Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MOM: WE LOVE YOU. WE'RE TRYING TO FIND YOU: TEEN GIRL'S CELL GOES DEAD. WHERE'S MADISON?

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Police in Cleveland are asking for the public's help in finding teen Madison Rich. She has been missing for over 40 days. The search began the night of August 14. Maddie was at home, but sometime in t...he early morning hours of August 15, she left. Maddie had left home for a few days in the past, but she had always maintained contact with friends via social media. At the beginning of this incident, when her mother found Madison gone on the morning of August 15, she was worried but discovered her daughter was still communicating on social media. For the next few days, Maddie communicated with friends via phone and Snapchat. Her family was able to track her on the 15th, 16th, and 17th. Maddie's mom became increasingly concerned because Maddie has medical issues that require medication, but her medication remains at home. Every day since Maddie has gone missing, her mom Tracy has been posting to social media about her daughter and, thanks to a local company, has placed two large signs in her front yard. Each sign displays Madison's picture and information. Lakewood police say when Madison Rich left her westside home in Lakewood, she initially stayed at a friend's home in Cleveland and communicated with other individuals via phone and Snapchat. On August 18th, Maddie left the friend's home, and law enforcement picked up her phone's GPS location in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. Police tried tracking her phone after August 18 and determined the phone has been rendered inoperable, has been turned off, or the battery has died. Regardless of the reason, the phone has not registered with any cell tower since August 18. Police have sent out a BOLO for 17-year-old Madison Rich. "Maddie" is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighs 110 pounds, and has blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a spider web tattoo on her right arm and a mole on the left side of her cheek. Police are asking the public for help in finding Maddie, hoping to bring her home before her 18th birthday this month.  Joining Nancy Grace today:  Tracey Rich -  Madison Rich’s Mother Shaunna Burns - Hailey Burn's Mother Derek Smith - Criminal Defense Attorney  Jeff Casey - Former Secret Service Special Agent of over 23 years; Board Member with Cleveland Missing; FB: https://www.facebook.com/clevelandmissing.org/ Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA; Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Brittany Wier  - Reporter, WOIO in Ohio     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A mom begs for help, stating, we love you, we're trying to find you. This after her teen girl goes missing. Now, the cell phone pinged in a very unusual part of town. Then the cell goes dead. Tonight, where is Madison? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. 17-year-old Lakewood teen Madison Rich vanishes after leaving her home, and her family is desperate for answers.
Starting point is 00:00:49 Maddie Rich is called caring, creative, and funny. Madison Rich is at home on the night of August 14th, but sometime in the early morning hours of August 15th, she leaves home. Maddie always maintains contact with her friends via social media, and when her mother finds her gone on the morning of August 15th, she is worried. How many times have we heard this scenario? Why did this teen girl leave home? Why did she do it without her mom knowing? Who lured this girl out of the home? Why has her cell phone gone dead? Have you ever tried to take a cell phone away from a teen? It's not easy. She would never let her cell phone go dead like this. quiet, radio silent on all social media. And tonight, mom is joining us, begging. We love you.
Starting point is 00:01:52 We want to find you and bring you home. And that's exactly what we're going to try and help do. Bring Maddie home. Joining me in all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now, but first straight out to Madison Maddy's mom joining us, Tracy Rich. Tracy, thank you so much for being with us. I've got a question. When you realized that she was missing, what went through your mind? Panic, scared, worried. We tried very hard to figure out maybe where she went. She did leave very early in the morning. So even though it was early in the morning, we did go to some of her friends' houses to see if maybe she was there. And unfortunately, she was
Starting point is 00:02:45 not. So you go to friends' homes immediately looking for her. Now, tell me about the moment that you realized Maddie was not in her room and not in the, that would scare me so badly, Tracy, because every morning I hear the twins alarms going off in their rooms. Lucy gets up well before John David, but I go in there immediately when I hear that or earlier just to make sure they're getting up, to make sure they're getting ready for school. I can't imagine what I would do if I went in there and their bed was empty and they were not in there. Tell me what happened, Tracy. I woke up in the middle of the night and I went to go and just peek in on her like I do sometimes. And I realized that she was not there. And it was very early in the morning, still kind of like middle of the night. And it was just. What do you mean by that? What time was it?
