Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous Coed FAKES KIDNAP to Avoid Admitting SHE WON’T GRADUATE ON TIME

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

Graduation was just a few days away for a 23-year-old Pennsylvania coed when she vanished.   Chloe Stein was last seen leaving her job at a Sonic restaurant in Hempfield Township.  Her boyfriend received a text that night saying she was being pulled over, but she wasn’t seen or heard from again. Police issued a Missing Endangered Person Advisory for her.   Two days later State Police received a tip that Stein was at a home in Jeannette. She was found safe. She told police that she was abducted at gunpoint by a man in a mask and was later released. It wasn't long before Stein admitted that she made it up, because she didn't want to admit that she wasn't graduating and in fact hadn't been going to school at all.  Joining Nancy Grace today: Matthew Mangino – Attorney and Former District Attorney (Lawrence County, PA); Author: “The Executioner’s Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States;” Twitter: @MatthewTMangino Dr. Nicole Vienna - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in trauma and neurodevelopmental disorders), CEO: Vienna Psychological Group, Inc.; Instagram: @drnicolevienna, Facebook: @vienna_psych_group  Bill Garcia - Private Investigator with "Bill Garcia Investigative Services;" Part of Search Team for Sherri Papini   Trace Sargent-  Search, Rescue & Recovery Expert; Podcast: "The Seeker’s Quest;" Facebook: The Seeker’s Quest   Renatta Signorini - Staff Writer at the Tribune-Review in Greensburg, Pa.; Twitter: @byRenatta   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young Pennsylvania College co-ed goes missing in the middle of the night. Or did she? Take a listen to our friends at KDKA state police are investigating this young woman Chloe Stein who has been missing since last night 11 p.m and I just talked to her mother as you can imagine she is just distraught breaking down just telling me she just wants answers. And right now, state police are trying to do that. They say they got a call this morning from Chloe's boyfriend who said that he had communicated with her around 11 p.m. last night saying that she

was being pulled over. Her mom said something was wrong with her headlight and at that point the family never heard from her again okay just imagine this scenario your girl is at school at college and suddenly you find out that she's on the phone with the boyfriend claiming she's getting pulled over and then she's never heard from again. Now take a listen to Jennifer Barrasso. 23 years old. That is Chloe Stein's age. She was set to graduate from Penn State, Greater Allegheny this weekend.

Her mother is desperate for answers. She tells me that Chloe's boyfriend was the last person to communicate with her via text, and it was her boyfriend and two friends who found Chloe's car earlier today, not far from where she worked. Here's the timeline that we know. Just after 10 p.m. last night, Chloe's mom tells me her daughter finished working at the Sonic in Hemfield Township. She drove a co-worker home and returned back to the Sonic and Hemfield Township. She drove a co-worker home and returned back to the Sonic. State police say Chloe was last seen leaving there at 10 30 and about 10 minutes later her boyfriend Nick her mom tells me said he got a text message from Chloe saying she got pulled over by

police. Now Chloe never made it home to Jeanette and And that's when her mom, family, and friends started looking for her. Can you imagine the terror? This is striking in the mom's heart. It's 11 p.m. at night. The last thing they hear is she's getting pulled over because of a headlight problem. And then the boyfriend finds her car under a bridge. Is that the way it played out? Join me right now. Writer with the Tribune Review in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and you can find her at triblive.com. Renata Signorini. Renata, thank you for being with us. Tell me about the night that this, she's really beautiful, young girl, Chloe Stein, goes missing. Thanks for having me, Nancy. Yeah, that is pretty much how it played out. State police were notified the following day after Chloe's family and friends made every

effort to try to find her after spotting her car abandoned along kind of a desolate road that would have been on her way home from work. So she was reported missing the following afternoon after her family and friends tried every effort they could to find her. So then state police kind of took over and they expended a lot of resources, a helicopter, police dogs. They had area firefighters. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. Wait a minute. You said helicopter, police dogs, everybody coming out to find 23-year-old Chloe Stein. All they've got is her car. Take a listen to our friends at KDKA. And we just started calling police stations saying like, did somebody pull her over? This is her license plate number. Has anybody pulled, you know know anybody in that description over and nothing

i don't know if it was like she truly was pulled over by a police officer or not i don't we don't know because we haven't don't have confirmation that she was issued a citation a warning anything like that within a matter of 30 minutes her boyfriend had said uh he and his friends were out and they had found her car chloe's mom tells me inside her Volkswagen, her cell phone was found, but not found her wallet or keys, her mom tells me. And her car was pointed in the direction of her home in Jeanette.

