Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Missing children heartbreak; Help us!

Episode Date: January 1, 2021

A prime mission for "Crime Stories" is to raise awareness of missing children cases with the hopes that someone somewhere knows something that could help find these precious boys and girls. Today we l...ook at three cases. Help us bring these missing children home. Joining Nancy Grace today: Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta Ga www.angelaarnoldmd.com Chris Byers - former Police Chief Johns Creek Georgia, 25 years as Police Officer, now Private Investigator and Polygraph Examiner,   www.chrisbyersinvestigationsandpolygraph.com Daphne Young - VP, Communications & Prevention Education, www.Childhelp.org Wendy Patrick - California prosecutor, author “Red Flags” www.wendypatrickphd.com Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet" featured on "Poisonous Liaisons" on True Crime Network Ray Caputo - Lead News Anchor for Orlando's Morning News, 96.5 WDBO Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's New Year's Day, starting a brand new year. For so many of us, we have our families and are so extremely blessed. But the reality is, is that the search goes on for missing children. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Starting point is 00:00:51 Music Let's take a look at just three of those many, many missing children in the hopes that this year is the year they will be brought home. Starting with a beautiful little girl named Serenity. Listen. Authorities in Rockerville are searching for a nine-year-old girl who went missing earlier today. Nine-year-old Serenity Dennard was last spotted leaving the Children's Home Society on South Rockerville Road around 11.20 this morning. Dennard is 4790 pounds with blue eyes and shoulder length dirty blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a long sleeved gray shirt with flowers, blue jeans and snow boots. Temperatures are expected to drop below zero tonight. If anyone has any information regarding
Starting point is 00:01:39 her whereabouts, please contact the Payneton County Sheriff's Office. What happened to Serenity? You were just hearing our friend Nick Reagan at KOTA TV. This beautiful nine-year-old little girl in South Dakota runs away in freezing temps without a coat. First of all, why didn't anyone go after her? What are the facts surrounding her disappearance? Who is she with now? What has become of Serenity? Joining me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. First of all, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags, and host of Today with Dr. Wendy on KCBQ. You can find her at WendyPatrickPhD.com.
Starting point is 00:02:30 Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. You can find her at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Former police chief, Johns Creek, 25 years on the force, now PI and polygrapher at Chris ByersInvestigationsandpolygraph.com. Daphne Young is joining us today, VP of Communications and Prevention Education at childhelp.org. Very dear to my heart. Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon,
Starting point is 00:03:03 star of a brand new hit, Poisonous Liaisons on the True Crime Network, Joseph Scott Morgan. But first, to Ray Caputo, lead news anchor, WDBO. Ray, let's start with you. How does this little girl just wander off and nobody figures it out until it's too late? Well, Nancy, she was at the Black Hills Children's Home in South Dakota. That's close to a little town called Rockerville. And, you know, Mount Rushmore is in the area, Rapid City is in the area.
Starting point is 00:03:33 And it was a really remote area. Very familiar, Ray. It's a beautiful country. Remember, I just took the twins on an RV trip. We camped all around that area. Beautiful, but deadly. Go ahead. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:03:49 The terrain there is rough. The weather there this time of year, well, the time of year it happened was Super Bowl Sunday, February 2nd. So the weather was about 36 degrees outside. But the little girl just opened up a gymnasium door and walked out. You know, there was a little bit of a distraction. But her and another child had distracted one of the caretakers in the gym. And then she made her get away. You know, I want to examine what Ray Caputo has just told us. And I want to go to a very special guest from ChildHelp.org, who has ChildHelp has been our partner for so many years.
Starting point is 00:04:27 Since we first launched Crime Stories and CrimeOnline.com, ChildHelp.org was there in the thick of it. Joining me, Daphne Young from ChildHelp.org. Not that he's wrong. He's always right with his facts, everything Ray Caputo said. But it was also all wrong in a larger sense. So a little girl, age nine, has run away before. And what do they do? Stick her in a home for children where she runs away.
