks away you know i i mean but i'm looking at it and I can't believe the stupidity. And yes, it was. And it's a heartbreaking story of this veteran. No question. And he must have been in absolutely terrible shape.

And nobody was getting him help, you know. And by the way, I don't want to make light of this. Joe, he was a young guy. He had his whole life in front of him. And he was really battling some demons, I think, as a result of coming home from Iraq. It's heartbreaking. Wait a minute. Let's talk about what he said, the stupidity of Brad Clement. Hold on. Think about it.

Was he stupid? Was he crazy or crazy like a fox? Because, think about it, Joe. Everybody knew Chase had been at his house. They knew he had been there. He had a construction crew on his roof for Pete's sake. So what's amazing to me, and I'm going to throw this to Kim Harris on Team Chase, what's amazing to me is I'm not regarding it as stupidity.

I'm regarding it as great cunning on his part that given the confines of the house, that there was a construction crew on the top. It's in a neighborhood. Somehow he managed to get the body out of the house and bury it under everybody's noses and cover it with a slab of cement. What about that, Kim? I wouldn't say it's crazy. More crazy like a fox.

Well, you're absolutely right, because in the beginning, our biggest fight was we wanted that dumpster search. That's, honestly, we thought answers were at the landfill. Never, ever did any of us think the backyard. So you're right. Wow. Okay. any of us think the backyard. So you're right. Okay, also with me is a guest from Team Chase who has been on this from the very, very beginning,

Sherry and Marietta. What do you make of Joe's theory? He was stupid. And my counter theory, it wasn't stupid at all. You know, like you say, put it right in front of their face and they'll never see it. And I think he believes his own story. So everything that he

comes out with is truth to him in a roundabout way. I think he tells his own truth with his lies, if that makes sense. Yeah, you know what? Let's analyze what she just said, Daniel Wilkerson. For those of you just tuning in right now, we have been on the trail of

finding Chase Masner, a very handsome young guy, an Iraqi war vet who comes home, can't find a job, has a beautiful wife, two beautiful little girls that adore him. He can't fit into civilian life. He's all messed up from Iraq. And suddenly he goes missing. And I've got to tell you, what really broke my heart, Daniel Wilkerson is talking to his mom.

Remember when we went out there and we sat down with her and talked to her, and she had all those pictures. Hold on, Alan Duke, do you remember? We went out to talk to her, and she had out on the dining room table all the pictures of Chase as a little boy. And I got to tell you, it's really upsetting me because I think of all the pictures I have of the twins and, you know, how much they mean to me. And she had all those pictures out.

And when she tried to show them to us, Alan, she broke down crying. Remember? There was not a dry eye in that room back in March when we sat down and talked with her in her home. I mean, that's what I keep thinking about, Daniel. Yeah. And I'll tell you, I was on the phone with her until late last night. And I think in some ways she is relieved because she all along, she told you, you Nancy that she just wanted to find her son um she got the news from police as she was driving to the airport yesterday thankfully her husband was in the car with her and police told her before they even notified her to pull over and let her

husband drive um but yeah it was she she's in pieces as you would imagine. I just can't even imagine it. I mean, right now, just, I'm just getting chills all over my arms. We spent so much time with her and I wanted a different outcome so much, Daniel. I didn't want it to be this way so much. And Nancy, don't forget that right after we spoke with Brad that day, we had a meeting and brought together Brad and Stephanie, Chase's mom. That's right. And she had all the questions for him. And, you know, when I look back on it, you can see the awkwardness he had toward. I just chalked it up to him being, you know, an awkward person.

But remember how awkward he was when the mom had questions for him, and he was answering in monosyllables, and she tried to hug him, and he just kind of like stood there like a wet cat. I mean, it just, it was all there, Daniel. It was all right in front of us. Yeah, and he was adding details when he spoke with the mom that day. Of course, I had heard the story, I don't know, his account from him, I don't know, by that time, probably six or seven times, you had heard it two or three times from him. And when I was sitting there with you and Stephanie and Brad,

he was adding details that he had never told me. And I thought that was odd. Daniel, we talked about that. Remember how adding details is not always the kiss of death, but when you start changing details, and his story started slightly changing during all that. It's really hard for me to accept that the search is over. You know, Daniel Wilkerson, when they were digging up the body

just a couple of hours ago, what was the team telling you? I mean, what do they think is going to be the cause of death? I mean, what was it about those remains that they could immediately identify? This is Chase. You know what? I do not know what was down there. There was something, though. When I arrived, they had not yet.

They had made the dig, but they had not yet taken the body up. And what did you see? I saw, I stood on the side of the house so I could just see a mound of dirt. But of course, the lead investigator, he came out and spoke with me and I asked him whether or not the body was intact. And he told me that it was, but he made a face that indicated to me that there was something else either there or I don't know exactly what the face was but I was there as they wheeled the body around and they put it into the medical examiner's vehicle and at that point what I saw was a white tarp and it looked like any other body inside a bag that I had ever seen. Of course I

couldn't see the body but you could tell that it was a body. Well you could tell from his expression there's something about the body. It's not dismembered it's intact but there's something about it. I wonder if they already know just from a cursory look. Out to the lines. Brian in Detroit.