Just a short time ago, state police found Chloe Stein's vehicle on Rodebaugh Road under Route 66 in Greensburg. And right now, I'm told that her phone was found and police right now are processing her car, trying to figure out what happened. Her mother just begging anyone if they have any information, if they had seen her or saw her driving last night to call state police. I find it interesting that they note her car was turned toward in the direction of going home. I want to go out to private investigator Bill Garcia,

and you can find him at Bill Garcia Investigative Services. You've done so many searches. What are they looking for inside of her car? Well, any information that would lead them to anyone who may have taken her or information that would have shown what actually occurred during that period. Well, you know, I find it really interesting. Let me go to Dr. Nicole Vienna, a forensic psychologist. She's the CEO of Vienna Psychological Group. Dr. Vienna, thank you for being with us. It would suggest

that she left against her will because who leaves their cell phone behind? Ever since I stupidly gave my children their cell phone too early at age 12. They're not without it. It goes wherever they go. Right. I mean, she could have left it behind because she forgot. She purposely left it there. There could be many reasons why someone leaves their stuff behind. She could have been scared. We don't know. To Matthew Mangino joining us, high profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction and former prosecutor, author of The Executioner's Toll, Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Words, and Final Meals, Executions of 46 People in the U.S. Now, criminals are so sophisticated. They put it on airplane mode or they leave their own phone behind, as we saw in the Coburger case, who is now a prime suspect in the murders of four beautiful University of Idaho students. He has his phone turned off during the crime.

And as he's leaving on a circuitous route back to his place at Washington State University, he flips it back on and he can be traced. So people, perps, either leave the phone behind, they turn it off, they put it in airplane mode. That's a way of tricking cops. Well, right, Nancy. And I think in this situation, you know, I would be concerned if I was investigating this,

that the cell phone was left in the car. I'd also be interested to see where the cell phone was. Was it in the console or was it laying on the floor, which would indicate to me that someone grabbed it out of her hand and threw it into the vehicle. So those are, you know, issues that I would look at. And obviously, it's crucial in terms of time to investigate this matter. We know that people who go missing, you know, the most important period of time is right within the 12 to 24 hours after they disappear. So the state police here have to work very quickly in this matter. Well, and that is because within two to three days, the victim is normally killed if they have not been found or returned.

So that's a very grim statistic. So every minute counts. And I'm very curious, back to Renata Signorini joining us from Tribune Review in Greensburg. Renata, again, thank you for being with us. She absolutely was working at Sonic that night on her regular shift, correct? Right. Yes, she was. And I assume that the local Sonic is covered in security cams. Yeah, it's in kind of a busy shopping area.

And I know that state police were out getting surveillance video from probably that area and definitely from a train yard that is kind of across the street from where her car was found that night. Wow. I didn't know that she was across a train yard, the Sonic. And you would want to see in that. Joining me is Trace Sargent with Search, Rescue and Recovery Expert podcast of The Seeker's Quest. Trace, thanks for being with us. You'd want to get all of that to see who, if anyone in the parking lot may have followed her, who she may have had words with as she was waiting on them.

