Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Desperate Family Search for Missing Grandson

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

T'Montez Hurt is a Missouri Western State University freshman, but the 19-year-old is originally from St. Louis. On Thursday, February 1, Hurt is with a friend in Kansas City when he makes an early morning phone call to his grandmother.  Tecona Donald-Sullivan says she says he isn't sounding like his normal self, he sounds as if he is scared, terrified, as if he is in some mental distress. She calls Kansas City police, who can track Hurt down and take him to Saint Luke's Hospital, but he is released after a few hours of observation. According to his grandmother,  Hurt is taken by Z Trip Taxi to the Greyhound bus station. The station,  however, is closed when Hurt arrives just before noon.   Hurt discovers he has left his phone in the Z Trip Taxi and is seen on surveillance video trying to get back into the taxi but cannot. He starts walking, south. Hurt has been missing now for two weeks. Anyone with information should contact the Kansas City Police Department's Missing Persons Unit at 816-234-5043. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Tecona Donald-Sullivan -  T’Montez Hurts’ Grandmother  Barry Hutchison Sr. – Former Law Enforcement, Owner & Chief Investigator for Barry & Associates Investigative Services LLC Dave Mack - CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You got to help us. This teen boy is missing. After a series of one fail after the next after the next, we can't find him. A freshman at Missouri Western State University, the apple of his grandmother's eye,

she is with us now begging for your help to find her grandson, her baby, to Montez Hurt. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories

and on Sirius XM 111. How does a freshman at Missouri Western State University vanish? Listen. Timontez Hurt is a freshman at Missouri Western State University, but the 19-year-old is originally from St. Louis. On Thursday, February 1st, Hurt is with a friend in Kansas City when he makes an early morning phone call to his grandmother, Tacona Donald Sullivan.

She says he isn't sounding like his normal self. He sounds as if he is scared, terrified, in some kind of mental distress. She calls police in Kansas City, and they're able to track Hurd down and take him to St. Luke's Hospital. So, this freshman is afraid. He's so afraid, he calls his grandmother. She can tell something's horribly wrong. So she has him taken to the hospital. She's so convinced something is wrong with her grandbaby.

He gets to the hospital. He's clearly in some kind of mental distress. And what do they do? They let him go. Listen. Tomontez Hurt is picked up by police in Kansas City after his grandmother calls and tells them she's worried he's having some type of mental distress. Police take Hurt to St. Luke's Hospital, but he's released after a few hours of observation. According to his grandmother, Tacona Donald Sullivan, Hurt is taken by Z-Trip taxi to the Greyhound bus station. Arriving at the bus station just before noon at 11.53 a.m., the station is closed.

Hurt has left his phone in the Z-Trip taxi, and he can be seen on surveillance video trying to get back into the Z-Trip taxi, but is unable to get back into the vehicle. So he starts walking south. I left my phone in a taxi in New York City. It had all of my photos, everything on it. I did everything. I tried to track it. I tried to get the cab driver. I called the Division of Cab Enforcement. I did everything. I even offered a reward because I wanted the Christmas photos off the phone. I never got my phone back. And I was doing everything I as a lawyer knew to do to find my phone.

Can you imagine this teen? He's already having some type of a mental episode. So bad that he calls his grandmother for help and she gets him help and she gets him. And grandma gets him to the hospital and then they let him go in a taxi. And then to top it all off, he leaves his phone in the taxi. He tries to get it back. He can't catch the cab. And now this. Listen to our friends at Crime Online. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has issued a missing persons

report for Tamontes Hurt. Hurt's grandmother, Tacona Donald Sullivan, lives in St. Louis, but she's now in Kansas City to file a police report. Officers are able to find Hurt on traffic cameras on Thursday afternoon, still walking south. He was seen on the traffic cameras near 77th and Troost, so that is where Tacona Donald Sullivan is standing handing out flyers. She hands out flyers up and down Troost and says she isn't leaving without her grandbaby, 19-year-old Tamontes Hurt. Can you imagine the grandma out on the street corner handing out flyers? Can we please help her find her grandbaby? A freshman there at Missouri Western State University, Tomontez, just so handsome, last wearing a royal blue price chopper uniform polo shirt, green

sweatpants. Joining me right now is the grandmother, T'Kana Donald. Ms. Donald, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. Ms. Donald, tell me what happened. Start at the beginning when you get the phone call from your grandbaby, Tomantes. When I get the phone call, when I first noticed it, I get up at 3 in the morning. And so I was getting dressed and I said, okay.

