Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Naked woman with rose tattoo dumped on roadside. (Best of Crime Stories)

Episode Date: December 30, 2021

Lily Prendergast was last seen leaving her parents’ home in Dallas, Texas. The family had argued. Lily was never heard from again. Some months later, the skeletal remains of a white female are found miles away, on the side of Interstate 5 in Sacramento County, California. For almost 40 years, the body was unidentified. In February 2020, a familial DNA match as made and Lily Ann PRENDERGAST had finally been found, but her murder is still unsolved. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Wendy Patrick- California prosecutor, author “Red Flags”, Host of "Live With Dr. Wendy" on KCBQ Radio www.wendypatrickphd.com  Caryn Stark - NYC Psychologist, www.carynstark.com, Twitter: @carynpsych, Facebook: "Caryn Stark" Greg Smith - Special Deputy Sheriff, Johnson County Sheriff's Office (Kansas), Executive Director of the Kelsey Smith Foundation, www.kelseysarmy.com  Dr. Kendall Crowns - Deputy Medical Examiner Travis County, Texas (Austin) Mike Duffy - ABC 10 Sacramento Reporter Shera LaPoint - Genetic Genealogist, The Gene Hunter, www.thegenehunter.com  Tipline: Sacramento County Sheriff's Office (916) 874-TIPS (8477) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Can you imagine at the tender age of just 26, a beautiful young woman seemingly vanishes into thin air. Her name, Lily. Lily Ann Prendergast. Today, what happened to Lily? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's a mystery that's haunted William Prendergast for years. What happened to his little sister, Lillianne?

William says the 26-year-old was a free spirit. What happened to his little sister, Lillianne? She used to call me on my birthday all the time. That stopped. William says the 26-year-old was a free spirit, always traveling, who took off hitchhiking. That's the last anybody had heard from her. You are hearing the brother of Lillianne who has continued to look for her in the last days. Is there a break in the search for Lillianne? You are also hearing our friends at Fox 40. That was Jessica Minch speaking. Let me introduce you an all-star panel joining us. Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags, host of Live with Dr. Wendy on KCBQ. You can find her at wendypatrickphd.com. Renowned psychologist joining us out of Manhattan, Karen Stark.

You can find her at KarenStark.com. That's Karen with a C. Greg Smith, Special Deputy Sheriff, Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Kansas. He is the Executive Director of the Kelsey Smith Foundation. You can find him at Kelsey'sArmy.com. Deputy Medical Examiner for Travis County, that's Austin, Texas, Dr. Kendall Crowns joining us. Genetic Genealogist, The Gene Hunter, Cheryl LaPointe, and you can find her at thegenehunter.com. And a special guest,

a longtime friend and colleague, Mike Duffy, joining us from ABC 10. That's Sacramento. Mike Duffy, let me start with you. What do we know about Lily? I mean, everything I hear is, and I can see her. She's absolutely beautiful. I'm seeing her holding, I think, her pet dog out in front of her home. But what more do we know about her? Where did she live? What's the area like? What can you tell me about her? And why in the world was she go missing? Well, Nancy, as you heard from her brother there, he describes her as kind and thoughtful. She'd send him a card for his birthday every time. She was known to be a girl who lived by her own accord. She was one of those people that just made time for everyone around her. Now, something you said bothers me, Mike Duffy.

It bothers me a lot. You said she was one of those women that live on her own accord. Now, maybe I'm misinterpreting you, Mike Duffy, but it seems to me that that was a little judgmental because when a woman, when a guy goes out on a walkabout, wow, he must be traveling for his gap year before he goes off to Harvard. But when a woman does it, she, quote, lives on her own accord.

Are you suggesting she's some kind of a tramp because she hitchhiked? No, not at all, Nancy. Just an independent woman. Are you suggesting she's some kind of a tramp because she hitchhiked? No, not at all, Nancy. Just an independent woman. Are you sure? Positive. Okay. I'm glad to hear that, Mike. Because this is a young woman who loved everybody and everybody loved her very, very close to her family. She leaves one day called a spirit, and she's never seen again. Long story short, this young woman did nothing but go out and catch a ride. And now she's never seen again. Let me give you her description. 26 years old, white female, long, dark brown hair, long, dark brown hair parted in the middle.

Absolutely beautiful, pierced ears. And she normally wore gold hoops in them. I know that she had a small red flower on her back. And she's about 5'5". That's what we know about the description of this young girl, Lillian Pendergrass, when she goes missing. But what happened then? What can you tell me, Mike Duffy, about the location where she goes missing? What city?