Starting point is 00:03:44 I think I went in around 4 30 in the morning and i realized that she was now do you normally get up that early uh there are times that i do there are times when you know just normally you know some people just you know wake up to use the bathroom or just wake up and can't go back to sleep so unfortunately i do have that type of sleeping pattern okay so, so you're up, did you say 430 in the morning? That is correct. And what led you to go to her bedroom that early? Because I peek in on the twins and my mom lives with us. I peek on her in the middle of the night, just really, they're all fine. I think it makes me feel better to check on them. But what led you
Starting point is 00:04:23 to go and look in her room? Just as a mom, I just, you know, go to, you know, peek in on her from time to time. And this morning, I realized that she was not there. When you looked in her room and saw she wasn't in her room, do you mind describing for me, Tracy, the room? Was there, is there a window in the room? Was the window unlocked? Was the window open? Is she the only one that sleeps in that room? Was her bed made? Does she normally make her bed in the morning? Were her clothes out as if she'd been trying to look for what to wear? Was there dampness in her bathroom or the bathroom as if she had brushed her teeth or taken a shower before she left? Were her clothes strewn around? What can you tell me about the way how you
Starting point is 00:05:14 found her room? Her room looked how it normally was. The window was locked. She doesn't always make her bed. It's kind of like a teenager room. There's, you know, some clothes and makeup and things everywhere sometimes. So there was nothing really out of the ordinary in her room at that time. So Tracy, you and I have talked before, and even as of right now, you cannot identify any clothes missing from her room. Is that correct? That's correct, because unfortunately, we don't know what she was wearing when she left. When you saw her the night before, tell me what happened. She was fine. She was playful. She was hanging out with some friends
Starting point is 00:05:58 the day before. She was laughing. Just nothing out of the ordinary at all. So that's why it was very surprising when I realized that she was missing. When you realized she was missing, what, if anything, did you do, Tracy? Honestly, I screamed. I went into panic. I looked everywhere in the house. I looked even, you know, in the bathroom. I even double checked my room just because I was just checking everywhere in the house.
Starting point is 00:06:26 Do you guys have an alarm system? No, we do not. Do you have a dog? No, we have two cats. Was the door, the front and the back, were they locked or were they unlocked when you went to check them? The front door was unlocked. Is that the way she normally left the home? Yes.
Starting point is 00:06:43 Did she have a car? No. Was the family car still there? It was, yes. Does she have access to your credit cards and bank account? No. Has there been any activity on your credit cards or bank account that you don't recognize? No, not at all. And even to this day, every day I'm looking just to be on the safe side. Tracy, were her devices, her phone, her laptop, her iPad, I know she had her cell phone with her, but what about other devices? Were they missing?
Starting point is 00:07:09 No, she didn't really have other devices, but her phone was missing. Again, joining me in all-star panel to make sense of what we know straight out to Brittany Weir, investigative reporter, WOIO, Cleveland19.com. Brittany, thank you for being with us. I want to focus specifically on what happened when Maddie goes missing. Tell me what you know. So I saw this story on social media. It's got a lot of traction here in the community. And just from the initial interview with Tracy and looking into this story, like she said, she left her home in the middle of the night, Maddie.
Starting point is 00:07:47 And then her cell phone was pinged. An interesting thing, and Tracy has told me, is it's pinged on the east side of here in Cleveland area, which she's from the west side. So she's over in the east side. And police have said that her phone was pinged near a hotel in the area, near Warrensville Heights, some other locations on the east side as well. And then no more pings, no more anything. Either her phone had died or it was turned off. We just don't know. So that's kind of the big question mark here.
Starting point is 00:08:16 You know, Brittany, for those viewers, listeners that are not familiar with the Cleveland area, could you go through that very slowly again regarding the pings and the locations? Because mom tells us that those areas are not areas where Maddie would have known anybody. For instance, if my daughter is, let's just say going to the mall, I've got Life 360. So I can see which mall she went to. It's the same one she always goes to with her little friends. Okay. If she suddenly drove 40 miles away and went elsewhere, I would think, okay, that's not Lucy. She would not be there. Or if my son says, Hey, I'm going to go play basketball with my friends. And then on Y360, I see him 30 miles away. I'm like, what?
Starting point is 00:09:09 Why would he be there to play basketball? And I would immediately, of course, call 911. So explain the significance of the areas you're telling me about, Brittany Weir. Yeah. So in Cleveland, Cleveland is pretty much divided up into the west side and the east side. A lot of people, if you live on the west side, you stay on the west side, you hang out on the west side. Like you said, go to the mall, the movies with your friends. If you're on the east side, again, same thing.