I got my coffee and everything. I'm like, what's going on? I called Tomantes. The first call, I missed his call. So I called him back. And I called him back at 3-something. And Tomantes was really, his voice was high-pitched. And I was like, Tomez, what's wrong?

And he was like, granny, I'm scared. And I said, here's what he said. I think somebody did something to me. I think he did something so I can hear a girl in the back and I'm like, who is she? Who is she? Come on, Tess. And he was like, granny, it's a girl I met. But then he changed, and then he said he looked,

I guess he was acting like he was talking to her. He was sounding like he was talking to her because he was saying, what did you do to me? What did you do to me? And I was like, Tamontez, who is that? And he was just so, so just out of it. And I have an Android phone come on Tessa have the iPhone and so he knows how to FaceTime me on my Android

we you we usually meet through meat so I see it because at this point I want to see how he's looking I was like to my tears what's going on I was like, Tamontez, what's going on? I was like, Tamontez, FaceTime me. He said, Granny, I don't know how to FaceTime. That really just started making me, because he knows how to FaceTime me. He FaceTimed me all the time. So I ran through the house, and I'm looking. So I'm trying. I said, who is that? that and the girl finally said her name was Naya and she was like Tamontez where are you doing that he was like and I could hear him like running and I'm like what are you running and so by this time I'll go get my iPhone because I have an iPhone where I text where I just only use it for Tamontez for my grannies because for FaceTiming.

And so I FaceTimed him, and I got my Android, and then I said to my kids, calm down, calm down. He was like, just pray with me, granny, just pray with me. Then I began to pray, and then I said, my dad, calm down, calm down. So I get him to calm down. And I remember looking at him in the hallway. I could see his face, but he still looked at like my sweet grandbaby. He still looked just like him.

And I was like, what's wrong? But his eyes was like he was looking at somebody. You know how when you look into the side and so i was like martin's who is it what is going on and he was like so at that time i dialed 9-1-1 from my android on my android phone because i see her at him on FaceTime. So I said, can I please get a police to Kansas City? So I asked the girl, I was saying in the background of the, because you can see, I said, where is he at? What is the address? And then so she said she was acting like she was kind of stalling. I was saying, I was trying to make her think that I could pee and that I knew what she was.

And so she said, 39 Oh six Baltimore. And so I told the, told the police and that when I called the 911, he said, ma'am, you can't call the police from St. Louis to Kansas city. And so I said, what do I do? And so the, the 911 lady told me to call somebody in Kansas, call a hospital or something. So I Googled true. I grew, I grew to a hospital in Kansas and Truman hospital came up. So I immediately called Truman and Truman is the person they call I told her the situation and whoever it was she could hear the she can hear me on FaceTime with

my grandson she can hear me trying to calm him down and so she got 9-1-1 on the phone and dispatch 9-1-1-2-39-06 Baltimore and and then he the police must have made it there she was like ma'am they're on their way they're on their way and I was like thank you and so by this time the police is calling me back and the police is telling me that they can't get in and so so I'm screaming and I'm yelling, somebody go. And so the girl is trying to get my test to come with her. And I was like, no, to my test stand right there. Do not move. And so I said, do not move.

Do not move to my test. And he didn't move. And so finally the police came where he would, he went down or however it was. I can't really tell you, but then the police was there and then police told him to hang up. And I said, sir, absolutely not. I've been on this phone. My grandson is in distress.

He says somebody gave him some, he's constantly saying that, asking this girl, what did she give him? What did you give me? And so he asked the police, asked Montez, what happened? And so Montez said, I don't know. So he said, well, do you want to go to the hospital? I said, he needs to go to the hospital. My grandson doesn't talk like that. He doesn't act like that. Please take him to the hospital. And then, so he said, well, the ambulance is on its way. Shortly, about two or three minutes past,

the ambulance was there. They study was trying to disconnect me to the phone. So I kept saying no to my chair. Do not give them permission to take your phone. You have a right to have your phone. You have not committed a crime. Keep your phone. Keep the phone so granny can see you. And so the ambulance lady, she must have heard me because she could tell I was very concerned. So she said, well, Grandma, I'm going to set the phone right here beside him. And even though you can't just look directly, you can hear everything. And I heard him take his blood pressure because I remember she said, Tamanta, is your blood pressure 132 over 88? And she told him his pulse and everything. said to Montez, your blood pressure is 132 over 88.