Nancy, she disappeared from Dallas, Texas, after what they called an argument between her and her parents. Do we know about what? We don't know that information right now, Nancy, but she left her home in an argument, and then she was never seen or heard from again. I want to go out to Karen Stark, New York psychologist joining me at karenstark.com. Karen, you know, when my fiance was murdered,

at least I knew what had happened to him. I knew that he was shot by a guy that had once worked for the construction crew, where Keith was then working over the summer. I can't imagine, Karen, adding to the pain, not knowing what happened to your sister, your daughter, your girlfriend, not having any idea, that wondering, your girlfriend? Not having any idea. That wondering, always expecting them to walk through the door, always wondering, are they dead or alive? Are they not calling me back?

Because we had an argument right before she left as the years slip away and every birthday passes Karen Stark. And you know, Nancy, I'm not sure if this happened to you with Keith, but you relive the last time you were with somebody and you wonder what you could have done differently. And here they are. They're waiting and they really have no idea. Will she show up again? Did she start a new life? They have hope. They have hope, which you did not have.

You couldn't have. And so it's horrific to live like that and wonder and hope that someday they'll see her again. With me, as I mentioned, Special Deputy Sheriff with Johnson County, Greg Smith, joining us from Kansas. Greg, do you do that? Do you play over and over in your mind the last time you saw Kelsey? Oh, I'll never forget that day, Nancy. It's just one of those things that's seared into your brain. You know, and conversely, I often think I wonder what, who she would have married. I wonder what her children are like.

I wonder what she would have thought of nieces and nephews that she's never met. So, yeah, it just, it goes on and on. I do the same thing. I think back on the last time I saw Keith, you know, my dad passed away. I think back on the last time I saw him when we spoke over the phone, just before I saw him. So Mike Duffy, ABC 10 Sacramento, she goes missing in Dallas. And you know what that means. Heavily populated, a lot of interstate traffic, a lot of tourists. You're not that far from the Mexican border. Long story short, when you take into account the interstate, the tourism, the number of visitors to the state, basically anybody could have taken her.

It's not like she grew up in rural Bibb County, making Georgia like I did, where, you know, as far as I could see, there were soybean fields and pine trees. That narrows the list of suspects. But this is in Dallas, right? Yes, it is in Dallas. I want to go now to back to Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor joining us. You know, you immediately when somebody goes missing, start trying to figure out, piece together what happened. Number one, they don't know she's just angry and is not calling or she was taken.

And when you have a big area, a cosmopolitan area like Dallas, that really widens the possibility, the potential suspect pool. That's absolutely right, Nancy. When you have that kind of a concentrated population area right next to an interstate, you have to broaden the search. And that's when it becomes more important is to really trace back what kind of conversations did people have with her right before she went missing? Did she mention wanting to go somewhere? Did she mention a boyfriend? Was there a fight? Was there a job opportunity? So everything becomes important because you're absolutely right. All of a sudden, the search is broadened nationwide when you're in that kind of area and you have that kind of access to such a big interstate. The girl goes missing. The family hears nothing. As the days,

the weeks, the months pass, their hope begins to fade. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We're talking about Lily Ann Prendergrass, just 26 years old. She marched to the beat of a different drummer, loved to travel, and took off, they thought, hitchhiking. And then, an update. Take a listen to Dave Mack, Crime Online. On October 27th, 1981, a Caltrans worker came across a young woman's nearly naked body decomposing in a vacant stretch of weeds along Interstate 5 in Sacramento County, California. The body had largely decomposed except for a patch of mummified skin on her right hip, revealing a tattoo of a

red rose. Forensic pathologists and anthropologists pieced together a detailed portrait of the unidentified woman. She was white, between 5'1 and 5'5, and between 25 and 35 years old when she died. That likely happened six weeks to six months before she was found. She had shoulder-length brown hair with highlights and long, natural fingernails. Her remains offered no clues about how she died, but most experts suspected foul play due to the fact that her body was almost certainly dumped. Enter Mike Duffy, the Sacramento reporter there at ABC 10. Exactly how was her body found, Mike Duffy? Well, Nancy, let me tell you a little bit about the area. For people unfamiliar with it,

I-5 is the main artery that runs all along the West Coast from actually Mexico to Canada. So it's always busy. And where this was found is just off to the shoulder. Now, it's south of the city in an area where the urban area quickly becomes farmland. So it's not surprising that someone could have missed these skeletal remains for a very long time. It's kind of a grassy area right in between the interstate. And then the other side of that grassy patch would actually be the Sacramento River. So it's in this area where a roadside worker who was cutting grass came upon those remains. A roadside worker cutting grass.