Starting point is 00:09:32 You're staying on the east side. You're not really going from side to side. Maddie was from Lakewood, which is on the west side. But then, like I said, her cell phone, after she had left her house on the 15th, her cell phone was then pinged on the east side a couple days later near a hotel in Warrensville Heights area near South Miles Road and some other areas on the east side. So as a mother, you're seeing these pings, as police seeing these pings,'s you know it's strange it's not normal for a teen someone 17 years old like maddie who grew up on the west side and if that's where her
Starting point is 00:10:10 friends are to be over again on the east side if that's where her phone is so you know what what's going on with her phone does maddie have her phone does someone else have her phone these are the questions that you know we'd all love to get answers to. Joining me right now, in addition to Maddie's mom, Tracy, and Brittany Weir, Jeff Casey is with us, former Secret Service, over 20 years, board member with Cleveland Missing, website clevelandmissing.org. Jeff Casey, way in on her phone, going dead and pinging in areas in the Cleveland area where she's never been. That is obviously concerning as a parent for Tracy and her family. Most teenagers do not let their phones die and or, you know, lose charge.
Starting point is 00:10:59 So there may we don't know yet, but we don't know the circumstances of why that's happening. We're hoping to figure that out. You know, I'm very curious to Jeff Casey and or Brittany Weir. What can you tell me about those areas where her phone pinged and then ultimately died? And I've got to follow up on that. Maybe Derek Smith, a high profile lawyer, is familiar with this. But I want to make sure that we can determine where the phone was when it went dead. And can I tell if the phone was cut off? Can I tell if the phone was destroyed?
Starting point is 00:11:32 Can I tell if the phone was thrown into the water? And what I really want to know is where was the phone when it went dead? And about these areas to Brittany and Jeff, let me start with you, Brittany. The areas where the cell phone last pinged, are they the higher crime rate areas of Cleveland? Are they out in a rural area outside the city? Are they the suburbs? Where is that? So definitely outside the city as far as speaking as crime rates. It's not the best area, not an area you would want your children, your teenagers
Starting point is 00:12:06 to be hanging out, not an area where you would just see them walking around. It might raise a red flag if you see a 17-year-old like Maddie just walking around on her own. So as a parent, that's definitely not an area where you want that cell phone to be pinging, to be locating. Tracy Rich joining me. This is Maddie's mom. Tracy, I get it. If Lucy or John David's phone pinged, let's just say down in Hell's Kitchen in New York, and they're out by themselves, I would do a backflip because there are parts of Manhattan that are more dangerous for crime than other parts. It's just that simple. Like you're not going to get carjacked probably somewhere out like Rochester. This is probably not going to happen.
Starting point is 00:12:56 Statistically, it will happen where there's a concentrated amount of people, right? More people, more criminals. Simple. Two and two is four. Tell me about these areas where her last ping. And the reason I'm focusing on this so much and the questions I've asked so far, Tracy, is because it gives me an idea of what could be happening right now. So tell me about these areas. You say that Maddie had never been to those areas or didn't hang out in those areas. I know nothing about Cleveland other than the crime rate.
Starting point is 00:13:25 OK, so tell me why that concerned you. There's a few red flags and a few concerns. Maddie does not know anybody out in that area. All of her friends are in this area more towards Lakewood, where we live. So it's just, you know, already concerning of why she would be out in that area to begin with. We don't know who she is with, what's going on. From my understanding, they are not, you know, definitely not the best neighborhoods, which is just, you know, extra concerning. But unfortunately, we just have no idea why she would be out there.
Starting point is 00:14:06 And one of those pings was near a hotel, wasn't it, Tracy? Why is she near a hotel? Who has her at a hotel? That's what I want to know. That's what I would like to know as well. I have no idea. And when I was informed of that, just my heart dropped because, again, all of her friends are up here are, you know,
Starting point is 00:14:27 near Lakewood. Yes. Where she goes to school, where she lives. You know what? Dr. Angie Arnold is joining us. Renowned psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. You can find her at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Dr. Angie, you know, one of the many, many things that is extremely irritating in an investigation is when mom's intuition is ignored. So when this mom tells me she's never been over there, she knows nobody. Why would she be there? I can just hear a cop say, oh, yeah, she's at a rave. She's with some boyfriend holed up at a hotel. She's not Dr. Angie.
