Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Pastor's gorgeous wife, mom-of-three and family's GMC Acadia VANISH. WHERE IS MARILANE CARTER?

Episode Date: August 13, 2020

Marilane Carter, a pastor's wife, and mom-of-three heads out on a road trip from Kansas to Alabama to visit family. That was over a week ago. Surveillance video and witnesses put the mom - alive- in two locations, but where is she now?Joining Nancy Grace Today: Brady McLaughlin -Marilane Carter Brother-in-law Birmingham, Alabama Ken Belkin - NY Criminal Defense Attorney Dr. Debbie Joffe-Ellis - Psychologist, Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Karen Smith - Los Angeles Forensics Expert, Host of "Shattered Souls" podcast Sierra Gillespie - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter Leigh Egan - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Los Angeles is famous for the always captivating entertainment industry, some of the most famous sports teams, and incredibly expensive smoothies. But beneath the glamour, it's also a breeding ground for bizarre, historic, and unforgettable crimes. My name is Madison McGee. You might know me from my podcast Ice Cold Case, where for the last three years I've been investigating my father's murder. But now I've embedded myself into the

LA Times crime beat to bring you not only some of the juiciest cases, but what it takes to be a gritty crime reporter in a giant metropolis. From LA Times Studios comes its latest series, LA Crimes. From deep dives into the Menendez brothers to conversations about why Bravo TV seems to be

a hotbed of white color criminals, we'll cover it all. The solved, the unsolved, the love triangles gone wrong, you get the idea. Tune in every Wednesday starting May 21st, wherever you stream your podcasts. You can also watch the episodes on YouTube and Spotify. You don't want to miss this. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How does a gorgeous young wife of a local pastor, a mother, suddenly just disappear seemingly into thin air? I'm talking about a young lady, Marilene Carter. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. At the get-go. Take a listen to our friends at ABC 3340. The family is puzzled, though, that Carter told them she was getting lost along the way.

She'd driven the route several times, so she knew the way. Carter's husband is the head pastor at a Kansas church. A vigil was held there Thursday night. The family says Carter has never just taken off and would never leave her young children and husband. She's driving a dark gray 2011 GMC Acadia with Kansas tags. We honestly don't know what happens after this. It's like they need their mommy. He needs his wife. We need our daughter. Carter is 5'8 and weighs 130 pounds. She was last seen on video wearing dark clothing. Where is Mary Lane with me? An all-star panel seeking to help find the missing mom. But first, I want to go to a

special guest joining me right now. Her brother-in-law joining us out of Birmingham, Brady McLaughlin. Brady, thank you for being with us. First of all, tell me about Mary Lane. Well, thank you, Ms. Grace, for having me. I appreciate the attention to help find Mary Lane. Mary Lane is 36 years old, as the news report said. She's my sister-in-law, so my wife, this is her sister. I've known her since around 2005, 2006. She's a graduate of Stanford University in Birmingham with a graduate degree in theologicalological Studies. She's a mother of three and married to Adam Carter. And she is a cool person who actually loves people and loves God and loves her family.

You're telling me she's got a grad degree? What kind of grad degree? She has her Master's of Theological Studies from Beeson Divinity School. You know, that means a lot to me to hear that because this is a woman who is very well accomplished. She knows how to travel. She knows how to get around. For Pete's sake, she's got a graduate degree. That's not easy in any subject, much less theology. With me, her family joining us. We are begging you today for help. Jackie, as soon as you can, I need that tip line. Back to you, Brady McLaughlin joining us. Brady, you've told me a lot about her, but she's a wife and a mother as well. Tell me about that. Yeah, she has three kids. Her youngest daughter turns three on Monday, and she has two other children who are five and seven, two other boys.

Two boys, five and seven, And what's the other child, the third? A daughter, her daughter, who's turning three Monday. Five, seven, and three. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. What have they been told about mommy missing? Her husband, Adam, has been actively involved in the search, either in Memphis and in Birmingham, coordinating with family and law enforcement. and he's been FaceTiming them at least twice a day talking to them and trying to uh you know share the story with them and and give them encouragement that that hopefully mom will be home by birthday time so that's kind of that's kind of how that's going thankfully the the kiddos are with family members there in Kansas City area and um they're with. Okay, back it up just one moment. I was just there in Kansas City on an RV trip. Beautiful. Small world. Yeah, residential area. Lovely.

