Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous 25-year-old goes to seance, vanishes, Parents beg for help.

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

After beautiful New Jersey nanny Stephanie Parze disappears, police zero in on her on-and-off-again boyfriend, John Ozbilgen. Before they can question him further, he hangs himself inside his home.Police later discover angry text messages sent by Ozbilgen to Stephanie. They also find numerous child porn images in his phone.Meanwhile, Parzee's family holds out hope that she's still alive. What happened to Stephanie?Joining Nancy Grace to discuss the case: Edward Parze: Stephanie's father Sharlene Parze: Stephanie's mother Wendy Patrick: California prosecutor, author of “Red Flags”   Jeff Cortese: Former FBI Special Agent   Dr. Daniel Bober: Forensic Psychiatrist   Alexis Tereschuk: Radar Online Investigative Reporter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. What first attracted me to this beautiful girl, just 25 years old, Stephanie Pars, is her big smile. I looked at all of her pictures and she has this picture perfect smile and then on top of her photo I kept seeing it said gorgeous makeup artist 25 vanishes after a seance and I've never heard such a thing before but when I hear the heartbreak and her parents voices all I want to do is help find Stephanie. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Mars lived in the house right behind me. Her car is still in the driveway. Her parents came over to this home and they found her cell phone inside the living room. THE FAMILY IS STILL IN THE DRIVEWAY. HER PARENTS CAME OVER TO THIS HOME AND FOUND HER CELL PHONE INSIDE THE LIVING ROOM. NOW THEY'RE TRYING TO

HOLD OUT HOPE THAT SHE IS STILL ALIVE. I KNOW THAT WE WILL DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO GET YOU HOME. HER DISAPPEARANCE IS A MYSTERY. STEPHANIE PARZ WAS LAST SEEN AROUND 10 O'CLOCK

LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AFTER SHE SPENT A NIGHT OUT WITH FAMILY TO SEE A WELL KNOWN PSYCHIC IN NEW BRUNSWICK. THE FAMILY CAME HOME TOGETHER AND STEPHANIE ADDED TO THE HOME SHE LIVES IN. SHE'S A FAMILY MEMBER AND

SHE'S A FAMILY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY. SHE'S A FAMILY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY. SHE'S A FAMILY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY. seen around 10 o'clock last Wednesday night after she spent a night out with family to see a well-known psychic in New Brunswick. The family came home together and Stephanie added to the home she lives in that was once owned by her maternal grandmother. Stephanie's mother and father have been waiting to hear from her after she went missing without a trace. And we will see you soon. We love you so much. Think about what Daddy taught you. Do what I told you to do. The weight is an emotional rollercoaster. Her parents said the 25 year old who loves art is a very independent person.

Stephanie is also petite in size, standing 4 feet 11 inches and weighing 115 pounds. You are hearing our friend Anthony Johnson at AB7 in New York. How many times have I heard that voice? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. With me, two very special guests, Stephanie's mother and father, Charlene and Edward Pars. Also with me, an all-star panel, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags, Wendy Patrick with us, Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent at jeffcortese.com, renowned forensic psychiatrist joining me out of the Florida jurisdiction, Dr. Daniel Bober.

But right now, to investigative reporter with RadarOnline.com, Alexis Tereszczuk. Alexis, I want to hear from the parents, but for our listeners, please tell me about the disappearance of Stephanie. Stephanie, just 25 years old, had gone with her mom and some other family members, not to a seance. She went to see a medium speed. This is an event. This is a woman who would read people in the audience. Just, you know, a really neat, fun event, a family event. So she goes on Wednesday night and she goes home.

