Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Finding Chase Massner Episode 5: The frustrated wife

Episode Date: April 6, 2017

The first 4 episodes introduced you to Stephanie Cadena, Chase’s mother, and Brad Clement, the friend who was the last known person to see Chase before he vanished 3 years ago. The person you have not heard from yet is Amanda Massner, Chase’s wife. This is unfortunate, since, Brad said some pretty bad things about Amanda when Nancy Grace confronted him in episodes 3 & 4. We still hold out hope the Amanda will talk to us directly, but until then, we can let you hear what Amanda said in the first weeks after her husband went missing. 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 5. 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. Chase Massner is an Iraq war veteran, a husband, a father. His wife told us she dropped him off at a quick trip in Cobb County where he works. His family says he

was last seen at a friend's house in Kennesaw three years ago on March 27th. It's like he vanished from that home not to be seen or heard from again. If he was able to reach out to any one of us he would 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 at all not even the slightest clue in three years. Imagine every night putting your head to your pillow and wondering where is your son or where is your daughter and having dreams where the answer is just beyond your reach. And the days pass and the weeks weeks pass, and the months pass,

and still you don't have your son back. You don't have your daughter back. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories, and this is Episode 5 of Finding Chase Masner. As part of our investigation, we obtained recorded messages from the one person we haven't heard from, and that is Chase's wife, Amanda. We have repeatedly reached out to her to ask her to join us to help us find Chase Masner. So far, no good. Simply say thank you for being our podcast partner today and making our search for Chase Masner possible. Simply Safe, I'm so proud they're our partner.

You know why? Please take my DVD player. Take my 200 plus DVDs I've saved over the years since the twins were born. You can have all the Barneys. You can have all the Disney princess. Take it. I insist. You know what?

While you're at it, take my TV. You know, you can get them at Best Buy for a couple hundred bucks. And my furniture that I still have from law school, I'd be mad if you didn't. But don't break in while my children are here. Don't break in while my children are here. Don't. SimpliSafe, thank you for making home security affordable and available for everybody at $14.99 a month. Go to SimpliSafe.com slash Nancy for another 10% off. SimpliSafe, thank you for being our sponsor. This is Episode 5 of Finding Chase Masner. And again,

we've obtained a recorded conversation, legally recorded, I might add, of Amanda, Chase's wife, around the time he goes missing. The first four episodes of Finding Chase Masner have introduced you to Stephanie Kadena, Chase's mother, and Brad Clement, the friend who was the last known person to see Chase before he vanished from Brad's Kennesaw, Georgia home three years ago. The person you've not heard from yet is Amanda Masner, that's Chase's wife. That's unfortunate since, as you've heard, Brad said some pretty bad things about Amanda when he was confronted by Nancy Grace in episodes three and four. But Nancy made it clear that you were only hearing Brad's alibi, an unconfirmed account by a man defending himself from suspicion.

We still hold out hope that Amanda will talk to us directly, but until then, we can let you hear what Amanda said in the first weeks after her husband went missing. Crime Stories has obtained phone recordings made by people not connected to law enforcement, but who were trying to piece this puzzle together. While we don't believe Amanda knew she was being recorded, one-party knowledge is legal when taping a phone call in Georgia.

And we're only using these recordings since it's all we have from Amanda at this time, and it's important for you to hear the frustration in her voice and Amanda's cry for answers, what she says and how she says it may directly counter what you've already heard from Brad Clement. This first phone call was taped by a man who's now serving a five-year sentence in a Georgia prison for impersonating a police officer while investigating other missing persons cases. His real name is Paul Libre, but he's known to Amanda as Tim. Paul, or Tim, befriended Amanda soon after Chase's story was posted on missing persons pages on social media.

He joined a team of volunteers to search for clues in the absence of what they believe was a less than enthusiastic police investigation. By the way, Cobb County investigators have these recordings. We've heavily edited this call to remove irrelevant sections. We start with Amanda talking about Brad, whose house Chase slept in the last night. three i just like i can't keep up on it and i can't believe anybody and it's like when he was at my house why would he bring up the fact that like he just was bringing up him like um i'm trying to quote him exactly but he was just like going on and on and he was like and if somebody od'd at my house i know how how to handle it. I wouldn't freak out and let them die. I'd have to give them CPR. I know this.

Boy, and he has said that exact same quote to me. And I'm just like, why would you... Even bring that up. I'm asking you that. Yeah, like, why would you bring that up? How would you even want to put that in my head? Like, don't do that to his wife. You know, like, why would you go there?

