Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - School Teacher Strangled in bed; Daughter, 11 downed in family tub.

Episode Date: October 11, 2021

Allison Abitz, 43, was found strangled to death in her home. Her 11-year-old daughter, Jozee, was also found, drowned in the bathtub. A short time later, two other relatives are also found murdered and the hunt is one for a killer. A motorcycle is found behind the home of victims Daniel Stephan, and his wife Pamela. The bike belongs to JT McLean, Abitz's long-time boyfriend. The long haul trucker was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in South Dakota, hundreds of miles from the scene of the crimes.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Wendy Patrick - California prosecutor, author “Red Flags” www.wendypatrickphd.com 'Today with Dr. Wendy' on KCBQ in San Diego, Twitter: @WendyPatrickPHD Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA www.angelaarnoldmd.com, 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 Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Featured on "The Piketon Massacre: Return to Pike County" on iHeartRadio Angenette Levy - Emmy-nominated Reporter & Anchor, Twitter: @Angenette5 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. A double murder, including the death of an 11-year-old little girl. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How did it all start? Take a listen to our friends at ABC 17. Late Sunday night, Boone County Sheriff's Office responded to the victim's home on Lavender Drive, south of Columbia, after getting a call from a concerned family member. Their deputies found 43-year-old Allison Abitz and her daughter Josie dead in their home. This school year would have been Allison's sixth year with Fulton Public Schools.

A co-worker from Allison's previous job at Tipton Elementary said students in both districts will need support from the losses. I think the first action is building that community and letting them know that there's counseling services available whether it's a staff member or family member or students that are involved that were impacted by the loss of Allison and her daughter. I have reached out to the Boone County Sheriff's Office this morning for more information on the double homicide investigation. So far, the office doesn't know if there's a current danger to the public, but says that anyone who's willing to murder a child should be considered unpredictable. To murder a child, of course, family and friends devastated, including all of her little classmates. Just think about your child at age 11. So tender, so pure, so sweet. And all the classmates finding out this little girl, little Josie, was murdered. Take a listen to our cut number one, KRCG-TV13.

Boone County Sheriff's investigators have released few details surrounding the double homicide of Allison and Josie Abbott. They say a worried relative called Boone County deputies about 11 p.m. Sunday before officers found their bodies in their home along Lavender Drive. Fulton Public School Crisis Counselors are helping students and faculty cope with the loss of their former teacher and the loss of their former 11-year-old classmate. We reached out to particular families that especially that we knew had close ties with the student and we've invited them in and anybody else who wanted to come in and meet with those individuals. These Facebook photos from the Columbia acro and tumbling team show Josie Abbots was heavily involved with acrobatic gymnastics. Head coach Heather Zupp

sent KRCG a statement saying Josie was so sweet and her teammates and coaches loved her her cute somewhat mischievous smile would always light up the gym or the competition floor and they're right she had a beautiful smile and I you could just see uh the the energy coming out of this 11 year old little girl who should be worried about her next tumbling event or what the school cafeteria has for lunch. She's dead. Murdered. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. Thanks for being with us here at Fox Nation Series XM 111. I want to introduce you an all-star panel to make sense, if we can, of it. First of all, California Prose California prosecutor Wendy Patrick, author of Red Flags and host of Today with Dr. Wendy, KCBQ, renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Angela Arnold,

joining us out of Atlanta. You can find her at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, death investigator, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon joining us, and Emmy-nominated reporter, anchor, Anjanette Levy. Anjanette, thank you so much for being with us. Tell me about this area. I know it's Boone County. That's Columbia, Missouri, correct? Yeah, and it's just, you know, it's a smaller city. It's not a big, big city like Kansas City or something like that. And, you know, this little girl, Josie, obviously living with her mother in their home. They were found both murdered there in August. I know that the population is only about 100,000, maybe 120,000 in the entire metro area of Columbia, Missouri.