She talks to her mom. She kisses her goodnight. She says goodbye. She goes to her house. As you said, this was her maternal grandmother's house. And she sends a Snapchat photo. As you said, this was her maternal grandmother's house. And she sends a Snapchat photo on the way home, cute picture of herself, gets home. Nobody hears from her, but 1030 at night, she probably has gone to bed. They can't find her. They go over the next morning

to the house because no one has heard from her. She is not there. They look for all of her things. They find the cell phone, the one thing that you would keep with you at all times, the thing that could help them find their daughter. And it is in the sofa of the house. Hold on. Alexis Tereschuk joining me, investigative reporter, RadarOnline.com. Also with me, Edward and Charlene Pars. This is Stephanie's mom and dad, and they are begging for your help. Ms. Pars, thank you for being with us. When Alexis Tereszczuk says the phone, her cell phone was in the sofa, what do you mean by that? It was actually on the side of the couch that we found it. When I was at the house looking for her. I rang her phone.

And that's where her sister found it, on the side of the couch. On the floor or on a table or where? On the floor. There was a whole bunch of blankets and stuff. I don't know whether it just fell off the arm of the chair. But we had to move some stuff to get to it. To Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent, Jeff, that actually tells me a lot. Well, I also want to know how it was positioned, but it seems that she had come in and at least sat down on the sofa or at least had that much time when she got in. Hold on, Jeff. Another

question to Charlene. Was the house otherwise neat or did it look like there had been a struggle? Did it look like anyone had broken in and ransacked it? Was anything missing? Not that I could say. Everything was just normal. The leftovers that she took home that night was left on the piano when we first walked in. I saw her shoes and her leather jacket were on the floor. The side of the couch where we found her phone is where her phone charger is. So she always sat on that side. Was it plugged in? No, no.

Got another question. This sounds silly, but Charlene, what were the leftovers that she had brought home? Where did you guys go? What did she bring home? It was just like chicken fingers and waffle fries and something that she was just going to, you know, leftover from the dinner, but she was going to take it for lunch the next day to work. See right there, that tells me I don't think she ever made it into the kitchen because you're saying she sat it down was it by the front door is that what you said it's in the room where the front door is yes however every light in the house was on which was very strange every light in the house is it

single or two-storied it's a ranch single ranch every light in the house was on that's not like her right because I'm telling you I have certain lights I leave on when I leave, and that's that. If anything else is left on, then that was a mistake. Right. Even the light going down to the basement was on, and she would never go down that way. Okay. That's very odd in my mind. Was the front door locked or unlocked?

It was unlocked, but that's kind of normal for her to have it unlocked. Yeah. very odd in my mind. Was the front door locked or unlocked? It was unlocked, but that's kind of normal for her to have it unlocked. Yeah. Really? Well, I don't know about at night, like when she goes to bed, you know, but when she's home, you know, she would keep it unlocked. What about her vehicle? That was in the driveway.

Locked, unlocked? Locked. Hmm. But she, was she driving the night before or was she in the car with you guys? She drove to my house, and then we all took my vehicle up to the show, and then she took her vehicle home from my house. Interesting. And to Edward Pars, this is Stephanie's dad. When you saw her, what was her demeanor?

Was she upbeat? I didn't go with the girl right out of his home. She's always upbeat, especially when they're going out. And I'm trying to be a lucky. Take a listen to our friend Matt Kozar at CBS2 New York. Your mind is racist. You don't know what's happened to her, where she is. Ed Pars' oldest daughter is missing, and he's doing everything in his power to find her. It's not like her. She would call us. She would text. She's been in the house for a long time. She's been in the house for a long time. Her daughter is missing, and he's doing everything in his

power to find her. It's not like her. She would call us. She would text. She could. According to her parents, par stopped by their home and free hold Wednesday night and left around 10 o'clock to drive five miles to her grandmother's

house where they say she was staying. But when she didn't show up to work the next morning, friends and family the neighborhood where she lived. Her parents say investigators found her car and her cell phone at her grandmother's house. Everybody just help get it. You know, get the word out and please find her. She's gonna be safe. She's only 4 11. She probably weighs like 110 115 pounds and like I

just want her home. Volunteers have been posting flyers with the police saying they're looking for her. She's only 4'11". She probably weighs like 110, 115 pounds. I just want her home. Volunteers have been posting flyers with Pars' photo across downtown Freehold. Since then, we've just been going crazy trying to contact everybody and anybody that she knew and we know and everything, hospital, wherever it is, just to see if we can locate her and haven't had anything, no trace of her at all.