Starting point is 00:05:04 And they don't have a protocol for this. I mean, you know, I always say when you don't know a horse, look at his track record. If this child has run away from home before, and I'm curious why so far, you know, my children have not run away from home. I threatened to run away from home, but never did. Of course, I changed my mind when it got to be supper time. Why did this little girl run from her home would be my first question. And why is the answer to that to stick her in a children's home where she then predictably runs away? She's only nine years old. I don't know what she's running from, but I do know that there should be protocols in place to keep a child from running out the door
Starting point is 00:05:46 on Super Bowl Sunday of all times. Well, Nancy, Serenity, first of all, is a really tough name to deal with, right? Because that name means calm and peaceful and untroubled. And that's the antithesis of missing child, the opposite feeling of caretakers who can't sleep because they don't know where she is. And it's the opposite feeling of a little girl that's running, running for her life. And it hits us so hard at child health because we have residential treatment facilities. You know about them, Nancy, the child health villages. They're isolated. They're in natural environments. They receive equine therapy. They hike, ride bikes, fish. These are such safe places to heal, but they're remote. And in our work, a little girl like that's called a runner. And she's just a little hurting heart who's acting out. She's in crisis. We know that that child was
Starting point is 00:06:39 prone to self-harm. And we see children like Serenity all the time. And something happens to them that makes them run from their pain. And what breaks my heart is there's a protocol that you have to have in place to prepare for runners. So when we have a child that's identified as a potential runaway, we set a whole procedure ahead of time. We determine it on the age, size, behavioral development level of the child. We consider it a runaway plan. And if that child runs, our senior staff and duty officer are immediately notified. If the child is in sight, we follow it close distance, but do not intervene physically. We don't lock the child away, but we do intervene in case of danger if she's coming to a precipice or a cliff. But what we do is in 30 minutes, that child has
Starting point is 00:07:32 not been found and we are not following the child and a child has gone missing on a property. The sheriff is notified and we take care of all the paperwork afterwards. Right in that moment, it's find the child. You know what, Daphne Young, joining me from ChildHelp.org, why, why, why couldn't you be everywhere at once? Why couldn't you be there the day this little girl runs away? I'm just thinking about my daughter, Daphne, my little Lucy. I've been told a couple of weeks ago, she was just 12 years old and she's very slight. Her brother is now six feet. He's been six feet since he was 11, but she is very thin, but delicate little hands and feet, very slight. And I'm just thinking about her running.
Starting point is 00:08:31 And nobody is following her. There's so much wrong with this scenario. Take a listen to Alexia Davila, KOTA. Muddy ATVs and command center radios are the tools behind Wednesday's search for nine-year-old Serenity Denard. TP Gulch Road in Rockerville was closed as 80 searchers from local fire and law enforcement departments headed out looking for the girl. The search was originally scheduled for Saturday, but the nice weather gave the search team a head start. We've always been watching the weather and the snow melt to determine when it would get into the woods. Again, to maximize the time we're spending in the woods. There's no sense
Starting point is 00:09:16 coming up here when it was all snow covered and you can't get people around, you get people hurt, so we were waiting for the right opportunity. In addition to searching on foot, a helicopter and two canine units from the Northern Hills joined the effort. I spoke to one man from the command center who says each of the searchers has a bag of food and water because they don't plan to take any lunch break today. Rapid City Police Chief Carl Jagaris remains hopeful. It's most likely that she is still in this proximity. However, we can't rule anything out so while we continue the search we also have a parallel investigation ongoing and both of those efforts will continue until she is
Starting point is 00:09:53 located. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about the disappearance of a beautiful, young, nine-year-old girl. Why did she run? I don't know. I'd like to know. But what I want to know more than that is where did she run? I don't know. I'd like to know. But what I want to know more than that is where is she now and why she wasn't followed immediately. We're talking about Serenity Denarges, nine years old, missing in South Dakota. Take a listen to our friend Stuart
Starting point is 00:10:41 Huntington, Black Hills, Fox, South Dakota. At 10 45 a.m. Sunday, Serenity was in the gym at the Black Hills Children's Home with two staffers and three other kids. One kid caused a disturbance and a staffer attended to that child. Serenity then ran out of the building. The other staffer stayed with the two other children. At 11 a.m. Serenity is last seen walking near the home. At 12 26 p.m. a 911 call goes out and Pennington County Sheriff's deputy arrives at 12 46. By 1 16 several deputies are on scene and the decision is made to bring in search and rescue. Joining me Ray Caputo lead news anchor WDBO Ray, did you hear that timeline from Stuart Huntington at Black Hills Fox? 10.45, little Serenity was in the gym with two adult staffers.
