Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Mom of 3, Michelle Parker, vanishes after ‘The People’s Court’ appearance. (episode 3)

Episode Date: January 22, 2021

Michelle Parker is a loving, hardworking mother of 3. She's also a student and a business owner, but one night this reliable employee did not show up for work. Her 11-year-old son, home alone after school couldn't find his mom. The alarm is sounded and the search for Michelle Parker begins. Then a crucial piece of evidence is found. joining Nancy Grace today: John W. Dill - Personal injury lawyer, part of the Parker family's legal team  Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute founder  Dr. Jenn Mann - Marriage and Family Therapist, Host 'Couples Therapy' on VH1, "The Dr. Jenn Show” on Sirius XM, Author: "The Relationship Fix." Bianca Prieto, former Orlando Sentinel Criminal Justice Reporter  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. Welcome back to Killers Amongst Us, a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. When you walk into malls, grocery stores, festivals, art displays, museums. Maybe it's just because of my business, but sometimes I look around and I wonder, how many of these people are on probation or parole? Because you can't tell when killers are walking amongst us. I'm Nancy Grace. Thanks for being with us here at KAU.

We left off at the discovery of the vehicle of a beautiful young mom, Michelle Parker. Take a listen to lead detective Mike Maresci. What we're going to be releasing is a red light video of Michelle Parker's Hummer on the evening that she disappeared and at 8 55 that night at the intersection of Vineland and Conroy which is approximately three quarters of a mile from where the Hummer was ultimately discovered the next day. In the video you'll'll see that the car is not following anybody. No one is following the car. And the glow stickers that made it so prominent are no longer on the vehicle at that time at 8.55 p.m. And we are presuming that it was parked. It goes in the direction of Walden Circle where it was found, and we're presuming it was parked shortly thereafter.

Guys, the stickers were huge on her car, and I know you've seen those vehicles shrink-wrapped with advertisements. Kind of like that across the back of her black Hummer, an advertisement for herself and her business glow in-home tans. But between the time she goes missing, last seen dropping her children off as she heads to work, didn't make it to work at six o'clock, when her car is found, those stickers have been very scrupulously scraped off. That screams not a random attack. What random attacker would take the time to do that,

then hide the Hummer in between hundreds of other cars at a packed apartment complex across from a very, very busy mall? More evidence is leaking out. With me, an all-star panel, John W. Deal, high-profile lawyer out of Orlando, on Team Michelle Parker Parker looking for answers. You can find him at johnwdeal.com. Director of the Cold Case Research Institute, crime scene expert Cheryl McCollum. You can find her at coldcasecrimes.org.

Dr. Jen Mann, therapist, host of Couples Therapy VH1, the Dr. Jen Show Series XM, author of a brand new book, The Relationship Fix on Amazon. Find her at drjen.com. But straight out to Bianca Prieto, former Orlando Sentinel criminal justice reporter. Bianca, again, where was her Hummer last seen? Was that a red light? Where was that? That was near the Mall Millennium, which is a truly upscale mall in Orlando.

I mean, high-end stores. In that neighborhood that's around the mall, it can kind of get a little rough around the edges. And it was found in an apartment complex near that mall. But what about her cell phone? The cell phone was not found in her car. What became of that? Take a listen to Carrie Moore wish to 14 days and Yvonne Stewart is still holding out hope her daughter Michelle Parker

will be found alive. Whenever they tell me that there's a body, I know it's not her. As weird as that may sound, everybody out there listening that you guys might think that I'm in denial, but I know they're just not going to find her in a lake. They're just not. Searchers on foot and horseback returned to Lake Eleanor this morning, cutting through woods, looking for any clues. Police won't say if a specific tip led them here, but we do know Michelle Parker's cell phone was powered down in this area, which is also where her car was found. Cheryl McCollum with me, forensic expert, director of the Cold Case Research Institute at coldcasecrimes.org. Cheryl, why is it so significant that her cell phone was powered down near where her Hummer was found abandoned?