Her family says Pars works as a nanny and a makeup artist. Detectives ask that you call them if you have any information. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Several searches are going on today outside the police investigation. A community reaching out to help a heartbroken family find answers to find their daughter. THE FAMILY IS HOPING TO FIND SOMETHING. THE FAMILY IS HOPING TO FIND SOMETHING. IN THE LAST INVESTIGATION, A COMMUNITY

REACHING OUT TO HELP A HEARTBROKEN FAMILY FIND ANSWERS TO FIND THEIR DAUGHTER. MY STATE OF MIND IS JUST HOPEFUL. OKAY, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, IT'S BITTER SWEET. YOU WANT TO FIND SOMETHING BUT

YOU DON'T WANT TO FIND SOMETHING. IT'S HARD TO EXPLAIN THAT. YOU GOT TO REALLY FEEL THAT. YOU KNOW, IF YOU DO FIND SOMETHING RIGHT AWAY, YOU'RE energized. You're like, okay, what did we find? And then you're hoping it's not the wrong thing that we're finding. Ed Pars expressed his gratitude to all of the volunteers, hundreds really, the restaurants who've donated food and warm drinks for the people who've been searching for hours out here for his daughter. That search resumes tomorrow morning at 8.30 here

and in several other places around Freehold. You are hearing our friends at ABC7. That was our friend Tony Yates speaking. The heartbroken family of this gorgeous young girl, just 25 years old. If you see a picture of her, you can see it at CrimeOnline.com. Just she looks like everybody's little sister, just precious. You know who she reminds me of, Jackie? I don't know if you ever watched Gilligan's Island. She reminds me of Marianne. The big smile, the brunette hair,

the gorgeous big eyes, just a good energy, just even from the picture. The heartbroken family of Stephanie Pars, who goes missing after a girl's night out with her family, her mom, others, to a seance, say they are holding on to hope that she is still alive. And I'm hoping the very same thing. The tip line, please write this down. 732-462-7500. Repeat, 732-462-7500. If you know anything or think you know anything, please call this number.

And with me, in addition to Alexis Tereschow, Radar Online, Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist, former FBI, Jeff Cortese, Wendy Patrick, former prosecutor, Edward and Charlene Pars, the mom and dad of Stephanie, begging for your help. So let me understand this. Charlene, that night, she leaves your house in her car. And just for our listeners, what kind of car was she driving? A Hyundai Sonata, a white vehicle. White Hyundai Sonata. Yeah. Okay.

She drives that home from your place to her place, which used to be your grandma's house. And how far away? Five miles away? Yes. And did you expect her to call you when she got home? Yes. I told her to call me or text me to let me know that she got home okay.

Did she? No. No, I didn't hear from her. Does she normally do that when you ask her? Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely. And if for some reason she ends up falling asleep, you know, by like, you know, just a couple hours later, she's texting me. Sorry, I fell asleep. You know, I'm okay. When did you become suspicious, Sherlaine? and she didn't answer. So I thought that she did fall asleep. And I texted her again like 7 o'clock in the morning.

I also thought maybe her phone was on silent because of the show and that she never put it back on ringer. So I called her when I thought that she was on her way to work because I figured her car phone would pick up if her phone was on silent and there was no answer. And I kept on texting her and nothing.