Starting point is 00:11:36 One other child did something, caused some disturbance, and Serenity ran out of the building. Why? Why did she run out of the building? But the two staffers didn't follow. and Serenity ran out of the building. Why? Why did she run out of the building? But the two staffers didn't follow. Neither one. One of the staffers was chasing one of the kids who caused the distraction. The other one had looked and saw her running away.
Starting point is 00:12:00 But you're right, Nancy, they didn't chase her. It seems like they weren't ready for this. Now, the weather outside was about 36 degrees. You know, it was a little bit. Hold on. Can I just, Ray, can I just get you to look at the timeline with me? That was at 1045. Then she's seen outside at 11 a.m. walking near the home. That's 15 minutes later.
Starting point is 00:12:21 She's spotted. But they do nothing. Finally, an hour and a half later, they call 911. Do I understand the timeline correctly, Ray Caputo? Yes, you do, Nancy. 80 minutes went by from the time that she left to the time that the staff called 911. Now, they weren't looking for her, but they had issues with their walkie-talkies and proper communication. It wasn't really a thorough search. And because of that, the little girl got away.
Starting point is 00:12:49 To Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags, and the host of Today with Dr. Wendy on KCBQ. You can find her at WendyPatrickPhD.com. Wendy, there's so much wrong with what's happening here at this children's home. That's absolutely right, Nancy. I mean, as soon as a child runs, the search and rescue should be on because every precious second counts. We know that, Nancy, because all the cases you cover where this type of thing unfortunately happens, every minute is precious. Just as young Serenity's life is precious. We want to believe she's still alive.
Starting point is 00:13:26 And that's one of the reasons why she should have been followed immediately. She didn't walk away, she ran. And that is one of the facts in this timeline, Nancy, that is so important. The timeline that Ray Caputo just gave us means that they did know what time she left and that 911 was called so far afterwards. You know, Dr. Angie, Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining us at the Atlanta jurisdiction, AngelaArnoldMD.com. I know that I'm overprotective. I understand that. I'm that way for a reason.
Starting point is 00:13:58 That's right. I'm a crime victim. I finally have children late in life and I will be D-A-M-N-E-D if I let anything happen to them. Right. Okay. That's just not on my watch. Now, I started really hard to believe that this child in my world is out of their vision, out of their knowledge of where she is for an hour and a half. And they're not worried.
Starting point is 00:14:28 Just hear Ray Capito say how cold it is outside. Aren't they worried? I can't understand how they couldn't be worried. I hate to say this, but it sounds like they don't even care. That's what it sounds like to anybody outside. And also, they've been entrusted in her care. I'm sure the parents are paying an awful lot of money for her to be there. There's always that.