Let me understand something, Mike Duffy. It's my understanding that she, her body was found just off the side of the road. Is that correct? Yes. Her body wasn't always a skeleton, Mike Duffy. So people actually rode by her body and either didn't notice or didn't stop? Well, this body was actually discovered in October. So they presume that the body could have been there one to five months earlier, which would have been the summertime. And while most people think of California as this dry, arid place, Sacramento is actually a very lush, grassy, farm-filled area. So it is very possible that these remains were somewhere in knee-deep grass

or higher. Okay, I understand. So you could have ridden by and going at that rate of speed on an interstate, not notice her at all. Dr. Kendall Crowns is joining me, Deputy Medical Examiner, Travis County. That's Austin, Texas. Dr. Kendall Crowns, if her body had lain in the elements for one to five months, what would you expect to find? Well, you would have pretty significant decomposition and you would lose most of the skin and body tissues.

Also, the flies would inhabit the body and consume most of the soft tissue as well. And since she's outside, you're gonna get numerous different predators or scavengers come through, coyotes. If there's vultures out there, they can strip the body quite quickly. So in one to five months, you'd pretty much be left with skeletonized remains and anything that they were laying on might be left skin-wise and just be kind of leathery, hard, mummified skin. And you're absolutely not going to be able to determine cause of death unless you can find a nick on a bone.

If, in fact, this is going to turn out to be Lillian Prendergast, there's no soft tissue left. That's correct. I mean, you can't, when they're skeletonized like that, unless there's a tool mark from a weapon or a bullet hole from a bullet in a skull, etc., you're not going to be able to determine cause of death because there's just nothing left to really look for. The big question, is this Lily? Take a listen to our friends at CrimeOnline.com. When the unidentified female body was found in Sacramento County in October of 1981,

investigators didn't know about collecting samples for future DNA testing as it hadn't been discovered yet. So after the body was studied and fingerprints and blood were taken, the unclaimed body was cremated and given a proper burial. In 2003, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Paige Nealon was assigned to cold cases and the file of the unidentified woman from 1981 caught her attention. Studying the case file, Nealon found that somehow a piece of vertebrae had been saved. She sent it off to the State Department of Justice for DNA extraction and the profile was entered into the NCIC in 2008. It got no hits. Joining me right now, a special guest, Shira LaPointe, genetic genealogist,

the so-called Gene Hunter, that's G-E-N-E, at www.thegenehunter.com. Shira, explain to me, we first hear our friends at Crime Online state that at the time, people didn't really understand how to collect DNA. That's right, Nancy.

Back when the body was found, we did not have advancements in DNA as we have today. So it was later that very fortunately a piece of vertebrae was found and they were able to pull a DNA profile from her body. And that information was entered into a number of systems, including the NamUs system, which is the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Database. But again, there was no hits that were found because DNA to her DNA had never been entered into any of these systems before. And at that time, that was the only option they had to look at. Well, how are you supposed to collect DNA, Shira? How are you supposed to collect it in 2020? Well, in 2020, there have been some amazing advancements. And police departments, unfortunately, in the past, didn't have the resources to even learn how to do collecting.

Nowadays, we have training. There are DNA technicians. Every bit of evidence is swiped for DNA samples and the information. Now we don't need as much DNA to be able to provide a profile. So the samples that we have nowadays don't have to be as big. You don't have to have as good of a quality of a sample. But back at the time when her DNA was taken, we're very fortunate to actually have a sample of vertebrae. And they were able to put it in the system. And it just sat there for many years.

You know, I'm trying to figure out something else to Dr. Kendall Crowns, Deputy Medical Examiner Austin, we understand that she was largely skeletonized, but this body reveals a tattoo of a red rose on her lower right back. How could that be if she was skeletonized? So if it's on a lower right back, if she's laying on her back out in the field, it's possible that a portion of her skin was just saved by the happenstance that it was on the back and the animals didn't take it away or it didn't decompose away because of whatever reason it was preserved and probably dried and mummified and even in that state you can still see the tattoos because the tattoos are actually in your lower section of your skin not on the outer section but kind of the dermis skin, not on the outer section,

but kind of the dermis or just immediately underneath the outer surface of your skin. So tattoos will be there forever, basically. I mean, they can still find them on mummies that they dig up that are a thousand years old. And the reality is to you, Cheryl,Pointe, genetic genealogist, while yes, you can tell it's a woman, that can be identified by the size, the mass, the length of the leg bones, the arm bones, the jaw, the pelvis, the shape of the skull, the teeth even can identify whether it's a man or a woman. And you now have this leathery piece of mummified skin that does have a tattoo, would suggest it is Lillianne. But you've got to go through so much more to make a positive ID.

