Criminal - Kids on the Case

Episode Date: September 11, 2020

The summer after Jessica Maple finished 6th grade, she found out that her great-grandmother’s house had been burglarized. So, 12-year-old Jessica got out her notebook, looked for fingerprints, and decided she would conduct her own investigation. This week, four stories of kids who cracked the case.  We speak with 10-year-old Griffin Steele, Griffin’s dad Shane Steele, his mother Carol Steele, and his brother, Jackson. Logan Hultman, age 10, and his mother Alyssa Hultman share a story about helping out. Plus, National Police Service tactical flight officer Rory Niblock tells Phoebe about the day he was in his helicopter searching for two suspects in a rural part of England. Some children on an Easter Egg hunt showed which way to fly, by lying down on the ground to create an arrow with their bodies. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop.  Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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worth your attention, and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving

homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. I've always just naturally been curious.

Like, I've been a natural investigator my entire life. This is Jessica Maple. Back in 2011, she was finishing sixth grade and starting to make plans for her perfect summer. And what she really wanted to do was go to a policy debate camp. And then my mother said, hey, Jessica, I just got an email from the school, and the county is going to have a junior district attorney camp. Jessica was annoyed that her mother assumed that district attorney camp would be anything like policy debate camp. She was 12.

And I'm just like, Mom, I'm not into this type of stuff. So I don't want to go. And she's like, well, you're going anyway. So I was a bit upset until I went that first day. For years, District Attorney Paul Howard has led camps for Atlanta's middle school students. Campers don't swim or canoe or make friendship bracelets. They spend their days at police stations and observing criminal trials.

They have to abide by the junior DA creed. On the first day of camp, each camper is issued a uniform. We had this giant oversized kind of blazer with a police badge. We wore khaki pants and polos. So we are all matching. And, you know, we had the district attorney come in and then some of the attorneys that he works with. And they were saying, hey, everybody, welcome to junior district attorney camp. And at the end of this camp, you guys are going to be like district

attorneys. Jessica loved it, everything about it. Every day after her camp, her mother would pick her up, and Jessica would tell her who she'd met and what she'd learned. But one day, she got in the car, and her mother was upset. And then she explained to me that someone broke into her grandmother's house, and we don't know who did it. They took a lot of things, and so she was really upset because that's actually where she grew up, so she held a lot of memories there. And it just was really upsetting to her

because it's just having someone invade a space that's special to you is very emotional. When Jessica's great-grandmother passed away years earlier, the family kept her house in the small town of Fitzgerald, Georgia, exactly how she left it, until someone broke in and took everything. Her dining room set was gone. Her washer and dryer was gone. Her sofa was gone. Somebody took all dryer was gone. Her sofa was gone.

Somebody took all of her, like, crystal vases. They took her record console. The bedroom sets were gone. It was pretty empty. It just looked like somebody came in and moved out. Her washer and dryer. Washer and dryer, yes. And the oven, too.

Jessica says that a police officer told her mother that the odds of finding the person or people who did this weren't good. He sort of insinuated the family was at fault somehow. And the police officer was just like, did you guys give anybody a key? Because it just looks like somebody had a key because there's, like, no force points of entry or anything, and it just seems like that's the only thing that happened here.

After the police left, Jessica and her mother stayed behind, giving everything another look. I actually went around to the side of the house where the garage was, and by the garage door windows, there were three little fingerprints. And I remember in junior DA camp, I was like, oh, fingerprints, this is definitely some evidence. So we can send this off to the GPI, and then we can find whoever broke into my grandmother's

house. The GPI is the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Jessica's mother called the police and asked them to come back to have a look at the fingerprints. And so I showed that to them, and they were just like, that's not enough. We need at least, like, you know, seven fingerprints. It's going to take entirely too long. And at this point, you were thinking,

I don't think that I can count on the police to solve this crime. It's up to me. Oh, yeah. I was just like, okay, count on the police to solve this crime. It's up to me. Oh, yeah. I was just like, okay, I have the tools and the knowledge on how to solve this crime, so now we're going to investigate this and figure out who did this because I'm pretty unhappy. My mother was upset. My dad's upset.

