Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Finding Chase Massner Episode 3: Nancy's surprise visit with key witness

Episode Date: March 31, 2017

Brad Clements has been pummeled by social media speculation since he's the last known person to see Chase Massner before he vanished on March 27, 2014. Amateur detectives questioned his story, suggesting it’s changed over time. Just as the probe is turned over to a cold case unit, Nancy Grace knocks on Clements’ door in an unannounced visit. This third episode of our series presents what happened after she walked in. 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 3. This week marks three years since her son Chase Masner vanished in Cobb County. Living the last three years with the not knowing and without him here is pure hell. Chace Massner is an Iraq War veteran, a husband, a father. His wife told us she dropped him off at a quicksand 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. If he was able to reach out to any one of us he would. 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 to help not even the slightest clue in three years. We're back at square one, Stephanie, because we have to talk to Brad. That's the missing link here. Now, we 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'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. Well, we looked and we looked and we searched and we found the wild card, as I like to call him, Brad Clements. We found him. I beat on his door. He opened the door and he let me in. I want you to hear what he said when I questioned him, grilling him over an hour and a half about the disappearance of Chase Masner. Before I go to that, thank you, CrimeCon, for sponsoring our podcast today and our search for Iraqi vet, husband, and father of two

little girls, Chase Masner. CrimeCon. All crime sleuths and crime busters are converging, professional and amateur, in Indianapolis June 9 through June 11. Alan and I will be podcasting live. We hope you join us. Go to CrimeCon.com and use code Nancy

for 20% off. I'm going. I'm going to be there for the podcasts and to see all of you, and I surely hope you join us. Thank you, CrimeCon, for today. And now, let's hear what the wild card, Brad Clements, has to say. Listen. I'm trying to figure out, especially after I met Chase's mother yesterday, that about broke my heart. I mean, it's been all this time, she still doesn't even know what happened.

She thinks Chase is dead. Do you think he's dead? I don't know. I mean, I hope that he's not, but I really, I don't know. Like I've, you know, I've wondered about it. And you know, the last time that I was with him like I hardly knew them really like I met him maybe three or four times I thought you've been over to their house no I've been over to their house like after all this happened like I went over there to put together a ping-pong table or a

pool table or something no no never that was the only time I'd gone over to their house is when, what's her name, Amanda? Yeah. Amanda called and asked me to come over there and like talk to her. And I went over there with my dog to like, you know, talk to her about all this. And like, it was kind of, kind of, me being over there. Because you only knew her through Chase. Right. And I never really, you know, talked to just her. And it was, you know, I kept hearing all these, you know, mixed things, you know.

Well, this was later, I guess, like about her and, like, his friends and stuff. What do you mean her and his friends? I don't like the sound of that. I don't want to throw her under the bus or anything, but, I mean, it's just, you know, I don't. Are you saying that she'd slip around? I mean, that's kind of the word on the street. Is that what Chase thought? I mean, that's kind of what I thought when I was,

when I went over there to see her. Like, that she, you know, wanted, like, I don't know. Did she hit on you? Oh, yeah. I mean, like, she was like, well she she called me up and was like hey can you bring me some pot to like smoke some pot do you want to smoke some pot with me and i was like i at this point in my life i wasn't smoking and i was like i think i have like a grinder that you could scrape and she was like yeah bring it over here and i was like okay should take it out of a grinder it was like you know the resin stuff that you could like

scrape uh yeah and uh i mean because apparently they. It was like, you know, the resin stuff that you could, like, scrape. Yeah. And, I mean, because apparently they smoked, like, a lot. Because, you know, the whole thing where she called up, what, like, her mother or someone to, like, help them clean up something in the house. Like, they were growing pot plants. You know, they had a bunch of pot plants they were growing in the house. And that's why she was like, hey, I need you to come over here and help me clean this up. Because they were cleaning out all the pot plants before the cops came over there so that was like a big thing with that but um that could be part of the reason she doesn't want to talk anymore because she doesn't want to be dragged in some way yeah they were she was really like you know you know just uh

i guess uh worried about that. And it's not even that big of a deal. It's like people grow pot plants all the time in their backyard, you know, especially here in the South. Yes, I don't know about that, but okay, I'll just take your word for it. Let's pause for just one moment. I want it clear. This is Brad's story. We, Crime Online, have reached out repeatedly to Chase's wife to give her the chance to respond to these allegations, and we are still waiting. Meanwhile,