I say planted. I mean, where are you going to look? I mean, try to, it's like a needle in a haystack, finding a car like it's parked at the airport, for instance. It's nestled in between all these other cars at a giant apartment complex across from a mall. Exactly. It's significant that her phone powered down there because, again, it seems like whoever left her car there is taking away anything that would

identify her. The logo on the back of that car was all about her. That was her business, her baby. A lot of people may have a Hummer, but if law enforcement is scouring a parking lot looking for that logo, it wouldn't be there. And they powered that phone down at the same time to stop any activity from her. And why is that significant? I mean, just anecdotally, with every random murder or kidnapping that I've ever seen, the perp doesn't go to such great lengths to cover their tracks. They do the deed, they do the rape, they do the murder, they do the kidnap, and they get the hay out of there. They don't take time to take the cell phone, power it down, hide it, hide the car, scrape off decals.

That takes a lot of time. Again, it's significant to me, and I wouldn't have moved from it. This no longer appears to be random, stranger on stranger to me. Guys, we're talking about the disappearance of a gorgeous young mom, three children, two of them twins. Where is that cell phone? Why is it so significant we find the cell phone? I mean, to Dr. Jen Mann, renowned therapist, host on SiriusXM, author, Dr. Mann, now cell phones are really an extension of your persona. I mean, if you look at mine, you see about, oh, my goodness, 12, 15,000 pictures of the twins camping, the twins standing in front of the coat drive, the twins at this, the twins at that. It's all about our family.

Every contact I know is in there. I mean, it is an extension of me, I guess. Is that true for everyone? Absolutely. And it gives us so much information about a person's psyche, a person's lifestyle, where they were last, who they're spending time with,

any kind of secret life that they may have, any hidden files, any hidden photos, who they've called. It's such valuable information in terms of knowing so many things about a person,

whether they're living a secret life. It reveals so much. And what do they expect they're going to find on that? John W. Deal, personal injury lawyer out of Orlando, who's on Team Michelle Parker, Team Find Michelle Parker. John, what do they expect to find from her cell phone that they're so desperately searching for? Well, they're trying to see who she might have last been in contact with, you know, where she had been going.

Keep in mind that she was supposed to be at work up in Sanford, which is north of town. The Millennium Mall is just south of downtown. So where was she? Where was she going? She doesn't show up at work. So there's a lot of clues as to what her movements might have been and who she'd been communicating with as well. I want to see those texts, those emails, those photos. And plus, it's like a built-in GPS tracker, Cheryl McCollum.

Nancy, not only do you have the GPS, but again, you're going to have in real time who she contacted, who contacted her, any threats, anything that, you know, doesn't fit. If there's a number that's not attached to a person that she would normally contact, if somebody is having an argument with her over text messages or email, all that will be right there, including photographs that somebody might have sent. Anything is going to be right there, including photographs that somebody might have sent. Anything is going to be right there. We know while that Hummer being found parked amongst hundreds of cars is being processed for any clues left behind, hair, fiber, fingerprints, DNA, you name it, a search is on for her cell phone. Take a listen to this. This morning, what clues, if any, police found on missing mother Michelle Parker's cell phone? It could be a key piece of evidence in this case. Kara Moore is at the family's command

post in Sanford. So, Kara, what are they saying about this? Well, it's certainly a break in the case that the family has been praying for for a long time now, Jason and Sian. Michelle Parker's cell phone, the very phone her mother at one point told me she was never without, has been found, and now her family hopes it leads investigators right to her. And take a listen to more of Kara Moore from WISH. Just step forward in finding missing mother of three, Michelle Parker. Investigators have found her cell phone. Her family says Orlando police showed them a photo of it yesterday. This is home video of Parker using that very phone. Her sister knew right away it was Michelle's. Seeing that, it just, it gives me hope that, you know, why even

after so many days you can still find something. Even though time's passing and it seems like nothing's happening, they're keeping that hope that things are still happening. So it's just, it's, it's a bundle of emotions right now. Police have not said where it was found or what condition it's in. The phone has been found. Cops refusing to say where it's found or what condition it's in. But I thought to you, Cheryl McCollum, you're the forensics expert. Even if a phone has been beaten up, put underwater, all sorts of damage can come to your phone. Can't you still somehow manage to get evidence off of it? Absolutely. There's things on the cloud forever.

