Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Houston mom disappears after dropping toddler at babysitter - Help us find Maria

Episode Date: July 4, 2019

It's been a year since a Houston mom disappeared after dropping off her toddler at a babysitter. Police found the truck Maria Jimenez-Rodriguez was driving, but there are few clues about what happened to the paralegal. Nancy Grace talks to Maria's sister Gloria Jimenez and TexasEquuSearch leader Tim Miller about the case. Forensics expert Karen Smith, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober, and Criminal defense lawyer Jason Oshins, join the discussion. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. 29-year-old Maria Jimenez Rodriguez was last seen on Texarkana Street in northeast Houston Thursday morning. And today, crews from Texas EquiSearch started their efforts to find her. Tulsi dropped her three-year-old off at a babysitter's house across the street and then disappeared. Her family says that's out of character. The same with her not showing up for work on Thursday.

The only clue so far is Maria's vehicle that was found early Friday morning. Texas EquiSearch volunteers began their frantic search on foot and on wheels. We've gathered here to search for my sister, wishing and hoping that she is found alive and well and just to come home. A beautiful, young, 29-year-old mom seemingly drops off the face of the earth. Where is Maria? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. The search is going on right now for the 29

year old mom and joining me, her sister Gloria, leading the search. A man who has dedicated his life to finding the missing. Tim Miller with EquiSearch. Forensics expert, Karen Smith. Forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Bober. Renowned criminal defense attorney in multiple jurisdictions, Jason Oceans. And CrimeOnline.com reporter, Lee Egan. As always with me, Jackie Howard here in the studio. Straight out first to Tim Miller, the leader of EquiSearch.

Tim, how did you get called in on the case of missing Maria Jimenez? Well, actually, Houston Police Department called me and said, we've got a case here that we'd like you to kind of take a look at. And then I went up and I actually called Gloria, went up and met with her, got all the details of the disappearance, her sister's disappearance, and it was pretty obvious early on that something has happened. Hold on, I want to follow up on that with you, miller tim miller leader of equus search saying was very obvious something was wrong and i agree 300

maria last seen early in the morning around 8 00 a.m when like so many of us she leaves home for the law firm where she works as a paralegal on her way to the law firm, she drops off her three-year-old little girl at the next-door neighbor's house, then came home to get her gym bag and a purse. You know, she sounds very orderly and methodical to me. Joining me also, in addition to EquiSearch leader Tim Miller is Maria's sister, Gloria. Gloria, thank you for being with us. It's my understanding your sister has never disappeared before. She has never disappeared before.

This is the first time this has happened. You know, I'm thinking through Gloria. I'm thinking through her being such an organized person. When you're juggling a demanding job, like working at a law firm, and you're taking care of your three-year-old little girl at the same time, dropping her off on time, circling back to the house to get a gym bag and all of her things to take to work. Let me ask you this, Gloria. Do we know that she ever made it out of

the house? Yes, she did. Why do you know that? Because the vehicle was not here. She left. She got on her vehicle. She closed her gates from her house and she left. How do you know it was her riding the car, driving the vehicle? I am not 100% sure that that was her. Is there anybody in the home, Gloria, that saw her leave that morning with her gym bag? Yes. Okay, great. Yes. Who saw her? My brother. Okay. Your brother is there. Okay, I understand. So Maria definitely was spotted. I mean, I'm just trying to create a timeline is where I'm going with this. With me, Maria's sister, Gloria, Tim Miller, Karen Smith, Daniel Bober, Jason Oceans, and Lee Egan. Gloria, back to you.

Again, I'm trying to just establish that timeline so we know they're eyes on Maria. When she comes back to the home to get her gym bag and her pocketbook, she leaves for work. That's around 8 a.m., is that correct? That is correct. Did she speak to anybody from the car en route to work? I don't know. The only thing I do know is at 8.30ish, my brother texted her to tell her regarding a package.

It's just a random text that they would speak to each other. I think he needed to pick up a package from the postal or he needed to drop off. I'm not sure which one. But he did text her, and she texted back saying, I think the postal office wasn't open at that time yet. Okay, so I'm not concerned right now about the intricacies of that text, and I'll tell you why. The reason I'm not concerned about it, to Jason Ocean's criminal defense attorney, you know the deal.

