Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Finding Chase Massner Episode 1: Who, What, When & Where

Episode Date: March 27, 2017

The disappearance of Chase Massner on March 27, 2014, has stumped police and devastated the Iraqi War vet’s family. As the probe is handed over to a cold case unit, Nancy Grace leads her own investigation at the request of Chase’s mom. She shares what she's finding over the next weeks in a special “Crime Stories” series, starting with episode 1 on the 3rd anniversary of Chase’s vanishing. (music by audionautix.com) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. This is a special episode of Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Finding Chase Masner, Episode 1. She wants her son home. Chase Masner is an Iraq War veteran, a husband, a father, and he's missing. His mother, Stephanie, has worried about him every day for three years. 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.

We don't know what happened. I mean, it's like he vanished from that home not to be seen or heard from again. This isn't him. He would never do this. He wouldn't just go and leave his family and his loved ones here. Despite some intense searching, few clues have been found. We have a missing veteran. We have a friend, a son, a father, and our main goal has always been to bring him home and that emotion will never end until he's brought back home. Three years after her son Chase Massner went missing, Stephanie Kadenian continues searching for him.

I've lived the last three years not knowing. And every single day is just hell. It's just hell. Can you imagine going to sleep every single night wondering, where is your son? Is he dead? Is he alive? Is he somewhere calling your name, needing you, needing help? Is he in pain? Is he dead? Is he alive?

The child you spent your life raising poured all of your hopes, all of your dreams into. And somehow, just like that, it's just gone. As if all the years and all the love never happened. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. And that is what has happened to a young, handsome Iraqi war vet, U.S. soldier Chase Masner We are devoted to finding Chase The mystery surrounding the disappearance of this young man A husband and a father A son Really hit home with me When I met his mother Stephanie Kadena

He has been missing And no one seems to care, but I care and we care. Thank you for being with us here on Crime Stories and thank you to our sponsor today, CrimeCon. CrimeCon is a gathering of crime busters and crime sleuths, professional and amateur. It goes down June 9, Friday through June 11, Sunday, Indianapolis at the JW Marriott. There will be hundreds of people there, experts, speakers, crime scene techs, medical examiners, you name it. I'll be there along with my podcast partner, Alan Duke. We'll be podcasting live and we want you to join us. Go to CrimeCon.com and use the code name Nancy to get 20% off of your CrimeCon experience. In fact, I've got to re-log on and re-register to get 20% off.

CrimeCon.com. You can also see it at our website, CrimeOnline.com. And now, I want to introduce Team Chase, Finding Chase Masner. With me, of course, Alan Duke, investigative reporter. Also with me, crack reporter on CrimeOnline.com, Lee Egan, and special guest joining us, a guy who's been on the story for some time now, Daniel Wilkerson, reporter and on-air talent at CBS Channel 46, who has been investigating the disappearance of Chase Masner. Where is Chase?

First of all, I want to go to Alan Duke. Alan, it all starts with Chase Masner. That's where it starts, although I really think the wild card, Brad Clement, is just as powerful. But to solve the mystery, let's start at the beginning. What do we know about Chase Masner? Chase Masner served in Iraq during his time in the U.S. Army. He was frustrated in his search for a good-paying job after his honorable discharge from the military in 2011, but he took a job working overnight shifts at a quick-trip convenience store in Kennesaw, Georgia.

That's a northwest suburb of Atlanta, close to where his mother, Stephanie Kadena, lived. Chase is Stephanie's only son, and by all accounts, he was close to his mother. Although his wife Amanda told reporters that Chase was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome after returning from the Persian Gulf, we've seen no evidence he was ever in combat. He and Amanda have two young daughters. He was 26 when he vanished three years ago. And Daniel, again, the wild card, Brad Clement. What do you know? Brad Clement admits he was the last person to see Chase Massner. He says because of that, social media has torn his life apart.