So, again, if she posted video, if she posted photographs, her emails are going to be there, even though the phone is damaged. There's going to be tons of information. For me, when I get to that scene, how that phone is damaged means a lot to me, because who would do that? It wasn't her. Yeah, who would go to the trouble of damaging the phone? What's on the phone, and they don't want you to see. Take a listen to this. Two new areas now being searched for any signs of the missing mother, Michelle Parker. These searches have been going on for several hours now. At the first scene,

divers looking at a canal near Chaucer Lane in South Orange County. This is near where other searches for Parker have taken place. Let's choose Bob Keeling live near the canal with the breaking details. So, Bob, why did they choose this spot? Well, Sian, it's really just due west and a little bit south of where Michelle Parker's iPhone was found in Lake Conway. And I can also tell you that the members of this dive team who are still actively searching at this time are the ones who actually found the phone within the last week. And according to some of the residents in here and what we've been able to see, it appears that the divers are targeting

a very specific area. The Orlando Police Department says they are continuing their search efforts for any clues that could lead to the location of Michelle Parker. And they say we are concentrating our search efforts into separate locations. One of them is near Orange Blossom Trail and Jordan Avenue in this canal.

The other location is quite a ways east of here along the Econ Trail between Curry Ford and Lee Vista. Hearing our friends at West describing, but not yet really identifying where the cell phone is found, but we do know it was found in a body of water. Back out to Bianca Prieto, former Orlando Sentinel criminal justice reporter. Where was her phone found? That phone was found thrown over a bridge on the side of town where she was last seen. It wasn't in that deep of water, and it looked like somebody could have just easily chucked it out a window as they drove past, hoping nobody would ever find it. Wow. Cheryl McCollum, when a phone goes underwater,

if it has not been powered down, does it still give a signal? I mean, it might for a little bit, but no. I mean, it would stop pretty quick. But what's significant about this is the person continued to move, it sounds like, and they just discarded it, trying to get rid of it as fast as they could so it wasn't connected to them. It's also significant to me that the phone is near where she was last seen. So it seems to me all indications, all indicators are toward one area. The iPhone is so central to this investigation. When you look at tracking information from your cell phone, it can pinpoint you within, I believe, less than a mile. You know, Cheryl McCollum, I know you recall recently the twins went with their school to go with their band to play at Disney. Now, you know perfectly well I was not going to let two 11-year-olds go on a bus without me to

another state and wander around Disney alone. Okay, that's not going to happen. So I wanted them to feel independent and free. Of course, I tailed the bus all the way to happen. So I wanted them to feel independent and free. Of course, I tailed the bus all the way to Orlando. But what I did was install Life 360 on their phones. So I did not. But give me credit. I did not go into Disney with them. But I could see where they were moving around, you know, in generally the same area, her with her friends.

John David was with his friends. And I could tell where they were based on Life360. And that is much the way a cell phone navigator works. Absolutely. You can not only tell exactly where the person is or where the phone is, so to speak. Again, you can tell what they're doing simultaneously. Are they looking something up on Google? Are they sending text messages?

Are they receiving or making phone calls? All of this is simultaneous. And when you get that report back, it's astounding what you can tell about someone's movements. It's also going to be critical, the movements of this phone, when they determined it wasn't her in movement. Because her phone was powered down before it was thrown into this. I guess John W. Deal, high-profile lawyer on Team 5, Michelle Parker. John, the phone was powered down. Where was it powered down, John?