And she told him his pulse and everything. And then so he was like, I'm okay, I'm okay. And I was like, I said, where is y'all at? And they said, we are on our way to the hospital. And I said, what hospital are you taking them to? So they act like, again, like he was, I was like, Mont my tears do not hang this phone up i want to stay with you and he kept on saying granny don't leave me don't leave me granny and i said i'm not and i stayed on the phone until he got to the emergency room of a hospital called St. Luke's on the plaza. They took him in, and they laid him down.

They took him in the room. I still was on the phone. By this time, I'm on my way to work, and I'm thinking, okay, he's going to be okay. You know, he finally made it somewhere safe, and maybe they can figure out what's going on with them. I told my kids, I said, tell them to check you out, to find out what's going on with you to my kids. And he was talking

about God. He was talking about, we're spiritual people. But the way he was talking about God, he was talking about God being forgiven. He forgave God and he was gone. And I'm like, Tomete, it's going to be all right. And then so he expressed to me, he was like, I stayed on the phone. I was like, they haven't came in to take your vitals or anything.

You know, normally when people take you to the hospital, they come in, they take your vitals and all of those type of things. I don't hear nothing. And I said to my, he said, well, they just got me laying in. That's how he's talking. He's like, granny, they got me laying in here. And I said, he said, I'm hydrated. And I was like, hydrated, what? He said, he's thirsty. I said, well, go out there and tell him to give you something to drink.

And so he went out. He still got me on the phone, Nancy. He still has me on the phone. And he tells him that he's thirsty. And so he tells him that he hasn't been to sleep and i'm like why haven't you been to sleep he said i haven't been able to sleep granny and so i'm thinking maybe he's suffering from insomnia or something and it's causing i don't know but i want them to do their job all they had to do is their job and all they had to do was their job. And all they had to do was check him out.

And then the nurse, about two or three hours passed. I'm on the phone. All of a sudden, they're getting ready to discharge. I say, discharge? What do you mean you're discharging him? Well, ma'am, we did all we can do. We let him got three or four hours of sleep and we fed them for sprites. I said, ma'am, I called the police in the ambulance from St.

Louis, Missouri to Kansas city, because he is not his selfies. Like he's having a mental breakdown. Something is not his self. He's like he's having a mental breakdown. Something is not right. And so she said, I said, well, don't do not discharge him. I said, take his blood pressure, take his blood, take his urine, do something to let me know that he has not been, you know, laced or done something to let me know that he has not been you know laced or done something to ma'am something's wrong with my grandson that is not how he talked

what did she say she told me what do you want me to do i gave him four sprites what do you want me to do i gave him four sp Sprites. And then she said, I'm going to go. Wait, when you're saying four what? Sprites. Sprites soda. Sprites soda. Sprites. That's it? They gave him a soft drink?

They gave him four soft. This is what she explained. So she tells me, well, I am going to go get the other nurse. So she's snapping at me. And I don't care about her snapping i said go get somebody in authority because i said i asked her i say so you mean to tell me all he gets from this visit is a hospital bill y'all can't hear me in there long enough to get a bill nobody has assessed him him at all. Nobody knows anything. So the nurse comes out of the,

whoever she was, she comes back in. She's talking to him. She said, okay, well we just got to take your specimen. You can tell he is out of, he asked this, her, what is a specimen? My tears, you would have to, this is what she said, to Montez, you have to give us permission. Will, if you do not give us permission, so to Montez, I'm screaming, I'm saying to Montez,

tell them people to check you out. Give them permission to check you out. He said, oh, whatever my, he sounded like a robot, like a baby robot. Whatever my granny says, give it to, do it to. I'm like, ma'am, get some help for my grandbaby, please.

So did they do the test? She told me she was pulling a urine specimen and about 20 minutes later she said well we're going to release him we didn't find anything in his urine. This is what she said to me. Okay so they release him even though you're screaming and begging on the phone and he's clearly out of it. Not only am I screaming, Nancy, he must have grabbed her hand. She said, why are you holding my hand to my chest? He says, I am born again, and I'm going to glory. Oh, God. Ma'am, do that.