we don't have evidence that she has used pot or any other drug or any other type of behavior that brad is talking about this is his explanation of how he is not involved in the disappearance of chase masner now i look forward to the day that i get to speak to amanda this is brad's story so take it with a box of salt and you be the judge now i want to get to so i mean see i the thing is like i hardly knew them like they were good friends or semi good friends with my friend alan who lived in the house with me okay and and like i had to get i had to make him leave because he wouldn't pay me rent and um you know he i also caught him like cross-dressing and he thought i was going to tell all you know our friends that he was like dressing up like a girl and stuff and so he told um amanda and them that i like shot hit up shot heroin into

chase and killed him and put this all in their head just just to get me in trouble why would you use up heroin on somebody else and it's not somebody that i don't even know you know i mean why would you do something where there's that that's another thing it's like i just don't know some why would you take somebody that you hardly know and then get them high with heroin where you know people over this all the time and it's like okay what what do you think chase was on i don't really think it was on much other than pot and alcohol that night i mean that's that's good. I'm glad to hear that. Yeah. I mean, I, you know, he was trying to get more like, and I gave him some cash. I gave him $60. Was he into it? He was trying to get the Roxy's or the 30 milligram Roxy pills. The, that was what everybody was taking. Alan was giving him those sometimes because Alan would take those. And so

he assumed that I could get them because Alan could get them. And, you know, I, I brought him and, you know, I was in a motorcycle wreck and I was on those at get him. And, you know, I brought him, and, you know, I was in a motorcycle wreck, and I was on those at one point. And, you know, so I took him to my, like, that's one of the main areas I picked him up, just to kind of talk to him that night and be like, you know, dude, you don't want that shit. Like, I was in a motorcycle wreck, man. Coming off of those pills is terrible, you know. I mean, and I figured I could just, you know, hang out with him and, you know.

If you didn't really know him that well, why did you let him come to your place? I mean, because he'd been over there before. He worked at the Quick Trip right down the street from my house. So what do you think happened? Just take me through what happened when he goes missing. I mean, it's really not that much. It's like everybody says I changed my story and all this stuff, but that was what I did that day. You know, I mean, 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 the store to when I started cooking. Like, I mean, he had to have. Like, I mean, that's the only logical thing. So you go on, I think it was March the 26th-ish, to pick him up at Quick Trip. And it was at night around 10.30 or something.

Okay. All right. You pick him up and bring him to your place directly or do y'all drive around no it's good right i mean it was right down the street okay so you didn't drive around to hit to score and nothing like that you go straight home all right so you go home what does he do i mean we just sit there and start talking we're actually i had a bunch of stuff that i was building a computer with so i had him help me carry a bunch of stuff in, and then I started building the computer that I was... It's actually not this one, but a different one.

And I had... You know, we just sat there and kind of just talked, because we had talked, you know, two or three nights ago about the same thing, too. What? About him and Amanda fighting and all this stuff. What did they fight about? I mean, it was, was like money and stuff like that because she wasn't working. And, you know, he didn't really talk too much about it. But I just

told him, you know, that, you know, he was a lucky guy. And, you know, he's got two beautiful kids, a beautiful wife. Like, I don't know, you know, it's okay. What most people want, you know, in life is to be, you know, fulfilled with those two things. Yeah. And, you know, how much, you know. Why was he not happy with that? Was it money problems? Dope?

What was it? I think it was more or less money problems. I mean, because, you know, like I said, I just, I really didn't know him that well. Like, I mean, this was so long ago that we actually talked about this. Like, you know, and it was mainly me talking, you know, other than him, you know, just sitting there listening. And, you know, he said that he was, like, telling Amanda he was going to run off and, like, sleep in the woods and all this stuff.

What? Yeah, you didn't hear that? Uh, no. Yeah, that's been another big thing. Go off and sleep in the woods? Yeah. Why? I wonder if he tried to do that and died. I mean, I figured

they would have found him by then. Like, well, just let me just go off and sleep in the woods. Okay, go ahead. And the story has been that he would do that when they were fighting. He would say, I just want to commit suicide. and so they were fighting during that time so reportedly he made one of those threats and he was saying hey I just want to like go off in the woods and get lost did you hear him say that yeah he said it you know a couple times and I was like I always thought it was bs and you know I was because he wants to go sleep in the woods yeah exactly and I mean he has friends you know and it's like that night, y'all stay up late talking about Amanda, and you're working on the computer.