And she's not in the system. So Lillianne cannot be identified by this skeleton anyway. That's very correct, Nancy. You know, even though the sheriff's department put her information, you know, they did a facial reconstruction. They broadcast it in the media. They put her in the NamUs system, which started in 2007. But in the system that they have, if her DNA was not already in there, they had no way of identifying her. Now, we have other ways of being able to identify a body. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are talking about the disappearance of a beautiful young girl, long, dark brown hair, alabaster skin, perfect.

She looks like porcelain, like a China doll. Beautiful, light blue eyes who has an argument with her mom and dad one day, leaves, and she's never seen again. It's Lillian Prendergrast. For years, her family suffered, wondering. Then, amazingly, miles and miles and miles away in Sacramento, a skeleton is found by the side of the road, as if this woman had been dumped out like trash, like litter bugs throw a plastic cup out of their window. Was this Lillian? That thought must have tortured them horribly. Take a listen to Jessica Mitch at Fox 40. A woman's decomposed body found on the side of Interstate 5 in October of 1981. It's a case that's kept me up at night and you know I wake up thinking about it sometimes.

Deputy Paige Nealon says they tried facial reconstruction. And they used clay just like you know you'd see in the movies. Sketches. Based off of a picture of the skull. And DNA. And in 2005 we got that profile entered into the Missing Persons DNA program. You were just hearing, in addition to Jessica Minch at Fox 40, Deputy Paige Neeland on the case. Speaking of facial reconstruction, I want to go out to our guest, Dr. Kendall Crowns. Dr. Kendall Crowns, I will never forget a serial killer that I prosecuted and we could never get enough evidence on him until we found a Jane Doe. And she was almost beyond recognition, the Jane Doe body. But I had a facial reconstructionist do her best and create a composite sketch.

As we started to close in on who I believe was the killer, we found out this killer had attacked one of his victims that lived to tell the tale. It was his former girlfriend who kicked him out. It astounded me when I saw the Jane Doe's face in the composite compared to the girlfriend. They looked like twins, which psychologically was very impactful on the jury. So they could be uncannily accurate, but even with a facial reconstructionist, still the body could not be identified until, listen. In 2019, William Prendergast hadn't talked to his little sister, Lillian, in nearly 40 years. He had looked for her, tried to find her, but nothing worked. So in 2019, he gave a DNA sample to the FBI.

And in a matter of just a few months, all of the years of wondering what happened to his little sister came to an end. Lillian Prendergast was found. William now knew what happened to his little sister, and the mystery of the female body found in Sacramento County, California in 1981, all solved in one day. Her homicide remains unsolved. Can you imagine the huge chunk of time Lily's family went seeking justice, trying to find her? Was she dead? Was she alive? Mike Duffy, how much time passed from the time Lily Ingo's missing till the time that body is found and is identified through familial DNA. Well, Nancy, she went missing in late 1980. That case was not solved until 2019. That's nearly 40 years later. Mike Duffy, tell me what you know about the case.

Well, Nancy, I spoke with a Sacramento County Sheriff's Detective who's been working on this case. And one of the things that she emphasizes, you know, a lot of people say, well, maybe it was just a car accident or maybe something happened that wasn't intentional. But she said that there are no injuries that indicate that this would have happened. There was no broken bones or things that you had pointed to earlier. She said that this makes it suspicious circumstances. And that's why they're investigating this case as a homicide. And I also wanted to point out one other thing that she told me, which is, you know, there are a lot of these cases that have gone unsolved for decades and decades, and a lot of these national databases weren't even put together until the 1980s. And so

she said it's a really good idea for families who have been waiting for information on their loved ones to consider filing a new report and perhaps submitting DNA that could uncover them after all these years. I'm just thinking about the chunk of time. To Greg Smith joining me, Special Deputy Sheriff, Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Kansas. He's the director of the Kelsey Smith Foundation at kelseysarmy.com. Greg Smith, from the time that Kelsey went missing to the time that you located her body, what was that?

