Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Mom hikes with husband, son, loses earring & falls off cliff! SO WHERE'S THE BODY?

Episode Date: June 26, 2020

A West Virginia husband reports his wife as falling from a gorge overlook in Grandview State Park while looking for an earring. A massive search begins with dogs, drones, and a helicopter, but nobody is found. Once police find out the woman is facing a healthcare fraud charge, the investigation takes a huge right turn.Joining Nancy Grace today to discuss: Jim Elliott - Attorney with Butler Snow, legal counsel for various Georgia municipalities and other governmental entities Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta Ga. Cloyd Steiger - 36 years with Seattle Police Department, 22-year homicide detective & author of "Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer: Gary Gene Grant"  Levi Page - Investigative reporter, CrimeOnline  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Did a West Virginia woman plummet to her death? Her name is Julie Wheeler. She goes hiking or looking at scenery with her husband and her teen son. Apparently, looking for a missing earring falls to her death. But nobody can find the body. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. What happened to Julie Wheeler?

First of all, take a listen to our friends at Fox 59, Paris Dunford. Multiple search and rescue teams joined together to look for the missing woman. Take a look. A 60-foot drop. Lower slide. These men are rappelling down the steep cliff, searching for a woman. We had a call come in yesterday evening that a woman

had fallen off of the main overlook in the Grandview area of the park. The call came in to dispatch around THE CALL CAME IN TO DISPATCH AROUND 8-30 SUNDAY NIGHT. RESCUE TEAMS JOINED TOGETHER WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AT THE GRAND VIEW OVERLOOK TO SEARCH FOR THE MISSING WOMAN, INCLUDING MULTIPLE FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. DEFINITELY INTERAGENCY. THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HERE

AT THE NEW RIVER GORGE HAS LOTS OF RESOURCES BUT WE ALSO AS FAR AS STAFFING GOES BUT WE ALSO DEPEND A LOT ON OUR PARTNERSHIP AND OUR PARTNERSHIP. THE CALL CAME IN TO DISPATCH AROUND 8-30 SUNDAY NIGHT. RESCUE TEAMS JOINED TOGETHER

WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AT THE GRAND VIEW OVERLOOK TO SEARCH FOR THE MISSING WOMAN. INCLUDING MULTIPLE FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. DEFINITELY INTERAGENCY. THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HERE AT THE NEW RIVER GORGE HAS The National Park Service here at the New River Gorge has lots of resources, but we also, as far as staffing goes, but we also depend a lot on our partner agencies. Park officials say the local 43-year-old woman was with her husband and son when she fell off the overlook. Now, if it had just been the husband, I would think, oh, he pushed her. But she's there with her husband and son. Now, you know, Jackie was very curious about why I wanted to take the children across the country in an RV.

Didn't sound really fun to her to be cooking in parking lots, doing Dutch oven cooking that we learned with the Scouts, sleeping in tents out in the Badlands, that kind of thing. Didn't sound fun to her, Miss Five Star Luxury Resort. You may wonder why would a woman even want to climb up and down the sheer face of New River Gorge? It's a cliff. But you know what? To each her own. I like RV. I like camping out. I like building a fire and cooking over the fire and pitching a tent, looking up at the stars. That's just me, Jackie. You stick to the ritz, okay? So don't even start asking why Julie Wheeler wanted to climb up a sheer face of New River Gorge there at Grandview State Park. Straight out to our all-star panel, Jim Elliott attorney with Butler snow.

He's a legal counsel for multiple jurisdictions, governmental entities, Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist joining us out of Atlanta, Cloyd Steiger, 36 years, Seattle PD,

22 of those as homicide detective author, Seattle's forgotten serial killer, Gary Jean grant. You can find him at Cloyd Steiger.com, but right now to crime online..com investigative reporter, Levi Page. Levi, this woman is, a lot of people may judge her if she had been out all on her own. But that's not the case. She's out with her husband and her son.