And for an area that's spread out, that's a very, very low population, which in my mind is a statistic that helps me figure out who did this double murder. I'm going to circle back to you on that, Joe Scott. But first, you know what? Actually, let's talk about that first. When you come into a double murder scene, what is the first thing you do? Well, after securing the scene, Nancy, I'm going to... Well, see, when you say something like that, not everybody knows what you're talking about. When you're talking about securing the scene, let's just start with that. First of all, the area surrounding.

You've got 120,000 people dispersed over a large geographic area, which tells me low population, low crime rate. You don't expect this to happen there. where you've got dopers shooting up literally on the street, shooting up, people breaking into these really, really exclusive stores, breaking through the glass to do a grab-and-run, just walking out with high-end merchandise, nobody stopping them after police defunding. So it's not like we're in Manhattan looking over our shoulders for a shooting in Times Square.

We're in Columbia, Missouri. What does that tell you, Joe Scott? Well, specifically because it's Columbia, Missouri, I know that we've got a transient population there because that's the home of the University of Missouri. And so you've got a major interstate that's running through there as well, Nancy. And, you know, I've got to tell you, but the scene itself is something that you want to complete. Wait a minute. Yeah, okay. Just trip that off your tongue.

Wait a minute. You know how I like to talk about Shasta and Dylan Groney in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Remember them? Where they're at an extremely remote forested area where they live with their family in Coeur d'Alene. And when you go over it on a plane, which I have, you see nothing but emerald green. You don't see a skyline. You don't see any smoke come up. It's all rural. But some perv was going by on the interstate that you just mentioned, happened to look over and in the distance saw Shasta, Groney, a little girl, and Brother Dylan, and they were getting into an above-ground pool.

And that's all it took. He pulled right off the interstate, lay in wait, killed the whole family, took the children, raped and sodomized them until raped and sodomized the little boy until he died playing some sex game with this child and Shasta was ultimately saved because the idiot took her

into like a 7-Eleven and we had covered it so much the cashier recognized Shasta Groney. That's how they got caught. Happenstance. So when you say a major thoroughfare goes through, we cannot discount that, Joe Scott. No, we can't. And, you know, lots of times with cases like this,

one of the things that you're thinking about when you have a major artery that runs through a location like that, one of the things you're thinking about is, is this a crime of opportunity? You know, was there something that flashed before potential perpetrators eyes that caught them that kind of hooked into whatever their twisted psychology is that they wanted to go and eradicate two people. And again, not just an adult. And that that's tragic. You know, mama is tragic when you're talking about this 11 year

old little girl and, you know, her whole life is school and tumbling. Again, that kind of goes to the horrific nature of that. So you have to be very, very careful at the scene, Nancy, because you don't know if it's going to be somebody that's in the intimate circle of these individuals or is it a complete stranger where this is a stranger on stranger crime wait a minute wait a minute you know what's coming to mind right now all the speculation that surrounded the death of john benet ramsey because her mother had her and all of these beauty pageants yes which i'm not commenting either pro or con child beauty pageants because that would be a whole nother hour what i'm talking about is it widens your pool of suspects who who was at those tumbling events those gymnastic

meets i've taken the twins to them and they've competed in them before well not really competed they showed what they had learned that semester okay okay, in their tumbling class. They might turn a somersault. Anyway, how do I know who's up in the stands watching them? You have no idea. You have no idea whatsoever. Like you didn't know who was going to those beauty pageants where JonBenet was. No, you don't.

And this is the thing about it, and as tragic as it is, you know, when you have a case like this and you have to consider what circles the individuals move in. Nancy, keep in mind, mom's a public educator, you know, and so you don't know who she may have come in contact with. Maybe it's students that she had years and years ago or parents or anything like that. And as an investigator, I'm not dismissing anything, particularly when I first walk onto a scene, I am going to suspect everybody, and I'm jaded that way, okay? I think I'm being deceived at any point in time, and I have to account for that. Because you know what? You get one bite at the apple, you can't unring the bell.