It was powered down closer to where the car was found. But interestingly, the last ping, the last cell phone ping, was near Bell Isle. And you heard Bob Keeling there talking that piece about searching Lake Conway, which is a large body of water. So that's far away, certainly from Sanford, and kind of on the way to the Mall of Millennia. So it was active and pinged near the Bell Isle area, south of Orlando. Her car pinged from in between where she dropped the children off and where her Hummer was found. Am I getting that correct? Correct. So then it was intentionally powered down. You know, a lot of people, believe it or not, Dr. Gen Mann, you're the therapist, never turn their phone off. Okay, I'm one of them.

Because I don't think about it. I plug it in when I need to charge it and I just keep going. But to take time to power it down in the middle of the day, she had this phone attached to her body. That's not her powering that phone down. I'm just telling you that, Dr. Jen. Yeah, I would agree with you. It's unusual unless you've got some glitch in your phone and you're turning it off and turning it on to reset it. Most people don't turn the phone off.

Most people have it on all the time. And it's obviously very suspicious that it was powered down. The timing of it makes it incredibly suspicious. She wasn't in her car. Jump in, Cheryl. She didn't power it down. She wasn't going in that direction. Whoever took her through that phone.

But the powering down, I don't think that that would be her normal behavior as well. People go out of their way to keep their phone on. They have those, you know, chargers that are like handheld chargers. They will do anything in their power to keep that phone charged up. Absolutely no way a mama of two is going to power down her phone. Not going to happen. Well, you know, don't mock that because when I go anywhere, I either have the phone charged, have a charger. I also have a little portable charger that fits on the bottom of the phone because I am not going to be out with the twins and not have the phone powered up. How many times, Cheryl, have we read the gas, the car went empty, the phone powered down?

I mean, come on, please prepare. Trust me, I wasn't mocking it. I'm flat saying there's no way a mom of two is going to let her phone power down. It's not going to happen. No way. So to you, Bianca Prieto, where she dropped the children off and where the Hummer was found hidden amongst all those cars, what was it, about halfway where it was powered down? Yeah, it was about, it was near where she was blasting uh you know that that bridge it's a tiny little two road it's in a neighborhood it's not a major uh road that a

bunch of people would be driving past you'd have to be in that neighborhood to be on that bridge and i want to point out too is that if that phone was powered down she got her older son at school who talks to mama every day after school so So why would she power it down, right? Right, that's right. That's how the whole thing, the alarm was raised. When her older son, she's got the two little twins, and then the 11-year-old talks to her every day after school, she should have been on her way to work.

And she would be expecting that phone call. That didn't happen. Guys, take a listen to this. Brad Parker says detectives dedicated today to Michelle's iPhone which was found last week and they may be able to figure out her every move before she went missing she's my firstborn she's my little girl a choked-up father tonight time is ticking and Michelle's the that may indicate where she was, who she last talked to. This cell phone found last week at the bottom of a lake in Belle Isle, the biggest piece of evidence so far since the missing mom of three vanished nearly four weeks ago.

It's a big part of the puzzle. That's right. Dad, Brad Parker Sr., could not be more correct. Those are our friends at Fox 35. Take a listen to wish to Bob Keeling. Despite an absence of high-profile searches this week, Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney says his detectives are still busy following leads in the Michelle Parker disappearance. Rooney confirmed that Parker's phone was found underwater and suggested they are getting useful information from it.

We are still following up relentlessly on any tips that you would not know about that come in through Crimeline that phone calls or leads that we may be getting from the cell phone. I'm coming up on my 21st year here at OPD and it's been the most massive effort I've ever been involved in. During a year in review presentation on Orlando's crime numbers, the lead detective in the Parker case said he's confident the three places they've looked for clues have been searched thoroughly. We're constantly keeping going and trying to get this family some answers and I'm optimistic that we will despite the time that's gone by.