I know who's texting back and forth. I know she's getting a text from her brother, and she's writing back because she understands Jason Ocean, the context of what he's saying if somebody had her phone Jason at that time but they wouldn't be able to respond coherently they would either not respond or just put okay or something like that so I know she's alive at that time right because she's texting coherently in the conversation back to the or seemingly or seemingly coherently and she's saying the ups isn't open yet all right fine so i also believe she gets to work gloria with me maria's sister gloria are there eyes on her at work is she seen at work that day no uh-oh there you go because listen to this listen to this i know this i know she leaves the house to drive to the office then she texts a co-worker saying she would be

late that didn't raise any flags at first okay then later the same co-worker receives a text saying that maria was headed back to the neighbor to pick up her daughter because the daughter wasn't feeling well did that really come from maria gloria is the three no was the three-year-old girl really sick? No, not that day. There it is right there. To Karen Smith, forensics expert, Karen, right there, that is the beginning of the timeline in my mind. And it also tells me, Karen Smith, that whoever did this may very well know her because they knew a co-worker to contact to say, I'm going to be late. And then a co-worker to contact to say, I got to go pick up my daughter. Somebody that knows she has a daughter or by just looking at her cell phone, Karen Smith, like my screensaver is the twins. Somebody would probably know those are my children. If they looked at the pictures,

they'd see all the pictures that I take all the time of us together. So what can you tell me? You're the forensics expert about what we know so far. For those of you just joining us, a 29-year-old woman is missing with me, her sister, Gloria, and Tim Miller with EquiSearch. Karen Smith, forensics expert, weigh in. That cell phone is, it's such a critical piece of evidence and you're right if if this does turn out to be some type of foul play it's going to be someone she knows and knows her well knows her habits this does not feel like a crime of opportunity this this reads like a planned thing and you know maybe she was possibly followed or stalked police are going to have to dig into her personal history to find out who Maria was associating with or possibly dating or meeting her co-workers or acquaintances

was she using a dating site had she revealed details about herself online possibly these are things that are going to be critical. And on the thing about the cell phone, I want to talk about these mobile positioning systems, triangulation and other ways they can find out where that cell phone was at a point in time, at least down to a small area. And that is going to be critical in this case. And does it follow her pattern to work? We're creatures of habit. We follow pathways and stop at the same places all the time. Was the location of where her truck was found on her routine path to work? If it wasn't, there may be some forensic importance to that truck. Maybe some fingerprints or foreign DNA, some trace evidence such as hairs

or fibers if a person got in it or touched the doors or touched any of the components inside. Those are going to be critical forensic pieces of evidence. crime stories with nancy grace i got a couple of questions following up on karen smith forensics expert joining me let's go to maria's sister gloria gloria again thank you for being with us gloria i want to circle back to your brother Did anyone beside your brother see her or talk to her after she left the house? No. And the text to him regarding the package, what was her text back to him when he asked about her picking up the package? It was just saying that they didn't open early.

Well, is that true? Is the UPS there open at 8 a.m.? Yes, but not that early. I think that would be a response of her. Okay, but you've confirmed the UPS was not open at that time. That is correct. Has the home been searched, Gloria, for any foul play within the home? Yes.

Okay. Was anything else found in her truck? Anything like her pocket book, her cell phone, her gym bag, anything like that? Gym bag is in the truck. The things that are missing are her purse, her cell phone, and the actual keys. To Tim Miller, the founder of EquiSearch, Tim, do you know whether or not the police have tried to ping the phone to find out its whereabouts? Unfortunately, Supreme Courts have stated that it's even far more difficult to go ahead and ping the phones under these privacy laws.

To Jason Oceans, a veteran criminal defense attorney jason this is a big deal because a lot of people don't know that you can get your tracker information by subpoena and you know subpoena sounds so difficult and legally sophisticated it's not i had carried with me in my car a stack of 50 subpoenas at all times. And I would write in the name. I would write in the date and the time that I needed them in court. And I would sign it and write the location. And that's what you filled in.