Any kind of metaphor you want to put to it, you only get one shot to do this right the first time. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about a double murder. The double murder of an 11-year-old little girl, Josie Abbots and Allison Abbots. I want to circle back to our special guest joining us, Anjanette Levy, Emmy-nominated reporter and anchor. Let's talk about what we've just heard, the fascination that some moms have with putting their children on display. And I'm not saying don't be proud. I'm super proud. And I will, you know, send out pictures of the twins doing something I'm especially proud of.

Or little things, like they suddenly decide they're going to cook dinner one night, and I'm just so knocked out by that I take a picture and post it. I don't want to come down on parents who are so proud and they post pictures of their children. But, you know, when you take them to public events like gymnastic events, you never know who's up in the stands, Wendy Patrick. No, you don't. But in a small town, you're more likely to recognize people in the stands, which is one significant distinction between this case and many others that we've discussed, is in a small town, you may not recognize all the faces. But when you look at kind of who hangs around with who, who is maybe seen afterwards, you do sometimes see this community protection, almost community neighborhood watch being a little bit more,

especially if there are unfamiliar faces. So that might be a benefit in terms of where does an investigation go in a case like this? You know, I'm also thinking about what we just heard, Dr. Angela Arnold, about the counseling for her other little friends at age 11. I want to ask you about that, but first I want to talk to you about pervs. I do believe pervs show up all the time at these events, especially like little girl tumbling matches. I mean, we just saw what that freak Nassar did to our Olympian girls. He's a freak, and I hope he stays in jail the rest of his life. Maybe he'll get a little dose in jail of what he did to those young girls. But what I'm saying is who is up in the stands at these little girl pageants and tumbling shows, all that? Well, they're not going to go to old

folks' mingo, are they? Because the perv is going to go where the pickings are good, aren't they? I mean, isn't it true that some people actually, some pedophiles actually get a kick? They get sexual pleasure just watching children without even ever touching them. They do. And unfortunately, they also get sexual pleasure out of like trying to become close to them. So you know how we always tell our children to be polite. And if somebody speaks to you to speak back and things like this, well, guess what, Nancy, we shouldn't be telling our children that. We should be telling our children not to speak to strangers because unfortunately, those very strangers are going in and trying.

Unfortunately, I have treated pedophiles in my past, and they have told me how they stick around places close to schools, and they slowly befriend children. And then the mother becomes a little bit more comfortable or the nanny, whoever is taking care of the child, becomes a little bit more comfortable. And it takes them a very long time to work on their prey. Okay? They do it very slowly so that it's not really noticed. And we need to be teaching our children about this, Nancy. Yes. What more do we know about the victims? Because when you don't know where to start, you start with what you've got. You try to, based on the bodies themselves

and extrinsic evidence, like when were they last seen? When did they last post on social media? When was there a last, a known phone call from one of them or a text or an insta you look at the bodies to determine the time of death if you can you look at extrinsic evidence when they were last seen to help you establish time of death and you look at who are your victims now we know we've been talking about the little 11 year old girl josie but what about allison abbott's Take a listen to our cut number three. This is Jessica Hart, TV 13. Allison and Josie lived in the house behind me here on Lavender Drive in Columbia. Allison was a second grade school teacher at Fulton Public Schools, and her daughter Josie was about to enter the sixth grade.

And when school starts on Wednesday for Fulton, they'll be without a beloved teacher and classmate. Fulton Public Schools Superintendent Ty Cr a beloved teacher and classmate. Fulton Public School Superintendent Ty Crane says they're devastated by the news. He adds they're bringing in crisis counselors for their faculty tomorrow and school counselors will be available for students this week. I also spoke with neighbors who say Allison and Josie moved to the neighborhood recently and are deeply saddened by the news. They say just last week Josie was selling lemonade and bracelets right outside her house. The neighbors say they had no idea what happened until police knocked on their doors late last night. One woman I spoke with recalls seeing Allison either on Thursday