Starting point is 00:15:05 And I don't want mom's words discounted. That may be the best evidence we've got right now to find this girl. Well, to me, the most concerning thing about where she is is that none of her friends go to that area of town. Because at this stage in a kid's life, their friends are very important to them. And so it is very disconcerting to me and worrisome that she separated herself from her friends. It's also worrisome that it was shocking to the mother that she was not in her bed that night, that early morning, those early morning hours,
Starting point is 00:15:43 because she could have been at a friend's house or something. So I'm wondering about that. But truly, Nancy, the fact that she is in another part of town and that she is away from any of her friends lends a certain level of danger to this entire situation. Where is missing 17-year-old Madison Rich? The Lakewood, Ohio teen disappeared from her home and has been missing for over 40 days. I know her mother, Tracy, has been living in a nightmare since her daughter goes missing. She immediately reports her daughter missing. And then when that cell phone went dead, that cut off all potential communications with Maddie. And she has been living in H-E-double-L ever since. Joining me right now is another mom, a mom who has gone through
Starting point is 00:16:48 a very similar circumstance. Joining me right now is Shauna Burns. Her daughter, Haley, went missing. What happened with Haley, and welcome Shauna, what happened with Haley is Haley, cute, cute, cute eating disorder. And she would go on to a chat room and talk to other girls, her age that also had eating disorders. Well, believe it or not, her predator went into these chat rooms for teen girls are talking about their issues. And he befriended her like a fox in the hen house. And she was snowed over. She didn't realize who she was talking to. And he ended up kidnapping her. Take a listen to this.
Starting point is 00:17:38 16-year-old Haley Burns is talking online to someone who steals her heart and convinces her to run off with them. She waits until her parents are asleep, then sneaks out of the house, leaving behind her diary that tells the story of her plan to run away with a 32-year-old man she met online. She doesn't realize leaving the safety of her parents' home puts her in the arms of a man who will terrorize her for over a year. Michael Weisseloski tortures, starves, rapes, and sometimes locks her in a dog cage for hours as he moves her to multiple locations around the state of Georgia. Joining me right now is the mom, Shawna Burns.
Starting point is 00:18:13 Shawna, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. Shawna, at the beginning, you knew immediately that your girl was missing. So many times I hear law enforcement throwing up roadblocks going, oh, she's just a runaway. BS. She was held in a dog cage. She was sex assaulted, beaten, and starved.
Starting point is 00:18:38 And you knew day one that something horrible had happened. Describe. We knew day one that she had been basically lured away by an Internet predator. But that was not really a term that existed at that point. We didn't start hearing that until she was recovered. She was just a runaway. But we knew that she had met an older man online and had run away with that person.
Starting point is 00:19:05 We just did not know who that person was or where that person was. Did someone actually say to you, Shauna, she's just a runaway? Yeah, we were told many times that she's just a runaway. And in fact, it was a month after our daughter was missing before the FBI got involved. Even though she was special needs, like our local police, they didn't do anything except basically file a runaway petition. And then a month later,
Starting point is 00:19:32 the sheriff at the town, who's a friend of my husband's, was like, hey, she's special needs, right? Well, that's, you need to bring in the FBI. And that's when they started actually looking for her. But for that first month, it was basically good luck. Cool. Jeff Casey, help me. You're former Secret Service. Why do I hear this over and over and
Starting point is 00:19:52 over? Oh, they're just a runaway. You know how many runaways get put in sex trafficking or die every year? It's staggering. There's no such thing as just a runaway, Jeff. I agree with you. I can't explain that, and there is no defense for that. Maddie, just graduated from Lakewood. Where is she? Her phone has gone dead. Mom desperate for answers.
Starting point is 00:20:18 Tip line, the detective has given us his private number, his direct number, 216-529-6766. We have reason to believe she is still alive. I can't imagine for you, Shauna, and now you, Tracy, what hell you've been through. And when we say runaway, how about the words lured away? Listen. Online, she met him in a chat room for people that wanted to be anorexic. It was an anorexia chat room.