Starting point is 00:14:54 How could they not be concerned, even from a legal standpoint, that they've lost this little girl? You know what? You're so right. You're so right about that. So many things to take into account. And to Chief Chris Byers, former police chief, Johns Creek, now at Chris Byers Investigations and Polygraph.com, we know that with every minute a child is missing, it hurts the investigation. Just say she's in a car that somebody saw her on the side of the street and grabbed her, which is, I think, a very distinct possibility in this
Starting point is 00:15:32 case. Every minute you've got is another mile. If you go 60 miles an hour and in those first three hours, they're critical, chief buyers. Why? They're so critical because, I mean, those are the moments that you've got, like, you know, you're talking an hour and a half here before law enforcement arrives. So the first thing they're having to do is figure out how far could she have gotten because they're wanting to put the perimeter there and make it the proper size. Those moments are critical because you're looking for, and you heard the chief earlier in this say that they had two investigations going. They had the search investigation going,
Starting point is 00:16:11 but they also had a criminal investigation going where at that point you're looking for, you know, sexual predators in the area. You're getting to their houses. You're going house to house searching. You're checking, you know, traffic cameras to see any of the vehicles that were in the area, any tag readers, doing interviews quickly because you've got a very small time frame before harm can come to this child. And you need to get the resources in the right place quickly. And waiting an hour and a half to call 911 is just absolutely absurd in this case. I just think about this child
Starting point is 00:16:45 potentially alive in someone's home. What is happening to the child? Is she dead or alive? If she's alive, who has her? Take a listen to Alexis Davila with Black Hills Fox. More than a year and a half later and the whereabouts of Serenity Denard are still up in the air, despite the extensive search from local and surrounding state's law enforcement. That's why the Gentry's want a new set of eyes on the case. We need somebody that isn't familiar with, you know, all of Serenity's family, her friends. She has a very extensive family. Though the Gentry's made this decision together, Bryant says Chad Denard, Serenity's adoptive father, has reached out to the private investigator and expects other family members to do so in the coming days. It's not going to go cold.
Starting point is 00:17:34 We won't allow that. We've said that from the very beginning. And Darcy and I did put this together after a lengthy conversation with the investigator that this was the right answer at this time. The tip line regarding Serenity Denard, 605-394-6115. Repeat, 605-394-6115. Let's turn our attention to another missing child in the hopes that this will be the year she's brought home alive. Take a listen. My name is Melissa Gousset. If you're gonna watch this video please do not have the kids around. Carly Lane Gousset is missing still.
Starting point is 00:18:26 She's been missing since, breathe. She's been missing since 6.30 a.m. The last time that I spoke to her was 5.30. She didn't take her cell phone. We're coming up on 10 hours. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The heartbreak in this mother's voice is raw and right at the surface of every word she says. Melissa Guse, this is Carly's stepmother, taking to the airwaves to beg for help finding her daughter.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Straight out to you, Ray Caputo, lead news anchor, WDBO. Ray, what happened? Well, this young girl, she was living in California, and she had done what a lot of kids do. She was going to go out to a football game or so her parents thought, and she ended up going to a party. Carly was off that night. According to her boyfriend thought and she ended up going to a party carly was off that night according to her boyfriend donald she had started to experience like delusional type of
Starting point is 00:19:50 behavior said she was afraid of the music and started to direct some of that paranoia towards him so being alarmed you know he he's kind of keeping a close eye on her and she basically says out of nowhere she wants to leave and it's a very erratic behavior that night, Nancy, something completely out of the ordinary. So let me understand this, Ray Caputo. She starts, once she gets to this after-the-game party, she starts acting oddly, as you said, paranoid. To Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics,
Starting point is 00:20:23 it sounds to me like something slipped, someone slipped her something in her drink. Yeah, that is certainly a possibility you would need to entertain if you're an investigator when you're trying to determine. So what do we need to do first? Well, everybody that was in her proximity at this party, they need to be locked down, Nancy. Statements need to be taken from these or any kind of bad actors in this environment. Everybody's got a history of doing things like this, you know, trying to slip something into somebody's strength, you know, where they're trying to take advantage of someone, particularly a young girl like this.