or Friday, but didn't see her or Josie this weekend. Several of the neighbors have been in contact with one another, and there are a lot of families who live in this neighborhood. Neighbors right now are just saying they're just trying to process everything and get through it. And let's take a listen to more from Channel Porter, ABC 17, I cut four. At this time, Captain Brian Lear could only confirm that Boone County deputies were in Calloway County last night for part of the investigation. No arrests have been made at this time, and it's also still unclear on whether the act was random or not, or if there's a threat to the community. Questions still remain on what happened to Allison Abbott's and her 11-year-old daughter Josie on Sunday night. Both were found dead inside their home on Lavender Lane. While

the investigation and the search for answers continues, the community is remembering both Josie and her mom. Heather Zepp is the head coach of the Columbia Acro and Tumbling team, a team that Josie was on for the past six years. She told me Josie was able to compete in the USA Gymnastics National Championship in June and had big goals for the upcoming season. Zepp said Josie was a hard worker, strong competitor, and loved by her coaches and teammates. Wow. Okay, Joe Scott, let's talk about that as it relates to who could have done this crime, a double murder, a mom, and her 11-year-old little girl. Josie had been on this gymnastics team six years and had already competed in the USA

Gymnastics and National Championship in June. That sounds like her dream was to be an Olympian. My point is that at big competitions like that, there's a big audience, which increases my suspect pool, all the pervs that could be sitting up in those stands. But let's narrow it down. This happened in their home on Lavender Drive. What does it tell you as a criminologist that they were killed inside their home? It's significant because now you're not talking about, you know, where this is, you know, done out on a public street or something like this. This is in an intimate space, Nancy, And that's, that's the key here.

You're talking about familial space, you know, where you have parties, you have Christmas, you celebrate, you live your life. All right. And it's a protected area. You know, maybe at night, your doors are locked, your windows are shut, but this perpetrator actually felt comfortable enough to go in to this protected space where families normally do feel safe, right? And essentially, essentially execute these two people in their sleep. And when I say people, I'm talking about a mother and her child. You know, who would have that kind of anger, that kind of anger that would promote this kind of thing?

You're not talking about two grown men that get into a knife fight in a back alley. You're talking about a defenseless mama and her little girl that are brutally killed within their own home. So automatically for me, I'm beginning to narrow this down. You talked about broadening relative to going to matches, but when you get into the space like this, you're thinking, who has the motivation to go into it? And who has the familiarity to move around inside of this environment? Who knows the lay of the land, if you will, that they feel comfortable enough to go in to their spaces, into bedrooms, for instance, and perpetrate such a crime.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. What we're learning, Anjanette Levy, is that there was not a forced entry, there was not a burglary, there was not a robbery, and there was not a sex attack on either that we know of, the mother, Allison, or the 11-year-old little girl, Josie Abbots. They're in their home. This is not like a drive-by road rage. You can solve that by trying to call the street cam. This is not a hit-and-run. This is not a snatch-and-run where they grab your pocketbook and take off running. This is not where they try to get the car and shoot the mom and daughter.

I mean, those are all very different scenarios of how these two could die. But this was in their home where they were unprotected and there's no other signs of a motive, no rape, no theft, no forced entry, car still there. So what more do we know about the crime scene itself, Anjanette? Well, we know that, um, we know that Allison, the mother was found in her bed and she only had a t-shirt on and it had been pulled up around her neck. But wasn't it used to strangle her? That I don't know, but she had been strangled. So you would probably draw that conclusion based on the fact she's only wearing that and it was pulled up around her neck that possibly that was used to strangle her. Actually, that's a really good point. And Jeanette, was there any sperm on or in her body?

