Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Finding Chase Massner episode 2: His mother's search for answers

Episode Date: March 29, 2017

Three years after Chase Massner vanished, his grieving mother calls on Nancy Grace to help find answers. Cobb County, Georgia, police are turning the case over to a cold case unit, but Grace tracks down key witnesses to retrace the Iraq War vet’s last known steps. She shares what she is finding over the next weeks in a special “Crime Stories” series. Nancy visits with Chase’s mom in this episode. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. This is a special episode of Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Finding Chase Masner, Episode 2. 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 his son Chase Massner went missing, Stephanie Kadena continues searching for him. 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. Every once in a while, I allow myself to imagine going into my twin's room and one or both of them are gone. Why do I ever imagine that, as painful as it is? Because of a particular woman, and her name is Stephanie Kadena, because every day she looks at her son's picture. Every day she wonders, where is he? What happened? What can I do to find him? And I put myself in that spot, and I can imagine myself just running out the door like a wild animal, screaming to the neighborhood,

have you seen John David? Have you seen Lucy? And at a certain point when you can't cry anymore and you can't speak anymore and your voice is cracked and you've got nobody to turn to, you just go numb. This is Crime Stories. I'm Nancy Grace, and I want to thank you for being with me. We have traveled to see that woman. Stephanie Kadena is with me right now. Also with me is Daniel Wilkerson from CBS 46, who has also been on the story, along with Alan Duke and our staff,

Lee and others from Crime Online. Well, you're all here now, and I wish you were here with us. We're all gathered around a table. We're all sifting through bits and pieces of evidence, trying to make some sense, heads or tails, of where is Chase Masner. I want to pause and thank our sponsor today for our podcast, Finding Chase Masner. It's CrimeCon, a gathering like no other. It's going down June 9 through June 11 in Indianapolis at the JW Marriott.

Crime sleuths and crime busters alike, professional and amateur, convene for all the latest in crime fighting. I'm going to be there. Alan Duke will be there. We'll be podcasting live and we hope you join us. Go to CrimeCon.com or go to Crime Online to find out more. If you use the code NANCY, you get 20% off your CrimeCon package. CrimeCon, thank you for sponsoring us today. And now to Stephanie Kadena. Stephanie, thank you for being with us. You know, we have gone round and round and round like a dog chasing its tail. And then when you you catch it you still don't have anything can you take me back to the day that chase went missing what happened chase was at our house he was staying with us for a few days and spoke with amanda his wife on the phone now hold on

he's married with two little girls at this time. Yes. Two little, little girls. But he and Amanda, he's just come out of active duty. He's coming home, and he's having problems assimilating back into the regular civilian world. Okay, a lot of people can identify with that. When I came out of prosecuting crimes, I had a hard time assimilating with regular people so i can barely imagine what he was going through so he's fighting with amanda and he came to state

your house for a few days all right okay then what he had been with us for three days and Amanda had asked him to go back to their house for those two days and she came to pick him up from the house and they were arguing already at the pickup before even on the phone before the pickup why over what you know i don't was it money i didn't know they were having problems until amanda asked me if chase could come and spend some time at our house so they could have peace space away from each other she had just started working a couple weeks prior to this. Okay, so he finally lands a job at Quick Trip. Yes, I know you don't grow up as a little boy thinking, hey, one day I want to be a clerk at Quick Trip. I get it.

But he was having a hard time, so landing that job and going to it on a regular basis and assimilating was kind of a triumph, right? Yes. Okay, so they leave together. Where were the babies, the girls? In the car. Okay, then what happens? And what day is that?

March 26th. 326, all right. Then what happens? And what time of the day was that? It was in the evening early evening i'm thinking 6 30 ish in the evening yes okay he leaves when did you hear from him next never that was it when he left what do you remember about him leaving? What little thing do you remember? He was just so frustrated. That's the only word I can come up with is frustrated. It was, he was very irritated, agitated, and just...

About what? This could be important. What do you think he was agitated about? Whatever was going on in their marriage. Was it that or was it just life in general or the argument he was having with Amanda? I really think it was just what was going on between he and Amanda. Okay. Well, they've all been there. So he leaves around 6.30 that evening, 3.26, March 26th, and you never saw him again? Never. And you never spoke

to him again? No. Did you ever text with him again? No. I text him, but I didn't get any response. That's significant. When did you text him? Not until the next day. Is that normal for him to have gone the whole night without texting or anything? Well, yes, because like I told you before, I just assumed they went home and were working things out. So I didn't try to call him or text him that night the next day yeah the last thing a married couple needs is the mother-in-law butting in okay had he already had supper here with you no so he left and for all you knew the girls they went out to dinner or went home and you just assume no news is good news right okay. Okay. So next day, what happens?