Let me ask you a question. You mentioned the husband. Got two big questions. Brady McLaughlin, are you her husband's brother or are you her sister's husband? I'm her sister's husband. Her sister, younger sister, Melinda, I'm Melinda's husband. Okay. Tell me about the husband. Where was he, the pastor, and what church is it, when she goes missing? He's the pastor of Leawood Baptist Church in Leawood, Kansas, which is near Overland Park. And your other question was, where was he when she went missing? Yeah.

She left the home on Saturday evening. She was traveling to Birmingham to seek some mental health help. Now, I understand she had a sleep disorder, correct? I don't know that to be true. I know she was having some difficulty sleeping recently. Yeah, you know what? My mom has lived through that for years. Ever since I was a little girl, she'll be up all night and still is. She lives with me here.

I hear her walking around all night. She's got a sleep disorder. And she has gone to the sleep clinic and that sleep clinic and this sleep clinic. She still has it. And it can drive you to distraction. I mean, they used to do that to POWs. They would keep them awake all night long, 24-7, and it drives you to distraction.

Now, has she ever left her children alone like this before? Has she taken off on a walkabout and forgot to come back home? No, ma'am. Not that I know of as her brother-in-law, but the children weren't alone. They were with her husband and their dad, Adam, at the house. So she would, her history, I mean, come on, Brady, when you don't know a horse, look at her track record. I have never once left my children without supervision unless I had to go away to work and come back. And I was online with them the whole time spying on them.

Thankfully, here she is with her husband, thankfully. So the children were with the husband the entire time, correct? Yes, that's correct. Okay, so no offense, Brady McLaughlin, but statistically the first person we've got to look at is the husband, the ex, the ex-boyfriend. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up. So local police in Overland Park have already ruled that out. In fact, we've gotten multiple communications from them showing that there's no evidence of a crime being committed here.

This is purely a missing persons case. And it's a local Baptist church, correct? Not some zany cult that I got to worry about the cult members. It's just a Baptist church, right? Okay. And let me ask you this. The children, five, seven, and three, they're at home with dad when she goes missing. She gets in the car. It was a planned trip Saturday evening and she's driving from Kansas to Birmingham, correct? So on the planned trip piece, it's driving from Kansas to Birmingham correct so on the plan trip piece it looks like she decided to make her travels and she made those travel plans right around 630 that evening yeah and then left closer

to about 815 so not a lot of advanced planning is so the husband knew she was going is that correct oh yes all right said hey I'm gonna go ahead and make the trip down to Birmingham she had previous experience as a chaplain at two facilities she was looking at. So she was a lot more comfortable coming to Birmingham for those reasons. Plus there's family here. Oh, she has family. Right. You and her sister are there in Birmingham, correct?

Yes, plus three other siblings. Okay. Now let me ask you, how did she meet her husband i think they met after divinity school um and they they they also known each other since childhood uh okay now that's a big that that's a big time span you gave me i got to nail that down did they meet they've known each other since childhood but i think they reconnected after divinity gotcha okay yeah yep yep yep that makes sense and why are they they in Kansas when her whole family and all her relatives are in Birmingham? How'd that happen?

Great question. Glad you asked. They actually grew up in Kansas, my wife included. My wife was born in Kansas. They have ties to Birmingham, to Kansas City, and also to South Alabama and Fairhope. Where in South Alabama, may I ask? A small town called Fairhope there on the coastal community. Yeah, my father was from Hay Cody, which is near Op, which is near Mobile.