And I just want to get to the bottom of this. Did you say to your mother at any point, don't worry, I've got this. I'm on it. Yes. I told her, I was like, hey, Mom, I'm going to figure this out, and we're going to figure out who did this because justice needs to be served.

Jessica began her investigation. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Her first step was to go around the house and take note of everything that was missing. She made a checklist. So I was just like, okay, I remember how all of this looks. We even have photos. So it's time to essentially search for these items.

Did you have a little notebook? I did. Were you wearing your badge? No, I left the badge at home. I should have had it with me. I would have looked way more official. I would have been wearing the badge. I don't think I'd ever taken the badge off. After Jessica cataloged everything that was missing,

she started thinking about the next logical step. So the town's not that big, so there are about like three pawn shops. And one of these pawn shops was actually on the same street as my grandmother's house. When you said to your mother, we're going to the pawn shop, what was her response? She was just like, okay, I know you have these junior DA skills, so I'm just going to listen to you. We're just going to follow what you say, and we're just going to go. They walked into the pawn shop and started looking around. And then, lo and behold, I see my grandmother's living room set and her dining room set.

And it's set up like it's a little furniture room set and it's set up like it's like a little furniture shop and it's just there and I look at my mom like mom Wow and she takes out like her envelope full of her like childhood photos and it's like her as a kid in front of this the same exact dining room set the owner of the pawn shop came over and asked if they needed help. I said, yes, sir. In fact, I do. Jessica asked the owner of the pawn shop to tell her

everything he knew about this table and chairs. He said, well, two men brought this in and, you know, they just took it off their truck and they brought it in here. And so I asked him, I said, hey, do you mind giving me like photocopies of their IDs? And he was like, why do you need it?

I said, well, this furniture was stolen from my grandmother's house. And he was like, oh, okay, I'll be right back. The pawn shop owner gave Jessica a form that included scans of two young men's IDs. She and her mother drove straight to the police station. So I got out the car, and I felt pretty confident. I was just like, okay, I think I solved this. So I go inside of the police station, and I find the officer, well, the investigator who is on the case. And so I pass it to him and I say, hey, I did your job again. And on this form, I have like the IDs of the guys

who did it. So now you guys can go out and arrest them. And then the police officer, well, the investigator, he said, well, we can't quite do that. We have to do our own investigation. Jessica decided that the police could continue their investigation, and she would continue hers. She had the names and addresses of the people who pawned the furniture, and she asked her mother if they could go to one of the houses just to see if anyone was around. And so we passed by the house. My mom's just like, hey, do you see that person outside? And so I turn, and it's a young man and his mother sitting

outside on their porch. And I told her, I was like, hey, mom, I think that's him. It looks just like him. Jessica didn't hesitate. She jumped out of the car and marched up to the porch. So I walk up and I'm like, hello, I'm Jessica. Her mother was trailing behind. And they turn around and they look at me and they're like, oh, hello, Jessica. And I say, you look very familiar, sir. And the young man looks up at me and he's like, what? I was like, yes, you look very familiar.

And so then I pull out like the little sheet where like what I was like yes you look very familiar and so then I pull out like the little sheet where like the ideas and like is this you and he's like yes this this is me and then the mother was just like okay what's going on here and then I said you know that house and then I mentioned the street where my grandmother's house was he said yeah i i know that house i'm like oh really well did you happen to take some furniture to a pawn shop he pretty much gave himself away at that point because you know he couldn't deny it because that's him on the pawn shop little form and he's just like yeah i did i was did you, you know, break into this house? You know, my grandmother's house.

And he's all like, yeah, I did. And his mother was like, oh my gosh, what? Jessica and her mother drove back to the police station so Jessica could tell the investigator that not only had she found one of the suspects, but she had also obtained a confession. The owner of the pawn shop agreed to return her grandmother's items. When Jessica went back to camp that Monday,

all of the campers were asked to describe one way in which junior district attorney camp had been helpful in their real lives. When Jessica told her story, no one could believe it. And then the rest of the country found out about it too. Here she is being interviewed with District Attorney Paul Howard on national news. So what was the response that you got when you pointed out this clue that you found? Well, when they came, they said, wow. And that was it.

So now you talk to the manager, what happens? He brings out two sheets of paper, and it had IDs on them. And I thought to myself, this is really helpful. Then he finally admitted it. You got him to crack. Confess. Right there on the street.