I didn't even see that. And I just feel like there's so many people that are hiding little details. Well, there is. And all the little details wind up being big issues. Because the little details are hurting us as far as eliminating people. I mean, I can't eliminate Brad. I can't. The reason I can't is because of that roofer problem right there. I can't eliminate him because as much as I want to believe Brad, and I really do, that whole thing about the roofer saying they seen him leave keeps him in the loop. He's obviously hiding something about what happened when he left. I want everybody to get in the same room.

I want to invite every single person in this case over to my house. And then let them all talk. So that we have a timeline. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I'd do it at your house, but I see what you're saying. I mean, somewhere. We could do it at ClickTrip. We could do it at the Arby's. We could do it anywhere.

But I want everybody in the same room, and I want everybody to explain to me exactly what happened and when. Because at least then I'll put a timeline. It's definite. Well, and I think that'd be a big thing for us, too, is that we can get, you know, damn, everything in the open, kind of. Right. And, you know, I want somebody to say to somebody else, you're lying. Right. Somebody might step over somebody else's story. Could we do that?

Could we try to organize something? I don't see why not. I think that's the best idea that anybody's come up with since we started this case. I want to see who don't show up. I want to see who don't show up. And Shauna. I want to see who don't show up. That's the other thing.

But I want to personally invite them. I want to ask them. And I just want to, I want everyone to have their, on their schedule, this is when we're meeting. And I don't want, I don't want it to be a lot of people from your team

because I don't want people to get freaked out. Like, honestly, it would probably be better if it was just like you or you and one other person. But then just everyone that has a piece of the story. So they feel comfortable. They don't feel like they're being interrogated. And then just let them talk.

As long as they want. And just let them talk to each other. And hear what they have to say. Hear where they have a problem. Because I just, something doesn't make sense. I don't know, I'm starting to like question every small person I know. Do I trust them? Do I really know this person? I mean, I'm going crazy with like paranoia and conspiracy.

What if this happens? I just... You just heard Amanda suggesting everyone who might know something should get together in the same room and discuss what they know. But unfortunately, that never happened. In fact, detectives discouraged witnesses from talking to each other. Chase's mom had never met Brad until until nancy grace brought them together recently for this podcast series you hear that in episode four nancy has started putting together this timeline just like amanda wanted three years ago in this next segment amanda tells tim she's keeping money in chase's bank account just in case he's still alive and tries to use his debit card

the only thing he had on his cell phone use his debit card. The only thing he had on him was his cell phone and his debit card. And he's never used a debit card again, right? Never. I checked that thing, I don't even know how many times a day. So you still have it, all right, so it's still active. If he had to use it, he could. Yeah, I've made sure that if he needed money, he could access it. The sudden disappearance of a father is tough to explain to young children, especially when you yourself don't know where he is or why he's gone. And in this segment, you hear Amanda's pain for her young daughters, especially the one about to turn four.

Every time my daughter asks me something, I don't know what to say. If I need to mentally prepare her for something like that, I need to know if I need to prepare her for something like that. Because she's not a baby. She's a kid. A kid who knows what's going on. A kid who is crying at me. I don't know what to tell her. And she feels abandoned. And the only thing she thinks is that he's out of town. Because I don't know what else to say. Because I don't want her to be hurt. Because I don't want her to be hurt. And I don't want her to feel like he doesn't want to be around her. But it's only so long I can say that before she's like, he's been gone too long.

And my daughter's first birthday is in a week. There's no way I can explain to my four-year-old that he's not there for her birthday. Jason and I were best friends. And if he wouldn't do this to his kids, he would let them know. there for a person. Jason and I were best friends. And he wouldn't do this to his kids. He would let them know. He would want to see them. He just wouldn't. He's not that type of person.

And I just... I have to do something more. I have to. Ask the spouse of a missing person and they'll likely tell you one of the painful aspects is the suspicion cast upon them. People are just starting to come at me and I... And I'll tell anybody, you know, put me on a lie detector. Search my house, search my phone, do whatever you want.