I am not aware of there being sperm on or in her body. Okay. So that goes back to no sex attack, but sexual in nature, because all she had on was a t-shirt and it was pulled up over her chest. So Joe Scott Morgan, someone, she's in bed and she only has on a t-shirt, but the perp didn't rape her and she is strangled dead. Okay. It's my understanding. What do you understand is the COD cause of death, Joe Scott? Well, you know, if she has been strangled, then that would be an asphyxial death. But, you know, Nancy, I got to say, if you get into this environment, this is not like shooting someone.

Okay. This is very up-close, personal, just like Anjanette had mentioned, and intimate. And that's the key here. And it's also, and this goes more to Dr. Angie, but I will say this, the reality is this, is that this is power. This is power over somebody that's probably weaker than you, where you're dominating them in bed. And hey, one of the most vulnerable spots that you can be in is in your night clothes, you know, wearing a t-shirt and that's maybe you've got on underwear, but that's how you're sleeping. An individual comes in and they can dominate you.

This is called an asymmetrical relationship. We see it in sex attacks a lot where they're literally on top of you and they are choking the life out of you. And that's very intimate. It's very, very personal personal and it indicates as death investigator to me it indicates a lot of rage i got something else for you wendy patrick dr angie jump in while the mother is strangled we think with her own t-shirt in bed not sex attacked In fact, the daughter, the little 11-year-old girl, is drowned in the bathtub. Okay, for anybody not in the criminal field, that is a mind twister. Because you've got these two M.O.s in the same home, probably within the same very brief time period. He drowns the girl

and strangles the mom, we think, with her own T-shirt. Wendy Patrick, that's unusual. Yeah, you know, it's not only unusual, it is just so depraved. It indicates a level of rage, anger that goes above and beyond. You know, in domestic violence cases, we often see strangulation demonstrated as a means to kill. And otherwise, sometimes the intent is not to kill, but to show that the perpetrator is able to do it. When you actually have death occurring as a result of this, it not only indicates that very personal nature of the relationship, by the way, which is also indicated by the circumstances, no forced entry, intimate space, et cetera. But to kill the daughter also, Nancy, in that very up close and personal fashion, that just goes above and beyond in terms of the emotional

dynamics and the motive behind this horrible killing. Guys, we're talking about the death of an 11-year-old little girl, Josie Abbots, and her mother, Allison. So given no connection to the underworld, she's not a dope dealer, she's not a prostitute, she hasn't got a criminal history. In other words, she's not fraternizing with other known criminals, it really reduces your suspect pool in a certain way. Now, to throw another wrench in the works, another couple ends up dead. Take a listen to reporter Layla Mitchell, ABC 17. I am right across the street from the house where the two victims, 74-year-old Daniel Stephon and 64-year-old Pamela Stephon, were found last night.

Now, today I was able to speak to a neighbor who asked to stay anonymous, but she told us the Stephons were great people. Take a listen. Just think about Dan and Pam, what an asset they were to this community. When you needed help, they were there. Now, that neighbor told me around 8.30 last night, officers were swarming the Stevens house here in Miller County on the 300 block of Route D in Kaiser. Officers were originally called to the house for a well-being check,

and upon arrival, they found both of the Stephans deceased. But how does the death of the Stephans relate back to the murders of Allison and Josie Abbott's? Or are they related? Well, I want you to take a listen to our cut number seven. This is reporter Mark Slabit with KRCG. These documents shed a light on the cause of death of Allison and Josie Abbott. Court records say Allison had bruises, along with her shirt wrapped around her neck, leading investigators to believe she was strangled. Those documents go on to say Josie was found in a nearby bathroom, submerged in a bathtub filled with water. Investigators say a witness told them McLean and the two victims were at the Abbott's home on August 21st. Court documents state McLean's vehicle is seen on a neighbor's video system

going into Alice's home on Lavender Drive that night and then leaving the next morning. Straight out to Anjanette Levy joining us, Emmy-nominated reporter and anchor. You can find her on Twitter at Anjanette5. Anjanette, isn't it true? So we've got this guy McClain, J.T. McClain's vehicle being spotted on neighborhood surveillance video. It could be a ring cam. It could be a red light cam. But they've got his vehicle. That doesn't mean he did the murder. But back to the couple that was found murdered, Pamela Stephan and Daniel Stephan, isn't it true that a motorcycle was found in a heavily wooded area near the Stephan's home? Yes, that's true. And it belonged to?