Oh, this is I mean, it's amazing, but it's beyond amazing. I mean, how old are you? I'm 12. 12 years old. What did your mother say at the end of this all? My mother said, Jessica, you are so smart. You're so bright. You are so intelligent.

Like, you are amazing for solving this and you pretty much did this all on your own like you're great and I knew you going to junior DA camp I knew that was such a great idea and I looked at her I said you're right mom you're right Thank you. One series worth your attention, and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family.

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What did you say when you walked in the door? I was like, Mom, the craziest thing just happened. This is Griffin Steele. He's 10 now, but when he was 7, he found something very strange. Can you tell me about that day? Take me through that day. Okay, so my dad had to go to Lowe's and ask me if I wanted to come with him, so I did. And then after that, we decided to stop by our local Speedway.

That's a gas station. Yes, it is. And so we went in the store, and my dad bought me a cherry-flavored Gatorade. And I finished drinking the Gatorade pretty early. So I went to throw it away on the trash can that was outside. And then I look in the trash can, and I find that there's, like, a ton of money in there. How much money did it seem like? From looking at it, I didn't have much perspective back then,

but I would say that it was probably a little bit more than $10,000 maybe. $10,000? I bet that's the most money you'd ever seen in your life. Besides on TV, yes. Well, I mean, I was a little bit, I was confused when he said, hey, Dad, look at this trash can. It's full of money. And I said, what?

Griffin's dad, Shane Steele. I walked over there and, I mean, you know, it's just something you never see. I was trying to figure out what to do because it was a very public place. There's cars everywhere. And, you know, I'm standing there with this trash can full of money and trying to figure out how to get it out of public view without looking like I'm doing something wrong. So I just decided to just the bag was

it was a brand new trash can that didn't have anything in it except the money. So I just folded it up tied it up and put it in the back of my truck. But you know the whole time it was like answering that question like what would you do if you found a bunch of money on the side of the road? It was it was strange because like a lot of it was covered in red dye. I asked dad why it was covered in red and he said that there were exploded dye packs on it because whenever there was a bank robbery they would put dye packs mixed in with the normal money so that whenever they stole it there was like a trip by the door.

So as soon as that happened, the dye packs would explode, and it would cover all the money in red dye. And it was still hot, you know, the money was still hot, so it obviously just, that dye pack just went off, maybe 15 minutes at the most before we found it. So, yeah. Shane and Griffin called a friend who was a police officer to ask what they should do. He told them that there had been a bank robbery just 45 minutes ago.

So they called 911 and sat down on a bench to wait. Shane took a picture of Griffin with the money. It's just me with, like, I'm, like, gasping, and I have, like, all the money in front of me inside the trash bag. And it's, like, it's one of the biggest mistakes of a picture I've ever put online. Because your mouth is wide open? Yeah, it's very cringeworthy. Police in Horry County, South Carolina, arrested a man a few days later

who had allegedly robbed the bank on the day Griffin found the money, as well as another bank a few days earlier. He was convicted of grand larceny, two counts of entering a bank with intent to steal, and second-degree burglary. Did you tell your friends? Yes. As a child, I was annoying. So I was basically going around and bragging to people, oh, look what I'd found.

But do you think that you've grown out of being annoying now at almost 11? Okay, it was just a phase. Correct. Okay. Well, they always seem to get themselves in crazy situations. Griffin's mother, Carol Steele. She says the bank that had been robbed gave Griffin a $250 reward on one of those oversized novelty checks. A huge check, as tall as he was at the time,

and it's still in his bedroom now. Oh, he's carrying it around the house. He's carrying it around. He has that check that's hanging on the side of his room. Griffin's older brother, Jackson, he's 13. So every time you walk into his room, you have to see the check. Yes. Do you two get along generally? A lot better this year.

Okay. He told me he used to be annoying. Well, he wasn't the one, though. He wasn't annoying. It was just me being a jerk. Oh, really? Well, that's a nice brother. Both of you are really generous to admit being annoying and you admit being a jerk. That's nice. Yeah. What's he like? Is he kind of a kid that is always getting into things, kind of like a detective?

He is actually the family snoop. So anytime that we misplace anything in the house, we ask Griffin where it is, and he absolutely knows where it is. Like what? Your keys, your wallet? Yes, the remote controls. We're always asking him, where's the remote control? My tennis rackets? I hadn't played tennis in a while. And I said, Griffin, where are my tennis rackets? And he said, they're in the hallway closet at the very top of it. And I was like, you're too, what are you doing at the top of the hallway closet? He just, there's something about him. He knows. Yes, exactly. And he's a helper, just a helper personality, too.

Here's another story. Four years ago in a small village outside of London called Capel, the National Police Service got a call that an industrial facility had been broken into by at least two men. Rory Niblock is a tactical flight officer with the National Police Service. I work on the police helicopter. He says that a lot of the time he gets into his helicopter with very little information. So you knew that you were looking for people who had maybe broken in somewhere and they might be running. That's really all you knew. That's right, yeah. Very limited descriptions.

Not overly familiar with the area. Very rural. So plenty of places to hide, woodland, etc. So that's all we knew when we were on loop. It took about 10 minutes to get to the right area. But by then, there was no one anywhere in sight. So we started looking at nearby farms, and it was at that stage that we saw neighbouring premises, people, farmers, etc., indicating, waving their hands, saying, you want to look that way, because we obviously didn't know what they wanted to say. So you were flying over and you'd look down

and you'd see these people standing in their backyards in their fields, waving their arms, you know, saying, this way, this way. That's right, exactly that. And we're flying at between 1,000 and 2,000 feet, so you can imagine people look fairly small on the ground. But you can make out that there were a number of people in adjacent property saying, you need to search in that direction,

and that's when we commenced the search. They had seen two guys running through their yard, obviously not supposed to be there. That's right, yep. Clearly trying to act infertively, and they had no purpose to be. It's such a rural location. They had no purpose to be there. So we were confident these were the people concerned.

The two suspects ran together through farms and yards. And then, when they reached a wide-open field, they split up and ran in opposite directions. There was no way to keep track of both men from the air. They knew one had run into the woods, and they'd lost track of the other one. It was then that when my colleague, Neil Parrick, the pilot, said, what are those kids doing down there? Rory looked out of the window and saw a group of small children. He later learned they were out hunting for Easter eggs. He says kids love helicopters.

He sees kids all the time and never pays very much attention. You can imagine any young child seeing a colourful helicopter circling in the air. They generally wave anyway and say, look at me, look at me, I'm bouncing on the trampoline, can you see me, kind of thing. So that's why you tend to dismiss what they're doing. So I initially sort of discounted what he was saying, as if to say, not now, Neil, you know, I'm following the suspect. And he said, no, these kids in the field are lying in the shape of an arrow. And then it became apparent that the kids,

the group of children who were out on this east egg hunt, were actually trying to assist, saying the other suspect has gone this way. How many kids were there? There were actually 12 altogether, but I think only eight of them, I think some didn't want to get muddy. But eight of them, I believe eight of them, actually formed the Arrow and blessed them in order to help their public duty. They were prepared to sacrifice their Sunday best clothing and lay in a cloud field. The helicopter followed the Arrow, and they found their suspect.

Rory says both men were apprehended and charged with burglary. After they'd wrapped everything up, they landed the helicopter and Rory got out to say hello and thank you to these children who'd helped solve the case. The parents said it was the children's idea. They said, we should form an arrow. And I think if my young child said that to me, I'd probably, prior to this event, say, don't be silly. Rory says the kids offered him some of their Easter candy.

Hello? Logan? Oh, yes, this is Logan. Hi, Logan, it's Phoebe. Oh, hello, Phoebe. How are you doing? Good. Thanks for doing this.

Yeah. Just trying to help out. So, Logan, let's just start with you introducing yourself. So, my name is Logan, and like that. Yeah, tell me your first name and your last name. All right, I'm Logan Holtman and yeah. How old are you? I'm 10 years old. 10 years old. What do you think you want to be when you grow up? When I grow up, I think I might want to be either a detective or a teacher, maybe. Okay. Does it kind of go back and forth, depending on the day?

Yeah. Yeah. Last fall, Logan was playing in his Roseville, California neighborhood with his friend Kashtan. His friends Hope and McKenna were playing nearby. So my friends said they heard a helicopter saying, somebody's missing, please help come find her. Coming down from the helicopter, like it was recording, like sending down? Yeah, it was a big microphone. On the helicopter. Speakerphone.