Starting point is 00:20:58 So if you suddenly let's just say that suddenly, you know, she's she suddenly acts out in this, you know, as he described in a paranoid way, whereas you have no history of this kind of behavior. Now, if this is something that had been ongoing and developing for a protracted period of time, I'd say, yeah, maybe it's some kind of mental problem. But just suddenly to start like this is kind of an odd, odd, odd benchmark. Take a listen to more of Melissa Guse. It's going on 10 hours that she's been missing. And I want to put this on blast because I don't think she's out in the desert. I think that she could have been abducted or taken because we do live by a highway and it happens and I'm being real. And I just want to let everybody know, Alicia, you're calling me. Are you watching the video?
Starting point is 00:21:52 She's not watching the video. That's okay. I want to put this on blast because I don't know what to do to consider her a missing person. You can't do an Amber Alert because she didn't leave in a car and I don't have a physical description of a vehicle now here comes a very significant inconsistency take a listen to melissa goosey seven about 115 pounds she has blue eyes and the cutest little nose and a great smile and her hair goes all the way down past her like to her belly let's say mid-waist and she left in her jeans um and a t-shirt so i'm putting it out there and just go for it everybody help me out here here. I love you all. Everybody please watch. Share your friend.
Starting point is 00:22:46 Share my friend. Share everybody's. Just share the shit out of it. All right. Thank you. Now, we're hearing the last known clothing in a physical description, but then listen to what Melissa Guse tells me. Now, in your Facebook Live, you said that she was wearing jeans, I think.
Starting point is 00:23:08 Yeah, I only said that because she always wears her skinny jeans. So I just assumed that she had her skinny jeans on. Would she have worn blue jeans to bed? I had picked her up and she had her skinny jeans on i know but i mean when you were in bed with her at 5 45 a.m did she still have on her jeans no okay so yeah a t-shirt and just her underwear okay let me understand because in the facebook live i'm trying to get the description of what she had on the last time you saw her out there. So in the Facebook.
Starting point is 00:23:49 The last time I saw her in our home, she only had a T-shirt and her undergarment. Okay. Then that Facebook Live that she blasted out saying, look for her in the skinny jeans. What are we supposed to do with that? Yeah. That's not right i well yeah i was in a panic now before we give nefarious intentions on the stepmother if the now i understand uh ray caputo the daughter wasn't last thing running down the street with a boyfriend she had been picked up by her stepmother and brought back home. And the stepmom had gotten in bed with her. It was around 5 a.m. in the morning. But then she goes missing. So the stepmom probably assumes she had put on her skinny jeans
Starting point is 00:24:38 and went missing. It's a lot different from being paranoid at a party. This young girl goes missing from her own home. Am I correct, Ray Caputo? Yes, you are, Nancy. That's exactly what happened. She went missing right out of her own bed. And you figure that through everything that had happened that night, there's so much that could have went wrong. But this young girl found herself safely back at home. And that's really where a lot of this tragedy starts. Straight to Daphne Young, VP of Communications and Prevention Education and one of our long-time
Starting point is 00:25:11 partners, ChildHelp.org. Daphne, what do you make of it? This is a complex case because you have this young woman who comes home and I believe there's a little piece of the story where her mother films her, stepmother films her or records her in some way, I guess, in a parental sense, wanting to play that back to her, right? Listen how you sounded. Did you take drugs? You know, a parent might do that to try to teach a lesson.
Starting point is 00:25:39 But one of the things that we do at ChildHelp is we do forensic interviews. And when we're dealing with families in crisis at one of our advocacy centers, one of the things we look for is inconsistencies in stories. We have a big social media presence here, and it can be a great tool to help spread the word, but it can also spread disinformation. It can be used as a tool to try to perhaps plead or make your case and sometimes can even hamper law enforcement efforts. So there's a lot going on here above and beyond what happened at that party. And my concern is what happened at that house that night. Now, there were reports that Carla Gusset was recognized at White Mountain Estate Road, Route 6 on Mono County, California. But take a listen to our friend Ryan Canaday, KTVN.