I have to tell a lot of that. So I'm very familiar with that area. Let me just say very, very low crime rate and very sparsely populated. My whole point is i was getting at so her whole family may be from birmingham and then they get a pastoral spot in kansas and she moves away from all our family and she doesn't like that but that's not the case at all she has roots in kansas a lot of her family grew up there and roots in birmingham So that's not the problem. Guys with me, Mary Lane Carter's brother-in-law, Brady McLaughlin. We are on a desperate search for this missing mom. She is

leaving three children behind and it would be over my cold dead body grabbing your neck in death before I would let you drag me away from my twins. Let me give you the tip line. 205-390-1003. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about a mom missing. Gorgeous young mom. If you want to look at her, go to CrimeOnline.com or see us at our Fox Nation program. You can see the photos of Marilyn Carter. Beautiful, loving, educated, a woman of God

majoring in divinity. How does she just seemingly disappear on a trip? She's not running away from home. She's not running from an abusive husband. Nothing like that, like we very often read about. This mom is on a trip driving from Kansas City to Birmingham. She's gone missing.

Please help us bring her home to her children. There's still a chance to get her home safe and alive. Tip line 205-390-1003. I was just talking to Marilyn's brother-in-law. He's married to her sister. Let's bring in the rest of the panel so we can try to analyze the clues left behind. With me, Ken Belkin. Ken Belkin is a veteran New York criminal defense attorney,

and you can find him at BelkinLaw.com, B-E-L-K-I-N. Dr. Debbie Jaffe Ellis, psychologist and adjunct professor, Columbia University. You can find her at DebbieJaffeEllis.com, and I love to argue with her. Karen Smith, joining me from L.A., forensics expert, lecturer, University of Florida, and host of Shattered Souls podcast, Sierra Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, and crack reporter, Lee Egan with Crime Online, journalist and reporter. Let's kick it off. Lee Egan, you heard everything the brother-in-law said, and he told me a lot, all right, which is saving you from a grilling, Lee Egan,

because now I know the husband is not a suspect. He's not even a person of interest. And the reason is we have evidence that he's in Kansas City while she's on her way driving to Birmingham. Just tell me, give it to me in a nutshell, Lee Egan, how do I know husband is not involved? Hit me. Well, husband has been very, very vocal about finding his wife. Don't care. Sorry, but don't care. So is Shanann Watts' husband, Chris Watts. Remember that desperate plea? Absolutely. Don't care about how vocal they are if they go to vigils or they don't go to. Well, I do care if they don't go to the vigil, but give me the hard evidence, Lee. Do I have phone calls? Can I trace him through social? Do I have eyewitnesses placing

him in Kansas after she's left and proof that she's alive after she left the home? That's what I want to hear. I love vigils. I do. They raise awareness, but I want hard evidence, Lee Egan. How do I know? Okay. We do know for sure law enforcement did confirm he was in Kansas. We do have her alive in a hotel. I believe it was a Quality Inn in West Plains, Missouri at around 3.37 a.m. on August 2nd. Okay, wait. Let me digest what you're saying. Hold on. You know I was just in missouri as well we did the cross-country rv trip went to missouri uh louis you don't want to hear about everything

we did in missouri but i know exactly where you're talking about okay so you know what she did something very smart which is something i should have done a lot of times I'm on a road trip and that is stop at a hotel or a motel instead of forcing myself to drive through the dark and the rain and the late hours so let me understand this Lee Egan we have Marilyn Carter mom of three ages three five and, checking in until we think a quality in in Missouri, while the husband is absolutely verified and confirmed at home in Kansas City, correct? How do I know she checked in? We have surveillance. The hotel did hand over security footage to law enforcement,

and friends and family have verified that absolutely is her checking in at around 3.30, 7 a.m., and it is for sure the quality ends in West Plains, Missouri. Okay, I'm writing all this down, West Plains, Missouri, and I can tell you from my travels that I just went through Missouri, West Plains, Missouri, very, very low crime rate. So statistically, not saying it couldn't happen, but statistically, she was not murdered, raped, kidnapped, carjacked in West Plains, Missouri. If she was, that would be a statistical anomaly. So let's go down another avenue. She checked in. Whoa, whoa, wait. Now, I seem to recall she checked in, but she didn't stay very long, did she? She did not.

She only stayed about three and a half hours, and she left out and drove towards Memphis, Tennessee. Hold on. Is that the correct route? Would that be the correct route? Looking at a map, I would assume so. The family said that she's taken this route many, many times. Oh, wait. I know it's the right route.