J.T. McClain. 45-year-old J.T. McClain. I mean, Joe Scott, vehicles, a man, and his motorcycle found near one double murder scene and you've got him driving his vehicle to another double murder scene the night of the murder. Find him immediately. This is somebody that you find him. You darn right. This is somebody you're going to want to really put the screws to, Nancy, and find out what his connection is to all of these individuals. Not individuals, Nancy. Let's say murder victims. You're going to want to determine what his relationship is between all of these individuals.

Because, listen, as you pointed out at the top of the show, Nancy, this is an isolated area. This is underpopulated, if you will. All right. How can you find this individual as quickly as you possibly can? Because other people might be in danger. For all you know, you've got a wild, raving maniac running across the countryside that's picking up people or picking out people in their own private residences, Nancy, and killing them. So bottom line, note to self, don't leave my Harley parked behind the double homicide scene, okay? So he is saying, Joe Scott Morgan is saying correctly, what's the connection to this guy and these murder victims? Take a listen to our friend Hannah Falcon, Cut 12, ABC 17. Since McLean had ties to cities all over the country,

a nationwide hunt began. September 8th, a motorcycle McLean was believed to have stolen was found outside a Miller County house. Inside, investigators found relatives of McLean's ex-wife, Daniel and Pamela Stephen, dead. And McLean was once again the suspect of a double homicide. Detectives say he stole the Stephans' truck and fled the state. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace anjanette levy the steffans were relatives of his ex-wife so who are the abbots to him

yeah abbots allison abbots was his longtime girlfriend and and obviously Josie is Allison's daughter. So he was in a relationship with Allison. And Nancy, he had some issues with his ex-wife as well and their child. So there's a lot of issues, it seems like, with this guy and women that he's involved with and their children. Guys, take a listen to our cut 13. This is Alex Fulton, KOMU8. I spent the day talking to neighbors in the Miller County Sheriff's Office, which you can see right behind me. Authorities say they found McLean's motorcycle in the woods behind the Steffens' home. Officers then traced back that motorcycle to McLean. Neighbors confirmed

to me that the Steffens lived on 315 Route D in Kaiser. Investigators say McLean stole their pickup truck and drove it to South Dakota. Neighbors remember seeing police cars at the home until 1 a.m. this morning. Authorities at the Miller County Sheriff's Office could not provide further details as the investigation is still ongoing. And all the neighbors I spoke to today say they're still grieving the loss. They all noted the Stephens' work in the community and how they were always there to help. One even told me every time she looks across the street, she remembers the loss. So what is that psychopathy to Dr. Angela Arnold? You heard Anjanette Levy say he, McClain, JT McClain, age 45, had problems with his ex-wife and her children. And now he has reportedly murdered a girlfriend, Allison Abbott,

and her little girl, 11-year-old Josie. So, Nancy, he cannot seem to get along with anyone, can he? So this is an access to disorder, which is called antisocial personality disorder. And these people put on a face, and their emotions are all a sham, and they pretend like they get along with people, and that's why he can go from one relationship to another. But really and truly, their emotions are not real. They are unable to love, and they have no conscience,

which is why they can do things like this. But this is an X. It is not an access one disorder, as we describe things in psychiatry. It is an access to disorder, which is a personality disorder. So this does not deem him insane. OK, this doesn't make him insane he's a very bad person well you're talking about how he can go from one woman to the next and totally con them like starting a new relationship shedding the old one like a snake and starting the new one while he was quite speaking of reptiles he was quite the chameleon because he changed his look too take a listen to taylor freeman and our cut 9KOMU. JT McLean is still not in custody.