And she was supposed to be at work. So my husband and I took a ride over there and her car was in the driveway. I quick ran in and that's when I saw all the lights were on. I went room to room searching for her. I quick looked for her phone and didn't find it. But my mom has three big dogs and she has a little tiny dog. And they were all locked in the house where they normally have a doggy door where they could go out. But when Stephanie has her little Yorkie out, she doesn't want her to go out the doggy door because, you know, she's so tiny and afraid the birds are going to, like, pick her up. So me and our sister went back a couple hours later.

Okay, let me understand what that means right there. That means something. All these... I once proved a murder case based on the location of an earring. And it's a long story, but every fact means something. The leftovers still in the entrance area, the phone by the sofa where she would typically charge it and sit.

I mean, I don't know about you guys on the panel, and I guess I could ask our shrink, Dr. Daniel Bober, about this, but I have a spot I sit in our den. My daughter has a spot to my right. My son has a spot to my left. My husband has a spot when he's home. And that's just, I don't know why that is. Why is that, Dr. Daniel Bober? It means something, I'm sure. And nobody, hey, this is my spot. But even at the supper table, we sit in the same spot. What does that mean, Bober? Well, there's always the first time you sit in that spot. And I think once you do it enough times,

you develop a certain pattern and a certain comfort zone, and that's kind of where you just stay because that's where you feel comfortable. And, you know, I know Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags. Wendy, it's called behavioral evidence or routine evidence. What that means is you do the same thing. It's not like you're anal compulsive it's just you have a routine because that is what suits you for instance the moment I walk in the door I lock the door and even when we're home turn on the alarm it's ingrained in me you just do certain things

by rote and the fact that she left food in the entrance area that she had, in my mind, made it to sit down on her sofa, that means something to me. And the fact that she didn't text back, that means something to me. I know it sounds crazy, Wendy, but even up when I was still a prosecutor, you know, I was 30. My mom had to be at work really early in the morning, like 7 a.m. The moment she got there, that's when we still had long distance phone calls and no cell phones. She would call me on her, I think they called it a Watts line, an 800 line, to make sure at 7 a.m. that I was up and leaving to get to court. And I mean, still, when I'm 30, and if she didn't call me, I would think something was wrong. It means something. Everything that Charlene is telling us,

every fact, which may seem small to other people, means something. That's one of the reasons that, Charlene, you are an amazing witness, because it is all these little details. You know, we often hear the overused phrase, the devil is in the detail. Yet, that's exactly how we prove cases. As Nancy just stated, proving a murder case based on the location of an earring. Not only are we creatures of habit, but we're also creatures of patterns, like Dr. Bober was saying, patterns in comfort zone. So when you think about the food in the entryway, the cell phone near the sofa. How far did she get before something happened that was out of the ordinary? You know, all of the lights on, that almost indicates searching

for something. That's the kind of thing you do when something's gone missing. That's just one of the explanations. But it gets us thinking as to what could it mean? How far did she get? And Charlene, you also bring up some very practical explanations. We run through all of the reasons that somebody might not be answering their phone. Maybe the battery's dead. Maybe the ringer's off. Until we just can't come up with any other explanations where you moved on this right away. So my prayers are with you and Edward and your whole family.

The circumstantial evidence you're describing is going to assist in solving this case. I want to pick up on something Wendy just said to Charlene and Edward. Trust me, I'm not ignoring you. My most beloved person in the world up there with my twins, my dad. And I know you love your little girl so much. I got to ask Charlene another question about all those lights being on, because it's really bothering me. When you said that, when you said those words words I had chills go up both my arms and when Wendy said looks like

somebody was looking for something she's right why would you go turn on every light in the house that is a question that I've been asking myself because she never had every single light on the house. She would have to go over to the sliding door to turn, you know, to shut the door so the dogs don't grab the doggy door. But that is right off the living room, which is right off the front door. Leaving the food on the piano, that would be Steph, to be honest with you. That's kind of normal. Like she would do that, but not having her phone. One thing I did realize, like when I started getting worried, I have a device app on my phone that says find my device and she knows it. And she likes that. I have that idea because if she ever lost her phone, I was able to trace it.