Mm-hmm. Okay, then what happens? I mean, he pretty much just, you know, I think he'd been up for like a couple days, like tired. Like, I mean, you could tell he was barely hanging on and just passed out on my bed. And, like, I just continued to kind of you know work on stuff and uh you know it was uh gosh I think you know the roofers got there at like 6 a.m or something yeah they always do that

and uh started really early and um you know so I was just you know continuing to get on with stuff for my day and uh you know I thought it'd be a good idea that I have, you know, Amanda come over and just kind of have like a cookout thing. Cause you know, I knew Brandon and them and the roofers and like, I like to cook and stuff. And I know it's kind of odd to have a cookout, but like it was, you know, it was something, you know.

Nice to do, I felt like. Did Amanda tell you early that day she had to be at some kind of an appointment for her children? No. Because that's what they're saying now. That what? There was an appointment? They told you, she told you early that day that she had to be at some appointment either with or for her children and could not come over mmm no I mean that's she just said that she couldn't come over and after a while I guess but you know I don't ever remember her

telling me that that day like okay so anyway she so, anyway, she didn't come over. No, she never came over that I know of. And you tried to get him to call Amanda and invite her over to kind of, like, make the peace. Right. Did he do it? No, not that I know of. And, I mean, that's why I tried to talk to her on his phone because I didn't have her number. Like, and that's why I had his phone in the first place was to call her and ask her, mainly if he needed to be at work that day.

Because I didn't know and he, you know, had to be at work at nights most of the time. And then what happened? And then I kind of just went on with my day. Like, I mean, I just went and did, you know, stuff I normally do. I went to Lowe's. I had to drop a laptop off that I'd fix for somebody. What did you need at Lowe's? I mean, I was fixing my house up, so I can't tell you exactly what it was.

I mean, just... So you go to Lowe's. You go to the grocery store. First, I went to go drop this laptop off that was down off of, gosh, it's my friend Ricky's house, which was, like, downtown pretty much. He's over. You're going about your day. You're doing your thing.

And you take the computer to Ricky, who lives... He lives pretty much downtown. Downtown Atlanta? Yeah. And you are all the way up here? In Kennesaw, right. And I told him he wanted to come with me. That's 40 minutes and 40

minutes at least yeah it's probably more like three hours or something like that yeah by the time you get get there 40 minutes in there 30 minutes back 40 minutes at best right okay so you leave him where she was upstairs just I mean that's point I mean yeah he was because, you know, this was probably like 8 o'clock, you know, that I was talking about. A.M. Yeah. All right. So you do all that.

He'd been asleep for like five hours probably. Not even. Maybe four, I'd say. Four or five. That's what I always say. Nothing good happens after midnight. I mean, you always get in arguments. You know, everything goes sideways at midnight.

Yeah, okay. So, yeah, because i don't want to get any i don't want to lose any of this because i'm piecing it all together and make a timeline all right so you go at 8 9 10 30 you get back what's he doing sleeping same exact thing door open closed doors open at this point because he's still in my room you're right yeah and this is when i got him up um and i mean i basically woke him up and was like yo come with me come on i'm gonna have a cookout you know call amanda and i dropped all the plans on it because i was like man i figured he'd be up by now you know ready to go and rolling and uh got him up and then i you know got put him in

the other bedroom because i was going to work on some stuff in my room at this point. And I had like a four bedroom house so yeah up again I saw you and it was a you know I was like you know there's no point let him sleep in my room continue when I got crap I got to do and you know I was kind of like irritated at this point because I was like you know wanting to be up so we can get stuff kind of rolling but you know he was you know also you know had could tell he hadn't been sleeping for a couple days and you know had been fighting or whatnot so he went in the other bedroom door open shut door open so later that day you gave the roofers a tour of your home was he there see i didn't really give him a tour of my home because they've

been there before they told me that you gave my tour of your home that they showed you showed them around your house I mean I guess but like that would probably at like four o'clock or something four or five o'clock I mean I didn't really think that later in the day yeah but so you come by you get back to 30 11 ish you move them from your bedroom to the other bedroom he crashes door open and you do what i start going and getting you know i have to that's that point i'll go is this a weekday or i think it's a weekday yeah oh yeah amanda wasn't working so she could come over probably i mean i that's what i thought you know i didn't think she was doing anything taking care of the kids

like and uh i kind of wanted to you know fighting thing, if that's what it was. See, remember I gave Chase $60 too. I gave him $60 the night before he asked me for money. And I told him, yeah, I'll give you this. But I got $60. He had it in his pocket the whole time, I'm pretty sure. I mean, I don't think he left and came back while I was, you know, gone that I know of, you know. Okay, so you get back, try to wake him up.