It broke my heart. During an interview with Dateline NBC this week, Michelle Parker's mom said the discovery of that phone brought with it overwhelming feelings of despair. That was my hope, is that they would never find that phone and that she still had it. At some point, she could get to it, you know. That's when I really started to think, this isn't going to end well.

To John W. Deal, high profile lawyer on team, find Michelle working very closely with Michelle's family. Explain what Michelle's mom meant by that. I was hoping they wouldn't find the cell phone. Well, even though obviously they were very close knit, When somebody disappears like that with no reason, maybe you are thinking, well, maybe she just took some time off or tried to, you know, get away from everything. Although that would have been really out of character. So there's still that hope that the phone was out there attached to a live Michelle and that at some point she'd reach out. But when that phone, who they which they always used to communicate with all day long, showed up. It was just that sinking feeling that Yvonne talked about there in that clip.

Dr. Jan, therapist, weigh in, Dr. Jan, about what mom just said. Well, I think you probably more than anyone since you've covered so many stories over the years can really understand the level of fear and grief and sadness and despair that this mother feels. And she knows her daughter. She knows her daughter would never part with her cell phone. She knows at this point it's dawning on her that her daughter may not be found alive. And there's nothing more heartbreaking than a parent losing a child. And then suddenly the command post is moved. Take a listen to XCDF. Michelle Parker's family is moving the command post to the barn

in Sanford and that's the bar where Parker worked as a bartender. Volunteers are resuming their search this morning after searching canals in South Orlando this weekend. It has been two and a half weeks now since Parker was last seen. Her loved ones held a fundraiser Saturday night. They sold t-shirts to raise money for Parker's three children. Michelle, I'm looking for you. The whole world, the whole state of Florida is actually looking for Michelle. Parker's family had set up their command post in South Orlando off Oak Ridge Road,

and that's the area where Parker's SUV was found abandoned. To our friend John W. Deal, the high-profile lawyer working to find Michelle, why was the command post moved? Well, now we're kind of focusing in on where she had last been seen where the car is found okay let me understand something john she drops the children off she's heading to the barn which is where she was reporting to work her two children had been two twins have been dropped off with babysitter. The other child is at school, 11 years old.

So where the phone pinged, is that in the opposite direction she would have traveled to get to work? Absolutely. The phone pings. Sanford is north of town about 15 or 20 minutes on our interstate here. The phone pings down by Lake Conway, which is now more closer to where she was last seen and also where the car is found or where the Hummer is found. So everything geographically is pointing in that direction, away from where she was supposed to go. Her Hummer going in the opposite direction she would have gone in, her cell phone being powered down, which she never would have done.

Take a listen to Bob Keeling at Wish 2 with a startling new theory. When Parker was last seen dropping off her twins, her Hummer had this sticker advertising her home tanning business. Hours later, when red light camera video picked up footage of it being driven at Conroy and Vine WEST 2. THE STICKER WAS GONE. THE STICKER WAS GONE. THE STICKER WAS GONE. THE HUMMER HAD THIS STICKER ADVERTISING HER HOME TANNING BUSINESS. HOURS LATER, WHEN RED LIGHT CAMERA VIDEO PICKED UP FOOTAGE

OF IT BEING DRIVEN AT CONROY AND VINELAND, THE STICKER WAS GONE. POLICE SUSPECT SOMEONE INVOLVED WITH HER DISAPPEARANCE PULLED INTO THIS REMOTE AREA TO STRIP IT OFF AND MAKE THE VEHICLE LESS RECOGNIZABLE. WE DON'T KNOW WHO WAS DRIVING We don't know who was driving it, but somebody was driving it, and I hope to God they're as nervous as hell that we're coming after them. A lead detective tells WESH2 this area is also where Parker's phone pinged for a final time with a text message police believe someone else sent