I did notice that the location was off. However, her phone was at 44%. When I checked it a couple hours later, it only went down to 39%. And then when we went back that evening when we actually found her phone, it was down to 34%. So I knew that she was not on her phone all day. Otherwise, it would have drained so much more. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Missing posters have been put up around the town of Freehold,

and family is standing by to get any word on the whereabouts of Stephanie Pards. Hopefully she sees us and, you know, every bit of energy that she has to fight and to get home to us. SHE'S A VERY GOOD GIRL. SHE'S A VERY GOOD GIRL. SHE'S A VERY GOOD GIRL. HOPEFULLY SHE SEES US AND EVERY BIT OF ENERGY THAT SHE HAS TO FIGHT AND TO GET HOME TO US. FRIENDS AND FAMILY HAVE GATHERED AROUND STEPHANIE'S

PARENTS TO GIVE THEM SUPPORT. SHE COMES FROM A VERY CLOSE- KNIT FAMILY WHO HAS BECOME KNOWN IN THE AREA FOR THEIR ELABORATE HOLIDAY DECORATIONS. HER FATHER WOULD HAVE BEGUN SETTING UP THOSE DECORATIONS begun setting up those decorations this past weekend, but has been too distraught and too worried about his daughter to think about a celebration. She'd be trying to reach us, not like her, not to contact us. Here are the missing posters, or one of the missing posters that you can find around the town of Freehold. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, a burgundy v-neck, and burgundy sweater. You're hearing our friend, ABC7 New York reporter Anthony Johnson,

and with me, Stephanie's parents, Edward and Charlene. Charlene, you were with her the night before, and they keep saying she went to a seance. It was really more like a show. What was the show, and what was her demeanor there, Charlene? Yes, it was a show. We actually went to a comedy club up in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and there was eight of us. Her and her, all four of my daughters went, and it was a really good night. We just had dinner.

There was a medium there. However, it was 300 people in the audience, so it wasn't something that was just going to be a one-on-one reading with us. Who was the medium? Cindy Kaza. So it's like a show. Okay. A lot of people were attaching significance that she went to a seance that she was trying to find out some question, but that's not the case at all. It was a comedy club. It was a show. Okay. What was her demeanor? I'm very, very concerned about her demeanor. Oh, she was fine. I mean, she loved going out. We're always doing family bonding time, sister bonding time.

And it was just a girl's night out. We had a great time. To Edward Pars, this is Stephanie's dad joining us, asking for your help. Repeat tip line 732-462-7500. 732-462-7500. 732-462-7500. Edward, tell me your recollections of that evening and the next morning when you go over to Stephanie's home, what you observed.

Like I said, I didn't see her when she left the house after they came back from the show. And we went over to the house the next afternoon. Once we got to the house then, after my wife went in the house and couldn't find her, she came back out. She was a little nervous, but it looked like she

had just left with somebody to go to the store or something like that because the dog was still locked in and stuff and she would never leave them locked in because they can't go to the bathroom really. So we went to the bathroom, really. So we went to the doctor's appointment that I had real quick and then went back home. And then a little while later, my wife and my other daughter went back to the house. That's when they found the, you know, still not there, and they found the phone.

At that point, she let me know that she still wasn't there, that they did find the phone. And then she was looking at the phone, and she saw a message from the parents of the little girl that she watches, saying that, you know, she didn't come to work today. She's making sure everything's okay. At that point, I got extremely concerned. My wife got a little distraught. We started calling everybody, everybody she knew, all of her friends, all the friends that we knew, that we had, to see if anybody knew her. We called the rest of my daughters, make sure they haven't heard from her, some family, friends. Nobody had seen or heard from her at all.

And then we just, after we were exhausted that, we decided, you know, we've got to call the police. Just not like her. Just not, she doesn't do that. You know, she's a homebody. She doesn't know everything. So it started getting, you know, the fear just started setting in at that point. Let me ask you a question. What have you learned, if anything, from police regarding the last time her phone was used?