Starting point is 00:26:34 It's been two years since a Mono County teenager disappeared, and the FBI and Mono County investigators are still looking for her. Carly Gousset disappeared from Bishop, California on October 13th in 2018. FBI investigators say she left her home in the morning and then left her things behind, including her cell phone. In a video released by the FBI today, Gousset's father said he'd give anything to see her again. I'd give my whole body, whole body and soul.
Starting point is 00:27:05 I'd give it all up just to have her home safe. That's all I'd give my whole body, whole body and soul. I'd give it all up just to have her home safe. That's all I'd do. The tip line in the search for Carly Guse is 916-746-7000. Repeat, 916-746-7000. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Will this be the year that another little girl finds her way home? Little two-year-old Myra Lewis. Listen. Just bring my baby home.
Starting point is 00:27:46 Passionate pleas from the father of a missing two-year-old. Just imagine the pain of a loved one being gone. And just for her to come home. We would love to have her home. Family members say they think someone kidnapped baby Myra. The toddler disappeared Saturday morning after her mother says she left her with her older sisters. But when she came think someone kidnapped b disappeared saturday morn says she left her with he when she came back, the t We pray that they will ha
Starting point is 00:28:13 love to release her, wheth take her to a police depa Walmart, wherever you nee this, you can be home. Gr girl's father. He says he noticed Mara missing around noon. But he says his other kids told him Mara was with their mother. They only realized she was gone when his wife came home around 3 p.m.
Starting point is 00:28:36 That's when family members began a frantic search all around the house. At 4 p.m., they called 911. You are hearing our friend Tammy Estrich at Channel 16 WAPT. Straight out to Ray Caputo, lead news anchor WDBO. What happened? Well, little Myra, she's two years old. She's playing out in front of her house like a lot of kids do. And it seems like there was a miscommunication between the parents, Nancy. We hear about this when we hear these tragic hot car deaths where parents just space. But it seemed like in this case, maybe it was a little less irresponsible mom thought that the little girl
Starting point is 00:29:09 was with dad in the house dad thought that the little girl was with mom and before they know it hours have passed and this precious little two-year-old girl is missing i don't quite understand the confusion about what happened the fbi offering a $20,000 reward in the search for a two-year-old girl who seemingly vanishes into thin air. She goes missing near the family's Camden, Mississippi home. Joining me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. First of all, to you, Daphne Young, VP Communications Prevention Education at ChildHelp.org. Weigh in. Well, this is a tough one because we have a family struggling. We know some of the details of the case, condemned housing. And at ChildHelp during this pandemic, we've seen a 43% increase in calls to our hotline
Starting point is 00:29:59 from desperate families that are struggling, food insecure, looking for housing, losing their jobs. So when I hear about a family like this that's teetering on the edge and definitely has some economic issues and concerns, I'm so worried about the judgment that goes out to parents like this who are just struggling to make it happen. And when you're under undue stress, these little mistakes can happen, right? I think you're with mom. No, I thought you were in the house with dad. And then those moments in between when you're being judged, when you're being questioned are so difficult.
Starting point is 00:30:31 And it breaks my heart to think that this could have been a tragic accident that spanned hours. And what happened during those hours? Was there a predator? A vulnerable family is often in a vulnerable community. And where do predators go looking for prey? In desperate situations. Whereas they're a predator, a vulnerable family is often in a vulnerable community. And where do predators go looking for prey? In desperate situations. I'm trying to analyze what we know about this little girl, Myra Lewis, just two years old, a disappearance. reports missing from outside the family home there in Camden, where she was sitting outside playing with her sister outdoors. How many times have children gone missing from outside? I will
Starting point is 00:31:15 never forget the case of Samantha Runyon. It became friends of sorts with her mother, Erin, who went on to be a victim's rights advocate for children. Samantha was playing outside in the front yard of her grandmother's home with other children. The grandmother had eyes on Samantha. A car pulls up. A guy gets Samantha and takes off as grandma runs outdoors. It was too late. Samantha was killed within a couple of hours.