So it's not that hard. This would require subpoena ducus tecum, i.e. a subpoena for documents for your OnStar, any tracking device. Cell phone, anything, right, all of that. But if you can't get the cell phone, your car is full of tracking devices. So another thing is there's nobody to argue it. We don't know who has taken her, so nobody is fighting this, but still, the cell phone company and the, for instance, OnStar, they've got to go through channels, and that takes time, Jason Oceans. It takes valuable time. Yeah, and an extra layer of request. Right. An extra layer that, in this case, clearly

there's nothing adverse about getting it. We all want to get it, but now they are for our protections based on a 5-4 Supreme Court decision. I'm with you, Nancy. I want to go to Dr. Daniel Bober joining me, a well-known forensic psychiatrist. Dr. Daniel Bober, not only a medical degree, but a psychiatric specialty and now a subspecialty of forensic psychiatry. Dr. Bober, right now, all we have is her truck, her gym bag in there. What can you tell us? Please go into the mental and emotional aspect of this. What evidence can we glean to try to find Maria? Nancy, you know, this is really the pain that keeps giving. It's the pain of the unknown. It's excruciating for the family. But in terms of the victim, as you said before,

I think any departure from the normal routine is a red flag, and all we can do is hope and pray that she's still alive and that maybe she can get a message out to get some assistance. What can we learn from the text? Can we discern anything from the texts? Not at this point. It doesn't really seem like we have enough information, but I was interested in that text about the UPS store. To me, that's also a red flag, but at this point, it seems like we need more information. Well, to me, you can tell by a text. Of course, I'm just the jd you're the md but to maria sister gloria by reading the

text responses did it sound like her talking i mean was it full of misspellings she wouldn't normally do was there slang in the text she wouldn't normally use has she ever um left work and just texted somebody or texted when she was late is this the co-worker she would normally have picked out to write and say hey I'm gonna be late I mean is there anything unusual you can identify in the text as not having been from her I can the text to my brother yes that is her but the rest of the Texas are not heard do that the fact that she does not say des she doesn't say what she she doesn't say des as the baby's name the baby's name is destiny her name is not death and that those texts are saying des d-e-s that's not the way she relates to the baby.

She always, I've already looked all over my Texas, and they're always saying destiny. Okay, that is significant. That's very significant. I know it sounds like a small thing to Karen Smith, forensics expert. That is a big thing. Karen Smith, forensics expert. That is a big thing. Everybody knows I do not call John David J.D. So if I wrote somebody and referred to J.D., that would be, I've never done that. If I'm abbreviating, I might text J. David just to make it shorter.

So Karen Smith, that would be like me suddenly calling you ks i've never done that in my life you would know immediately that's not nancy or somebody as loose which i don't like that either jumping right thing is that go ahead gloria and another thing is that she does not write slang words. She does not. She's, even though it's, let's say, well, she's speaking to her coworker, her supervisor, so she would not write slang words. And there are different words there I cannot remember right now,

but on the text there's words that she wouldn't write who does call the baby Des who would know her that calls the baby Des we don't call her Des we call her destiny I have my personal words for her but it's usually destiny destiny you know it's interesting that you said you have your personal words for her. That's really striking me. You know, Tim Miller, joining me, the leader of the EquiSearch Army, you know, Tim, for instance, if I refer to John David, I might call him Big Boy. That's his nickname ever since he was born. Or a name my dad gave him. Nobody else would know it, but somebody in our immediate family, Tick, T-I-C. That's a

nickname for John David. For Lucy, nickname Little Girl. And I mean, there's several nicknames that only somebody within our family would know. Tim Miller, tell me how this is striking you. Did Maria have, for instance, an angry boyfriend or an ex? What do we know, Tim? Well, we got our suspicions on somebody. Law enforcement does too, but there was another extremely disturbing text that came in at 6.17 that afternoon where she texted a co-worker and actually said, I am being followed by a red vehicle with two Hispanics in it. When I find a safe place, I will call you. We know that text did not come from her. We feel as though the person that may possibly did something to Maria

was texting as though she was still okay out there. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace ken miller do you mind telling me that again 6 17 p.m mystery text stated that i am being followed by a red pickup truck with two Hispanics in it. I will contact you when I find a safe place. So that'll be what's happening. Did she use the word to Hispanics? Yes. No, she used first to white or Hispanic. Yeah, white or Hispanic.

Would she ever say the word? No. I mean, she is Hispanic. So why was she? That, okay, right there. That tells me that who took her. I mean, wow. That's a bombshell. My problem is if you're being followed by someone and you're trying to drive away,

why are you going to write a big old paragraph and explain Hispanic, Latino, white, black, yellow? If you're being followed, you don't have time to write all that. Unless you're using your Siri where you just dictate into the phone but even then but why aren't you calling exactly that's what I was just about dictating into Siri you should be calling 9-1-1 go ahead Gloria another thing is another thing is it's 6-19-6-something. Why is she not calling a family member? She is texting the coworker.