to give her family the impression Michelle was still alive. Later down this same route, someone threw her phone off the Neela Street Bridge in Belle Isle. So now it's all starting to make sense to me. And I look at Google Earth and I do the geography and I figure, yeah, this is halfway between here and the Neela Bridge. Despite a lack of success here, Parker's loved ones remain determined. It ain't over yet, honey. We're going to find you one day i hope now the startling theory that someone else is fake texting from michelle's phone what about it bianca prieto former orlando sentinel criminal justice reporter explain what was that last text that last text was just one word and all it said was waterford

waterford is a neighborhood that is in east or, and it would be sort of on the way to where Michelle was supposed to report to work. But we don't know if she's the one that actually sent it or not. So let me go to you, John W. Deal, high profile lawyer working with Michelle's family. What does her family make of that one word text? Well, very out of the ordinary for her. You know, even at the time of this place, you know, she was very into texting, would have long sort of text conversations. And in response to where are you? We haven't heard from you. A one word text was certainly out of the ordinary.

It's unlike any other text she'd ever sent. What about it, Cheryl McCollum? Patterns. Everything right here is going to come down to patterns. Her pattern was to send her family like a book every time she responded to them. Like they even made fun of her because of it. For her to send a one-word response when she failed to pick her child up after school and didn't meet him at home threw this family into a panic because they

knew that was not her. You know, Dr. Jen, Dr. Jen Mann with me, Dr. Jen, you know, when someone does something so out of the ordinary, people close to the victim know it's wrong. But it's hard to convince outsiders that this is really, for instance, where the timeline starts. When she headed in the wrong direction from work, when that cell phone was powered down, when that fake text was sent, nothing like her other texts. That is when the timeline starts in my mind that we know at that point she's either kidnapped or dead, right there based strictly on behavioral evidence alone. Absolutely.

And we all look at patterns with our loved ones to predict their behavior, to understand things they've done. And in a situation like this where someone goes missing, it is so important to look at what are their patterns. And as was pointed out, this is someone who would send long text messages back about really simple, small things. So for her to just type one word like that is completely out of character and makes you think that maybe it wasn't her. For instance, my children, Lucy doesn't even pay attention to her cell phone. You can text or call or forget about it. And she's that way about everybody, not just mommy, friends, brother, and she's just not into it. My son, however, lives on his cell phone. He'll text back

immediately within 30 seconds. That's their pattern that's been established for now two years. Now, this one word text, let me compare it to this, Cheryl McCollum. We all remember the O.J. Simpson double murder debacle. And neighbors, in my mind, really start the timeline when they hear Brown, who was basically beheaded in a driveway along with her friend, Ron Goldman. Her dog, Akita, let out a, quote, plaintive wail or a plaintive howl at a certain time. They had never heard the dog do that before in all the years they had lived there. And I guarantee you that is when the murders were going down. Correct. A stranger would not text back.

For what? There's no connection. There's no reason to pretend she's still alive or okay for that person. That person is going to harm her and get ghost. They're not going to fool with her car. They're not going to fool with her logo. They're not going to fool with her phone because it's not necessary. This person is having to try to convince somebody she's still alive and okay so that the crime is not discovered. This is exactly how circumstantial cases are built.

I remember prosecuting a serial killer. Got him on one murder, but that's all it took to put him away. I had to analyze one earring and what the location, how it got there, how it was torn from the victim's ear, what that meant about the primary, the secondary, the tertiary crime scene. What could I deduce from the placement, the mode, the style, so much more of one earring. What can we learn about this cell phone? we now know that from the time she dropped off her baby twins to the time that text went out in that short space of time she was either killed or kidnapped.

We know a lot from the way the cell phone was disposed of in a shallow body of water when somebody drove over that bridge. Now the question is, how does the number one judge show syndicated program that aired that day play into Michelle Parker's disappearance? Nancy Grace, Killers Amongst Us, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.