Hi Brian. What's your question? Not really a question. I'm just happy that it's over. And I just want to thank you and your team for helping out. I am one of the ones that's been following the case since it began. I deployed with Chase. I lived with him for some time. He was a really close friend.

And I'm just glad to see the search is over. I just hope the truth comes out. And I want to thank you for everything you did did and knocking on his door and going after him and everything. It was awesome to see somebody finally caring enough to do something about it. So thank you for that. Brian, that really means a lot to me. That really means a lot to me. Out of all the cases I ever prosecuted, I remember the only thing that really matters in the end is when family and friends care about what you did. You said you know Chase.

Tell me about him. He loved life. He was I knew the military side of him, the family oriented side. He loved his family. When there was some moving around and I had gone through a divorce and before I found a place, Chase let me stay with him and I stayed with him for a couple months. Him and Amanda they were always happy. They loved each other.

He loved his kids. He was just so happy all the time. He was always smiling, hilarious, one of the funniest guys I've ever met. He was just full of life. Just anybody would have enjoyed to be around him. He was one of the greatest guys I've ever known in my life. I'm just drinking in, just taking in what you said and thinking about what his life could have been.

He was trying really hard to work things out with his wife, and she was trying too. They did not want a divorce. They wanted to stay together. He had two little children to raise. He had his whole life in front of him. That will never happen. These children will grow up with a dad. The only thing really right now, like you said, Ryan, is we now know what happened. We know what happened. And I don't know what kind of peace that's going to bring the mom.

Yeah, I just hope that the lies from Brad then stop, and I hope he just tells the truth wholeheartedly what happened so there's some full closure. To Kim Harris on Team Chase I'm listening to what Brian is saying and it's it's really bringing home about a life

cut short as if we didn't already know that but the way he says it is so poignant to me. Kim at the very beginning Daniel Wilkerson and I both saw big holes, big problems with Brad Clement's story. When did you grow to suspect what he was saying? Immediately. Immediately.

Within a week, we actually went out. Sherry Dunn was with me and several other people. We went out to Brad's house, and we went for answers. Some of Chase's friends went with us. It was a group of us, and we went for answers. And his story was conflicting immediately. I actually spoke to him on the phone earlier that day, and he told me a totally different story than he told the detective that day, and then turned around and told us a whole other story when we got there. So immediately, his story was always shaky. Yeah, you know, Daniel Wilkerson, you and I both had big problems with his story. But when we met with him, his demeanor was like, you know, a laid back dude, kind of like the guy that never gets out of that living in your messy bedroom college phase that kind of got stuck there. And he seemed willing to talk to us.

But then every time we wanted to go a step further, he'd just disappear. Basically, I had to go grab him by the collar and get him in the car. And then even after that, even after the dogs hit on Human Remains, which was a month ago, I spoke with Brett after that. And he said that he was, again, shocked. But his concern, he says, was for the people, the new owners that live there. He said, why are you guys taking these people through this? And I thought it was odd. I said, well, Brad, you know, this may be an opportunity for you to clear your name.

But he was concerned, he said, about the new owners. What about them? He thought that we were just taking them. You don't think they'd want to get the dead body out of their backyard he was he says he was concerned about them and i thought that was a little odd right after that he took off with his family he says to a beat to to a vacation on the beach and he was there for two and a half weeks and um that's when he dropped contact with me in the past he had always returned calls from me within a day or two, but then he went completely silent until yesterday.

A lot is going to depend on what we learn from the medical examiner. All of us, Daniel Wilkerson, Sherry, Kim, Allen, Lee, we're all standing by to hear those results. I want to take one last listen to Chase's mom. And if you agree with me, you will know we have to find justice for Chase Massner. The first several weeks, they were not actively investigating because, in their words, it's not a crime to be missing. If he wanted to walk away, it's not a crime. Okay, let's talk about that.

Had he ever in his life gone this long without texting you or calling you? Ever? Never. And you know what I say? If you don't know a horse look at his track record so what somebody has done in the past they're likely to do again if he had gone his whole life texting you and calling you every what day other day what all the time then why would he quit that day right and say to-E-L-L with my mother.

See, I don't believe that. I don't either. I just want to know the truth. I want to know what happened to Chase. Do you believe Chase is still alive? I do not. Now, are you saying that with your heart and your head, or...? Yes. I don't believe he's alive. Can you think of a reason

that anyone would have wanted him dead? Not a single reason. I've lived the last three years not knowing. And every single day is just hell. We're on the case. Stay with us. Nancy Grace Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend.