Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - VANISHED YOUNG MOM, 26, MISSING AFTER GETTING IN PICKUP WITH 2 MYSTERY MEN

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

Young mom, Sara Ebersole, vanishes without a trace and her family is still searching for answers. On March 31, 2023, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office post a release about Sara’s disappearance. According to the post, Sara was captured on security footage on March 2, 2023, at around 10:00 p.m., in the area of the Circle K gas station located at 17980 N Highway 441 in Reddick, Florida. The release also states Sara willingly left the convenience store in a black pickup truck with two unknown males. The then-26-year-old Ebersole was given a ride from the convenience store to a residence located off Highway 441 in Reddick. She was dropped off at the home with another individual. Sara spent a portion of that night with a male, who lived in one-half of a subdivided residence. The sheriff’s office states that at around 1:25 a.m. on March 3, 2023, that male known as James Robinson begins texting a man identified as Morman. In those messages, Robinson mentions Ebersole is “hanging out” at his home. During the conversation, Morman asks if Ebersole would be interested in meeting him and asked if he could come to Robinson’s residence. Robinson agreed, and Morman arrived shortly thereafter.  According to Sara's family, she goes missing on March 3, 2023, from Reddick, Florida and Sara's Gmail timeline was viewed and deleted and her iCloud location shows on and she's using YouTube until 240am. Someone also attempted to get on Sara's snapchat, at 1:47pm. Sara is not just missing; she is classified as an endangered person.  Marion County Sheriff’s Office is seeking any information from the public that may help find Sara. If you have any information, please call Detective Ryan Stith at [phone] or the Marion County Sheriff's Office non-emergency number of [phone]. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers of Marion County at (352) 368-STOP (7867) and reference 23-71 in your tip.    Joining Nancy Grace today,   Michele Tullis - Sara Ebersole's sister Matthew Barhoma - Trial attorney with Power Trial Lawyers, website: powertriallawyers.com, Instagram: @MatthewBarhoma Dr. Leslie Dobson Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Host of a New Podcast on iHeart titled: "Intentionally Disturbing,"  www.drlesliedobson.com , Author of the Book “The Friend Cleanse - How to set boundaries with energy vampires” @drlesliedobson Ashley Wardlow- Private Investigator and Chief Operations Officers at Nathans Investigations, website: www.nathans-investigations.com, IG: @miamiprivateinvestigators, FB: nathansinvestigations Geovany Dias - Reporter for WFTV 9 in Florida, Professor at Valencia College, website: WFTV.com, Instagram: @GeovanyDias01 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Vanished. A beautiful young mom, just 26 years old, a mom of one, goes missing after getting into a pickup with two mystery men. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

I want to thank you for being with us. Sarah Ebersole vanished after getting into a black pickup truck in Rettick, Florida and was never seen again. Where is Sarah? Behind in the wake of her disappearance is her little girl wanting mommy. Listen to this. Sarah Gale Ebersole 28 is missing from Reddick, Florida. The young mom has not been seen or heard from since March 3rd, leaving a house party just a mile and a half from her home. Sarah is 5'1", 116 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes, has a small coca-pelly tattoo on her right hip. Marion County sheriffs believe Sarah is in danger. If you have information on Sarah Gail Ebersole, please call Detective Ryan Stith at 352-368-3542.

Where is this beautiful young mom? Why was she spotted in a pickup truck with two so-called mystery men? Joining me on All-Star panel, but first I want to go out to her sister who has been leading the search for Sarah. Michelle Tullis, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. Michelle, when you first learned that your sister was missing, what went through your mind and how did you find out? Well, I knew it wasn't normal behavior.

I tried to contact Sarah. She wasn't responding for 24 hours. She also had not responded to her roommate. So then we tried to reach out to the Marion County Sheriff's Department immediately. You know, she was always so reliable, never missed work, loved her little girl. I'm just trying to think through the facts surrounding Sara's disappearance. Everybody take a look. It's Sara Ebersole. Just a stunning young woman, a young mom, in love with her little girl.

What went wrong? As of tonight, no sign of Sarah. So what do we know? We've backtracked her movements. Listen. When Sarah Ebersole gets off work at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 2nd, she grabs a ride home from a co-worker.