Starting point is 00:20:58 And he tended to stay in that chat room because he found a lot of different women there. She ran into him there, and within 28 days of meeting him, he had convinced her to leave. It happens just like that. She's in a chat room. She thinks she meets a friend. The next thing you know, this is what happens. Listen.
Starting point is 00:21:18 Horrific torture. She was starved. She was assaulted in ways that I cannot explain, that I'm not allowed to explain. Graphic, horrible abuse is what she endured every single day. The beatings, the being forced to live in a dog cage with a collar around her neck. The sex assaults, knowing he found her in an eating disorder chat room, starving her, giving food as a reward for good behavior. But wait a minute. Because of the heroic acts of mom, Shauna Burns, this is what happened. Listen. After a year of being held captive,
Starting point is 00:22:05 Haley Burns manages to access the internet and meets a woman from Romania in a chat room. Her name is Kat. And Haley tells her what's happening to her. Haley Burns doesn't know where she is. But Kat is able to message Burns' mother on Facebook. Shauna Burns sees the message and through Kat begins communicating with Haley.
Starting point is 00:22:23 The FBI is called. And Haley Burns is rescued after 13 months of captivity. Joining me right now is a very high profile lawyer that I happened to meet through his dogged defense of a guilty mom. I'll just throw it out there. Renowned criminal defense attorney Derek Smith Smith, joining us. And you can find him at DWSlegal.com, joining us out of this jurisdiction, Ohio. Derek, thank you for being with us. Just a word to the wise, Derek. And you may want to put this out there for whoever's watching right now that may have Maddie. Just because police believed at the beginning that maybe Maddie was
Starting point is 00:23:07 a runaway. If you take a child, a minor, and she is, she's 17, and you hold her against her will, you're going down for kidnapping, right? That carries in many jurisdictions 20 to life. So chew on that. And there's some kind of common connection between the parties, whether it's cultural or social, something that links the two together to where the victim is not really aware that they're being abducted at the time. They think that, you know, the person that they're talking to understands them or has some kind of connection to them and they're going to take them away from whatever is going on at home, whether or not it's true or not. And then the instance when, you know, the cell phone, that's very key because some of these abductors, they're aware that that's how they can be tracked is their cell phone. So they will remove them from any access they have to the outside world,
Starting point is 00:24:20 whether it's a cell phone, internet, and there's not even any hardline phones very much anymore at some of these places. So it's very, it's very frustrating, you know, very scary. We love you and we're trying to find you. Family of missing Ohio team Madison Rich pleads with the public in their desperate search for their daughter who has been missing for more than a month. Tracy Rich says her daughter Maddie has serious medical issues that require medication. The mother worries her daughter could be in a dangerous situation. Tracy Rich is extremely worried about Maddie having really low blood pressure and low heart rate. These conditions required hospitalization in the last few months. In the last days, a vigil has been held to bring Maddie Madison home. What mom, when she gives birth, imagines one day holding a candle at a vigil for her missing child? Tracy Rich, what went through your mind as you are standing there at this vigil?
Starting point is 00:25:29 I was very overwhelmed. I was talking to people facing the lake. And then when I had to turn around to speak to everybody, just seeing everybody there. Like I just broke down. I was just so overwhelmed with all of the support. Everybody that came out, especially since it was raining earlier that day. There's just there was some of Maddie's friends, my friends, family and even random members of the community that even said, We don't know you. We don't know your daughter, but we're here.
Starting point is 00:26:03 Please let us know what we can do. And I'm just very thankful for everybody's support. To Dr. Angela Arnold, who deals very heavily with women and girls issues and violence on women and girls. Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist in the Atlanta jurisdiction. Dr. Angie, you're a mom. You don't think about, you know, when you're bringing the baby home from the hospital and you're getting them into a pre-K and you're helping them through every step of the way, that one day you're going to be at a vigil begging people to help you bring your girl home.
Starting point is 00:26:53 It is every mother's worst nightmare. As soon as you have a baby, you start to worry about that baby's safety. And this little girl is only, she is only 17 years old, which all of us know means that her brain is not fully developed so whatever happened between the time she went missing to where she is now she there there are a lot of reasons why it could have happened she may have been quote unquote running away from something she may have been lured away. But the underlying fact is children at the age of 17 do not have good
Starting point is 00:27:34 reasoning skills. So now if she is in the hands of some sort of predator, that predator is taking over her mind and convincing her of whatever he or she wants to convince her of. So she is most likely in a very dangerous predicament right now, which, as you have said, is literally every mother's nightmare. Tracy Rich, this is Maddie's mom. You immediately contacted her friends when you found her missing, because I believe it was Jeff Casey earlier was saying, you know, friends are their world. Somehow in the aging process, suddenly mommy's not number one anymore. Bestie is number one. What did you learn from the friends? And you went out that morning and started trying to find her.