I mean, isn't the Sonic the one where you get curb service and they bring the food out to your car? Yes, Nancy. And I would say as law enforcement officials and investigators in these kinds of situations, it is a young, beautiful woman that has vanished without a trace. And it's always going to be approached from the standpoint that worst case scenario. And that means, was she abducted? Was she taken by force? Where is she? What's happened to her? What is being done to her? All of those situations, and as mentioned earlier, time is of the essence. This is an urgent matter, and it requires numerous resources to respond as quickly as possible. Awesome.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A 23-year-old Pennsylvania co-ed disappears. And at first it was believed she vanished from the Sonic restaurant where she worked there in Hemfield about 10.35 p.m. on a Monday night. But then we learned she text her boyfriend that she was pulled over by police driving a desolate stretch of road in the township and then goes missing. Another question on that to Matthew Mangino, high profile lawyer joining us out of the Pennsylvania jurisdiction. When cops pull over, isn't it true their vehicles are monitored? You know where a cruiser is practically at all times? Well, you would. And you would also know, based on, you know,

radio transmission that this officer has pulled somebody over, he's going to call that into the dispatch. You know, he's going to give a license plate number of the vehicle that he stopped to try to get some initial information. You know, so, you know, a stop by a police officer or the Pennsylvania State Police is going to be documented. It doesn't happen without anybody knowing about it. So that, you know, we've heard earlier that the family had contacted local police departments to determine if there had been someone pulled over, if her license plate had been in some way recorded, and it was not. So that raises the concern that this was not a legitimate traffic stop, that this was someone with some nefarious purpose that pulled this young woman over.

So in other words, someone that is faking being a cop. All scenarios are on the table. The family beside themselves out searching themselves, begging on the airways, on social media for help, and then seemingly a miracle. Take a listen to Shelly Bort. According to initial reports, Stein was last seen leaving Sonic in Hempfield Township at 1030 Monday night. She texted her boyfriend a short time later, stating she believed she was being pulled over by police. Police say she wasn't heard from again until she showed up at a neighbor's home. Yeah, she was relieved after being held at gunpoint and semi-assaulted, we'll call it, you know, and bound. So, yeah, then she was released and dropped off near an alleyway near her home, which, of course, that's what somebody would do. To Renata Signorini joining us from Tribune Review in Greensburg, thanks again, Renata, for being with us.

Where was it exactly that she was found? She was found at a neighbor's house around 8 p.m. She had shown up there and claimed that she had been abducted, held at gunpoint until she showed up. At a neighbor's house. Okay, I'm trying to decipher what's happening right here. And we also learned that she was bound and as the law enforcement said, semi-assaulted. Bound and semi-assaulted. Now, I'm very, very curious about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. But first of all, to Bill Garcia, private investigator, it's a miracle that she's alive because according to her, she is kidnapped,

bound, assaulted, and then dropped back off near her home. It has happened. That has happened before. And people that doubted the victim ended up getting sued big time. So the reality is that has happened. Unfortunately, without knowing what actually happened, law enforcement has to pull out all the stops. Tremendous resources, tremendous amounts of money are being used. Matthew Mangino joining us, high-profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction. We are used to hearing the worst, that someone is kidnapped and their body is found, that a young girl goes missing and she's never seen again. Years pass and her remains are found by somebody hiking or jogging.

It does happen. And it's always deemed a miracle, but few and far between kidnapped victims are returned home. It does happen. Isn't that true? Yes, it does happen. And there are stories where that in fact has occurred. And the police have to deal with the information that they're being provided. And so now they find that this young woman is safe and they're pleased, I'm sure, that that's the case. And she's explaining what happened. And they have a responsibility to look into that further. That might be, you know, questioning her in more detail. That might

be trying to determine if there's any additional witnesses that could corroborate what she's saying. You know, at this point, though, I'm sure the Pennsylvania State Police and the people in the Jeanette community are very pleased that she's safe. And that's the most important thing. But what happened is the next question. Well, they want to catch the perp. And I'm not hearing any description of the perp. There is no composite being drawn. I don't see the big albums being brought out of people with prior sex offenses or prior criminal histories at all being shown. Why is that?