Sarah's roommate, Deborah, is out of town and Sarah texts her about trash pickup. Deborah tells her to get their friend Lonnie to pick up the trash, nothing out of the ordinary. At 9.45pm, Sarah walks to a corner store near her apartment but realizes she won't make it before they close at 10 p.m. Still wanting to grab a few items, Sarah gets Lonnie to drive her to a Circle K a mile up the highway. Joining me in All-Star panel to make sense of what we're learning tonight, you have already met Sarah's sister Michelle. Now straight out to Giovanni Diaz, investigative reporter of WFTV9 in Florida, professor at Valencia College. Giovanni, thank you for being with us.

I'm just thinking in terms of a mom, okay? That's how I'm seeing this, and as a crime victim myself. A lot of the scenarios surrounding Sarah's disappearance doesn't make sense to me, but I wanna start with her walking, she gets her ride home with a coworker, and then she realizes she wants to go to the convenience store Circle K. Now, I don't know if Circle Ks are all around the country,

but in quasi rural areas, it's normal to walk a half a mile to the Circle K and walk back home with your stuff. Very normal. When I was growing up in rural Georgia, middle Georgia, that was commonplace. We would walk to the corner store or the McBride's grocery store, which was a little bit further, and we would take our bikes. It was no big deal. So explain to me, Giovanni, that night she

gets home from work and she needs to go to the grocery store. So she wants a ride to Circle K. Is that correct? Giovanni That's exactly correct. Thanks for having me. And you referred to this as someone who has been a victim yourself and also as a mother. And I actually approached this as someone who also lost his sister. You know, I also lost my sister and I actually applaud Michelle for all the work that she's been doing. She's been doing on behalf of her sister here because she's really been pushing this story and pushing for investigation into what happened to Sarah. But that's exactly correct. She actually basically vanished and nobody

really knows what happened to her. I actually went to the store where she was last seen at the time. People are aware of her disappearance. They know the story. When I got there and I mentioned what I was doing there, I tried to gather information about Sarah. People know the story. If people know about Sarah, they are just as stunned about her disappearance as everyone else is, especially folks from her family. But again, really, there's at this point, which is the most outrageous part of this case is that we still don't have any leads into where Sarah is. And this is still a case of a missing person. Dr. Nathalie K, MD, MPH, MPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH,

MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEPH, MEP me drinking out of the fire hydrant. That was too much too fast. So you've been to the Circle K where she was last spotted and in fact spotted on video. We know she was there. We know what time she was there. It was time stamped. And this was not an irresponsible mom. She showed up to work every day. She took care of her daughter. And I mean she was back and forth with the roommate. The roommate, Deborah, was at an annual Women's Veterans Retreat.

They were texting back and forth about trash pickup. And that seemed so normal and somewhat mundane. And you know what I've noticed? Don't move, Giovanni Diaz, to Dr. Leslie Dobson joining us, clinical forensic psychologist and host of a brand new podcast, intentionally disturbing. You can find her at drlesliedobson.com, author of The Friend Cleanse. Dr. Leslie, thank you for being with us. Just something Giovanni said, we were talking about that she needed to go pick up things

from Circle K, that she was texting back and forth with her roommate, who was at this female veterans get together every the weekend, about the trash pickup. You know, I think the bulk of my texts with my husband, pick up this from the grocery store, are you getting the twins, roll the trash out, do this, did you turn off the coffee pot? It's part of a rhythm, right? It's seemingly to everybody else. It's mundane, but it's our world. And it always shocked me so much when my fiance was murdered. Everything was just fine. Everything was fine. And then all of a sudden life stopped. It's like the world exploded and that's

the way it is here. One moment this mother of one is texting, hey when's trash pick up? The next thing you know she's gone and she hasn't been seen since. That dichotomy Dr. Leslie is very hard for the human mind to take in. Definitely, you know it's a concept we call ambiguous loss, where we don't have closure until we figure out what has happened to the individual. So I commend her sister for trying and continuing through this, but the pain is almost worse than actually finding out the result, right? The pain of carrying the weight of not knowing is so traumatic and horrible for everyone

involved. Yeah, you know, Dr. Leslie, I'm just thinking about what her little girl is going through. You know, she's going to have birthdays and Christmases without mother unless Sarah is found. Michelle, tell us, when it actually sinked into you, jumping off what Dr. Leslie Dobson just said, that she didn't just let her phone die, she just wasn't out of range, she wasn't at a party or having a great first date with someone and not picking her phone up.

When it really hit you, my sister is missing. I guess the closest person in the world to me next to my twins and husband is my sister. We grew up together. We're very much alike. We look alike. Everything. How did, what happened when you realized she just doesn't have a flat tire and her phones did, she's really gone? Right. My sister had actually messaged me before she went missing. So when I messaged her saying, hey Sarah, where are you at? She's not responding. I knew something immediately was wrong because maybe 24 hours of her phone, you know, needs to be charged if she broke it,

get a new one. But never was Sarah just not respond. She just wasn't irresponsible like that. Where is Sarah? Sarah Ebersole, her life in front of her just 26 years old. To Giovanni Diaz joining me, investigative reporter of WFTV9 in Florida. When you went to the Circle K, I mean, I can envision it because they're all over the southeastern part of the country. Tell me about it. Are there, is there a big parking lot in the front on the sides?

Is there a parking lot in the back? Is there a heavily wooded area behind it? Is there a spot for dumpsters where things can be thrown? Are there businesses on either side? Just describe it for us. It really is exactly how you mentioned, except that there is not a lot of businesses around. It really is just one single location surrounded by wood. And, you know, it's a very heavily wooded area and a big parking lot right in front of it. Actually, when I went in there,

and you know, I told folks that I was a news reporter trying to find more information about the case of Sarah. They asked me if I knew what had happened to her. There were any updates on the story. People are questioning about it. And as I was doing, walking around, trying to piece together the path that she followed that night. And you see, once again, a lot of props to Michelle for the work she's been doing on this case, because there are signs with the phone number, please reach out to us if you have any information about Sarah. There is like, there was a reward put out for any information regarding her location

at this point. And people just stop us to ask, do you know anything about her? Do you know what's happened? Is there any new development on this case? Because the whole community there in that area and really across Central Florida is watching to see what happened. Because as you mentioned, it really is astounding to imagine that this girl was just going to work. She was just a normal person doing her thing. And she is here now and five minutes later, she's gone. We do know that she took a final picture. and I think we just showed that picture there. That was one of the final pictures that Sarah took and then after that, we really have no idea what happened. And there you can see in the background, the Citgo gas tank. I want to jump off what Giovanni

Diaz just told us, WFTV9. Joining me now, Ashley Wardlaw, private investigator, chief operation officer at Nathan's Investigations in the Florida jurisdiction. Ashley, thank you for being with us. What Giovanni just said presents another problem. Now, it sounds very much like I said where I grew up in Middle Georgia. Rural, rural, Middle Georgia. And we would have to walk literally just under a mile to get to the corner store. Then actually we couldn't go there anymore because they started selling beer on Sunday and mom was like, and oh, we are never setting foot in there again.

Okay. Then we had to walk to the Pep Station, which is a gas station that sells snacks or All the way to McBride's grocery store, which is even further So what I'm saying is there's nothing around it. You don't have additional surveillance on either side like if you're in Manhattan or If you're in the city of Atlanta where you can see how investigators can put together a video of montage of, okay, they went by this red light, and then they came to this store,

then they passed this security video, and you see the vehicle or the person traveling along, and you can trace them. It's not hard, but not here in this jurisdiction. Yes, Nancy, working cases in these rural or country areas, it definitely can be difficult for an investigator when you don't have the go-to, which would be, let me check surveillance,

let me check the neighbor's surveillance, let me pull footage from another nearby business when the nearby business is miles away. So the best thing for an investigator to do would be to use time. Time is of the essence for a case like this. Checking with people who was at the gas station because memories fade, right?

Over time, the memories fade. So we have to canvas, we have to do interviews immediately. If there is you know, some type of phone evidence that we need to examine, that needs to be done immediately. And I think with this case, just, you know, time would would slip away when you know, someone's being told, you know, come back a week later, instead of, you know, jumping immediately into doing the investigation. But yeah, these these rural areas, it can get difficult, but it's not impossible. Where is 26 year old mom of one Sarah Ebersole?