Starting point is 00:28:25 Tell me what happened. How did that go down? I went to some of her friends' house. People had not heard from her or because it was early in the morning, some people were still asleep. I immediately also contacted the police. I think I contacted them super early in the morning and they even went out looking. We have, and unfortunately a lot of people have not, you know, did not hear from her. They were not there. And that's, you know, something that got me really nervous because
Starting point is 00:29:00 the people that normally heard from her, you know, have not been hearing from her. I'm very thankful for the Lakewood police, though, because they took me seriously from day one. They've been in communication with me like they have not stopped. You know, it's still an ongoing investigation. So it's heartbreaking to hear Shauna's story where people did not believe her because I'm very thankful for Lakewood Police because I, you know, they've been supporting me since day one. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Starting point is 00:29:42 Where is Madison Rich? Joining me, Tracy Rich, Madison's mom, along with Shawna Burns, Derek Smith, Jeff Casey, Dr. Angie Arnold, and Brittany Weir. Tracy, what can you tell me about the search for your daughter so far? What has been done? A lot of stuff has been done. The police with their bolo put down a lot of the information of, you know, where they think, you know, she was at. Unfortunately, there are some things since it is an ongoing investigation that I cannot speak about. But I am very thankful to the Lakewood police and the surrounding police stations. Everybody's been very, they've been communicating very well with me and they are following up with any and all leads.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Okay. Tracy, were canines brought out? No. Was an aerial search done? Not to my knowledge. Question. Have you gotten a hold of, do you have access to her phone records? The police have been working on some things that I cannot speak about at this time. Okay. I can't stress how important that is. The phone records straight out to Derek Smith, high profile criminal defense attorney in this jurisdiction of Ohio. Derek, you know how long it takes for phone carriers to respond to a subpoena forever.
Starting point is 00:31:12 And there have been actually laws that have been passed in some handful of jurisdictions that allow them to immediately hand over phone records when someone is deemed missing. It's very rare, but it does exist. So don't you think that would be step number one, but now that the phone is dead, not helping me track her, but I could see who she was talking to last and possibly find out who has lured this girl. Absolutely right, Nancy. I mean, getting those phone records, getting to see who the last incoming text messages, incoming phone calls were coming from is extremely important in a case like this. And especially being able to see, you know, what social media apps she was on, but also to speak to the area. I do have offices in the Lakewood area and I have seen some of the
Starting point is 00:32:00 things that the mom is doing around here to help find her daughter. And I want to commend her on that. It is heartbreaking to see what's going on. And I can't understand how you're feeling and what you're dealing with, but I do commend you on your efforts and the community at large and the Lakewood Police, everyone doing exactly everything they can do to help bring her back. And I really hope that they can find her and bring her home safely. Derek, what do you mean you've seen efforts by mom to bring her daughter home? I see the flyers. I see the signs that she puts up. I saw the community rally that she had in the park and everybody is really getting behind this just to find, help find Maddie and bring her home. So bottom line, Derek Smith, before we brought you in on this case, you had observed the effort to find her. Bottom line, you'd have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see these missing flyers around the area.
Starting point is 00:32:52 Would you agree with that? Absolutely right, Nancy. I saw the flyers over a month ago going on my way to my offices well before I even knew this was such a large movement. This teen girl has now been missing for weeks. Her mom joining us along with another mom whose teen girl went missing. In that case of Haley Burns, Haley was found after nearly a year, having been held in a dog cage and starved and beaten and abused. Tonight, we believe there's a very good chance
Starting point is 00:33:26 that Maddie is still alive. Disturbing, her phone goes dead in an area that she does not frequent in Cleveland with one of the highest crime rates in the United States. Very often when a young girl voluntarily leaves the safety of mom and dad's home, things go sideways, bringing to mind Alicia Kozikevich, our friend. Listen. I knew early on that he didn't have any other option than to get rid of me at some point so I focused on the only power that I had was trying to stay alive as long as possible and to get him to see me my mind jumped into some sort of something instinctual and it's that he sees you as an object and an object that he wants to hurt and torture they can see you as a human and so I did whatever I had to do to survive and try to it makes my stomach turn to say this word but connect with him in whatever way that I could.