Well, this is why. Take a listen to our friend Andrew Havranek, WPXI. State police say Chloe Stein was found here on Wiley Avenue, the street where she and her family lives. That happened after she showed up at a neighbor's house. Those neighbors then called her mom and police who determined this disappearance was a hoax they're learning more tonight about the alleged kidnapping hoax involving this West Moreland County woman police tell us when they questioned Chloe Stein she told them that she had been pulled over she said she was held at gunpoint and blindfolded they say that she even

gave herself some minor injuries to make it appear as though she had been abducted. Our friends at WPXI, okay to Renata Signorini, the whole thing is a hoax. You've got helicopters, you've got canines, cadaver dogs, scent dogs, volunteer searchers, cadets, law enforcement on foot out there trying to find her and it's all a big hoax yeah i think state police and i know i was pretty surprised to hear that that was the ultimate result of what everyone was going through to try to find her for many many hours guys then we find out more take a listen our friends at kdka according to the criminal complaint when police told stein her account was inconsistent with their evidence she cracked and admitted to making up the entire story the way it was described to us is that the garage is behind her house and that's

where she was for the the majority of the duration what kind of mind does that require, Dr. Vienna? The whole time, the neighborhood's going berserk. It's all over the airwaves and social media. Her mother is distraught, begging, crying, pleading for help. Nobody can eat. Nobody can sleep. She is in basically the garage next door. Yeah, it seems that people lie for a variety of reasons, you know, from maintenance of self esteem to full and delusional ideations. And someone that really wants to preserve their own sense of self and their own self esteem, someone with low self esteem might be doing something like that. What is a sociopath? So, and a sociopath could be a perpetual liar. There is some evidence and research that we have about prolific liars,

and they do share traits of psychopathy or what some in the media call the sociopath, but they're manipulative and they're exploitive of others, and that is commonly associated with psychopathy. Would you agree this could be indicative of a sociopathic frame of mind? It's possible, but it would take a lot of other evidence to support that, that we just have like one data point. But it's possible. They do have these traits of perpetual lying.

Okay. Manipulation, lying, carrying on a double life, exploiting other people for their own gain. What is a narcissist, Dr. Vianna? A narcissist is someone that has a very low sense of self, but they project this image of a high sense of self because they're trying to protect the person who they are. They lack a lot of self-esteem.

They also share traits with psychopathy. Psychopathy could be on the far end of narcissism, right? So they also can lie and deceive others for gain, for their own gain. Now, isn't narcissism, a narcissist named after the mythical narcissist who fell in love with his own image and ended up falling in the water and dying as he stared at his own reflection. Isn't that correct? That's correct.

I'm trying to figure out how that jives with your theory that a narcissist has low self-esteem because in my understanding, the textbook understanding of narcissism is excessive interest in or admiration of one's self. Selfishness, entitlement. That's what I believe a narcissist is. Is that wrong? No, that's correct. But they do have inverted low self-esteem. It's really a reflection of low self-esteem. But they project out to the world that they're full of their own selves, a sense of entitlement, but they also lack empathy and they need this admiration, but they need other objects to feed that for them. It doesn't come internally for them. And what would you describe as a histrionic personality?

Histrionic personality is more somebody that has, they're commonly dramatic, excitable, they're volatile, they're erratic. They do share a lot of traits with borderline personality disorder as well. Very seductive, charming. And would be capable of a dramatic performance? They are capable of that, yes. So just as a JD, of course, I'm not an MD or a psychologist, but I would feel very confident and very good about describing Chloe Stein as a narcissist, a sociopath, and with a histrionic personality.

All that said, lying about where she was the entire time, wait till you hear the motive. Take a listen to this. The theory for the fabrication, Lamani says, Stein was at the end of her rope. Her family and friends were under the impression she was to graduate with a nursing degree from Penn State University this weekend, but actually she hadn't been enrolled in classes for the past year and a half. Police say Chloe Stein, 23 years old, from Jeanette, made the whole story up. She wasn't pulled over, she wasn't missing, and she wasn't in any danger.