Okay, so the helicopter said, someone's missing, please help find her. Did it say who was missing? Um, I think they said it was a 97-year-old lady. A woman who had dementia had gone missing from a residential care facility in the area. They needed to find her before it got dark, and it was already after 4 o'clock. So we decided to start looking and trying to find her. Logan and his three friends put together a plan and got on their bikes. We had a certain area, actually.

We knew she was in the neighborhood because we heard that she was from a care home somewhere. And we were like, she's probably on the trail. And we went down the trail, and whenever we saw somebody, we asked them if they knew anything about it or if they could also start helping. So there's a police officer we found, and he was telling us about her. And we told him we'd look out. So we were looking down the trail, and I skid my knee while we were there. And then we went back home.

Everybody ate dinner, and my brother helped me get some Band-Aids on. And if you want to talk to my mom, she's making breakfast right now, but you'll be able to talk to her. It's okay. Oh, she's coming over right now. Okay. Hello? Hi, this is Phoebe.

Hi. Here's Logan's mother, Alyssa Holtman. I didn't really know what was happening until he came inside, and he at that point had been scratched up, so he fell down. And so that's when he told me that he had fallen down on this trail while they were looking for this lady. And I had heard the helicopters overhead, but I didn't realize that he and his friends had decided to go out and try to find her. So it was all kind of like unexpected news when he came running in the door telling me that, you know, he's trying to find this lady with his friends. And so his brother

that was here is a Boy Scout, so we call him the medic, and he got Logan all patched up, got him cleaned up, and then he said, Mom, I'm going to go back out and we're going to find her. And I was like, okay, sweetheart. I packed up some snacks and we went looking again. What types of snacks did you pack? Granola bars, snacks,

like I think these little yogurt things. Okay. And so you put them in a little backpack or something? Uh, yeah. They went out again, this time on foot. And we were heading towards the trail to look there again, but we just found her

walking around. And what did you say when you saw her? We were all like, oh, that guy, guys, that looks like her. And it was, it was the lady. Logan and his friends, Cashton, Hope, and McKenna, all went up to her and tried their best to make her feel comfortable. It was 6.30 and just starting to get dark. So Cashton, Hope called their dad.

He came over. And I didn't have my phone on me right at that second, so I wasn't able to call my mom. But we got the police and everybody come by. Did you... Is this surprising for you that Logan would help with this charge and take this on, or not that surprising? Well, I mean, he is such a great kid. I wasn't shocked that he decided to go out and try to

help. I was just really surprised that it was he and a group of, you know, 10 and 11 year olds that actually found her. Logan later told reporters, I like helping, except if it's chores. The woman was returned safely to her residential care center and reunited with her family. Logan and his friends had a party in a treehouse to celebrate. They ate goldfish and watched TikToks. The Roseville police told reporters that they'd been a little surprised to hear such a young voice on the phone when they got the call.

So, so the police thanked you for helping them, huh? Later they sent this little package or something. What was in the package? So it had like a little Kit Kat bar and then a gift card to Movie Grill. Studio Movie Grill. To the Studio Movie Grill. And the thank you letter. Did your friends get the thank you letter too?

Mm-hmm. We all got the same thing. And it was really nice. Did you all go to the movies together or no? So we haven't gone to the movie yet. Okay, you're still waiting. COVID, yeah. COVID, okay.

Did you learn anything about being a detective during this whole thing? Well, that you have to kind of piece things together and you're going to have to, it might take a long time because we spent like two hours trying to find her. But you didn't give up? No. Why did you want to help find her? What were you thinking about? Because she needed help. Criminal is created by Lauren Spohr Thank you. Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at thisiscriminal.com or on Facebook and Twitter at Criminal Show.

Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collection of the best shows around. Shows like Radio Diaries. They have a brand new series called The Hunker Down Diaries, featuring stories of people in unexpected circumstances because of the pandemic. You'll hear from a couple who decided to quarantine together after their first date, two centenarians in lockdown together, and a married couple living six feet apart. Go listen. I'm Phoebe Dredge. This is Criminal. Radiotopia.

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