How many hours? It was four days before we actually located her body. So that would have been almost 100 hours. Right. Can you multiply that times 40 years? The suffering that you went through in those 100 hours for 40 years? No, that would be terrible. I mean, we have friends that had their daughter kidnapped just right before Kelsey was actually the Kara Kapetsky case. the remains as car as in, and every year they would go out and do, um, uh, a March through, through town,

trying to reawake the public to pay. She's still missing. Help us find her. Um, and it just to watch that is, you know, I'm, it sounds weird, but I was thankful that we were able to locate Kelsey's body. There is a certain amount of closure there. By no means does it fix everything. I mean, there's constantly what I call a Kelsey-sized hole in my life. But not knowing, it would be hell on earth. You know, I've been working on a new project.

It's called Bloodline Detectives. Karen Stark, New York psychologist. And it deals with cold cases that have gone cold for many, many years. And yes, what Greg Smith went through when he lost his daughter was just unfathomable. What I went through when I lost my fiance, horrible. But we knew what had happened. We didn't like it, but we knew it. We knew it to be a fact. We didn't have to wonder. For instance, like Jennifer Dulos' children now, the Connecticut Missing Mama Five. Did mommy just leave us? Did she just abandon us? Is she dead? Is she with the

boyfriend? Is she living on the Riviera? We don't know. Families have spent their whole lives looking for answers. They spend their whole lives looking for answers, but they also don't let go of their hope. And they keep thinking that there's a possibility that their loved one will turn up again. And so I know that death is never over, but in this instance, it's so painful because you keep wondering, hoping, then despairing, and it just never goes away. Do you remember the movie Groundhog Day, Karen, where every day, I think it was Bill Murray would wake up and relive all the mistakes and everything that had happened the day before. And it would never end. It's like you're caught in this weird

never, never land. I mean, to you, Greg Smith, what this family has gone through waking up every day and wondering what's happening. Where is she? Is she alive? Does she have a new life? Has she married? Does she have children? Is she dead?

Is she being held against her will? I mean, kind of like J.C. Duggar's family. J.C. was kidnapped on the way to school. And many years later, she was found alive, having been held, kidnapped all those years. It's torture on the family, Greg. Oh, it's terrible. I mean, there is no feeling like it. I often say when I speak at events that this is something that I would not wish to happen to my worst enemy.

It is just an indescribable feeling. And it just drains you emotionally every day when you get up and you don't know where your daughter is or where your wife is or whoever it happens to be. It's just, it really is a tell on her. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We're talking about the disappearance of a gorgeous, young, free-spirited 26-year-old girl, Lily Ann Prendergrast. Mike Duffy joining me, ABC 10 Sacramento. So, Mike, you've talked to detectives on the case. So the case just basically goes cold for a period of time. Yes, Nancy, the case did go cold for a number of years, but that doesn't mean that detectives ever gave up hope on this. They constantly followed up on evidence. They constantly tried to use the latest technology to find out more about what happened to this corpse that they found on the side of the road of I-5 just south of Sacramento.

And it took until 2020 before they finally got some answers. Guys, take a listen to this. In 2019, William decided to submit his DNA to the FBI. 100% Mac, it was her. William decided to submit his DNA to the FBI. And while he was relieved to finally know where his sister was, his mind quickly shifted to the person responsible for her death. The death is being investigated as a homicide. If anyone met her, if anyone knew her, please give us a call. So that William can finally have some sense of closure after all these painful years. Why would they do

such a thing? And the sheriff's office does stress that no tip is too small or insignificant. If you have any information, please give them a call. Our friend Jessica Manch at Fox 40. So tell me what that is. I want to talk to you, Cheryl, a point about familial DNA. How does that work? We heard about it with Golden State Killer. Yes, Nancy. So familial DNA is actually a match to a family member. When you are looking to identify an unidentified person, their DNA is entered into the CODIS system, and we have 20 markers that we look at. An identical match would mean that you have 100% identified that person, but you can have a partial match, which would be a familial match, which may be for a parent or a sibling, could be a full sibling or a half sibling. And when you have that information, all you have to do is look at the family tree and you can identify a person. So that has become very helpful in unidentified persons' cases. Unfortunately, not every family has submitted DNA and not every unidentified or missing person is in these systems.