If it helps. Another call was recorded by a woman who describes herself as a military mom. She says she was drawn to Chase's story because, like her son, Chase served in the military. Amanda responds to accusations that she grew marijuana in her basement and that Chase used heroin. Drugs have not ever been my thing. Chase has struggled with them. And it has been something that we struggled with for a long time. But that's not my thing. And people are just making me out to

be this big drug person. And it's just, that's one of the reasons I shut down from everybody. It's because everybody started making false accusations and threatening with defects and all of this stuff. And I was like, okay, well, apparently people are manipulating and twisting me and twisting my words and twisting Chase's problems to make them my problems. Because I was told that you said that the drugs were all me and that Chase is a golden boy and that I'm the one that had problems with them. And that is, that's just so far from the truth, the furthest thing from the truth. Okay, let me, I'm so glad that you're laying these out on the table, that you're being straight with me on this. This is what I need you to do because I need to hear what's coming from you,

and you need to hear what's coming from me. This is what I was told. Chase's drug of choice is heroin. He did heroin as a teenager. And Chase's drug of choice was not heroin. It was pot. But he struggled with it when he was younger. And he's struggled with it like one time since we've gotten married on one occasion. So, Alan, I'm trying to understand what she's saying, what she's talking about. But her husband disappeared, I hear a lot of concern

and a lot of frustration from her. You obviously hear the pain that she is suffering for her daughters, but she's also very confused and very frustrated. So I think this is what you would expect, a wife who has lost her husband suddenly and in a very unexplained way. Now, why was she so interested in trying to find out what happened to Chase and then suddenly packed up and left town and we can't get in touch with her? What's that all about? Amanda moved out of town on the first anniversary of Chase's disappearance. And I understand it wasn't because it was the anniversary, but it happened to be when her lease was up at her Kennesaw, Georgia home, and so she moved. But another factor that some people speculate came into this is that

she was being stalked. There is this gentleman that you hear in this phone recording, Tim, real name Paul Libre, the one who's actually in prison right now for impersonating police officer. There were some things between her and Paul that were somewhat scary that I won't get into right here, but it would have been enough along with all of the suspicion and the pressure, that maybe she just wanted to be in a different place. What do we know about where she's living now? Amanda is living in Iowa, Burlington, Iowa area, which not coincidentally is where Chase's father, Corbin, lives and is from. So there she has some financial support. She has some support system from Chase's paternal side of Chase's family. Do you believe she's cooperating with police? I have not heard that she is not cooperating with police. I have no reason to believe that she's not cooperating

with the police. However, keep in mind, now the file is moving to a different unit. It's going to the cold case unit. We've talked with them, and we find them very receptive. In fact, we know that the cold case investigators are listening to our podcast series. And maybe now it will be a new opportunity for there to be a dialogue between detectives, this time with a cold case unit, and Amanda. You know, Brad's theory has always been that while he was gone to either Lowe's or Publix, she came by and picked him up because that was the usual M.O. He told me that that day she had been, quote, blowing up his cell phone trying to come pick him up or talk to him. And he believes she picked him up while he, Brad, was gone. Yes, we heard Brad say that's what he

just assumed that Amanda picked up Chase that day and that he didn't just walk away. However, Brad has no real way of knowing that. And we don't know either. But of course, Amanda insists that did not happen. Do we know if his cell phone turned up anywhere else? Because last time Brad saw him, according to Brad Clements, he had a cell phone. If it's turned up somewhere else, then he absolutely saw someone else that afternoon. It's an interesting question about Chase's cell phone because it wasn't used apparently after a certain time on the 27th of March and it is believed that Chase took it with him. However, there are some people who suspect that he didn't. What do you think we have to do to get Amanda to speak with us and tell us what happened that day? I mean,

she's under no obligation under the law, but what do you think it will take to get Amanda to talk to us? I don't know. I'm hoping that Amanda will listen to this. I know for a fact that people that she's close to are listening to these episodes. While I'm not sure that she's listening to every second of every one of them, she's aware that this is going on. Certainly. I'm not sure that she's listening to every second of every one of them, she's aware that this is going on, certainly. I'm hoping she'll see that we're taking an objective look at this, that we're not attacking any individuals, that we're just trying to build a timeline and we're looking for answers. And of course, hanging in the balance are Chase's two little girls with Amanda. Again, Simply Safe, I want to thank you for being with

us today. As always, our partner in crime stories and our partner in finding missing people, solving unsolved homicides. Simply Safe makes home security affordable and available to everyone. Go to simplysafe.com slash Nancy for another 10% off. Our search for Chase Masner goes on. It is now reverting to a cold case, but it's not cold to us. The answer is out there, even if sometimes it feels like it's just beyond our fingertips. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.