Investigators say the suspect strangled his longtime girlfriend and drowned her daughter. The court unsealed the probable cause documents today. This case started eight days ago when police found Allison Abbots and her 11-year-old daughter Josie dead in their Boone County home. Abbots was a second grade teacher at Bush Elementary in Fulton. Josie was going to start middle school. The court documents show investigators found a Hy-Vee receipt at the house. They then found McLean and the victims on store surveillance video. Investigators say there's also neighborhood surveillance that shows McLean's car there. Late this afternoon, the Boone County Sheriff's Office posted photos of McLean from the past several years. The office says these photos show McLean with different haircuts

over the years. The Sheriff's Office included photos with and without facial hair. Okay, what does that tell you, Joe Scott Morgan, that the cops have several pictures of McLean over the years with different haircuts and styles? Tells me that he's had contact with the cops over this period of time, doesn't it? That he's interacted potentially with them, that he's on the radar. He's somebody that is significant, Nancy, in all of this. And this is the thread that runs through. We're talking about the motorcycle. We're talking about, you know, these two poor victims in the house. You know the name that came to mind just a second ago, Nancy? Andrea Yates.

I was thinking about that little girl, the 11-year-old girl in the bathtub, and it just absolutely chills me to the absolute bone. 11-month-old Mary, I think. Oh, my God. And I'm just thinking, you know, how in the world can somebody do this, Nancy? You know, and another thing, they've got him at a Hy-Vee, which I think is like a food mart, with the victims. And it's just before the murders. Then they've got him going in and out in his vehicle to their home the day of the murders and you can time the TOD time of death pretty much when you've got a

strangulation and a drowning well more on the strangulation I would I would guess but some on the drowning depending if the water is warm or if the child was clothed or not clothed you you might be able to get a TOD and then sink it with the um extric forensic evidence like the receipt at the Hy-Vee, the video at the Hy-Vee, the neighborhood video surveillance showing him going in and out of the neighborhood. If you can get the time of death and then based on extrinsic evidence show he was there with them at the time of death, bam, there's your case, Joe Scott. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And then if the coroner hopefully did their job at the scene and they measured all of those changes that take place after death, rigor, body temperature, liver mortis, all of those things, and you marry all that stuff up together, Nancy,

you're producing a timeline there at that point in time where you can actually peg him back. Who else are you going to look for? Who else at this point in time are you going to tie back to this? He's going to be the number one suspect on my hit parade. Let's shed a little more light on what happened. Take a listen to our friend Peyton Headley, KOMU8. Well, right now we know the suspect is Allison Abbott's long-term boyfriend. He's currently the last known person to

be in contact with the Boone County mother and her daughter Josie. This is 45-year-old JT McLean. He's charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Now McLean currently has a warrant out for his arrest and a one million dollar bond. This mugshot was taken back in January of this year. We also know McLean is a truck driver and investigators say he goes by a few different names. Those are John McLean, Stephen Nagy and Stephen McLean. He has hair in these photos but investigators say he is known to completely shave his head. Investigators also say they are still looking for him. He was last known to live on County Road 355 in Callaway County. Investigators say he has ties to Las Vegas, Chicago, Columbia, Fulton, and St. Peter.

The Boone County Sheriff's Department says the probable cause was developed to believe McLean killed Allison and Josie. However, the motive behind the murder is still unknown. You know, Wendy Patrick, we're talking about all his different looks that the police happen to have pictures of. In other words, mug shots. And now we're hearing about how he'll shave his hair, redo his hair. You know what I love to do when I start, initiate a jury trial? Once you begin picking your jurors, you have to do it then and then later on, typically, is verbally and verbatim read the indictment handed down by the grand jury. And I loved nothing more than saying, for instance, Wendy Patrick, a.k.a. DJ Slimzy, a.k.a. Street Girl Wendy, a.k.a. WP, and all the aliases the defendant had.