And this was an apparent hoax, police believe, because she wasn't graduating from college this weekend. And just a short time ago, take a look at some video as police led Stein in handcuffs out of the barracks here in Greensburg. she didn't have anything to say to reporters. The situation at college was a driving force, probably the number one driving force for the whole scenario, of the fact that she hadn't been in college for almost two years, and that her circle had believed that she was graduating in a matter of, what, two or three days. And now state police want to know if anyone was helping client yeah did nobody know she was in their garage the whole time

you were hearing our friends the kdka and wtae just then and now the big motive emerges well you may not think that hiding that you're not going to graduate from college is, you may not think that's a motive, but I've seen other motives that are even weaker. And I believe Bill Garcia and Trey Sargent are going to agree with me. Let's start on a case on which Bill Garcia worked diligently, round the clock, blood, sweat, and tears to find none other than sherry pepini take a listen our friends at kdka in november of 2016 sherry pepini vanished for 22 days then on thanksgiving morning she materialized on a highway nearly 150 miles from home a trucker stopping and calling 911 for her that call heard for the first time this morning. Hey, what's hurting? You're chained up.

She's chained up? I need an ambulance. She told authorities she'd been kidnapped by two Hispanic women. She claimed the women had beaten her, burned her, even branded her on her shoulder. Those injuries shown in these images obtained by ABC News police Chase leads her reading community in terror of traffickers that never existed now the parts that don't make sense are that you're accusing two females who abducted you when it was James. The part that you were branded, James did it. Much like the Sherry Papini case, in this case with Chloe Stein, Chloe Stein claims that she was bound and, quote, semi-assaulted.

Like Sherry Papini claimed that she was beaten, starved, and actually branded. Now, to special guest joining us, Bill Garcia, private investigator at Bill Garcia Investigative Services. Bill, Sherry Papini even went so far as to brand herself with a hot object. Do you remember that? I do. And that's quite an extreme for someone to take but as your story your made-up story perpetuates you're more inclined to try to make it more believable by adding these elements like being chained like being branded these are all things that you can pick up off of social media and the

news as far as previous cases that were legitimate. You know, Matthew Mangino, a high-profile lawyer joining us out of Chloe Stein's jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, the liar, the hoaxer, gives no thought whatsoever to the people suffering because of their hoax, like their family, like police who are working overtime and missing their children's birthdays and the weekends and special dinners, but also putting blame, casting blame on someone else. Because you know in Stein's case, the first thing cops did is look at the boyfriend. Then they started looking at cops who may have pulled her over, what, and raped her and murdered her.

Other people were under the umbrella of suspicion, Matthew. Well, right. looking at cops who may have pulled her over what and raped her and murdered her other people were under the umbrella of suspicion Matthew well right they were and and as you said um you know you have this uh police presence because you you believe this woman has has just been abducted uh you know you have helicopters in the air which which, you know, is very dangerous. You have police going door to door, I'm sure, canvassing neighborhoods in the area. So these issues all, you know, have an impact and are potentially dangerous for first responders and police officers and others. So she put a lot of people in danger. She put her family through anguish with no regard for their feelings or how they would react to this whole situation. It's a very selfish, self-centered act. Back to Bill Garcia, private investigator who worked on the Papini case.

Bill, to what length did you go to try and find Sherry Papini for her family? Well, we started at the origin and searched that area behind law enforcement because sometimes clues and evidence is passed over as they search. So we started there. We started taking a look at history of other people that had gone missing in the area and just kind of the air of what is happening in those particular communities. There had been a young lady that had disappeared from the same neighborhood some years ago. Her body was never found and there was a suspect in that particular abduction. So, Papini leaves behind, left behind her during her big hoax, her husband and what, two children? Correct. And of course, suspicion goes on the husband like it always does because

typically they did it. So the husband is under suspicion. And then neatly folded up, we find Sherry Papini's phone, her earbuds wrapped up very neatly, sitting somewhere it would be found with her hair in it, as if her hair had been yanked out of her head when the perp kidnapped her. And speaking of hair, that brings to my mind the case of Jennifer Wilbanks. But before I get to the runaway bride, Jennifer Wilbanks, take a listen to our Cut 19. Again, our friend Matt Gutman at ABC.