Okay. I hate to keep saying RV. But on the way back from the west, from Yellowstone, we had gone through Missouri. We came back, and we went through Memphis to Birmingham back home. So, yes, that is the correct route. Yeah, I remember that from our trip. Joining me is Sierra Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, along with Lee Egan.

Sierra, what more can you tell me? So, she leaves after three hours. I'm wondering if she just went into the room and took a nap and then got ready and left. Nancy, that's what it sounds like. I mean, she left a little bit later on Saturday evening. So, it sounds like she was just getting tired. You know how it is on the road when you're alone.

Nothing to kind of keep you awake. So it sounds like she checked in 3.37 a.m. She left at 6.08 a.m. And something I think that's very interesting we need to point out is on Sunday, she was speaking to her husband, Adam Carter, on the phone and the call dropped. Then about 15 minutes later, she was speaking on her cell phone with her mom and the call dropped again. And those are the last known times anybody in her family has actually spoken to her. Okay. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That was on Sunday? Yes. Okay, and she took off driving on Saturday.

To Ken Belkin, New York criminal defense attorney joining us. Ken Belkin, I was earlier saying that statistically she did not befall violent crime there in West Plains, Missouri, based on the crime rate. The reality is statistics cannot come into evidence at trial. For instance, if I were trying a burglary case in a low crime area or a burglary case in a high crime area, the defense attorney could not say, well, statistically, you're highly prone to have a burglar in this area. How do you know it's my guy? Statistics can't come in. Why, Ken Belkin?

Statistics are, you know, they're not relevant to any of the allegations, really. They're not probative as to whether it's less or more likely that a particular defendant who is accused of a crime actually did or did not do that crime. They're just evidence of some sort of larger pattern. We look really at the nitty-gritty and the fine details when you dive into a case and take it to trial. trying to prove Jackie right there murdered Brett right there. And the statistical likelihood of coworkers killing each other before my very eyes is very low. That would prove she didn't do it. But I and eyewitness saw it.

That proves she did do it. But we're not in a court of law. So would you agree with me that since the statistical crime rates are very low in West Plains, highly doubtful anything happened to her there? Extremely doubtful. I mean, in a place where crime rates are so low, you, but we know she checked in at the Quality Inn at West Plains, 3.37 a.m. We think she slept for three hours. She got up and left 6.08 a.m. That would have been Sunday morning. Remember, she left Saturday evening, husband at home with the children.

She calls hubby Adam Carter and mom Sunday. They both calls drop. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about Marilyn Carter, a young mom of, now missing, seemingly dropping off the face of the earth. Take a listen to our friends at ABC. Concern is growing by the day. Carter only stayed at that Missouri hotel about three hours before she was seen leaving alone. From there, the last phone contact was Sunday in Memphis.

We are devastated because she has three small children and they cry every night. They're trying to find, they're asking for their mommy. Her husband loves her so much. Carter's mother said she talked with her daughter frequently as she drove to Birmingham to visit family. But the phone went dead in this area in West Memphis under the I-55 bridge at a walking trail. We don't have any record of her leaving this area and so this is the last known spot that we know she was. Her family has searched along with law enforcement. Carter was traveling to be with her sister who was having a baby

and also to get counseling in Birmingham for sleep issues. Guys, the sleep issues. I wonder how that weighs into this. I mean, I'm talking from first-hand experience with my mom, and she's had sleep issues since I was a little girl. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, hearing her practice on our piano for church choir on Sunday morning, playing all these elaborate classical pieces at 3 o'clock in the morning. She couldn't sleep, no matter how much she tried. Did that weigh into this woman, Marilyn Carter's decision-making? Also, take a listen to our friends at WMC Action News 5. This is Janice Broach. Credit card statement shows she got gas in West Memphis. Relatives stayed in touch with her during the drive until the phone went dead on the Arkansas side of the I-55 bridge. Her mother said she mentioned being lost. Her family searched all over the area below the

bridge last week. Now they want to rule out the worst case scenario that her car somehow went into the river. The Coast Guard might do a search like that. In a statement, the Coast Guard said it is aware of the missing woman, but likely would not search without evidence a person or vehicle went into the river. Adam Carter is a pastor in Overland Park, Kansas, where friends have set up a Facebook page called Finding Mary Lane in a desperate attempt to find her. He hopes a search on the river can provide answers. Our three kids miss her. I miss her. We want to have her home. I've learned a lot in the last few moments to Lee Egan, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter.