And I said to her, do that sound like a sane person? Can you please take my grandson and send him, evaluate him? I will come and get him. I'm four hours awake. Can you please take him upstairs to evaluate? Get him evaluated. Do not send him upstairs. crime stories with nancy grace bottom line even with you begging they release them they release They released them. They released Tamontes. They still discharged him. I remember talking to a social worker.

I'm begging her, ma'am, do you see how he's looking? Do you see how he's, well, he's been discharged. Only thing I can do is write a voucher out. We're going to send him. I say, send him now. He says he has to get out because we discharged him. I said, well, I'll tell you what. Just send him to the Greyhound bus station, and I will get him a ticket. I say, just because if you're going to put him out.

So they get him a voucher in this taxi. It is a Z-trip taxi. And he goes to the Greyhound bus station. Yes. And then. I am on the phone with him when he gets in the taxi. Okay. I said to Montez, I said to Montez, Granny got to get off the phone.

He said, Granny, you said you wasn't going to leave. I said, I'm not leaving tomorrow. I'm just going to call and book the bus ticket. I can't be on the phone with you at the same time. I don't know how to do that. He takes a Z-trip to Greyhound bus station. And he goes to the Greyhound bus station. And he goes to the Greyhound bus station. First of all, I

don't understand that you go to the Greyhound bus station. The Greyhound bus, the Z trip lets him off. You let him off. I'm calling to my

after I booked the ticket. I'm calling to my, after I booked the ticket, I'm calling to my kids back to back, back to back, back to back. I'm not getting an answer. Grace Nancy. I'm not getting, I'm not getting no answers.

So I'm hysterical. I call back to St. Luke's. They connect me to this social worker. The social worker tells me that she put them in a Z-trip. She gives me the reference number. She gives me the cab number. I call the cab. I'm calling the cab and I'm talking with them and they telling me that they can't get in touch with the dispatcher. So I call his mom and I call people that I know that got iPhones. I said, tell me what is Tamante's location.

They telling me he's being in all over the city. I'm like, what? Because the phone is in the cab. Okay, joining me right now, in addition to Ms. Donald, this is Tamante's grandmother. Can you hear her voice? Can you hear how distraught she is? Her baby, her grandson is missing. We have a chance to find him. Dave Mack, joining me from Crime Online, the video shows him at the Greyhound bus station. And it is... What, ma'am? I'm sorry. Do you see how

he goes to the door? He's holding his hospital papers in his hand like he's got a lunch service. And he gets to the door. He opens the door. He goes back to get back in the Zip Trip car. They won't let him in.

I know. He tries to go back to get his in the zip trip cars, they won't let him in. I know. He tries to go back to get his cell phone. He can't get his cell phone. The driver takes off. Dave Mack joining me. He doesn't seem to understand his grandmother has gotten him a ticket

and he walks out. The video surveillance shows him walking out. Actually, when you actually watch the video, the doors of the Greyhound bus station are locked. There are five people on the video, and there's more people out there outside the Greyhound bus station at this time. It's 1153 a.m. But the Greyhound bus station doors are locked. And you can see Tomantes walk towards the door. He's holding the papers, and he checks the door now everybody that's standing there actually is looking and we cannot hear it

we can only see it but they're looking at tomantes like something is wrong he approaches the door he checked it it's locked now the z cab car is still sitting right there watching him they can see that the door is locked that he can't get in he turns around and goes straight back to the taxi. Now, it's at this point that his phone is in that taxi, but they don't let him in. They don't unlock the door. And for whatever reason, I don't know what was going on, but his phone is in the car and the taxi won't let him in. So Tomantes just walks away. He walks away from the cab. I don't know why they did not open the door for the man. And my thing is, if you get him from the hospital and you can see that he was mint, nobody holds papers like that. And the first time I called for help for the police, this is what's strange to me.

It's getting stranger and stranger. The police told me that I wouldn't be able to date. I wouldn't be able to get that video that you guys are seeing because Greyhound don't cooperate with them. Well, if you want to see, you've seen the video, right, ma'am? I'm the one that gave it the video. Yes. Okay. All right.