Tell me about this area, New River Gorge, Grandview State Park. Nancy, this is in Beaver, West Virginia, and Grandview State Park, it's absolutely stunning. If you pull it up on Google, it has beautiful mountain views. There's a river that runs through there, and there are these overlooks that you can just get these amazing views of at Grandview State Park. And Julie Weaver, her husband Rodney Wheeler, and 17-year-old son were hiking in this area and she missed an earring. She was looking for it and her husband said she fell and they couldn't find her. She fell off one of the overlooks. Okay, so original reports that she was scaling the side of a cliff and lost her footing and fell.

That's not correct. She was looking for a lost earring. Yes, he said that she was missing her earring. She was looking for it and fell off one of the overlooks at Grandview State Park. And, you know, to Cloyd Steiger, again, 36 years, Seattle PD, 22 without a homicide, the first thing you want to do when a woman goes missing is you want to find out where the husband is the boyfriend the ex the lover any any romantic interest a spurned boyfriend from five years ago that keeps texting her and

emailing her that's where you look first right cloyd yeah that's right but again as you said in this case supposedly your son was with her you know i want to interview the son see what he knows but uh that doesn't seem to be the case that changes everything it does that changes the whole dynamic when you've got the teen son there he's not going to stand by and watch dad murder mom and not say anything but i do find this very curiously my page she falls off the, but they can't find her body. It's the New River Gorge. So she's looking down at a river. She wouldn't have just fallen straight down and hit the ground and her body lie there.

There's a river. That's the whole point. You're looking down at a river. Her body obviously would have been taken away by the river. So is that the problem? That is the problem, Nancy, and there were search and rescue missions. There were helicopters that were deployed. People were really searching for her, thinking that she may have fell into this river.

That's right. Guys, take a listen again to our friend Paris Dunford at Fox 59. The Fayette County Vertical Rescue Team first tried rappelling down the mountain and continued to do that for the rest of the day. DUNFORD AT FOX 59. THE FAYETTE COUNTY VERTICAL RESCUE TEAM FIRST TRIED REPELLING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN AND CONTINUED TO DO THAT FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. WEST VIRGINIA STATE POLICE USE A HELICOPTER AND A DRONE TO GET A BETTER VIEW. RALLEY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT BROUGHT IN A K-9 THAT DETECTED A POSITIVE SENT OF THE WOMAN ON THE OVERLOOK FENCE. TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME. WE'LL HAVE ANOTHER BRIEFING ONCE THIS OPERATIONAL PERIOD IS OVER TO DECIDE ON A PLAN FOR WE'LL RECONVENE TOMORROW.

THE RESCUED CREW WILL CONTINUE TO EXHAUST ALL OF THEIR RESOURCES, LOOKING FOR THE PINK SHIRT SHE MAY HAVE BEEN WEARING WHEN SHE FELL. A SEARCH WILL BE GOING ON UNTIL THEY FIND THE PERSON. THE INCIDENT IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION. THE WOMAN'S NAME HAS NOT YET BEEN RELEASED. THE GROUND SEARCH HERE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED, BUT THE NATIONAL GUARD IS STILL TAKING A HELICOPTER THAT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO HEAR TO SEARCH THE END OF THE CLIFF. The woman's name has not yet been released. The ground search here has been suspended, but the National Guard is still taking a helicopter that you might be able to hear to search the end of the cliff. Man, that costs a lot of money, time and effort to find this missing woman, Julie Wheeler. She's out hiking with husband and teen son.

She loses an earring, goes over the side of New River Gorge Overlook there at Grandview State Road. You know, I never put a price, a price tag on a search, Chloe Steiger, because if it's my child or my husband or my mom, I want every resource possible. That's why I pay taxes. So they can get out there with their helicopters and their drones and their dogs. That's what they're paid to do. Everybody always makes a big deal about the price tag. That's why they're sitting there to come out at moments just like this. So suggesting that somehow she fell over because it's her fault. She's looking for an earring. And then all these resources were used. I disagree with that. Yeah, that's right. When

these things happen, you have to pull out all the stops and you can't worry about money or how much things cost because how much is a person's life worth, right? You have to, you have to do that. It's very important to their family. And suppose she's injured and not dead and because you didn't you can't have that happening crime stories with nancy grace guys we are talking about the disappearance of a mom. Her name is Julie Wheeler. Take a listen again to our friends at Fox 59, Paris, Dunford. This is cut three. Multiple search and rescue teams joined together to look for the missing woman. After multiple THE MAN WHO WAS IN THE CAR WAS A LITTLE BIT UNDERWATER. THE MAN WHO WAS IN THE CAR WAS A LITTLE BIT UNDERWATER. THE RESCUE TEAMS JOINED TOGETHER TO LOOK FOR THE