I learned she left the hotel alone. So everybody out there that may be thinking, oh, she's with her lover. She's with a boyfriend. She hooked up at a hotel. That's not true. There's no evidence anyone rendezvoused with her at the Quality Inn. She checked in alone. She left alone. In route, she called her husband, called drop, called her mom, called drop.

I'm very curious why the call drop. And last we have her, she's made it to West Memphis. We know that much. Then the trail seemingly goes cold. Joining me, Dr. Debbie Jaffe Ellis, psychologist, adjunct professor, Columbia University at DebbieJaffeEllis.com. Dr. Debbie, what do you tell her children at this time about mommy? I mean, first thing in the morning, Dr. Debbie, my daughter finds me no matter where I am, and we hug it out. Son finds me.

We kind of hug, and he immediately wants his fruit shake I made him. So wherever I am, they're like homing devices. They find me. What do you tell the children? Unfortunately, at this early stage in their life, they have an opportunity to learn that sometimes life doesn't go the way we expect. And I suppose what one could tell the children is a gentle version of the truth that right now we don't know where mummy is. And whatever happens, and this is really

important, that they know they're going to be safe, they're going to be loved, they're still going to have, and one could mention some of the things they enjoy in life, the people they enjoy if they have pets. So not to take away hope from the kids, to introduce in a language they understand. That happens in life sometimes, unexpected things. But let's see. And whatever happens, if worst thing happens and one doesn't have to spell it out, you're going to be okay, you're loved,

life will still be happy at times. Dr. Debbie. Yes, Nancy, give it to me. I don't like what you're saying, but I know what you're saying is right. But I don't like what you're saying, I don't like it. I don't want to tell a three-year-old, a five-year-old, a seven-year-old that we have no idea where mommy is. I don't know that I would tell them exactly like that.

I think I would lie. Is that wrong? I'd say mommy's on a trip. She'll be home. No, it's not wrong. No, it's not wrong. No, to have a thread of truth truth the mummy isn't here right now so that they don't you know concoct in their imagination some some things that that might upset them so I think in this case a white lie that has elements of truth

in it is fine and very importantly that things are going to be okay no matter what in in terms of that life if mummy doesn't return for any reason they'll you're still loved you are safe safety is key for them to know they are safe no matter what i'm hearing in my ear uh rejoining us is marilyn carter's brother-in-law brady mclaughlin brady thank you for taking time out i know this is a horrible subject and your sister is i mean your wife her sister is probably too raw emotionally to even talk about this what What are they telling the children? Yes, ma'am. So from what I understand from Adam and also her sisters,

they're telling the kiddos that hopefully mommy will be back for the birthday. And her daughter Anna will be three next Monday. And this is her first birthday that she actually really knows what's going on. And so she's actually excited about it and looking forward to it. So they're just telling all the kids that mommy and daddy both love them. We're working to find mommy. We don't know where she is. Okay.

But that's my understanding. You just convinced me of something, Brady, because I can at this moment remember my children's third birthday. It was a major blowout where I developed a theory, unless somebody throws up or gets a nosebleed, it just was not a good birthday party. It was a blowout. We jumped. We ran.

We climbed. We vomited cake. Not me, but them. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. And I know Mary Lane wants to be there. Speaking of what the husband, Adam, is saying, take a listen to our friends at KMBC 9. This is news anchor Rob Hughes with Adam speaking. I just told our three kids to be praying for mommy and we're going to find her.