And what if any text messages were on her phone? Well, the police have really haven't given us too much information as far as the investigation is concerned. So I don't really know what was on her phone or anything like that. We didn't even know they had the phone. And they took the report that we made very, very seriously because the ball started rolling as soon as the police officers got to the house here.

I know a lot of these police officers and detectives personally, so they took it to heart immediately and they knew it wasn't some kind of a runaway or something like that. As far as anything they found on the phone. Did you guys look at the phone, Charlize?

You said that there was a text from the family with whom she worked that where she was a nanny saying hey where are you are you okay could you read her text no she had a code on her phone um and i wasn't able to get in into it which she had just told me about what her code was like a month ago, but I couldn't remember it. But I was able to drop down the bar and was able to see that one notification from the parents. But that was the only thing I could see. So I actually ended up calling Verizon and explaining the situation that I need to get in the phone but they said that I couldn't get in the phone the only thing I could do was do a factory reset but that would delete everything

another wrinkle in the case is we are now learning through police sources that her stockbroker boyfriend sent her about 10 unanswered text messages in about nine minutes. The night before she was discovered, disappeared. It could very well have been the night she disappeared. Ending with curse words. An expletive-laced message. I guess because she wasn't texting back. To Alexis Tereschuk, investigative reporter, RadarOnline.com.

What have we learned from her cell phone regarding those texts? What was the boyfriend saying, John Osbilgen? According to the police sources, he was harassing her. It was a barrage of messages, so many of them. And she was not answering. Now, this may have been, they came when she was in. Wait, wait, wait. And I see there's a big difference, Alexis, in him going, hey, where are you? Why won't you call me? Why are you ignoring

my calls? What's happening? That's one thing. And him stalking her and, you know, bombarding her with text messages, 10 and nine minutes. That's a whole nother thing. Right. This wasn't, hey, what are you doing? You want to go to the movies? This was exactly 10 at one every minute. Just where are you? And they were filled with curse words, like, as you said, swearing at her. And so the police have said that, you know, they've discovered these messages. They were able to get the messages from the phone and that they know that he had sent her so many harassing messages. Then another wrinkle in the case. Take a listen to Tony Yates, ABC7. Alsbelgen blinked heavily in court today as he listened to allegations against him. He's been

held for the past 11 days on child pornography charges for images found on his phone. Prosecutors say a few images, then more. Nine additional images were obtained of female children being sexually abused and exploited. Those images found after Ozbilgen became a person of interest in the disappearance of his on-again, off-again girlfriend, 25-year-old Stephanie Pars. The makeup artist who lives in Freehold went missing October 30th after she'd headed home after a night out with her family. Prosecutors say she had a domestic violence case against Oz Bilgin. Detectives learned that this defendant was texting and Facebook messaging Stephanie Pars the night before her disappearance. A domestic violence case against a stockbroker

boyfriend? Cops find child porn on his cell phone? I'm Nancy Grace. Two searches were conducted by law enforcement last week along a marshland area on Staten Island near where Oz Bilgin once worked. Nothing was found. Her father, Ed Parr, says dozens of people will launch a search for his daughter tomorrow and Thursday, led by first responders in Freehold and in and around areas where tips have come in. You don't know. That's the thing. The unknown is what's driving us out of our minds. So we're going to try and just check off the boxes the best we can. In the meantime, Ozbilgen is now a free man.