Starting point is 00:34:28 And on that day, he said, I'm beginning to like you too much. Tonight, we're going to go for a ride. And I knew at that point that that was not even a veiled threat. It was very clearly a threat and that he was going to kill me. That's Alicia Koskevich, who survived, as did Haley Burns, after being tortured and mistreated.
Starting point is 00:34:51 What is happening tonight to teen girl Maddie? What is she living through? Tracy Rich joining us, Madison Rich's mom. Tracy, do you believe there has been any attempt to contact you? I'm hoping that she's trying to contact me. I just unfortunately, it's never been
Starting point is 00:35:18 this long that even her friends and social media hasn't, you know, had any signs of, you know, Maddie trying to contact and that's just what makes this just a huge red flag. It just makes this just so nerve wracking, because we have no idea who she's with or where she's at. But every time, you know, I have the chance I, you know, let her know, you know, like Maddie, if you, if you hear me, if you see this, you know, please try to come home. You know, we're hoping that, you know, she's able to try to contact and we're just hoping that she's going to be able to come home soon and be safe. What do her friends say, Tracy? They're very concerned as well. They, a lot of them were at the support vigil, and it was just a little heartbreaking to see how upset they were.
Starting point is 00:36:11 They were trying to console me as I was, you know, in turn trying to console them. They've been going on social media, reposting as well, trying to, you know, see if anyone's heard from her. I mean, like me, every day I'm at least posting one or two things on social media, just trying to, you know, see if anyone's heard from her. I mean, like me every day, I'm at least posting one or two things on social media, just trying to get the word out. And I'm so appreciative that they're also doing the same thing on their social media. You know, they're worried about Maddie, they love her so much, and they want to do anything that they can to bring her home safe. Tracy, Rich, have you considered bringing in the FBI? We've been in contact with Lakewood Police, and again, it is an ongoing investigation,
Starting point is 00:36:52 and there are some things that I am unable to speak about. But Lakewood Police is doing everything in their power to bring her home, and I'm very appreciative with everything that they're doing. Brittany Weir, joining me, investigative reporterI-O, Cleveland19.com. Brittany, what can you tell me about the search and what you know that's happening right now? So we know that police, they are focusing, again, they're focusing on that cell phone, but now they're just continuing to continue searching those areas where that cell phone was pinged. I did talk to the Lakewood police and they say they are, they've told us they're doing everything that they can. Again,
Starting point is 00:37:30 as Tracy said, there are some details that they're not able to share with even me just because of this ongoing investigation. But I know that they're working with other local departments to keep an eye out and continuing to post those pictures so that Maddie's face is always out there for the community to see. Tracy Rich, do you believe that police have obtained video surveillance from the hotel where her phone was pinged? I get unfortunately I am unable to speak on certain things, but I do know that they're doing everything in their power to find her and bring her home. And I am behind them 100% with everything that they're doing. What is your message, Tracy?
Starting point is 00:38:13 Just one of our messages is please, if you see something, say something. If anybody hears anything, if anybody thinks that they saw Maddie walking down the street, you know, when they're in the car and they're not even 100% sure, please do not hesitate. Please call local law enforcement. Please call 911. Just please do not wait. We know a lot of times people go, I don't really know if that's her or I don't know if this information will be helpful. It doesn't matter. Any little piece could be that one piece to help, you know, complete this missing puzzle. You can also be anonymous. We do not need to know your name, whether you call your local police, whether you call 911. You do not have to give your name. Just please, if anybody sees something, please say something. Shawna Burns joining us, Haley Burns' mom, who lived through this nightmare herself.
Starting point is 00:39:12 Shawna, what is your advice tonight? Don't give up and continue doing everything that you are doing. Get her name out there in every possibility that you can. Share it on social media as much as you can. Make friends with as many media and reporters as you can. And know that they do get rescued. It does happen. It doesn't always happen, but it does happen. And I am proof of that. If you know or think you know anything about the disappearance of this teen girl, Maddie Madison Rich, contact Detective Michael Purix, 216-529-6766. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend.
Starting point is 00:40:12 This is an iHeart Podcast.

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