People thinking he had something to do with Chase's disappearance. Brad recently spoke publicly for the first time on this issue. He says he now wants to clear his name. He says each time he tries, though, it does him no good. Brad alleges people keep telling him he's changing his story. He says that is not true and that at the time Chase disappeared, he didn't know he would have to take note of specific times where he went and what he did. Brad is single. He has no children. He says he has an engineering degree and has taken psychology classes. He says he has an engineering degree and has taken psychology classes. He says he struggled in the past with addiction to pills, but claims that's all now

behind him. In addition to the allegation of murder, Brad says he's been accused of being a heroin dealer, more specifically Chase's dealer. He says it's even been suggested that he shot up Chase and that Brad somehow panicked. He did something with the body, none of which he says is true. Brad says Chase's disappearance has tarnished his reputation, and because of it, he's recently fallen on hard times. He admits part of his account of what happened March 26th and 27th could seem suspicious to some, but he hopes that speaking out now will put those rumors to rest and that people will see that he was only trying to help a friend, a gesture he says has

cost him dearly. Lee, where does Stephanie Kadena fit into all of this? Because that's really how I got sucked into finding Chase Masner. Since day one, she's never given up hope that she'll find him, and she won't stop searching until she knows where he is and what happened to him, no matter what it takes. Stephanie and Chase have always been close. When he was away in boot camp serving our country in the U.S. Army, they would write to each other almost daily. When he returned home, back to Georgia, he found a house where he lived with his wife and his two little girls that was not too far from stephanie and he would pop by regularly and they would hang out and visit and she would enjoy her grandkids

but her entire world was shattered on march 27th 2014 when she received a call that her son was missing she wakes up in the morning and goes to bed every night with only one thing on her mind. Where is her son? Daniel Wilkerson, CBS Channel 46. I just want to hear your scenario about what happened the day Chase goes missing. Brad says that around 8 or 9 o'clock, he got a call from Chase saying that he had been in an argument, Chase, had been in an argument with his wife, and that she had dropped him off at the QT, the convenience store where Chase worked. And Chase wanted to know whether or not Brad could come and pick him up from the QT. Brad said that he was at a computer warehouse store.

He was building a computer later on at night. He was at a computer warehouse store, and he said, yeah, I'll come and get you. Brad says that he arrived at the QT, Chase was there, and that they stayed at the QT for about 30 minutes inside the QT, and they later left to go to Brad's house. When they got to Brad's house, Chase watched Brad build a computer. They were upstairs in Brad's bedroom. Brad was on the floor.

Chase was in Brad's bed. And they talked all night long about Chase's problems with his wife. Now, this is all according to Brad. He says that at some point Chase fell asleep. Brad had roofers coming at around 7 o'clock, so they came at 7. Brad goes to let the roofers in. At that point, Brad comes back upstairs and moves Chase from his bedroom, that's Brad's bedroom, to another bedroom. He says that Chase walked into that bedroom, Brad grabs a suitcase or a bag

of Chase's, and that Chase goes to sleep in that bedroom. So he was very clear about that. And Daniel, you were with me and helped me find Brad Clement that day in his, as I call it, a flop house. And he let us in. We showed up, banged on the door. He let us in immediately. He didn't seem like he was hiding anything. And that's the story he gave me, that the two of them sit up all night long yakking about his problems with amanda while he

brad puts together that computer goes out the next morning to deliver it afraid that chase will leave and he takes his cell phone he takes chase masner's cell phone with him to kind of ensure he'll stay there. I never understood that, but I get it. Because Masner had this habit of just, you know, get up, leaving, or Amanda would just come out of the blue and pick him up. He gets back from dropping off the computer. Chase is still there. Then he starts a cookout.

He's having a cookout for all the roofers in the backyard chase still there at the cookout uh spark somehow catches pine straw in the backyard on fire it's a big deal they put it out he runs back up to say hey man did you see what happened in the backyard? Chase is gone. He's never seen again. The roofers didn't see him leave. I spoke to the roofers. None of them ever saw him there. But his habit was to just hop in the car with Amanda and leave.

Now, Amanda's gone. She's left town. She took the two children and moved about as far away as you can get. Where did they go, Daniel? Iowa. Iowa, okay. So that's what we know. Again, I do not believe, Alan, that this is the kind of guy that would just walk away.

Because I've said a million times, if you don't know a horse, look at his track record. He never went a day without returning phone calls and texts to his mother. Never. Never. No. So why now? It's hard for me to believe that Chase Masner just walked away voluntarily and has now for three years today been away from his children. As a father, a grandfather, I can tell you that would not be something that a logical father would do. Chase did not just walk away. And that's why I really want to dig into this. What happened with Chase Masner?

He didn't just walk away. Yeah, no way. The way he felt about those two little girls, Daniel, and as much as he and Amanda fought, which is nonstop, they seemed like they wouldn't stay away from each other. They had kind of a volatile relationship, but I don't see that they were going to break up. I don't think you would walk out on her either, Daniel. No, I mean, they had troubles as any couple does.