The only crime he's facing thus far is third-degree pornography charges. Free on bail? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. While a 25-year-old beauty, Stephanie Pars, is missing, and her stalker boyfriend is caught with child porn on his cell phone, he somehow makes a bond and then a torpedo to the case. This is a startling development in the case of missing 25-year-old Stephanie Pars,

which brings investigators here to the home of her ex-boyfriend, who was found dead and sources telling us it appears he took his own life. In this photo from the Facebook page of the missing woman, the scene. The police say the man was shot dead and the police say he was shot dead and sources telling us it appears he took his own life. In this photo from the Facebook page of the missing woman, Stephanie Parsons at the beach with 29 year old John Osborne, a stock

broker who police say sent 10 angry unanswered texts to his former girlfriend the night before she went missing. The Monmouth prosecutor put out this message on social media. John Osbulgen found deceased at his Freehold home this morning. We do not believe his death was suspicious at this time. Osbulgen was recently released from jail after being charged with possession of child pornography. Investigation remains active, more to follow. It's a complication for the Parrs investigation with no identified suspects

and no sign of her. Parrs, a cosmetologist who also worked as a nanny, vanished after a family outing to a comedy club in New Brunswick on October 30th. At home is where the young woman's car and cell phone were found, indicating she made it back there before disappearing. This is almost too much to take in. That is our friend Dave Carlin at CBS2 New York. Alexis Tereschuk, so he is picked up after cops find images of child porn on his cell phone. This is a young up-and-coming stockbroker that had been basically stalking Stephanie, harassing her, sending 10 profanity-laced expletives in just nine minutes.

And now she goes missing. How the hey does he get out on bond while Stephanie's missing? And then goes and hangs himself. How does that happen? Well, I'm really actually stunned at this. To me, this should have been the police would sit him down. They would talk to him. They would find Stephanie.

He would tell them what he knows, and they would find her, and she would be home right now. But they were only holding him on this child pornography charge, which to me is probably the worst charge out there, but he made bail. Edward Parrs and Charlene Parrs with me, these are Stephanie's parents. Every source I've spoken with or learned about says that he was released on bail. But that's not correct, is it, Edward? No, that's incorrect. New Jersey has a bail reform act, which is, in essence, a point system. It goes by the offenses that are committed and the charges.

And apparently, I mean, you can go online and actually look this up. A criminal can actually go online and look this up and do the point system himself and know he's going to get out if he commits a certain crime. So according to the point system, even though the prosecutors had a case and they made their case very well,

the judge had no choice going by the point system to release him. There was no monetary bail or anything like that that was taken. So was you know our understanding is patrick california prosecutor that's just mind-boggling to me that on child porn charges you would uh grid out without really even putting up any bond yeah you know nancy it's frustrating across the country that we do have systems that basically assign levels of bail. I'm going to use that word loosely, whether you call it a point system or money or wherever have you, depending on the level of the crime.

And one of the things we've seen across the country is that seems to just be getting more lenient in many areas. So it is so frustrating, particularly in a case like this where somebody is released who's under suspicion for something else to see how easy it is sometimes to get out. When, as you say, crimes can be particularly despicable. And, you know, images on somebody's phone, you know, we need to know more, obviously, about exactly what they were to decide what charges they would merit. But still, when you look at these points from the beginning, as Edward was saying, knowing it's just a matter of time, knowing what Edward knew about this man or at least had the bad feelings that both he and Charlene had, that's especially troubling. Either knowing something about Stephanie's disappearance or being busted on child porn. He would definitely lose his stockbroker's license, his life as he knew it would be over. I'm going to go to Charlene and Edward Parr's

Stephanie's parents. First of all, Edward, did you know about her relationship with 29-year-old John Osbilgen? Yes, I knew she was seeing him on and off for about two months. What did you think of him? Had you ever met him? I only met him briefly twice. We went on a rafting trip. We were in a rafting

for a year with the family. There was 50, 60 people there. He was in a different boat, so I met him briefly twice. We went on a rafting trip. We were in a rafting trip every year with the family. There was 50, 60 people there. He was in a different boat, so I met him a little goodbye. I had a weird feeling about him when I met him, but that's just normal, you know, dad and a new boyfriend. Not the only other time I met him. What about you, Charlene? What was your take on Oz Bilgin? I didn't care for him from the beginning. There was just something that bothered me. I'm always analyzing. I have four girls, so I'm always, you know, checking the new boyfriends that come in. And, you know, Stephanie's always, you know, she had somebody over and, I guess, opinions and stuff.