It just might take a few days. Adam Carter has been in the Mid-South since Tuesday looking for his 36-year-old wife, Mary Lane. He lost contact with her when she disappeared Sunday night. Her phone went dead somewhere in the area of the I-55 bridge coming into Memphis. Her parents have spent days searching that area. New video is emerging at the beginning of Mary Lane's trip. Carter says that she texted him when she was checking into Equality Inn in West Plains, Missouri, several hours from her home. She stayed about three hours and left. Carter says he talked with his wife Sunday night and her phone went dead. About 15 minutes later, she talked with her mother and her phone went dead again and no more calls have been made since. Her credit cards

have also not been used. Carter, with the help of law enforcement, got a tip his wife was in DeSoto County Monday morning at a Shell gas station. We showed them pictures of her and they said they felt like they definitely had seen her. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about a missing mom of three, Marilene Carter, her husband, a pastor at a local church in Kansas. She's on her way driving Kansas to Birmingham and seemingly just disappears. They had mentioned, did the car drive into a body of water? But I find that difficult to believe with no sign of a car going over trees or, I mean,

bushes or undergrowth, no signs or location for a car to drive in, like go off a dock the way Susan Smith pushed her boys off a dock. Remember that, Jackie? No obvious spot for her to go into water. Plus, she was, I understand, at a bridge. If there's no sign she went over the bridge, how the hay would her car end up in water? Where is Mary Lane? With me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again.

Take a listen to our friends at ABC News Zerreen Shah. Authorities in an urgent search for a missing Kansas mom of three kids. Marilyn Carter was last seen six days ago in this surveillance video entering a hotel in Missouri. Police pouring through the video for clues and asking for the public's help. They say she left the hotel just three hours after checking in. Her phone appearing to go dead near Memphis, Tennessee. She's a mommy and she has a mommy's heart. You know, she would never do anything that would take her away from her family. She told family she was driving to Birmingham, Alabama, sleeping with her mom before vanishing without a trace.

It's been hard and all we can do is pray and keep looking. Loved ones are praying outside of the church where her husband is the lead pastor and desperately searching. If anyone out there sees anything, if you see her, please report it. To see our Gillespie CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, it means a lot to me. The husband didn't just sit on his thumb at home. He has traveled to the area and is searching along with her family. Is that right, Sierra? Because I mean, we've seen so many times where the husband just sits there and does nothing. And I don't like that. Yeah, Nancy, that's not the case at all here. Adam Carter has been very

vocal speaking with media trying to get out, you know, everything about Mary Lane, what she looks like, where she was last seen. And he did actually travel to that West Memphis area to search for her. That's where a lot of enforcement officials are searching, you know, by land and by air. I've seen several reports of that. And something we recently heard in that last news package, talking about how he is a lead pastor. They're a very religious family, both she and her husband are. Something I thought that was very sweet and touching is that at that church back home, they have a 24-7, it's around the clock, prayer vigil.

Because the family truly believes that relying on prayer, relying on prayer is the only way to go forward here. Well, I know this. Prayer does change things. I know that. Now joining me, forensics expert out of L.A., lecturer, University of Florida, host of podcast Shattered Souls, Karen Smith. Karen, we need you now more than ever. What should be happening now in the investigation? I want to talk about something that's really bothering me, Nancy, and it's the timeline. I'm going to go back to boots on the ground, shoe leather here. Let's talk about the timeline. She leaves Overland Park 8.15 p.m. on Saturday, August 1st.

Wait, wait. It's about a four and a half hour drive. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, yep. Okay. I'm trying to go through the timeline with you. I don't have a problem with the timeline when she gets to the quality end, but go ahead. Okay.

Well, from Overland Park to West Plains, about four and a half, five hour drive. She checks in at about 3.15 in the morning. There's two hours missing there, Nancy. We don't know where she went. Two to three hours are missing in that timeline. So she checks out about 6 a.m. according to official documents, and then she's driving to Memphis. That is about three hours. Hey, hey, you know what? I hear what you're saying, but for all I know, she stopped at Target to get something. Maybe so. But I know she's alive and alone and in a working vehicle in the quality in West Plains.