Also significant is that Brad tells us that he left the house twice. First to go deliver a computer. He said he then came back and Chase was there. And then he says he got ready to leave to go to pick up food to cook for that cookout. He went back up and Chase was still asleep. He asked Chase, hey, man, do you want to go with me?

Chase was sleepy.. He asked Chase, hey, man, do you want to go with me? Chase was sleepy. He said no. Brad then left again and went to Publix and to a Lowe's, I believe. And he comes back. Chase is still there. And that's when he starts to cook, catches the yard on fire, and goes back, as you said, to look for Chase, and Chase was gone. Now, we do have a recording. And, you know, from dealing with Brad over the last two or three weeks,

I mean, it's his voice, and Brad places a call to Chase's cell phone saying, Hey, man, where'd you go? The roofers said they saw you leave. Where are you? Hey, Alan, let's hear the recording. I want to hear exactly what Daniel's talking about. Since Thursday, March 27th at 3.50 p.m. Hey, man. What's up? Where'd you go, dude? I just got back from having a run downtown.

The roofing guy said you left like two hours ago or something, I think. They just left out of here. But call me, man. Let me know if you're home. End of message. Okay, so the roofers now say they never saw him leave. Nancy, let's listen to a clip of that conversation you had with the owner of the roofing company who was in, around, and on top of Brad's house all day the day Chase disappeared. The roofers, which may be you or somebody else on your team, saw Chase leave. Is that true? Did anybody ever see him? No one ever saw him. Either in the house or outside the house?

No, none of us. Nobody who was working for me or that was with me ever saw him. Okay. Not the first time, inside, outside, anywhere. Okay. But that doesn't mean anything to me. I mean, for all I, I asked Brad about that, and he said, well, they were on top of the house. I assumed that they saw him leave.

He says, to this day, and he's told me to my face, he thinks Amanda came and picked Chase up because that's what always happened. She always showed up. He told me that she had been blowing up a cell phone that morning, trying to get him to come back. He believes she just showed up and got him and left. Now, what can you tell me, Alan or Daniel, about the location of his cell phone? Did it turn up somewhere else? Do you know, Daniel? As far as I know, they haven't seen that cell phone since the 27th. Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb.

I believe that there is foul play. I don't think this guy just wandered off into the wilderness and died, and we never found his body. I don't think he's living out under a bridge in California. He met with foul play that day. What do you think, Alan? I absolutely agree. And the fact that the cell phone was never found, he apparently would have taken his cell phone with him if he was just voluntarily walking away. Why wouldn't he? And if so, it would have left a track. It would have left a technology trail that the police would have found and we would now know about. Daniel, go out on a limb.

What do you think happened? I'm going to leave opinion out of it. I have no idea. That's the honest truth. I'm baffled. The thing that really bothers me here is the confusion you had initially with police initially this was investigated by Cherokee County Sheriff's investigators because Chase lived in Cherokee County but a couple of miles across the line was Cobb County where he actually went missing and a couple weeks later I think Cobb County finally took it over but all along they were treating it not as a crime, but as a voluntary missing, someone who voluntarily left. And I think that they missed a lot of opportunity to find Chase because they treated the case as a voluntary missing case. Is that not right, Daniel?

Is that your point? Yeah, that is right. I agree with you guys. Losing that initial day, that initial 8 hours, 10 hours, 24 hours, that's bad. Then we find out that the police, after Stephanie Kadena begged and begged and begged, searched the wrong trash dumpster. I mean, the list goes on about what could have, should have, would have been done correctly, but wasn't. But what we're left with now is trying to reconstruct what happened to this guy that's where we are whatever the case may be we are dedicated to

finding this young guy a father of two his wife has long moved away the case is now being sent to cold case and we've got one mother grieving and reaching out to us for help I've lived the last three years not knowing and every single day it's just hell. You know what? I don't know what's going to happen,

but I know this. We're going to try. Because I can't stand seeing you cry like this. And if it were, God forbid, my own child, I couldn't live with myself either. As the next weeks unfold, we will be speaking with the wild card, Brad, the mother, Stephanie,

trying to encourage the wife, Amanda, to speak to us. We go to every scene we know of. Please join us in finding Chase. Again, I want to thank our sponsor, CrimeCon, for making this podcast and our search for missing Chase Masner possible.

CrimeCon, June 9 through June 11, Indianapolis, JW Marriott. Go to CrimeCon.com, use the code Nancy, and get 20% off your CrimeCon visit. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.