At this time, she is not in business hours. She is out of work. That says to me maybe they didn't know who in the family. They didn't know the family. Okay, that is telling me that they can look at her phone, but they don't know who. I wonder how she had you guys listed in the phone. Let me ask you this.

Did she have a lock on her phone? Like mean okay yes yes was it easy to figure out like one one one one or something like that yes because the baby knew it so could somebody figure it out or did they make her give them the lot number uh the baby would know how to get in the phone, but I'm thinking that it's not easy for someone that doesn't know the pattern. So how would, I'm trying to figure out, how would they have gotten into her phone to know? It has to be somebody that's familiar with her. And she's a person that's not trustful.

She doesn't trust anybody. Where is the baby girl's dad in this scenario? Well, he's not with her. Yeah. But he's always calling and he's always coming to the home to see the baby. They had a communication for the baby, not a relationship, but it was all for the baby. So is there any unrest or anger or acrimony, any problems with the ex? No.

Does he have an alibi? He was at work. Okay. That's what he says. Okay, so that's got to be checked out. I wouldn't know him if he bit me on the neck, but that's the first place you look because that is someone that might know her code, might know her travel routine. Let me ask you this.

Tim Miller, EquiSearch leader, where in relation to the home and the office was her truck found? Was it on the way or was it out somewhere where she wouldn't have been? Well, it was in a direction that she wouldn't have been. And again, it was only a few blocks from her house and we actually talked to people there at the house and and i talked to a guy there sunday morning and he said the first time he seen the truck there was about 7 o'clock in the evening, and he didn't see anybody around the truck. And then he went back out there about 10 o'clock to see if the truck was still there.

He was going to take a picture of the truck, but it was too dark. And then from what I understand, OnStar actually located that vehicle at 3 o'clock in the morning. Okay, let me understand this. But it was only maybe six, eight blocks away from the house. So it was definitely somebody that knew Maria and knew Maria well. Let me ask you this, Tim. Are you telling me her truck didn't appear the six or eight blocks from the home until later in the evening about seven o'clock and so what is strange about that nancy is when the text came in at 6 17 6 18 then it's like uh that was kind of a setup that hey hey, I'm being followed by somebody,

and now a truck is seen around 7 o'clock. So, you know, somebody was using her phone to kind of set up a fight. Okay, this is significant. This is very significant, Tim Miller, because this says it's not random. Like a man, and trust me, this is a man that did this. Okay, so a man, and trust me, this is a man that did this. Okay, so a man sees her, he attacks her, robs her, maybe molests her, kills her, bam, and leaves her. No, this is someone that staged it. If I'm correct that the vehicle was not there before, say, 6 p.m., are we sure that it wasn't there or that nobody noticed it?

Nobody noticed it. That's the first time. So you're saying it could have been there? It could have been there, but the mailman was actually going around. He did not see the vehicle there. We talked to several of the neighbors. They didn't see the vehicle. They didn't see the vehicle. They didn't see the vehicle there.

We actually looked at surveillance cameras for hours to see if we could see a vehicle coming, that vehicle coming by there, and we didn't see it. Of course, it could have came from the other direction. Okay, let me yeah happened to her before that text came in at 930 in the morning state she was gonna be late and certainly before she texted and said she had to go back home because the baby was sick to Karen Smith, forensics expert, this is a big, big evidentiary clue. If this were random, her body would have been left where she was killed or abducted. That's where the car would be.

This is not where she was abducted because this is not her usual route to work. If the car was not there before 6 p.m., that means someone made off with her and took the trouble to come back, leave the vehicle, stage the scene, and send fake text, Karen Smith. That's a lot different from a random assailant, Karen. Explain. Absolutely. That was my first question. Was the truck found on her normal route to work? If it was not, that means that either she was forced to drive it or somebody else drove it and placed it there on purpose. And I've seen this before. That truck is a forensic goldmine. You know, you need one fingerprint, one sample of DNA, one hair. One of these pieces of evidence can link to whoever was driving that car,

and then we can find out possibly what happened to Maria Jimenez Rodriguez. At this point, where the truck was parked, the direction it was facing, any cell phone data, and actually her purse is also going to be key because you know as well as I do, that person didn't keep the purse. They tossed it. They tossed it. They tossed the keys. So if they can triangulate or get the mobile positioning of that cell phone, they're going to have to go dumpster diving. They're going to have to go trash diving to see if they can find the purse in any of those areas as well. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Right now, the search is on for a beautiful mom of a girl named Destiny. Where is Maria? Joining me right now, her sister Gloria. I want to talk about this text, and it proves to me, Gloria, that her truck was staged to be near her home, because this text that she sends out,