MISSING WOMAN. AFTER MULTIPLE TECHNIQUES, THEY WERE STILL NOT ABLE TO LOCATE HER. TAKE A LOOK. A 60-FOOT DROP. THESE MEN ARE RAPPELLING DOWN THE STEEP CLIFF

SEARCHING FOR A WOMAN. WE HAD A CALL COME IN YESTERDAY EVENING THAT A WOMAN HAD FALLEN OFF OF THE MAIN OVERLOOK IN THE GRAND VIEW AREA OF THE PARK. THE CALL CAME IN TO DISPATCH AROUND 8-30 SUNDAY

NIGHT. RESCUE TEAMS JOINED TOGETHER WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AT THE GRAND VIEW OVERLOOK TO SEARCH FOR THE MISSING WOMAN, INCLUDING MULTIPLE FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. DEFINITELY INTERAGENCY. THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HERE AT THE NEW RIVER GORGE HAS LOTS

OF RESOURCES, BUT WE ALSO, AS FAR AS STAFFING GOES, BUT WE ALSO DEPEND A LOT ON OUR PARTNER AGENCIES. PARK OFFICIALS SAY THE LOCAL 43-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WAS WITH HER HUSBAND AND FAMILY AT THE GROUND.

THE PARK OFFICIALS SAY THE WOMAN WAS WITH HER HUSBAND AND FAMILY AT THE GROUND. THE PARK OFFICIALS SAY THE WOMAN WAS WITH HER HUSBAND AND FAMILY AT THE GROUND. THE PARK OFFICIALS SAY THE but we also, as far as staffing goes, but we also depend a lot on our partner agencies. Park officials say the local 43-year-old woman was with her husband and son when she fell off the overlook. And after that exhaustive search, still no body. I want you to take a listen now to WOAY-TV news reporter Anna Saunders. The call came in just before dark last night when we arrived on scene. And we had a witness that said that someone went over the edge.

And we did an initial sweep until almost midnight last night and weren't able to get a find last night, so we came back in the morning and going on a second operational period today. So the National Park Service, joined by the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department, West Virginia State Police, the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department, Jancare Ambulance, and the Fayette County Vertical Rescue Team, were all on scene for day two as teams rappelled down both sides of the overlook. Everyone on hand to search for a local woman who reportedly fell off the cliff.

After all that, still no body. So explain to me, straight out to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Levi, tell me about the search for her, the search for Julie Wheeler. So Nancy, they got dive teams to search the river. They got people that were rappelling off the mountain looking for her. They had helicopters dispatched at night, and they searched for her for days. They were looking in this, you know, mountainous region for her body. Dive teams rappelling, still no body. Dive teams repelling still no body, but what about bloodhounds?

Listen to W AY TV only really know is that she's 43 years old and she was here with her son and her husband. So we know that she was wearing a pink shirt that's just about all the details that we have at this point in time. Overnight, a thermal helicopter surge did not turn up any results results so on Monday in daylight the rappel team descended about 50 feet to the first cliff

after the overlook drop and once that search was completed with no results the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department sent in the bloodhound team. They were able to find the woman sent at the overlook using her items but from there it was time for another rappel. This time crews doing a grid search from top to bottom 1400 feet from the park's tallest peak all the way down to the river. You know when you bring in bloodhounds straight out to you, Floyd Steiger, homicide detective, a lot of people don't understand how bloodhounds work. Tracking dogs, scent dogs, you can be a tracker dog, you can be cadaver dog. You can be cadaver dog. You can be a fire dog. My favorite fire dog ever was named Blaze and helped me in many

arson investigations, trained to smell accelerants even underwater. A bomb dog, again, a drug dog. They're trained specifically to find a certain thing. Cloyd Steiger, I remember, you know, how many times I used dogs in court as witnesses, and I've said a million times, my best witness I ever put on the stand was a dog. And I'm happy to report he was very hard to cross-examine. But a dog has thousands. Like like we have two nostrils a dog on their little nose it's always moist has thousands of of i'm not even sure what you would call them membranes to smell like a thousand noses. That's why they can do things we can't even imagine. Explain how it works, Cloyd.