And he was just very unsociable, you know, never spoke. Even, you know, her friends didn't care for him. And I guess every time he talked apparently of what the friend said, it was like more like a cold joke that he would do instead of like a conversation. But no, I had just, I had just told Stephanie on the Monday before she went missing, I had asked her what was the, what was going on with her and John. And, you know, she had said to me that it's complicated. She says, like, I almost completely broke it off with him two days

ago, she says, but he'll go back to like when we first started dating and so nice and then he just reels me back in and then he's, you know, it gets bad again, then he reels me back in and she says it's like hard to get away from him, you know, but I had told her that because he had hit her three other, you know, three times that he was never going to be accepted as family. There would be no holidays, no family gatherings, no wedding, no nothing. And, you know, it just seemed like she was just trying to end it with him. You know, I'm just thinking through what had happened in their relationship, things had become so bad between them that Stephanie had filed an assault domestic violence complaint against him in September.

And very disturbing to Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent. You can find him at JeffCortese.com. While investigating Stephanie's disappearance, detectives noticed marks around his neck. What do you make of that, Jeff? You know, before any of this information that we've discussed today, you know, the first place that law enforcement is going to be looking in a missing person case is the person closest to the person missing, whether it's a husband, a boyfriend. And then, you know, after hearing all of this other information, you can't help but raise your eyebrows even more, obviously. When you see physical violence, the marks on his body would be significant to questioning. I'm very curious to Dr. Daniel Bober, an MD as well as a

forensic psychiatrist, whether they performed any kind of DNA test on those marks. What do you think, Bober? Hard to say, Nancy. Very hard to say, but certainly would be helpful information. Edward Pars, what do you know, if anything, about DNA testing on Osbilgen? They also did do DNA testing of the scratches on his neck

and complete forensic screening of himself, the whole person. So they did that. What did they find, if anything? Well, it was after the fact, so it was kind of hard to find any usable DNA or anything like that. So they really didn't, I mean, they did find the neck scratches, scratches on the neck. But the rest of him apparently was clear. There was no marks on his legs or anywhere else as far as we know. I'm just thinking through what we know so far.

It can be taken so many different ways, Dr. Bober, that he goes home, he gets out on bail, which was just, I don't know what judge would have done that. But he gets out on bail and goes home and hangs himself. Some would say that's evidence of guilt. Some would say he was ashamed of the charge, getting busted on child porn on his cell phone, Dr. Bober. Yeah, maybe he couldn't even handle the pressure or the prospect of being charged. I see this a lot in cases that I'm involved in where someone will take their own life,

just the appearance of impropriety without even being charged. But also in addition to the child porn, we know that there were at least nine images of children as young as three being sex abused on his phone. We know that he would be facing about five years behind bars on that. But the fact that she had taken out an assault charge on him, we know that two electronic devices were seized but would not clarify whether they were seized in relation to Stephanie's case. I'm trying to figure out where this leaves us now. To Charlene Pars.

Charlene, what is your message today? The community and the family and friends have been fantastic. We're doing everything we possibly can to find her. From flyers to lawn signs to shirts to volunteers. The outpour is amazing. People that we haven't seen in 30 years are knocking on our door um people that don't have never even met us or stephanie are coming out to you know help for the search it's touching everybody i mean this this town is amazing and all the law enforcement, I mean, everybody has been helping above and beyond that we couldn't ever imagine.

We just want to get her home. We need to find her. For those of you listening now, the tip line to help find Steph's old, 732-462-7500. Repeat, 732-462-7500. Repeat, 732-462-7500. Her parents holding out hope, and we join them today in asking you to help us bring Stephanie home. Our prayers with the Pars family and with Stephanie. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.