Next day I got out, just proceeded as a normal day. And I got a text from Amanda later in the afternoon. Did you text him that day? Not until after I heard from Amanda. Okay. What did she say? She said, I just wanted to let you know that Chase did not come home with me last night. I mean, really? They couldn't just hold it together for five or six hours until they fell asleep? So something went bad there. Did she tell you what? No, she didn't give me any details, but she told me that she took Chase to Brad's house.

Between 8 and 9, the night of 3-26, she took him to Brad's. So they made it for about three hours. Yes. Got into an argument. She took him to Brad's. Do you believe she took him to Brad's? I do. I have no reason not to believe that she did. Because Brad says he was there.

Right. So you texted him at what time that day? 3.27? Well, as soon as I found out that Chase was not with Amanda, as soon as I got that text, I started calling his phone and texting. And what time would that have been? After 4. Okay, so at 4 p.m., you start texting and calling. Correct.

Sent Thursday, March 27 at 3.37 p.m. Hi, baby, will you please give me a call? I'm assuming that you're just sleeping, which is totally okay, but I need to know that you're all right. I love you. End of message. Did the phone go straight to voicemail or did it ring? I just wonder if his phone was already out of commission. I wonder was he killed that night and everything else was a lie. That's what I'm wondering. I don't think it went straight to voicemail. I can't remember for sure.

Would you have expected to hear from him before 4 o'clock? No. But after you texted him and called him, would you have expected to hear from him before 4 o'clock? No. But after you texted him and called him, would you have expected to hear from him? Yes. Immediately or a few hours later? Within 5, 10 minutes. Yep. That was your relationship?

Yes. Okay. I'm going to go to Daniel. Daniel, does what she's saying so far jive with your knowledge of the facts? It does. The only thing that is a little off from Brad Clement, the friend who last saw Chase, he says that he picked Chase up from QT. But you're saying that Amanda says she dropped Chase off at Brad's house. actually in the when i called and reported chase missing and amanda came into the middle of the report she actually said both things that she took chase to brad's house and that she dropped

chase off at quick trip you know what i used to have an old judge he was 84 years old on the bench and he was dead set on proving everybody he was the fittest judge in the cour an old judge he was 84 years old on the bench and he was dead set on proving everybody he was the fittest judge in the courthouse which he was I might add and he would tell every jury it is your duty to make all witnesses speak the truth and impugn perjury on no one which means different witnesses can see or hear different things and they can all be telling the truth in one way or the other so that could have been true for all i know she took him to brad's house and he wasn't there and then dropped him a quick trip or whatever it could very well be that way the fact is brad says they met a quick

trip yes and she says she left him with brad and we know we believe anyway that he was with brad from that point on yes so quick trip or house how far did he live from quick trip anyway two minutes okay so we know that he was with brad that after that night yes by 10 o'clock he was with brad yes and you never saw or heard from him after that that was the last time anyone but brad saw him that we know of. Yes. Okay. At Brad's house, he was having roofing done. Is that correct?

Yes. And did any of the roofers ever see him there alive? I don't know. Do you know, Daniel? No. I talked to or spoke with the owner of the roofing company, and he says they never saw Chase. Would would they have was he in a bedroom asleep the whole time or what according to brad yes he was in a bedroom sleep so he never came out of the bedroom according to the roofer no now were the roofers in the home or outside the home they were outside the home primarily they had a barbecue Brad

had a barbecue and at some point the roofers yes I mean why I just cut him a check why would you give a barbecue Brad says that he invited him in for a barbecue and while there the roofers say Brad gave them a tour of Bratt's home. Included in the bedroom? They went all over, according to Roofers. Well, did they see Chase? No, they didn't. I'm not even going to ask why would he give the roofers a tour of his home, but that's significant.

If he gave them a tour of his home, then you would have expected him to go in that bedroom. Did the roofers say he went in the bedrooms? I don't know specifically where they went. gave them a tour of his home then you would have expected him to go in that bedroom did the roofer say he went in the bedrooms i don't know specifically where they went he just said that brad gave him a tour of the home and the roofer said that he thought that was odd well i agree with that okay so at that time we have no reason to know that chase is dead or alive or asleep in the bedroom or gone so the last time anyone can corroborate him being alive is that night around 930 yes now if you take Brad's testimony you know he saw him but

as far as more anyone more than Brad no that and a dollar won't even buy me a gallon of gas okay so? So let's just move from, we know he's alive around 10 o'clock that night. All right, let me ask you this. If he went to Quick Trip, it's my understanding that he was in Quick Trip for about 30 minutes. Is that true, Stephanie? That's what I've heard, yes. Heard from? Brad. That'sad brad's testimony okay so well you know what that can kind of be corroborated because amanda says she left him there all right guys what we're trying to do is nail down a timeline this is what goes into nailing down a timeline as best as possible so we're trying to find someone we're trying to find chase masner that's what we're trying to find someone. We're trying to find Chase Masner.