Well, that's exactly right. And, you know, different types of dogs are better for different types of smells, but bloodhounds are the best because they can track things days after it's happened because they're the most sensitive noses and can follow a scent long after other types of dogs can. So that's why bloodhounds are used in searches well after the event as opposed to German Shepherds, which are great for a short time after the event. But bloodhounds are the king. Why are you saying that about German Shepherds? Well, because they can't detect the scent after a while. It dissipates.

But bloodhounds are so much more sensitive than they know. Like a police dog will be able to search maybe 45 minutes after an event. The thing on the surface, grass is better than concrete. But bloodhounds can search days after the event and still be active. Dogs can determine a track scent by identifying a combination of smells based on the human's natural scent as well as a combination of environmental odors. For instance, does she wear baby powder? Does she wear secret deodorant? Does she have hairspray or makeup or a vino lotion?

I mean, it could be a number of things. So the dog is picking up not just the human. I mean, is it that hard to understand? I mean, I look over at Jackie Howard and I identify her by her height, by the color of her eyes, by her short blonde hair, by stomping around when things don't go right. I can even hear her steps coming. So long story short, I'm just a person with people senses, much less a highly trained tracker dog. And after all this, still nothing. then wait for it take a listen to this right now to our newsroom and it involves the investigation in the search and rescue towards that woman at the green Grandview overlooked that is we go right back to Paris Dumford live with an update Paris what do you

have for us less than two minutes ago right after we just went live at the beginning of the show we heard from sergeant wood from the state police that Julie Wheeler was found alive in Beaver HAVE FOR US. LESS THAN TWO MINUTES AGO, RIGHT AFTER WE JUST WENT LIVE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW, WE HEARD FROM SERGEANT WOOD FROM THE STATE POLICE THAT JULIE WHEELER WAS FOUND ALIVE IN BEAVER. THAT'S ALL WE HAVE RIGHT NOW. WE'LL BRING YOU MORE DETAILS AT 59 NEWS AT 6 IF THEY'RE AVAILABLE. WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE UPDATED YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. LET'S QUICK JUMP QUICKLY TO CUT SEVEN. TAKE A LISTEN TO W-O-A-Y-T-V NEWS REPORTER ANNA SAUNDERS. IN THE Saunders and the giant multi-agency 40-hour search for Julie once the mountain had been thoroughly searched by a rappel team helicopters drones and other emergency crews then state police conducted a walkthrough of the house at that point they didn't find anything when they came back with a search warrant Julie was in the

closet of her beaver home the criminal complaint says the rescue efforts far exceeded $1,000, so the court will request restitution pay from the couple. But Keller says she's not holding her breath. As a matter of fact, when you have people that are either going to prison or commit frauds for monetary gain, it is very rare that the taxpayer ever gets their money back. Wheeler was scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on June 17th for separate federal health care fraud charges and is facing up to 10 years in prison already, which is what appears to

be the motive for wanting to come up with this scheme. After the major rescue effort put forward, Keller calls this case disturbing. People's lives were put in danger and an untold amount of taxpayer money was spent on what turned out to be a fraud. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the so-called disappearance of Julie Wheeler, a young mom and wife who was out hiking, apparently, with her husband and her teen son when she was looking for an earring and fell over the cliff of New River Gorge there at Grandview State Park in West Virginia. But then, suddenly, cops find her hiding in the closet in her own home.

Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. I blame you totally because you didn't tell me at the beginning she could avoid sentencing for fraud on another matter. So, you know, Jim Elliott, the cards are stacked against us. Knowing the truth, did a husband fake his wife's death pretending she falls over a cliff so she could avoid jail time for fraud. Wow. Jail time and significant fine, but restitution, I believe, almost perhaps exceeding $400,000. So the future is not bright for that company. So where are you getting the $400,000 figure from? So what she pled guilty to was a VA medical fraud case where she was allegedly caring for a family member that had spina bifida and sent fraudulent invoices to the VA. Explain to me, Levi Page, follow up on what Jim Elliott is saying, how this whole farce got started.

How'd they cook it up? So, Julie Weaver actually pled guilty in February, months before this incident happened, to federal health care fraud. There was an investigation into a pill mill clinic that led to her because she apparently owned a home health business where she would take care of sick people in their home. And she had a relative that had spina bifida, which is a spine condition. They have difficulty walking, bladder control. And the VA provides benefits to descendants of veterans that fought in the Vietnam or Korea War. And she was actually inflating the days and hours that she worked and helped her relative that was suffering from this condition and was scamming money from the VA. And she pled guilty to that, was facing 10 years in prison and had to pay

restitution of $400,000 in that area. And her husband is the one that cooked up this plot allegedly to hide her so she wouldn't have to be sentenced to 10 years in prison for that scam. And now we've got the son being dragged into it, being told to go along with the fakery. What we understand is that a husband and his wife faked her death by pretending she falls over a cliff so she could avoid jail time for fraud. Now, somehow, the sun has been dragged into the whole thing, too. Take a listen to Cut 6 WOAY TV news reporter Anna Saunders. What was originally reported as an accidental fall and a family's worst nightmare was actually a giant ploy to allegedly fake the death or disappearance of Julie Wheeler, who was arrested alongside her husband Rodney as they now face a series of charges, fraudulent schemes, which is a felony felony conspiracy.

Also the misdemeanor of willful disruption of government processes, two different kinds of giving false information to law enforcement and contributing to the delinquency of a minor because they involved their child. So what happened at the overlook? Well, according to the criminal complaint, a call came in on Sunday night saying a woman had fallen over the main overlook at Grandview. At the scene, a male juvenile and his father, Rodney, said Julie reached over to pick up an earring and fell. It goes on to say that Rodney and the son planted items of hers like a cell phone and a shoe, but there was never any evidence she was actually at the overlook. So how did they pull it off? Straight back to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter.

What happened? So apparently they went along with this story, made a fake 911 call. Julie hid out in her closet and they told the 17-year-old son to go along with this story. It wasn't until police had learned of her criminal history and they had gotten a search warrant for phone and email, any electronic communications, and the home. They went to the home, deployed the search warrant, got in there and found her hiding in her own closet. To you, Dr. Angela Arnold, a psychiatrist joining us out of Atlanta, what does it say that they dragged the son into it, and now he's facing charges as well? Well, I have my own idea about these folks after hearing this story.

And that would be what? I certainly believe, I believe they are personality disordered. Now, this doesn't mean, this is not an excuse for them. Okay Nancy? But it sounds to me like they are one or both of them have anti-social personality disorder. So that's your excuse for everything?

An anti-social personality? You drag your son into a fraud plot? He's looking at... Go ahead. Well sure because if you're if you're that if you're if you if you truly have a if you are personality disordered because none of us can understand this none of us would do this right nancy so then you have to look deeper what would make someone have complete disregard and buy the rights of other people. Well, I can tell you why a son would do it. A son would do it to save his mom from going to jail.

I mean, if I was between a rock and a hard spot and my husband or my children were going to jail, I might go along with a little fakery. I'm not saying that it's right. It's wrong. You know who it reminds me of? To you, Dr. Angie, Angela Arnold. saying that it's right it's wrong you know who reminds me of to you dr angie uh angela arnold do you remember jennifer will banks the so-called runaway bride i'm not talking about julia roberts she was a woman who was uh about to have a 600 seat wedding and then so you know the whole

shebang like 10 bridesmaids 10 grooms blah blah that's hard for me to understand right there because dave and i decided on tuesday we're getting married on saturday and bam we did it it was great uh but she disappears the night before the wedding i believe it was and then shows up a week or two later blaming some Hispanic males for sex assaulting her, which was all a big lie. She made that up. Right. And last I saw of her, she was out doing community service, cutting grass or picking up trash or something like that. That was the runaway bride, the real one. What about this woman? Well, this woman seems completely, this woman seems evil to me. I mean, she has no regard for the human condition at all, does she,