which I believe was around 6, 17 p.m., says that, quote, Hispanic males, too, are following her in a vehicle. Number one, she is Hispanic, so why would she say in those terms? Why would she use that phraseology? But also, she's just six blocks away from her home. I don't think she would have even termed it somebody's following me when you've just left your house how do you know somebody's following you you haven't given them a chance to follow you yet and that tells me that's all a big lie gloria

that didn't happen that way when i when i read the text immediately said, this is not her. That's not the way she would phrase that. And being her, she wouldn't have text. She would have called somebody. She would have called me, her brother, or she would have called her father. She would have not text, and the co-worker. At that time she would not have done that. It says to me that whoever was doing it didn't know who to text. What did you say about 6-19?

At that time, at that time frame, she should be at the gym. She would leave the gym like at 6.30ish. She would call me and like before she would have called. She would call me and tell me, oh, I'm headed home. Well, we know this is not her because the baby wasn't sick that day. She didn't go get the baby baby and she never reported for work so all of this is a lie which puts my timeline back dr. Daniel Bober joining me forensic psychiatrist someone not only has made off with her they have taken great pains to try to throw us off the track dr. Bober I agree Nancy everything

points this being something that's completely targeted. This was not random. And not only was it targeted, but as you said, everything is being done to throw us off the tracks. I totally agree with you. And, you know, think about it. Jason Ocean's criminal defense attorney, you and I have covered and analyzed so many criminal cases. Typically in a random attack, the victim is attacked, they're robbed, they're assaulted, they're carjacked, and bam, it's over. And you want to get as far away from that vehicle as possible. You don't take the time to circle back almost 12 hours later to plant the truck and lay down a lot of fake text. You skedaddle, you're gone. So this tells me a lot

about who the perp is, Jason Oceans. Yeah, it shows us that it's someone in an inner circle, close enough to have a lot of information and someone who's worried that the net could be cast on them in some way. So they're using their quote-unquote intelligence in planning this. And as a result of that, that gives us even more and more clues. The circle is close and tight, not far. Jason, listen, I agree with you and disagree with you at the same time. It's somebody that knows enough. They know about the baby. They know

to say they're going to be late to work. They know figure out who to text. But Gloria Jimenez, this is Maria's sister. They don't know enough to know that she would be at the gym. They don't know enough that they call the baby Des, not Destiny. A lot of clues is that they may know her, but they don't know her well enough to know those significant factors, Gloria. That is correct. They don't know that she has a family or that at that time she would text the family. Gloria, tell me what's going on in your mind right now.

I think it's somebody that knows her. Somebody that planned this. It's somebody that she knows. Gloria, tell me what your theory is, your working theory right now. I just, I'm just hoping that she comes home. I'm hoping that probably whoever started this, whoever. I just have a lot of, I really don't know. I can't even think.

I'm just praying to God that she is well and she comes back home. Guys, this Houston woman, this young mom, has not been seen since she dropped her baby, Destiny, off at the babysitter's and headed to work. Maria was last seen wearing a dressy shirt, possibly green in color, pastel colored slacks. She had on brown ballet slipper type shoes, a pink Apple watch. She was carrying a tan purse. What we know now is she has not been seen since she dropped off Destiny with the babysitter. Her truck turning up near Wallaceville and Wayside.

She is very responsible, never misses work, and a disappearance of this nature is not like her guys where is this young mom all we have now are a series of seemingly fake texts tell me Gloria how is Destiny without Mommy? She just asked me, Titiya, can you please come pick me up? I want to see you. Do you really miss me? I mean, I feel that she knows something's going on. She is a sick baby, so we're just trying to keep her calm.

What is her ailment, Gloria? What is the baby's ailment? She has a rare condition. It attacks her muscles. It's a muscle disorder, and she gets seizures. She has urine problems. They have to be catheter catheter guys in her and she has to take a lot of medication and only she goes to therapy physical and it's for her

muscles it's all for for the muscles you know what I can do right now is follow these leads and pray for this little girl, Destiny, with so many physical and medical ailments that needs her mom so desperately. We are on the search for Maria Jimenez Rodriguez. Please help us bring her home. Tip line is 713-884-3131. Also, 832-394-1840. Where is Maria? Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.

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