What I'm about to tell you will make you cringe. Second verse, same as the first Listen. Inside the circle K Sarah meets up with two cowboys. Her new friends invited her to a party at 10 11 p.m. Sarah takes a selfie from inside a black pickup truck and texts the picture to her sister Michelle with the caption girl I just jumped into a random car with some cowboys and I hope they take me on a ride. Joining me in addition to the guests you've already met, Matthew Barhoma. Joining us out of LA, veteran trial lawyer with Power Trial Lawyers. Matthew, thank you for being with us.

Can you take off your defense hat just one moment? Do you just groan or grimace when you hear about another innocent woman who thinks, okay, that's going to be fun and goes with guys she's never met before to a party. Yes, of course. Absolutely. I mean, you know, there seems to be that there's relationships that are they're strangers, they just met, maybe people that wouldn't necessarily care for your wellbeing, right? So there's certainly a lot of questions that I have from LA perspective about who these individuals are,

how did they come to me, and how well do they care about each other and know each other? Guys, we have heard this story over and over again. As of right now, we don't know where Sarah Ebersole is. We don't know who took her. We don't know if she's still alive. But the search for her is ongoing right now,

led largely by her sister joining us tonight, Michelle. But again, it's the second verse, same as the first. Is the name Natalie Holloway ring a bell? Natalie Holloway is among more than 100 seniors on a graduation trip to Aruba from Alabama. The night before their trip home, Natalie and her friends go to Carlos and Charlie's, a restaurant and nightclub frequented by tourists.

The teens head back to their hotel rooms, but no one notices that Natalie isn't with them. When I first got the call the caller said that Natalie was missing and that no one had seen her and that she'd missed her flight and and in that instant I knew I knew instantly that something was terribly wrong. That's my friend Natalie's mother, Beth, speaking. And it did not have a good ending. Listen to Jorn van der Sloot. She tells me she doesn't want me to feel her up. I insist I keep feeling her up either way. And she knees me, she ends up kneeing me in the crotch. When she knees me in the crotch, I get up on the beach and I kick her extremely hard

in the face. Yeah, she's laying down unconscious, possibly even dead, but definitely unconscious. And I see right next to her there's a huge cinder block laying on the beach. To Dr. Leslie Dobson joining us, author of Intentionally Disturbing. Dr. Leslie, it all seems fun and innocent at the time. When Natalie Holloway met Jorn van derandersloot and his friends, the Calpo brothers, everything was fine. She was on a high school trip down to Aruba.

Everyone was enjoying the night. It was the night before they were coming back home to the U.S., to Alabama. And they were going to go down to the beach. What could go wrong? I've seen a lot of victims shaming Dr. Leslie, but remember, these are young people. Natalie was a teen. Sarah had just turned 26, right? And she meets these guys,

and why should she think that anything's wrong about going to a party? Why should she just assume something horrible or nefarious is going to a party. Why should she just assume something horrible or nefarious is going to happen to her? Exactly. We should be able to go about our lives safely without the risk of losing our life or disappearing. And it's horrifying. But it is such a sad part of this world that we have to deal with. And I mean, people saw her. People saw her. Somebody saw her last. Somebody needs to answer for this.

This is not her fault. Guys, let's advance the knowledge of what we have right now about what happened to Sarah. Listen. James Bubba Robinson shares a duplex with couple Jimmy Schaller and Tisha McDermott. Bubba and Sarah spend hours socializing

with Jimmy and Tisha, with Sarah documenting their time together with numerous cloud saved photos, both outside and inside the home. At 1.24 a.m. Bubba texts a friend, Tyrone Moorman. Moorman invites himself over to Bubba's house. Sarah's Gmail shows she was watching YouTube videos around 2.40 a.m.

At 2.57 a.m. Sarah's phone sinks for the last time. 2 57 a.m. We know she did go to a party Michelle told us this is Sarah Ebersole's sister because she was having fun and taking selfies and she was enjoying the evening at this party this house party with couple, Jimmy and Tisha. We know that because they have photos together, selfies they were taken together. We know she was there until around 2 40 a.m. Is that correct, Michelle? Yes, Jimmy provided photos from his device when I requested them April of 2023. You're seeing the photos we were showing of that evening, the last evening, we can place her whereabouts.

It was all innocent. Everything was fine. Couples were having fun. They were listening to music. They were taking selfies. When you don't know where to go, you go back and you try to figure out who is your victim. Who was her inner circle?

Who was she with when she goes missing? Who is Sarah Ebersole? This is what we've learned. Sarah Vann, born and raised in Florida, the youngest of seven siblings, spends most of her childhood in Sarasota, but in her teen years moves to Dunnellon with Sister Michelle. At just 18, Sarah marries her first love, Thomas Ebersole. The young couple quickly realizes they moved too quickly and part ways amicably just a year later. Sarah keeping the Ebersole name.

Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Matthew Barhoma joining us veteran trial lawyer out of LA. That's what we call a starter marriage. Don't read too much into it, right? Right, and she kept the last name so she did. She kept Ebersole is the last name and the two split amicably

and then she finds love. Listen after her first marriage, Sarah begins seeing Joseph Maten. The couple is soon expecting a baby girl, but while pregnant Sarah obtains a restraining order against Maten after a physical assault. The parents are in court for custody decisions before Sarah even gives birth and just a few days after her daughter's birth, Sarah changes her name from Dahlia Van to Cora Maten at the father's demand.

With me, Sarah Ebersole's sister, Michelle Tullis, who has led the search for her own sister, that relationship, that is the baby girl we, Joseph Maiten, Cora's dad. The two split. What was the main problem? I understand Sarah Ebersole had to get a restraining order against the husband. She did have to get a restraining order. He had physically assaulted her while pregnant. So then she went to the court to obtain that restraining order to protect her and her unborn child. It was inactive for six months. He left and went to another state. And then after

six months, he showed back up in Florida where Sarah and her daughter were living with me. And that's where the custody battle started. So I understand that to keep the peace, Sarah Sarah changed the baby's name at first. She didn't have the maiden last name, but at the dad, the bio dad's request, she changed Cora's name to Cora Maiden from Dahlia Van. Is that correct? That's right, before she turned one year old. Marion County Sheriff's tracks Sarah

to a Circle K convenience store two miles from her home in Rettick, Florida. Security footage captures Sarah inside the store, then saying goodbye to Lonnie and getting in one of the men's black truck at 10 10 p.m. Several smiling selfies with the men indicate Sarah left with them willingly. How many times have we heard the same scenario? have we heard the same scenario? Now, it's Sarah Ebersole who goes missing after a night partying with new friends that she meets at the Circle K,

having no idea she may never see her little girl again. Very often, we as investigators and prosecutors see the same scenario unfold, where unwittingly you end up with someone you've never met before like Kristen Smart. Kristen Smart was enrolled at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. As Memorial Day weekend rolled around, Smart made plans to attend a birthday party for a fellow student. Students Cheryl Anderson and Tim Davis walked Smart back to her dorm. Along the way another student from the party, Paul Flores, joins their group. He offers to help Smart get to

her dorm room safely. You know, that makes me think to Dr. Leslie Dobson joining us, psychologist, I don't like the way that Sarah Ebersole has been portrayed. She met some guys, they invited her to a party, a house party that was hosted by another couple, and she went. Somehow, as you hear a Kristen Smart's mom say, I don't like the way they refer to my daughter, is that drunk girl. That was not Kristen Smart. She was brilliant, all A's. She went to a get together and was walking home with friends and then they peeled off and the only one walking her home then Was her killer now convicted. I

Mean that was through no fault of her own and I see the same Smear job dragging Sarah Ebersole through the mud in this case because she went to a party Exactly and as somebody who worked at Cal Poly and I walked by that dorm room where she was killed and Paul Flores has a pattern. So many people came out and spoke out about Paul Flores after that happened. There is somebody surrounding this case with Sarah

who has a history and history is our indication of what future is going to lead to. To Michelle Tullis joining me, this is Sarah's sister. Michelle, the way that Sarah has been portrayed, I don't like it at all. She did nothing wrong, yet somehow it's easier to go, oh, she met these guys at a Circle K and took off in their black pickup? This is all on her? It's not all on her.

Do you ever get tired of hearing that? I do. Sarah was such a kind spirit. She would have immersed herself in anything the world had to offer. She thought everyone was a new personality and a new experience. What more do we know?

We know that somehow someone tried to reset her password that night. Listen. Sarah's Google account history shows she was on YouTube until 2.40 a.m. March 3rd. Later that day, the account history was viewed and deleted. Just before 2 p.m. March 3rd, someone tries to reset Sarah's Snapchat password. The new login link was sent to her email, but it's unclear if the attempt was successful. There has been no further digital activity on Sarah's emails, social media or bank accounts since. To Giovanni Dias, WFTV9, could you explain that in slow-mo for me? Someone's changing

her password and deleting her search history. What? Robert Leonard And at this point, that's all we really have, all those records of her digital footprint, right? As one of your guests just mentioned, there was no videos nearby. There was no other businesses nearby to kind of pinpoint what happened to her after the moment she was picked up by that, you know, for that ride that she went into. So, at this point, all the investigators into this case have is basically all those digital marks from phones and every, you know, all of those pictures that were taken and the attempt to change that password, that email actually was sent to her, to Sarah, because that's the standard how, when you try to change your password on your phone.

And Michelle was actually able to find that later on because of her personal investigation into this case. And that's as much as the investigators have. I actually interviewed the Marion County Sheriff's Department about this case, and they wouldn't really give me a lot of information about this. They only said that they have a lot of leads. They're still looking into potential connections with other people that kind of were located in the nearby area. But at this point, and that was the last time I interviewed them, they said they could not share a lot about this case because it is still under investigation, which to me seems a little problematic because we have made no further discovery into this case.

Michelle, regarding discovering, you discovered not police, not law enforcement, not some crack detective, but you discovered someone had tried to change her password. How did that happen? I gained access to Sarah's Gmail account and when I figured Marin County wasn't taking this seriously, it was a missing person's case and I could see the access to this laptop which I notified them immediately and then throughout the investigation I then continued to go ahead and get into other accounts or Gmail and or iCloud where you can see the video interactions throughout the night and I also surveillance area and located the truck that my sister got into. Where is 26 year old-old Sarah Ebersole, the mother of one little girl? Now we learn that fateful night when she was last seen,

last seen at a Circle K video, and last seen taking selfies at a party with the other couples that were there, that very evening, someone went into her digital account and tried to change her password. Not only that, her account history was viewed and deleted. Now, why would someone go in to reset your Snapchat password? We know that because a new login was sent to her email.

But I wonder if that person couldn't access her email to make it complete, a complete change. Very reminiscent of fraudulent activity on murder victim Gabby Petito's cell phone. In the aftermath of Gabby Petito's murder, the Petito family alleges that Brian Laundrie used Gabby's phone to send text messages to her family in an attempt to deceive them. Among the messages Brian Laundrie is believed to have sent is a text message to Gabby's mother, Nicole Schmidt, about Gabby's grandfather. In the text, he refers to Gabby's grandfather as Stan.

Schmidt has stated Gabby never called her grandfather by his first name and that the text was highly suspicious. Michelle, this is Sarah's sister, was that normal? Would Sarah, did she frequently change her passwords? This particular access to the Snapchat happened on an account she had not used since 2017. So it would not be an account if he would attempt to access. ["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"]

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Ashley Wardlaw joining us, private investigator, Chief Operations Officer, Nathan's Investigations. Ashley, again, thank you for being with us. That is a multi-step process to go through, view your search history, delete your search history, you know, line by line, then go through the hoops of trying to change a password. That takes a lot of effort. And I find it really hard to believe that at a party,

this 26 year old mom of one is sitting at the party, changing her password and deleting her search history. That did not happen, Ashley. Yes, that's very, very suspicious. Nancy, for someone to take the initiative to even start the process, to recover a password, it is a multi-step process, right? You just don't go and click for that password and you get to make a new one. You have to go through loopholes nowadays to, you know,

get access to an email to reset the password. Sometimes they send you text messages to be able to authenticate, you know, who you are to reset this passcode. So it's very, very suspicious that that was going on at the time when she's supposed to be partying. Interesting that Sarah's sister has to lead the charge in finding her. Listen, Sarah's sister, Michelle Tullis, begins searching the area for the black

truck. She doesn't have to look hard. A black truck matching the surveillance footage is parked at a home less than a tenth of a mile from the Circle K. The owner, Leonard Anderson, recognizes a photo of Sarah saying she accepted his buddy James Robinson's invitation to a house party and he dropped him off at Robinson's home next door the night of March 2nd. Okay, so once again, we're corroborating those photos that we already see about the house party at the couple's home. There's more. Listen. Leonard Anderson and James Robinson are happy to speak to Marion County sheriffs about Sarah.