or any kind of laws or regulations. I mean, to be able to defraud the government and write up, why, when I was looking at this, Nancy, my thought was, why couldn't she put all of this energy to doing something good? Use her powers for good, not evil. That's what I tell my daughter, Lucy, all the time. But tell me, Dr. Arnold, not just a psychiatrist, but you have to be a medical doctor. You've got to be an MD before you can then focus in on psychiatry. What is spina bifida? Spina bifida is a disorder in which the brain and the spinal cord do not completely close in utero.

And there can be all different, there are different spectrums of spina bifida. It can affect people in very different ways. And typically these children are wheelchair ridden. They don't walk. Oftentimes they're cognitively impaired. They can have bowel and bladder problems. It is bad to have spina bifida. Okay. That is not a good thing to have. And apparently this child, I don't believe that she was taking care of this child with spina bifida okay that is not a good thing to have and apparently this and this child i don't believe that she was taking care of this child with spina bifida every day i mean but i mean the reality is you're asking dr angela arnold you're the shrink not me what kind of person

would take advantage of the situation she was taking advantage of spina bifida children so i mean are you surprised you pulled this fraud off too She was taking advantage of spying a bit for the children. So, I mean, are you surprised she pulled this fraud off too? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about a woman, Julie Wheeler, her husband Rodney Wheeler, and now their teen son has been dragged into it trying to save his mom's neck. Apparently the husband comes up with a plan to have mom fall off a cliff to avoid a huge fine, hundreds of thousands of dollars and 10 years behind bars for faking claims to the feds.

That's like faking with the IRS. Jackie, don't ever fake the tax man. Don't do it, Brett. Don't do it. They will catch you. That's how Al Capone got caught. He murders all these people. He's a mobster, but it was the IRS that got him. Do not lie to the feds. Just don't say anything. But for Pete's sake, don't lie, much less as she did. Put it in writing, trying to get money from the federal government for work she was not doing. And now she's looking for an earring and falls off a cliff. Boy, that smelled to high heaven at the get-go. But I want you to take a listen to, again, Fox 59 Paris, done for cut nine. The search not only cost different agencies a lot of money, it also took a lot of time, about 40 hours worth.

And more than half of the men and women working on scene were volunteers. There's a little bit of frustration when we spend all that time and manpower for a false claim. And for most of those volunteers, they were rappelling down a steep cliff, putting themselves in danger. And you send all these people out to risk their own lives and safety and well-being in order to search for someone that wasn't even there. And even though they were searching for someone who was never even there... We're putting your lives at danger. On behalf of us, we appreciate it. Their hard work and dedication did not go unnoticed.

And Julie and Rodney Wheeler are facing multiple charges, including conspiracy and fraud. At the least. And, you know, another thing, straight out to you, Jim Elliott, to you and Cloyd Steiger, first to you, Jim. You know, very often I'd have a court calendar, be it a plea and arraignment calendar or a trial calendar, a emotions calendar, and the defendant wouldn't show up. I guess not, because if I had anything to do with it, he was going to jail. But they'd say, we don't know where he is. And I would say always, first, go to his mother's house, number one, look under the bed, and look in the closet. Just do that for me me and when you finish that

call me on my cell phone which by the way got stolen out of the courtroom my phone got stolen out of the courtroom during a trial calendar i had it plugged in somebody stole my phone i never found it anyway that's another can of worms my point is jim why this woman's found hiding in her closet could you surprise me just what and don't be in your closet or under your mom's bed? I mean, it's almost laughable. It's almost like Keystone Cops. And what did she think she was going to do? I mean, just ridiculous.

I don't think they thought it through. As a matter of fact, isn't it true? Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com, she was found just two days after this extensive search. She hid out, I guess, in the closet for two days eating ramen noodles. I don't know. Was it two days? Two days. So, Cloyd Steiger, 36 years Seattle PD, 22 of that on homicide, and author.