A problem happens after that. That's right. And she checks out about 6 a.m., but then her phone pings at 8 p.m. that night. That is only a three and a half hour drive. We're dealing with a 14 hour timeline here, Nancy. You're right. What happened? Does her car have GPS? Does she have OnStar? Are there other ways? You have to find the car. We've got to find her GMC Acadia, the 2011. I don't know whether it's supplied with OnStar. Let me follow up on that right now. Lee Egan, a GMC Acadia. What more can you tell me about the vehicle? Color, stickers, damage to the car, scrapes, what? It is a 2011 GMC Acadia, Kansas license plate number 194LFY. L as in leaf, F is in feather, Y is in year.

No known scratches and no known damage to the car. What color? It's a dark gray. Dark gray. To you, Brady McLaughlin, is that correct? 2011 GMC Acadia, dark gray? Ma'am, that is correct. No stickers, no front tag on it.

Nothing else that would be unique to identify it apart from another, you know, GMC Acadia like that. Not even a church sticker or my kids on the honor roll, nothing like that? You would think, but I can send you a picture of both their cars, and both of them don't have any stickers. They're pretty bland on their cars. Would you? Would you send me the picture? Jack, if you could get that, because I'd like to post it for everybody to look at it, Crime Online,

and here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Guys, I don't understand how she and her car can just disappear. Back to Karen Smith, forensics expert, joining me. You can hear her at Shattered Souls podcast. Karen, I know that you're right, that we've lost some hours, but I'm cutting through the chase and I've got her alive at this spot. Now, how does a car and a woman just disappear? There's no evidence she ran off the bridge. There's no evidence of a vehicle going into the water. What more can we do well you know we know that her cell phone was dropping off now we don't know if her battery was dying or if it was a purposeful switch off of her phone we don't know these things she left in a hurry nancy and when

you leave in a hurry i have left my cell phone charger at home and drives me crazy did she forget it did she forget her cell phone charger something that simple i'm trying to use the the law of parsimony here well you know what you're right you lose phone battery i've done it too i have done it too i've even gone exercising jogging and my phone actually goes dead uh and it happens to the best of us the most careful people to Ken Belkin, New York criminal defense attorney at BelkinLaw.com. Ken, let me ask you to join Karen Smith, a forensics expert, and your experience. What should cops, investigators, family be doing right now? Well, there's a lot of things they could be doing. Cell phone tracking. I think they should look at the make and model of that car and determine, you know, how far it can go on a full tank of gas. And I think they should really look into those gas stations within that range from where she was last sighted.

I think that would be the most useful. I think you're right about that because isn't it true, Sierra Gillespie, somebody says they saw her at a gas station and they gave her 10 or 20 bucks for gas because she's got credit cards. She's got ATMs. Why would she even do that? Nancy, that is correct. They have received a tip. It hasn't been officially confirmed that it was Mary Lane, but somebody said they saw this woman matching the description at a gas station. And she said the reason she needed some cash or gas money was that her credit cards weren't working at the time. That doesn't sound right. She just used her credit card at Quality Inn. What do you know about that tip, Brady McLaughlin?

Yes, her credit cards are still activated, and they're still on. The law enforcement hasn't turned on her active credit card monitoring, where I guess they can see any time charges come up and where it's located in real time. Guys, the more questions we ask, the more confusing it becomes, but this is what I do know. There is a husband who seemingly is innocent of any involvement and three little children who want Mommy home.

Won't you help us bring Mary Lane home? The tip line, 205-390-1003. Repeat, 205-390-1003. Please help us bring Mary Lane home. Goodbye, friend. But beneath the glamour, it's also a breeding ground for bizarre, historic, and unforgettable crimes. My name is Madison McGee. You might know me from my podcast Ice Cold Case, where for the last three years I've been investigating my father's murder. But now I've embedded myself into the LA Times crime beat to bring you not only some of the juiciest cases,

but what it takes to be a gritty crime reporter in a giant metropolis. From LA Times Studios comes its latest series, LA Crime. From deep dives into the Menendez brothers to conversations about why Bravo TV seems to be a hotbed of white-collar criminals, we'll cover it all. The solved, the unsolved, the love triangles gone wrong, you get the idea.

Tune in every Wednesday starting May 21st wherever you stream your podcasts. You can also watch the episodes on YouTube and Spotify. You don't want to miss this. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.