It wasn't until more than three years later that trace DNA found on Papini led to this mystery man, ex-boyfriend James Reyes, who admitted he helped Papini inflict those injuries on herself. So there's a brand on her. Yeah. There's significant bruising. She did a lot of that while she was here. I mean, she just hit herself with something. I helped her.

I mean, I didn't punch her or anything. How'd you help her? She just shot a bug off her leg. I mean, she just hit herself with something. I helped her. I mean, I didn't punch her or anything. I just helped her. She just shot a bug off her leg. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. So there's a brand on her. Yeah. There's significant bruising. and she did a lot of that

while she was here i mean she just hit herself with something i helped her i mean i didn't punch her or anything she just shot the fuck off her leg so she manipulates uh which goes back to sociopath and narcissistic and histrionic, manipulates an old boyfriend into hiding her out in his place for this period of time. And she beats herself, starves herself, and even brands herself to carry out her fib. You know, there is a story that I read to my children when they were little,ie tales and it's called I think Larry and the fib and the fib once you tell the light then you have to keep it going and you have to remember the line you have to make up more details to make the lie believable and go on and on and until

finally it all just blows up in the only way to beat this big lie this goliath of a lie that's taken over your life is to pierce it with the truth and just tell the truth i cannot believe that this girl she kind of reminds me matthew mangino of top mom casey anthony you remember she faked working at Universal for years, two or three years. She even had her uniform and her ID. She tried to tell the cops

that she worked there. They took her all the way there through security to the building where she said she worked into the building and finally she said, okay, you got me.

I lied. She'd been carrying on that hoax for years to her parents. So she could get free babysitting out of them while she went and gallivanted, claiming she was at work and they would take care of baby Kelly. That is, until she murdered Kelly. So this is a very extended lie these people are keeping up. And we see the same thing with Chloe Stein. She had not been at school for years and was telling the lie and uh-oh, did she not know graduation was going to happen?

Right. And inevitably, you know, the lies get revealed. You know, lies, you know, breed more lies. And ultimately, you're going to be called on it someday. And, you know, some people act in very extreme circumstances. I remember the case last year of Chandler Halderson, who told, who was living with his parents and told them he had a job at SpaceX. And when that fell through, he murdered his parents and burned their bodies in a fireplace. So, I mean, some people will go to extreme lengths to try to cover up a lie. And this is just one example. I mean mean all because you're not graduating and did you hear the former boyfriend um saying

okay i'll let her hide out here but i didn't beat her they're looking now for who hid out chloe stein what she just sat in the dark in a garage all that time and the owners didn't know she was there you know to renata signorini, joining us Tribune Review in Greensburg, I wonder how much money was spent trying to find this college co-ed, Chloe Stein. State police told me it probably cost tens of thousands of dollars as far as the helicopter they had out, firefighters time spent coming through the woods, police dogs, and so the state police said they're going to possibly try to seek restitution for that.

I have been on many searches before, as have you, Tracy Sargent. And if I thought I spent the whole day digging through the woods and the briars and the brambles and the trees and then find out Miss Thing had lies their appearance wouldn't find out she wasn't graduating from college are you kidding me all these cops all these firefighters a helicopter the dogs the work dragging them through all that while she's having a Subway sandwich right behind her parents house you know when I said hair in the sherry pepini case caught in her earbuds to make it look like somebody snapped them out of her ears

when they kidnapped her remember sherry pepini hold on to bill garcia actually blamed Hispanic women. She even drew a composite of them. Isn't that right, Bill Garcia? That's true. She was trying to deflect away from what was actually occurring and blamed a community or a culture that could have been seen as the abductors. And fortunately, that was not the case. We were actually following up on a lead

where two women that looked just like the composite was the center of our investigation there towards the end before she finally admitted what had happened. So this put an entire community on edge and in danger in some respects. Just think if you had gotten those two women arrested, Bill Garcia. Oh, there's a big fat false arrest lawsuit. But Tracy Sargent worked on another case where the missing woman's hair led her on a wild goose chase chase does anybody remember the name jennifer wilbanks because i will never forget it let's hear our cut

26 27. i'm checking 91 operator 44 where's your emergency i'm at the um i don't know where i am i'm right here besides the lana Street at the 7-Eleven. Hey, what's going on? I've got my family in the police on the phone. I was skinned out earlier this week, and I'm here now. Where are you now? Jennifer. I was skinned out from Atlanta, Georgia. I don't know. My parents said it's been on the knees. I don't know. And who did this to you?