Isn't it true? Everybody always runs straight home to mom. They hide out in mommy's house or in their own place under their bed or in their closet. It's just a given. Yeah. You know, it's always amazes me. And, you know, we have, I have big murder cases where people, oh, he's fled the country or this or that.

I know. Right. Down the road. Because people are stupid. Right down the street. I'm saying go to mama's house or auntie's house. That's where they're going to be. Always.

That's right. I mean, you know, think about it. Don't tell my children, when you run into them, we play hide and seek in the house all the time. It never fails. John David always goes to my closet and hides

same place every time. Lucy always goes to the living room and she hides behind the curtain behind the piano it just is a given or they both hide and start giggling under the ping pong table they always go the same place what is that dr angela that what are we just like you know the dog that always circles three times before he sits down like the murderer that always goes back to look at the crime scene think about scott peterson looking out over san francisco bay they're tracking him

on his car why do we always do the same things over and over like this woman hiding in a closet well it's a safe place they don't where else are they going to go right i believe i believe particularly with criminals that go back to their mother's house and things like that where they can hide again they like you said they haven't thought this through completely and they seek a safe place to go where they think they're going to be that's certainly an understatement they haven't thought this through completely that's a that's certainly putting perfume on the pig go ahead haven. Haven't thought it through completely. They've got her scaling the side of a cliff

and then it changes to she lost her earring. Think about it, Dr. Angela. You have volunteers rappelling down the side of a sheer cliff looking for this woman and she's hiding in the closet having leftovers.

That's why I said there's a, there's a, there is a horrific antisocial personality disorder. Oh, here you go with the personality disorder. The disorder is I cheat. She cheated the government and doesn't want to go to jail. Right. That's the disorder. Yep.

And complete disregard for anything that anybody else has to do to find her. Maybe, maybe she didn't think that it was going to go that far. I have no idea. But to think about the men and women who put their lives in danger to search for her. Oh my goodness. No one can feel sorry for her at this point, can they? Take a listen to our friends at Fox 59 Cut 8. He set the bail at $100,000 for both of them. If they make bail, they will be restricted to home confinement. Prosecuting attorney Kristen Keller says she asked for home confinement because both are considered a fight risk. And state police say the wheelers tried to fake Julie

falling off the main overlook at Grandview. That 911 call sent rescue crews on an extensive search, and that search came with a cost. Take a look. Repel teams, drones, helicopters, and bloodhounds. Those were all the resources used to search for Julie Wheeler. You cannot calculate it at this moment. Only to find out she and her husband allegedly faked the fall. But who will pick up the bill? Assuming she's convicted, then by law, the court would order restitution. Okay, now, just to rub salt in the wound, take a listen to Riley Phillips, Fox 59. Listen to this carefully. Two people accused of faking a death were supposed to appear in court today.

Rodney and Julie Wheeler were scheduled to appear in front of a judge this morning, but the Wheelers did not qualify for a court-appointed attorney because they make too much money. They will now have to reapply for an attorney. The preliminary hearing will also be rescheduled. The Wheelers were arrested last week after allegedly trying to fake Julie's death. Jim Elliott, you know, you kind of have to be in the know and inside player to know what was displayed.

Do you hear this? These two scammed the government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors, claiming the mom was taking care of a spina bifida patient when she wasn't. Then they fake her death to avoid jail time and use all these resources. Then, to top it all off, they file for a public defender, which means a free lawyer to defend her who's paid for by you and me, the taxpayers. We fund the public defenders for people that can't afford a lawyer. Then it turns out they made too much money. Money

they stole from the government, according to prosecutors, and they got to get their own lawyer. They're still scamming Jim Elliott. They're still at it. I was going to say, trying to scam the government for the third time is amazing. I mean, that kind of audacity is amazing. Incredible. The public defender's office, oh, I fought with them like cats and dogs, but they work for practically nothing as it is. And they get every case where somebody can't afford a lawyer, no matter what the case is. And here they are trying to take advantage of the public defender's office. There's no love lost between me and the public defenders or any defense lawyer. But I mean, really scamming off the PD's office, faking it

to the end. Well, of course, they claim they're innocent. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.