Because I'm looking at it right now. Hold on, guys. I want to go to Barry Hutchinson, senior veteran, former veteran law enforcement officer, owner of Barry and Associates Investigative Services in Kansas City. That's where this occurred. Kansas City. That's where this occurred. Kansas City. Barry, he is last seen just wandering off, walking with his head down. He's not looking one way or the other. And he, we know he walks for 72 blocks.

That's what the police said. But another thing, Nancy, why won't they show me the surveillance of him walking 72 blocks without nonstop, no going into, no business, not looking to the left, to the right. That was one of the first things people teach you when you are learning how to cross the street. Left, right, and left. Both ways. He never, this is what the police told me. Detective Martin, he told me he's walking. I said, sir, can you please tell me if it's him?

How do I know it's him? He said, I said, why can't we get a missing person? He wouldn't even let us do a missing person or anything because it looks like he's walking with purpose. I asked him, what does that look like? Let me understand, Barry Hutchinson, please put these locations in context. What do we do now, Barry? Well, everything has to be looked at from the last point of where he was seen.

And then you just have to re-canvas, see if you can find witnesses that saw him take statements from them. And just try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. And, you know, slowly and methodically, you just follow all the leads that you can. And you try to just find out where he went. Try to get as much video surveillance footage as you can. He could have been hitchhiking. Somebody could have picked him up. One of the very first things I would have done would be to inundate the local media, newspaper, all the television stations, et cetera, try to get as much public outcry as I could to get intel coming in.

I mean, now, what now? What can I do now? The grandma's been out handing out flyers for Pete's sake. This grandma out on the street. Tell me. I'm telling you, I'm sorry, but I did everything. I couldn't get Kansas City Police Department to help. I had to go to the Highway State Patrol where Officer Trooper Lane is the only one that reached out to try to help us to put a missing person and that was the third day. This is crazy.

Guys, I'm looking at Montez right now. This young man is just three years older than my baby boy. He is a freshman at Missouri Western State University. The whole family, this is their hope, their dreams, the apple of their eye. They've worked and worked and worked to get this young man to college. He's there. And now this. Tomontes has been missing two weeks. Tomontes Hurt, freshman, Missouri Western State University, calls Grandma. She realizes something is very wrong. He's not

talking like himself. He's talking about going to Heaven and to glory. And he's calling out to Grandma. She gets him to the hospital. They release him after doing basically nothing there at St. Luke's Hospital. I even went through these trips. Through a series of mishaps, the cab drives off with his cell phone. His grandma has been on with him nonstop. He walks away. We know because of surveillance video, he's walked for 72 blocks and then vanishes you heard her like I heard her I want to help her and we can help her when I look at this young man's smile He's got a smile like an angel. Help her find her baby. He may be just turned 19, but he is her baby, and he loves his grandmother.

Tip line, 816-234-5043. Repeat, 816-234-5043 repeat 816-234-5043 or 866-362-6422. Have you seen him? 866-362-6422. Can you think of anything we can do to help her, Barry? You just have to go out and try to just follow the last part of the trail and just pick it up from there. I mean, you have to just recreate an investigation and just try to see if you can locate them that way.

I mean, there's just so many things that you have to look into. I mean, there's no way that I can pinpoint one exact thing right now that's going to remedy the situation. I think starting there is exactly correct, Barry Hutchinson Sr., joining me from Barry & Associates Investigative Services there in Kansas. The grandma joining me right now, Ms. Donald, you went to that location, the intersection of 77th and Troost, spelled T-R-O-O-S-T. Yes. And started handing out flyers. Had anyone seen him? You know, I had a bunch of people that say, oh, they saw, they thought they saw a I started for I look I went from the bus the Greyhound bus station all the way over to Maine from Maine all the way over to 31st Street of Prospect I went

down to the homeless every homeless shelter I called the morgue I went all up and down. Truth. I went on the backside of Kansas on homes. I went off. I have, I have them everywhere and posted all kinds of pictures of my grandson and nobody has seen them. I got KC police only start to help me on the sixth day he was missing. That's crazy. If you have information on this missing young man, he's got a smile like an angel. You all had a grandmother, right? My grandmother was Lucy, who helped raise me. I love you, Mom. If you can't connect to him,

do you hear his grandmother? Help her. 816-234-5043. Help us bring him home to his grandmother. Goodbye, friend. This is an I Heart Podcast.