I don't know. Did they just drop you off right now? No. I don't even know And who did this to you? I don't know. Did they just drop you off right now? No, I don't even know how long ago it was. They didn't drop me off here, away from here, back off some other street. I mean, I can show them, I don't know where I am.

And the person that did this to you, was it a healer? It was an Hispanic manuous man and a so-called woman. And the male... It happened in Duluth. Oh, no. The so-called runaway bride. She didn't stop there.

She gave a full-on description of her attackers. Take a listen to Article 28. About how old. I would say in her 40s, maybe. It was medium-built, yeah. attackers. Take a look at knock 28. Oh, my stars. Boy, can she lie. I mean't even know where I am. Oh, my stars. Boy, can she lie. I mean, she had those answers ready. But in the end, this is what we learned. Take a listen to our cut 29 WSB.

And it turns out that entire story was fabricated. Will Banks told investigators she didn't realize her disappearance had caused such a nationwide furor. This afternoon, she issued a statement that was read by an officer. I respect the fact that the public deserves a statement. She's requesting that she would like to speak to her family first. I appreciate the outpouring of prayers and concern and that she has recently become aware of. Okay, Tracy Sargent, search rescue recovery, recovery expert, podcast of the Seekers Quest. Tracy, tell me about the hair. First of all, you were kept secret.

They didn't let it be known that you were there with your canine dog. And then you found some hair. Tell me what happened. Well, what actually happened when I was called into this case, Of course, it was very high profile here in Georgia. And I think it's important for listeners to know when we compare Ms. Stein's case, she was missing only for a few hours, whereas Ms. Coolbanks, the runaway bride, was missing for days. So it was an extremely stressful, high intense search for this beautiful woman by all appearances look like she had truly been abducted she was known to go jogging for exercise and in this time situation she went jogging and

she didn't return home she was known as the runaway bride because she was about to get married her fiance calls and reports her missing so that's how all that culminated. When I was brought in, they did find some hair. What was not known at the time, that hair was actually being analyzed by a lab for the analysis to compare that hair they found to hair that they obtained at her home. When they found that these were comparable hair samples, they said, all right, we have a situation here that we need to figure out what happened. We're going to bring in canine resources. So I was actually hid in a business facility until that lab analysis was done. So we would have, quote, a good starting point for tracking um supposedly her tracks so that's what we did

we started where the hair was found the dog did track some distance and then it stopped at the roadway i had informed officials at that time the track has ended here by all appearances it looks like our missing person has been placed in a vehicle either with her consent or without her consent. And then ultimately, the following day or two, that's when Ms. Wilbanks called and made that 911 report. And she was actually found hundreds of miles away in New Mexico. So, referring back to all the resources. Now, Tracy, you and I have worked together for a really long time, but I've never asked you this.

How did that make you feel after you go out full of concern, angst, worry? You bring out your dogs and you search, you give it your all, and then you find out it's all just a big lie? Well, Nancy, you know, that's a really good question. And in some ways it was frustrating, but more importantly, what I found more disturbing is that Ms. Wilbanks and Ms. Stein and other women like these females that do these things actually make it worse for other females

when these things actually do happen to them. Exactly. My same exact sentiment. How will this affect real crime victims that have endured hell and a jury could be led to believe she's just a gone girl. It's all a big fake. Well, right now, 23-year-old Chloe Stein is not graduating. I think we know that.

But she's also facing a slew of charges. We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friends. This is an iHeart Podcast.