Because the jury's like, what? If I found out my husband, David, had an alias, I would do a backflip. I would do a backflip. I would do a backflip on national TV. Because when you have to go by different names, there's something way wrong with that. The biggest question you would ask is why? The why? I don't think I would slow down to ask why.

If I suddenly found out David had an alias. And here you're finding out all his looks and all of his different names he's got. I mean, but we're also finding out, we found out earlier, I think Anjanette Levy had accurately reported that he had had trouble with his ex. Well, Jackie here in the studio researched that before today and found out the trouble was he threatened to stab his ex in the face. I'd call that trouble. Yeah, you know what's really frightening about that? So we've called this man a snake and a chameleon. enough to these families to be able to be inside their homes making these threats and nomadic in

the sense that this is a large geographical area he's got ties to different cities probably because he drives a truck but you're looking at a pattern that's being developed over a large area but that's very personal in nature he is threatening people close to him that have been close to him for some time. Remember, this was a longtime relationship with Allison. So to be able to allow somebody into your house, into your home, into your circle, your intimate circle, when you've got an 11-year-old daughter, that means that he was pretty good, not only at changing his opinion, but apparently hiding his personality.

Pretty darn slick, Anjanette. You are right we always say why do these mothers let these freaks around their children dr angie do they need a man that badly well i mean nancy it's i mean unfortunately it's not like they're letting someone that's not well groomed and and you know doesn't have manners these people are charming and are you are you going to diss every charming person that comes in your house one in 25 people living amongst us are sociopaths so i don't think it's a matter of i don't think it's always a matter of oh are we just throwing our kids to the dogs n Nancy, you have, I mean, you have to be a pretty strong professional to kind of watch this behavior and see what's going

on. You know what? You're absolutely right, Dr. Angie. You're right. Well, you know what? Even though he managed to escape detection of these women, he managed to worm into their lives. Joe Scott, thank goodness for OnStar. Could you just, in a nutshell, tell us what OnStar is? OnStar is a feature that's found in certain vehicles, Nancy, that is actually a satellite tracking. So you can come in with a GPS and track the position of the vehicle. And if you're in an emergency, you can actually push the button and it alerts OnStar. That signal goes up to a satellite, it tracks the position. And many times, people have been in accidents and they can just hit this button and the OnStar operator will come on and it'll alert to the specific location. The OnStar operator will actually call the local 911.

That's how specific this is, to get them out to your location because they know where you are. It's wonderful. And people say, aren't you worried that your beat-up minivan has navigation in? I'm like, no. Or aren't you worried Alexa's listening in on you? I'd just be mad if she wasn't. If the feds want to hear David and I arguing about who's going to clean out the guinea pigs or are John, Dave, and Lucy on their phones too much, answer yes.

You know what? Get after it. Just go right ahead. But all I can say is thank God for OnStar. Take a listen to our cut 10, Lucas Geisler, ABC 17. The sheriff's office has served two search warrants in relation to this case. One was done on the body of J.T. McLean himself at a funeral home over in Sioux City, Iowa. The other, the truck that belonged to the Stefan family in Miller County was found here.

This parking lot at the Country Inn and Suites in Dakota Dunes is unincorporated area of Union County, South Dakota, near the Iowa and Nebraska border. That truck was found through the help of OnStar. That Chevy Silverado was equipped with OnStar technology. And using OnStar, they were able to find him here in this parking lot. OnStar's role is pretty pivotal, to say the least. They're able to track the location of the vehicle that Mr. McLean was in up into the parking lot of the country inn and suites. They found McLean in that truck, and when they found him, he was dead with a gunshot wound. The sheriff's office says it's confident at this point they believe that he shot himself.

So all in that we know of, J.T. McLean took the lives of five people, including himself. And I can say with confidence, four of those people we're going to miss. I guess he's rotting in hell right now. We can only hope. The point of our program today is, as we discuss who's come in contact with your child, who at school, who at the gymnastics meet, who at the kiddie beauty pageant,

we always look first close to home. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.