Robinson says Sarah joined him and his roommates for a small house party. Photos Sarah took that night show her posing with Robinson, James Schaller, and his girlfriend, Tisha McDermott. The girls even took turns modeling outfits from Tisha's closet. 1.24 a.m. Robinson texts friend Tyrone Mormon about the party and Mormon decides to come over. Robinson says, when the party wound down, Mormon offered to get Sarah home. Robinson says he helped Sarah to his car

between three and five a.m. So bring me up to this point, Giovanni Diaz, WFTV9. So they're stating they are with her, they partied into the night, and they're all going back to his car at between 3 and 5 AM. Is that correct? That's correct. And at this point, that's the only person in this story that actually connects all of those locations and everything that so far we know about what happened to Sarah. And that's where this is... That's where our dead end is. I actually specifically asked this, the Marion County Sheriff's Office, when I did this story, what can you tell us about this person, Tyrone

Mormon? And they basically were very tight-lipped about it. And once again, we go back to the digital aspects of this because he also deleted information from his phone. Okay, Giovanni Diaz, I don't like the sound of this guy, Mormon, deleting things from his own phone from that night. You know, if you look at my phone, I've got 7,000 literally unread messages. I'm not picking through all that to delete something specific. Why was he deleting messages?

It's very, very disturbing that he would pick those messages to delete, and that's not all. Listen. Tyrone Mormon refuses to talk. Deputies get a search warrant for his phone, but Mormon misses his appointment to extract the data. Mormon claims he smashed the phone, so he trashed it. However, Mormon's girlfriend says that isn't true. Tyrone Mormon is arrested for lying to police. When investigators arrive to search his home for the phone, he turns it over. Information from the device shows Sarah and Mormon stop at a convenience store in northeast

Marion County, but no further movements are determined. Okay, right there. Joining me, veteran defense attorney Matthew Barhoma joining us out of LA at powertriallawyers.com. Matthew, I can't wait to see a defense attorney just like you try to explain again he's not been named a suspect and he is innocent under the eyes of the law until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of his peers. But explain to me, give me your best shot at why you, Matthew Barhoma, would delete things off your phone and then smash your cell phone and then tell police it was on the blink.

So it was all an accident. So you threw it away. You know, Nancy, the beauty of American girls' freedom is that he doesn't have to answer that. OK, that's what the Fifth Amendment right is all about. Look around you, please. around me please, Matthew. Matthew. Matthew.

Look around. Do you see a judge? Do you see a box for the jury? You're not in court. So don't tell me what's coming into evidence on crime stories. I'm asking you, how do you explain that technical legal term BS? Did they teach you that in law school? Well, I'll tell you what it is.

OK, deleting information off of your phone is not evidence of murder. It just doesn't bring you there. Right. It's not evidence of foul play. It doesn't bring you there. It's not evidence of of harboring someone such as Sarah. It doesn't bring you there. There's still a missing piece of a material piece of evidence that's missing that that corroborates or that links

Mr. Mormon and Sarah, the victim. So, unfortunately, even though he's deleted these items and even though he's lied to the police, he's been charged. Right. OK. You know what? You just tell that to a jury. Even though he's lied to the police, he's been charged for that. What am I place? Right? Okay, you know what? You just tell that to a jury. Again, this guy has not been named a suspect in this case, but you know who he makes me think of?

Let me go out to Giovanni Diaz joining us from Florida. Does the name Madeline Soto, Maddie Soto, she was just 13 years old when she was murdered by mommy's live-in, Stefan Stern, according to police, he's presumed innocent. You know what he did? He deleted everything off of his phone, but Ding Dong didn't realize a lot of it's up in the cloud, including videos that he took before she was killed. See, when I hear deleting things off my phone, why? Why that night, the night that he was with Sarah Ebersole? Why delete that of all things?