That's what we're doing. He served his country. He came home. He tried to assimilate into civilian life. Wife, Amanda, two babies, loving mother, seemingly no answers. And I think we owe a military vet the time and the effort of trying to help find him. For all I know, this guy's living under a bridge in L.A., but my bet is he's not. If we've got him alive at that time, who's the police authority, Cobb?

Cobb County. Cobb County PD. What are they saying about surveillance video at Quick Trip? I mean, you might as well be in NASA or a Vegas casino, because Quick Trip is tricked out with surveillance, typically. So what about that? Cobb hasn't said anything to me. They've said more to Stephanie, right? Yes, and I don't believe they have any surveillance. Have they tried to get it or just dropped the ball? I don't believe they tried to get it or just dropped the ball? I don't believe they tried to get it, no.

Now, we don't know for sure that Cobb didn't pull it. We don't know for sure, but 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 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 H-E-L-L with my mother. See, I don't believe that. I don't either. Okay. So that leads me to quick trip surveillance video. And is it true they walked across the street to a Walgreens? Chase said one point. Right, Stephanie?

Yes. Walked across the street, yes. Why do you think that? His credit card showed he made a purchase. Was it him that made the purchase? I believe so, yes. Do you know what it was? No.

Do you know how much it was? $9 and some change, I think. At a Walgreens. Well, you cannot get anything illegal much at Walgreens. So he's at Walgreens, so that makes me think it was him. $9. And when was that? That was...

3.26 at night. Yes, the same evening. So what time, 30 10 that was a man says she dropped him off a quick trip and watched him walk across the street to Walgreens okay so 10 p.m. at outside somebody says that she dropped him off at 8 o'clock and then a lady at the quick trip says she dropped him off around 9 o'clock at the quick trip. Okay. And that jops with what Brad said.

He said that at 9 o'clock or so. Okay, so we've got multiple places. Now, the only significance, I don't think we're going to find much significant at a Walgreens video, so you don't have to worry, oh, they dropped the ball on that because it's going to show him buying something for $9. But what might be significant is 30 minutes in quick trip because what happened in there maybe nothing but i'd like to see who he was talking to was there somebody else in there that followed him that tried to rob him that followed him back to the car that you know

i don't know that's very significant that one aftergreens, is that when he went with Brad? He went back to Quick Trip. He went back to Quick Trip, and we know that. From what I'm told, another manager showed up and was going to offer him a ride. He didn't want to go. Why would he need a ride if Brad was there? This was before Brad got there. I got you.

The manager on duty had called the other manager. Can you come and do something with Chase? What do you mean come and do something with him? So that night we know he goes from Walgreens back to Quick Trip and this is all around 9pm

between 9 and 10 and another Quick Trip employee named Bob is called to pick him up and give him a ride is that correct stephanie yes so did bob arrive yes and bob saw chase yes and chase said he didn't need a ride right that's okay so bob leaves him where chase had walked across the street and waited for bob to leave and then he went back to the quick trip. So he's last known by now. We're getting around 10 o'clock, I would assume. And that gives me another

witness telling me he's alive at that time. Yes. Alright. What's this about a picture being taken of him? I'm Tammy Childs. Bob supposedly took a picture of Chase that was time stamped at 9.05 on the 9th of the 26th. Why?

I have no idea. I have no no idea but the picture that i have is that you have the picture i have the picture and what is he doing in the picture he's standing there holding two sleep drinks he's got his red hoodie on do what sleep drinks nero nemo i don't know what they're called. And he's a quick trip and he just takes a picture. What do we think happens after that? That's the enigma. Brad picks him up around

1030. Brad tells me that he told Chase that, hey, you can come with me. I'm building a computer. We'll go back to my house with me. I'm building a computer. We'll go back to my house. You can watch me build a computer. He said they went back to the house.

They went up in Brad's room. When they got there, Chase laid on Brad's bed. Brad was on the floor with the computer. He said they talked all night, basically, about Chase's relationship with Amanda and his aggrav aggravations and he said they end up just falling asleep that sounds like a recipe for disaster you're up all night one of you may or may not be drinking or doing drugs and then suddenly the person goes missing have you noticed that everything goes bad after midnight i mean-hmm. I mean, really? Okay, so 10.30 pickup, and that's confirmed by the people at QT?