He goes in the other room. Then you start doing what? After that, at that point, I go to Publix and Lowe's. And that's when I went and grabbed, I forget what it was I needed to grab at Lowe's, but I grabbed a list of stuff to cook with at Publix. And that's when I came back, basically started up the grill, and it was probably, you know, 1, 2 o'clock at this point. And, you know, after I started up the grill, I, like, backyard. Like I had a bunch of coals that pretty much one, some blew out of the yard. And like, I mean, the roof was literally had to get off the house because it was like so smoky from the fire that I had to start in the back. The pine straw.

Yeah. And because there's nobody behind me in Kennesaw. It was like all woods back there. And basically after that, that's when I went and tried to, you know, get Chase up. I was like, man, did you see the fire in the backyard? Because the bedroom he was in was directly by the back. I mean, you could see that fire, like, you know, plain as day, you know. And that's when I realized he wasn't there anymore. And what time was that?

I want to say it was like 2 or 3 o'clock or something like that. When you came back from Publix, was he there? I didn't check. Were the bedrooms upstairs yeah so you leave for Publix at what time that's probably 12 ish or something like that and he was there mm-hmm you get back from Publix you don't go up there the pine straw catches on fire and you go up there at what time about i'm gonna see it was like between like one or two o'clock it'd been like maybe one or one hour or something like that not even that long like before the last time i maybe maybe 1 30 or something for you to leave

him go to lowes go to public's get back start a fire put the fire out and go up there it's probably more like two o'clock. And he was gone. And he was gone. And, like, he had taken his bag and everything that he had. Like, he had a little bag, and then he had his, he left his two little bottles of beer in the closet. But other than that. How big was the bag?

It was like a backpack. Was it a backpack? Yeah, it was a backpack. So he glazed with his backpack and 60 bucks. You said you helped him take his bags to the other room though, right? Yeah, it was that backpack. It was just a backpack? A backpack and like a, you know, grocery bag of two bottles of beer or something like that.

So. Did you see it coming that he was leaving? Yeah, he did that every time. Like he would just disappear every time. Every time that he was over at my house, every time he was leaving, he would just disappear every time every time that I that he was over my house he would always every time he was leaving he would just disappear and man always like so that was his mo so I wasn't too worried you know how many times have you been over and disappeared two or three I mean each time he'd been in my house he always just left because I was always

like trying to get him to do something or like you know something like a cookout or just I feel like something that he didn't want to, you know, something like a cookout or just, I feel like something that he didn't want to do. You know, he was, uh, you know, all about like, just kind of getting stoned at that point. And, you know, like I said, I wasn't really smoking. So it was, uh you i mean it it was you know like yeah i would say yeah like what like i mean like she was mad at chase and it was just like you know um basically uh i'm stoned now um you know anything goes like you know you just have like the eye connection thing and it's just like you know you can tell when people are like another man thing where he thinks oh she's so into me and she's like so not no i wouldn't say that so you really

think she was hitting on you i mean it's not like hitting on me, like grabbing my ass or anything. But, like, I mean, she was, like, you know, feeling it out at least. Like, I mean, she called me and told me to come over there to bring her some pot for, like, you know, just some bizarre reason. Like, you know, it was just kind of. You think she was trying to get back at Chase? You know, I hope so. Like, that just kind of you think she's trying to get back at chase you know i hope so like that was that was kind of what i was because otherwise that means that yeah yeah okay i mean okay back to the day all right so around you think two o'clock you notice he's not

gone and his backpack is gone now earlier that day you had taken his cell phone with you. Why? Because, I mean, I think I just really had it with me, but I really wanted him to stay and, you know, wait for him, Amanda to come over. Because I knew he always left. Like that was his MO. You know, he would always leave. So if I had a cell phone, he wasn't going to leave right away.