And what a co-incu-de-ing, Giovanni, that he's deleting things off his phone at the same time somebody is trying to change Sarah's password and deleting her search history. That doesn't bother you? It's very interesting that you actually mentioned Madeline Soto because I was actually in court just two weeks ago for an updated hearing on this case regarding involving specifically information about deleting data from your phone while an investigation is ongoing.

And that's exactly what we're talking about here. Yeah. As your guest mentioned there, it's not a crime that he deleted that. It's a crime that he lied to law enforcement at the time of his connection with police. He wasn't arrested initially. He was questioned about the case and he provided false information. And that's the reason why he now currently faces charges for that, for lying to law enforcement. And that's the reason why we are still here at this point trying to understand why he would do that. And at the same time, he is being charged with that, but he's out on bond.

He paid $10,000 to respond to his charges. So he's walking free. I get it, Giovanni. He is walking free. Ashley Wardlow also joining us from the Florida jurisdiction. Very well known private investigator, Ashley. Now, to hear Matthew Barhoma, and I respect him,

he's a great lawyer, tell it, that's just, you know, I don't have to prove anything just because I smashed my phone and threw it away and deleted what happened. Then I was with Sarah Ebersole. But then he clams up and refuses to speak. I mean Ashley, I know I can't comment on this to a jury. But look around everybody.

We're not in a courtroom right now. We can talk about it. Remember that crazy First Amendment? We can have freedom of speech. And I am free to say, when someone refuses to cooperate with police about what happened to a missing young mom and you're with her last, I would want to say, yes, I was with her.

We walked to my car, I drove her home, she got out, she waved goodbye, and then I left. And I haven't heard from her since. Why? Where is she? That's what I would think. We would hear from him, but he's refusing to speak. Does that concern you, Ashley? Absolutely.

It concerns me because if you don't have anything to hide, then why are you hiding something? Right? Yes, the actual act of deleting something isn't illegal, but when it comes down to it, as a private investigator, Rich is really interested in what is in that device. What did you delete? Because when you think you deleted something,

most of the time, we're still able to uncover it. The shoes Sarah has seen wearing in photos at Robinson's home are found inside her home, but her phone and wallet are not. There are no signs of a struggle, no clothes left out like Sarah changed and a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on the front porch missing from the home. A binder of information Sarah kept on her ex's criminal history, legal documentation of her daughter's name change, a keepsake teddy bear with a Dahlia flower for Cora's middle name and Sarah's toothbrush, hairbrush and makeup brushes.

Michelle Tullow is joining us. This is Sarah's sister who has led the search for her sister. What does that tell you? I can see the shoes, Michelle, that Sarah's wearing in the photos that night at the house party at that couple's home. Can we see that photo? I see the shoes and those shoes are

found in her home. See those shoes right there? Those exact shoes are found in her home, which says, Michelle, she came home. What do you deduce, Michelle? Right, you would presume that my sister made it home and that something happened after she arrived home. Did somebody else pick her up or what happened? We just don't know. Was it her cigarettes? Was it her lighter on the front porch?

Yes, it was. Because I remember my paternal grandmother would sneak a cigarette and she would go outside and smoke one cigarette and then come back in like nothing had happened. But she would leave the lighter and the cigarettes out there, so everybody would know she had been out there. So I'm thinking, I'm imagining Sarah snuck out outside so smoke wouldn't get inside where her daughter would be and

had a cigarette. So there's a cigarette and the lighter on the front porch. But missing is that binder she kept on her ex-husband, including the docs regarding Cora, now Cora's, name change. Remember her name had been Dahlia Mann and now she changed it for the bio-dead? Why would that be missing? That was the first thing I noticed when we went to my sister's home. It seems like the paper trail needed to be deleted of the history between the two. The search for missing mom Sarah Ebersole goes on. If you know or think you know anything about her disappearance, please dial 352-368-3542.

We remember an American hero, Police Officer Robert Schisler, Dept. for Township PD, New Jersey, shot and killed in the line of duty. Survived by parents Robert and Tracy, siblings Ashley and Tyler, American hero officer Robert Schisler. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart podcast.