Yes. Okay, and then he's never seen again by anybody other than Brad? That's correct. Now, Stephanie, according to Brad, they stay up all night working on a computer and talking. Yes. Then what happens? What do we know from brad according to brad the roofers arrived around seven o'clock seven a.m brad says he went down he let the roofers in got them started or i shouldn't say let them in he says that he uh got the roofer started on the

house he says he then went back inside and moved Chase from his room to a guest room because I guess the area where the roofers were going to be working would be right over his bedroom. And he said he left Chase there. He said that he helped Chase carry some bags out of his room because I asked him, I said, well, was Chase, could he walk? I mean, you know, how did you help him? He said, I picked up his bags, I helped him to the room, well, was Chase, could he walk? I mean, you know, how did you help him? He said, I picked up his bags. I helped him to the room, and Chase fell asleep there. And I guess an hour or two transpires, and Brad goes downstairs.

He comes back up. He gets Chase's phone, and he then leaves. He left a total of twice. One, the first time he left, Brad says, was to take a computer to a friend. He said he came back. The computer that they worked on all night? Yes. Okay. Yes.

He says he came. It's starting to make a little more sense to me if they stayed up all night talking why Chase was still asleep. I mean, he wasn't going to go home to amanda so why not he'd been up all night fixating on his relationship with his wife so why not sleep it off and we have text messages right that night of amanda and chase going back and forth so he's alive the morning of the 27th based on text messages. Have you seen the messages? Do you know they exist?

The text messages are between Brad and Amanda. Brad is using Chase's phone, texting Amanda. He asked Amanda if Chase had to work that night. If so, he would get him up. But before he started texting Amanda, he called the quick trip. I thought these were between chase and amanda the ones at 11 o'clock i don't have are between chase's phone and amanda's phone we don't know the details of it right we don't know that they're not up 26. why don't we know the details We don't have the verbatim. Did she ever tell you, Amanda? No.

Why? Did you ask her? I didn't. Did you? She doesn't talk to me. Did you ask her? Did you ask her? No.

So we don't know what they were talking about. Probably the fight. Most likely. So now I've got him alive at around 1130, if you believe the text. Next morning, Chase leaves leaves excuse me brad leaves the roofers are there he changes bedrooms that's a significant detail to me because that sounds like it's true it doesn't sound like something you'd make up that we changed bedrooms you know what i mean yeah okay so we have him alive the next morning we think

around what time is that 737 o'clock 7 a.m. around that time did the roofers go in the bedroom where he had been no now the roofers that could be explaining away why he wasn't in there yeah according to the roofers they didn't come into the house until later I think think, when they started to eat, which was, what, around, it was later on that afternoon, probably between 2 and 4. So by that time, Brad says Chase has already disappeared? By the time they grill out? So Brad left twice, one to get the... To take the computer.

To take the computer, the other time, to pick up food. He ran to Publix, and he says he ran to like a Home Depot or Lowe's. He came back. He said that Chase was there. He went up in the bedroom. He saw Chase. He was sleeping. He says he then went downstairs to start cooking.

While cooking, he caught the backyard on fire, according to Brad. Who caught the backyard on fire? Brad caught his own backyard on fire according to Brad Brad caught his own backyard on fire how well really he says a coal fell out of the grill and fell on the pine straw caused a big huge fire this is true I think it's collaborated by the roofers yes so Brad told me in his interview with me that he then went upstairs to tell chase hey man look you're not gonna believe what happened and when he went chase was not there and he says that was the last time you know back it up so that morning Brad leaves the home to deliver a computer that he worked on all

night yes okay let's the roofers in and he leaves changes the rooms for chase he comes back at what time the last time after delivering the computer after delivering the 11-ish okay when does he when does brad leave does he chase then yes yes he says he sees Jason asleep okay then he leaves again to go to Lowe's and to the grocery store grocery what time does he leave to do that one ish you probably want issue grocery and what does he need at Lowe's we don't know so he comes back from Lowe's in the grocery store at what time? Two? Between two and four.

Sometime between two and four. And he doesn't see Chase then? He does. He goes back upstairs. He sees Chase. He then goes down and starts to cooking in the backyard. Is Chase awake? No, he's asleep.