Starting point is 00:31:47 And isn't it true to Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, that in the first three hours is when we often discover a child has been killed? Absolutely. You know, that's why every second counts. It's that window of opportunity that everybody has to leap into search and rescue mode. It is unusual to vanish without a trace. People don't disappear into thin air. And a child as young as two years old, that child doesn't strategize or run away. Do they wander off? It's usually more likely. An adult comes in and facilitates whatever it is that happened. It's
Starting point is 00:32:21 a kidnapping. It's an abduction. It's something that somebody usually sees a part of. So that's what makes this incident so unusual, Nancy. Guys, take a listen to Andrew Kinsey, WAPT. Nearly a dozen members of the MHP special ops team fanned out across the woods in North Madison County. They specialize in search and also in tracking. Tracking experts circling around two-year-old Myra Lewis' home in Camden. The group is made up of troopers from across the state. They spent Wednesday combing through miles of brush on foot.
Starting point is 00:32:52 They're trained to do that, and so they go through there with a certain particular grid that they go through and a certain procedure they follow to try and search as thoroughly as possible. The search around this rural home on Mount Pilgrim Road started Saturday after Myra's parents called 911 to report her missing. Her parents last saw her between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. that morning. Since then, multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have joined the massive hunt. You know, it's jumping out at me, too, former police chief Johns Creek,
Starting point is 00:33:24 Chris Byers, Investig and polygraph dot com. Chief Byers, that she goes missing between 10 and 11 a.m. That's a very rare to go missing in broad daylight in the morning hours. Statistically. Yeah, absolutely. I was just thinking that as well, looking at some statistics here. That is extremely rare. And so I think that just moves to even intensify the unknowns in this case.
Starting point is 00:33:56 Straight out to you, Justice Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University and author. What do you do with a scene like this? Where do you even start? Well, I got to tell you, Nancy, the first thing, what really strikes me about this case is that she was, in fact, in the front yard. And there have been cases where children have been snatched like this. And so what do you look for? Well, the first thing you're going to look for is traveled routes. If there is a home road right in front of the house, who's going up and down that road?
Starting point is 00:34:25 You know, nowadays we have more and more homes that have ring cameras and those sorts of things. Did they collect that data? Do we have any eyewitnesses on the scene that may have seen a suspicious vehicle going by? Because let me tell you something, Nancy, if you're talking about a predator that would snatch a child this age, this is something that they would be, they're like hunters. They're going to go out into a particular area and look for a child. They're going to go out into a particular area and look for a child. They might not be local. And keep in mind, this area of the state is actually split in two. You've got I-20 down to the south. And in addition to that, you've also got I-55 over to the west. So you've got two major thoroughfares that are running through there.
Starting point is 00:35:01 Maybe they're just kind of trolling through this area, looking for young victims to kind of spare it off with, unless people are thinking that maybe she just wandered away from the house, which for a two-year-old, they're not going to get too far. You know, I was just thinking that Canada, Mississippi sounds so much like where I grew up, literally out in the middle of nowhere. And who's going to be driving by to grab her? Well, some unknown assailant. Let me just point out what happened to Shasta and Dylan Groney in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in the middle of nowhere. They were near an interstate, like Joe Scott's just telling you about I-20. And a guy looks over off the interstate and sees Shasta playing at an above-ground pool.
Starting point is 00:35:42 Did not know the family at all. Pulls off the interstate, waits, goes in, kills the the whole family takes shasta and little brother dylan molest them ultimately kills dylan and shasta is is saved my point is anything could have happened to this little two-year-old girl but what can we do about it? What we can do about it is continue to look for this girl, Myra Lewis. The tip line, 601-859-2345. Repeat, 601-859-2345. I wish you all a happy and wonderful and blessed new year. But please don't forget those children waiting to be brought home.
Starting point is 00:36:30 Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Happy New Year. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.

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