And but that was like early in the morning when I thought that Amanda and I would come over and before I, you know, moved from the bedroom. And because I really wanted to talk to him again, you know, to make sure that, you know, nothing crazy was going to happen. But, you know, sure enough. So would the roofers have been in a position to see him leave? They should have. Like, that's what I thought. You know, that's why I assumed they just saw him leave.

Because, I mean, they were at work there. The house had a steep... See, at this point, when it was really smoky, they had to get down off the roof there. Because that's, you know, and that's why I assumed, you know, that Chase had heard them running around or whatever. I don't even know how he was sleeping with all that noise. Like, I mean... chase it heard them running around or whatever i don't even know how he was sleeping with all that noise like i mean i've been told that you had a big black bag of stuff you threw away in dumpster what was it a big black bag uh probably ceiling tiles all kinds of crap i mean i'm completely redoing the house.

I mean, the whole dumpster thing is kind of ridiculous to me. Because I had all my neighbors throw stuff in it. Like, I mean, it was just like... Why do you think everybody's pointing the finger at you? Because I'm the person that nobody knows. And I'm just like that odd piece of the plane. The last one to see him and his disappearance doesn't make sense but in a way it does if he kept telling people he's gonna leave and go live in the woods are you sure about that yeah that was i mean that's that's well known

too i'm pretty sure i mean that that he said that. I think his mom knows that. How badly do you think he and Amanda were fighting? I mean, bad enough to where they, she would just throw him out of the car, like randomly. Cause they want to fight in front of the kids and stuff. And you know, that was... Do you think he would actually leave his children? I, you know, wouldn't have thought that, you know, but I mean...

And I could see somebody leaving their wife if they fought all the time, but the children, that's the thing. That's where I don't buy him going into the woods, because I don't think he would have left those children. I mean, I don't think that he would have left for a significant period of time. But definitely a short period of time. And just to kind of... What was the relationship between him and his mother? I don't know.

Because she says he always called her back. He always texted her back. And that's how she knew something was wrong. I didn't really know his mom. Like, I'd never met his mom. Like I said, I only met him a handful of times, really. Okay, will you take a polygraph with me? Do you want me to take a polygraph?

Yes! Not sitting right here. I'll set one up and just put the whole thing to rest. I mean, I can, if that's what it takes. But, it's just... Don't be afraid of the polygraph. It's not a big deal. They're not hard at all. I mean... Because now I know where you live a polygraph. Polygraphs are just, I don't know. It's not a big deal. They're not hard at all.

I mean. Because now I know where you live, kind of. Right. So are we done then? Stephanie's on the way. Stephanie. On the way here? To Dina.

Yeah. Right now? Yeah. Dude, no, man. My apartment's destroyed. No, this is, this is. I didn't know that. I want to take a shower. That's right.

You were in the interview. I want to take you. Next, episode four of Finding Chase Masner. Stephanie Kadena, Chase's mother, finally gets to meet Brad Clements and ask him the question. She's been yearning to hear the answers to for so long, and we are there. Please join us for episode four, Finding Chase Masner. Stephanie, what you've been waiting for. Brad, the last person that, as of right now,

we know saw Chase alive. And I know you've got a lot of questions. Hit it. What was the last thing Chase said to you? When was the last time you talked to him? Oh, last time I talked to him, I mean, we were just talking about him and Amanda pretty much. And, you know, it was the exact words I can't remember because, I mean, we were pretty much just having a good time.

Like that was, you know, he'd come over and we were pretty much just having a good time. He'd come over and we were just, again, I pretty much reiterated the fact that he was a lucky guy to have a wife and two little girls that loved him. And that's all I would ever really tell him about that. We never got really into depth of how they were fighting or what they were fighting over i think he mainly just wanted to kind of you know a break from her again thank you crime con for sponsoring our podcast today as we try our very best to illuminate the disappearance of iraqi vet chase masner and hopefully to bring him home to his mother. CrimeCon, you made today possible. CrimeCon, go to CrimeCon.com and find out the latest about the convergence of crime busters and crime sleuths across the country.

June 9 through June 11 in Indianapolis at the JW Marriott. Use code Nancy for 20% off your registration. I'm doing it. Nancy Grace signing off. Thank you for being with us in our efforts to find Chase Masner. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.