So it's important to get your family members into these systems. So to you, Mike Duffy, ABC 10 Sacramento, who would have their DNA in the, quote, system? And, of course, we're talking about CODIS, the uniform system of DNA. Who would be in CODIS? Well, Nancy, any person who is missing can have their DNA submitted, but that takes action on the side of law enforcement. Now, anyone from a family who is missing their loved one can also submit their DNA. And this work for state authorities, such as the prison, I had to give my fingerprints when I worked with the district attorney's office

and when I was a fed. So very often you find all sorts of information in these federal data banks, but nothing matched to Lilly and Prendergrass. Do we know, Mike Duffy, ABC 10, why the brother decided to submit his DNA to the FBI? Well, Nancy, it's really because he never gave up hope. He knew that there were answers out there that he just couldn't reach. And so he made the decision. The family decided to pick this case back up despite the pain and suffering that it caused them to readdress it.

And he submitted his DNA to the FBI. Take a listen to our friends at WBAP, Dallas-Fort Worth. 26-year-old Lillian Prendergast left her family home after an argument in 1980, never to be heard from again. After nearly 40 years, the family discovered that Prendergast was the victim of a cold case murder in California. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office had found the body of the young woman in October of 1981 along Interstate 5, but could never identify her skeletal remains. That

was until a match of familial DNA submitted to the FBI last year. According to WFAA, police are still searching for the woman's killer. So while we now know because the familial DNA submitted by her brother, this is in fact 26-year-old Lily Ann, her killer remains at large. But don't be discouraged. This is not the first time familial DNA has resulted in a murder prosecution. Does the name Mandy Stavik ring a bell? Listen to ABC 2020.

The medical examiner determined Mandy's cause of death to be drowning. She'd suffered a head injury and had been sexually assaulted. They took DNA evidence from Mandy's body. They created a DNA profile of both Mandy and an unknown male. Time and time again, they would have a person of interest. They would question that person, but something would rule them out. They had a good alibi, or ultimately their DNA did not match. This case dragged on.

Becomes a cold case, but after 10, 15, 20 years, it's like, well, it's never gonna be solved. Now, we also know that that case of Mandy Stavik went cold and all of the targets police were looking at refused to cooperate. So police go to one of the targets place of employment. What we learn is that a co-worker offers to help. We all know, Mike Duffy, that when you have a target, you think you've got the killer. You may have a familial DNA match. You still have to match it up to the target. We have heard of cases where cops have followed a potential target to a pizza parlor and gotten across the pizza and then gotten DNA off of it. So could you explain, Mike Duffy, why you have to

track down a target and then get their DNA if it's not in the system? Well, Nancy, you just need that profile in the system. And it's not easy to get because usually you would have to request or get a warrant in order to get that DNA. And if that person had refused barring a warrant, then you would have to find another way. So they reached out to a coworker of the man that they were zeroing in on and they asked her for her help. And it worked. It could be a coffee mug he leaves in the sink at the workplace. It could be his sandwich that he throws that or the chips into the trash can. It could be anything, but it works. And in the case of Mandy Stavik that we're just listening to, take a listen to our friend, Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo. On November 24th, 1989

at 1 50 p.m., 18-year-old Amanda Stavik, also known as Mandy, left home on the Strand Road out in the Acme Valley to go jogging with the family dog. The dog returned home several hours later, but Mandy did not. Following an exhaustive search, Mandy's body was found in the south fork of the Nooksack River. The investigation into the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Mandy Stavik has remained a top priority for the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office. Over the course of the last 28 plus years, hundreds of leads emerged and were systematically investigated. Among the potential suspects that emerged in recent years was Timothy Forrest Bass.

Deputies forwarded DNA samples from Mr. Bass to the Washington State Crime Laboratory, who reported to us that his DNA matched the DNA recovered from Mandy's body in 1989. Bass was arrested by the Sheriff's Office detectives on December 12th. Yesterday, on suspicion of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree rape. That was a 20-year cold case. Now, can a repeat miracle happen and the case of Lillian Prendergast be solved? Mike Duffy, ABC 10 Sacramento. Do sheriffs in your jurisdiction, in Sacramento, have hope, Mike Duffy?

Absolutely, they have hope. They believe that someone will have heard or seen something, that someone will have known Lily at some point in time, and they would be able to connect the dots that are so needed at this time. If you are listening, please go to CrimeOnline.com. Look at the picture of Lily Ann Prendergast, just 26 years old.

Keep in mind the suffering her family has been through. Maybe you know the answer. Maybe you don't realize it right now. Tipline 916-874-TIPS. 916-874-8477. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.