And he said at that point I could tell that he hadn't moved because he was in the same spot as when I was you offer that information same spot information that's very odd don't you think that's odd yes okay he says odd either that he mentioned it or that it's true both of those are odd to me all right so then he then went downstairs started the grill and somehow caught the backyard on fire they get it out he goes by Brad goes back upstairs to tell chase hey man I caught the yard on fire you're not gonna believe what happened at that point you realize chase was gone so somewhere between say four and six that's when chase disappears two and four two and four okay so i thought he was back from between two and four he returned at four o'clock bright is calling

chase's phone leaving a voicemail saying hey man are you at? I went back up there and you were gone. Since Thursday, March 27 at 3.50pm. Hey man. What's up? Where'd you go dude? I stopped 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, all right, man. Well, you know, it's gone. And this message. But the roofers say they did not see him leave. Is that right? The roofers say they did not see him leave. And in my interview, I asked Brad, I said,

you initially said early on that the roofers saw Chase leave. then you change your story i said why and his reply was i just assumed the roofers saw chase leave okay so this is what we don't have we don't have video surveillance from quick trip verifying the 30 minutes that he's there but we have a photo that seems to verify he was there we don't know that he ever made it to brad's and we can't verify also the computer stop where brad went that morning to drop off a computer the roofers say they never saw him even though they took a tour of his home do we know if police ever pinged chase's phone do you know stephanie i don't know that what if anything have police shared with you

that they're doing on the case they've told me that they've interviewed brad did they ask him to take a poly brad tells me yes they did ask him to take a poly? Brad tells me, yes, they did ask him to take a polygraph. Did he take the poly? He says he did not because he says his nerves would have been all over the place, and he says that if they had asked his address, he would have gotten one. Well, how about now? Do you think he's still nervy? In my interview, he says that he would take one.

That's good to know. Maybe we could set that up. But then a couple days later, he told me he wouldn't. So I don't know at this point. Well, maybe we can persuade him. What are they telling you that they have done? I know you begged them to search a dumpster in the neighborhood that was full of roofing materials, correct? And they searched the wrong dumpster. What else have they done? They're trying to verify the computer drop-off,

which they have not been able to find. If they can't find it by now, I would guess that it didn't happen. Wild guess. Right. You know what? We're back at square one, Stephanie, because we have to talk to Brad. That's the missing link here. Now, know he has refused a polygraph and then stated again he will take a polygraph. I'm going looking for him. Okay. Okay. Armed with nothing but my iPhone and I am going to find him and I'm going to ask him what happened.

I'm going to see what story he's going to tell me, and we'll take it from there. But I want to know from you, as we sit here together right now, what are your thoughts? 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. Do his daughters ever ask where is daddy? The oldest one does. And what do people tell I've been told that Chase's grandparents, grandfather specifically, has talked to Sydney and told her that her daddy's in heaven. Have any of these players come to speak to you?

The friend, the computer people brad the quick trip people the renters down the street everyone would possibly have seen him after you did has anybody come forward to tell you anything no why i don't know it's like everybody everybody's backing away from this I don't know. It's like everybody's backing away from this. They don't want to touch it with a 10-foot pole. And I find that very disturbing. I do too.

What's your message today to anyone that knows anything about Chase's whereabouts? Get it off your chest. Tell us the truth and let us have peace. Would you be willing to forgo a prosecution in exchange for knowing what happened to Chase? Absolutely. I'm not I'm not trying to get revenge or get anyone in trouble. I'm just trying to find justice for Chase. See, I don't think that I could ever live with knowing that someone killed him. I don't think I could exchange justice for truth.

I'm not sure about that. I've got to think this thing through. Is it worth just knowing what happened to forego a prosecution of whoever is responsible? I don't know the answer to that. I've never had to face that question myself. I've had to ask other people that question. 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 gonna 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. With me is Chase Masner's mother, Stephanie, and we are on a search for the truth. And again, thank you to CrimeCon, our sponsor for our podcast today, making our search for Chasemazner possible. In our search for answers, we have finally found the wild card, Brad Clements.

Take me through what happened that when he goes missing. I mean, it's really not that much. Like, it's like everybody says, I like changed my story and all this stuff. But it's like, that was like what I did that day. You know, I mean, that wasn't really anything to do with Chase. It was like, you know, I ran a bunch of errands, what I was doing, you know, most of the time when I was fixing up my house like he was there that night and then you know basically left sometime between when I was coming back from uh the store to when I started cooking like I mean he had to have like I mean that that's the only logical thing you will hear Brad's story in Episode 3 of Finding Chase Masner, where we track him down and grill him for over an hour.

You'll be surprised at what you hear. Episode 3, Finding Chase Masner. Thank you for being with us. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.