Going West: True Crime - Allyson Watterson // 130

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

In 2019, a 20-year-old woman was out in a remote area with her recent ex-boyfriend when she suddenly disappeared. After he returned home to his parents house the following morning bloodied and dirty, his family began an extensive search for the young woman without informing her family. After reporting her missing, they finally notified her mom of the days events, and a massive search followed that same week. When her remains were finally uncovered, they brought more questions than answers to the investigation. This is the story of Allyson Watterson. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES Much of the information from this episode came from personal conversations between Going West and Allyson's Family. All other sources are below. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/missing/timeline-disappearance-search-allyson-watterson/283-2f1b73cc-6f09-4dbd-97ce-0baec99b1e5d https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/mother-refuses-give-search-daughter-allyson-watterson-who-disappeared-when-n1111556 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCsndbjHg8c https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/12/no-evidence-allyson-watterson-was-hiking-in-north-plains-deputies-now-say.html https://www.kptv.com/news/investigation-into-allyson-wattersons-death-remains-ongoing/article_a8e0936e-4943-11eb-b2e3-178b628c229a.html https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/213155512/allyson-joy-watterson https://www.koin.com/video/wcso-body-believed-to-be-allyson-watterson-found-in-north-plains/5611128/ https://www.washingtoncountyda.org/news/benjamin-hunter-garland-sentenced-three-years-prison-multiple-charges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans, I'm your host Heath, and I'm your other host Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. Today's tragic case was recommended by the amazing Billy. She is Allison's aunt and happens to listen to our show. So please, please, for Billy, for Allison's parents and her brothers, her whole family, please, please share the story. And thank you so much, Billy, for telling us who Allison was.

We hope we can do her story justice and help spread the word on what happened to her. So thank you so much, Billy, and thank you everybody for tuning in today to Going West. We have a very interesting case to share with you guys today, and it's one from my home state, Oregon. But before we dive into this case, we want to tell you guys about our new Patreon bonus episode on the case of Peggy Beckler out of Newport Beach, California.

That case is crazy. Yeah, to me, it kind of feels similar to the Scott Peterson case. There's a lot of elements. I mean, there's a boat. There's a disappearance. I'm actually surprised that I had never heard of this case before. Super excited to share it with you guys. We have 44 full-length ad-free bonus episodes. So head on over to patreon.com slash

going west podcast and start binging y'all. And don't forget we do patreon shout out to the end of the episode. So if you've recently joined, don't forget to listen for your name. Alright guys, this is episode 130 of going west. So let's get into it. In 2019, a 20-year-old woman was out in a remote area with her ex-boyfriend when she suddenly disappeared. After he returned home to his parents' house the following morning, bloodied and dirty, his family supposedly began an extensive search for the young woman without informing her family. After reporting her missing,

they finally notified her mom of the day's events, and a massive search followed that same week. When her remains were finally uncovered, they brought more questions than answers to the investigation. This is the story of Alison Watterson. Allyson Joy Waterson was born on June 6, 1999 in Portland, Oregon to parents Misty and Alan Waterson. She also had two brothers, Blake, who was her older brother, and Nathan. And Allyson and her siblings grew up just outside of Portland in the city of Hillsboro,

which now has a population of just over 100,000 people. And it's a beautiful place to live with lots of stunning nature nearby while also being a family-friendly community, full of wineries, family farms, and high tech headquarters. Growing up, Allison was very creative and artistic, and some of her favorite activities included writing, baking, hiking, swimming, heading to the beautiful Oregon beaches, and celebrating holidays with her family. Allison had a ton of friends and cared so deeply about those she was close to. And it was so easy for Allison to make friends because she really was known as this light to people.

She was generous, she was silly, she was adventurous, she was a beautiful young woman inside and out, and that was obvious from the first time you met her. And she was also very close with her family, and was always just known to be a good, trusting, kid-turned-young woman. And not only did she love advocating for animals and mental health, but she stood up for people. She just cared. That was Allison. In 2017, Allison graduated from Hillsboro High School and remained living at home with her parents in older brother Blake and Tannisbourne, which is a very nice area of Hillsboro. She didn't go right off to college and this was her choice because she wasn't the biggest fan of school, especially since she had previously been diagnosed with

threats which typically just caused her to blurred out nice compliments towards people, but she was able to maintain it, and she had anxiety, so school wasn't the easiest for her. So instead of going to college, she made an agreement with her mom that she would kind of decompress and find herself after high school and figure out what she wanted to do in life. So she started out by getting a job at Subway, and in her free time she hung out with her friends and spent quality time with her loving and supportive family. In mint to late 2019, Alison began dating a young man named Benjamin Garland, who was someone that she had gone to school with but didn't begin dating

until after they had both finished their high school educations. But if we're being honest, their relationship wasn't the best, and in fact, Benjamin had a long history with violent behavior as well as drug addiction. So not only did it seem that he wasn't a great influence on sweet Allison, but she also noticed a lot of red flags with him. And something I want to mention about Ben and Allison really quick is that she was known to be a very trusting and sometimes naive young lady. She really saw the best in people, and even though she knew about Ben's past and his habits, she really believed that he could come out of it. Especially since he would tell her that he was

going to rehab, but Alison's mom in particular, as well as the whole family, weren't the biggest fans of him because of these bad habits. And Misty, who's Alison's mom, didn't allow him to come around. Ben had even gotten into a physical fight with Allison's father, Allen, so he just really proved to be bad news and just rubbed the family the wrong way. But sadly, they couldn't tell Allison who she could and could endate since she was 20 at this time. And that's a really huge deal. If your mother is saying, hey, I don't want your significant other around us.

And on top of that, your significant other gets in a fight with your dad. I mean, come on. Really kind of shows you who this guy is. Oh, I know. And it's sad because, of course, Alice, and like I said, she saw the best in people. And she probably really thought that she could help him change and saw the bit of good that was in him. But her family didn't see that and they saw him for more so what he was, you know, and and that's what's really sad is that they couldn't really, they couldn't really steer her in the

direction they wanted her to go with this. And in no way am I blaming Allison for dating this guy, it's just a really unfortunate scenario. Oh, totally agree. But after dating for just a few months, Allison felt like things weren't getting better and he wasn't improving in the way that he said he wanted to. She felt she deserved better, so she decided it was best they didn't stay together

and she broke it off. After this, she continued to spend a lot of time with friends and was looking forward to spending the upcoming holidays with family. Allison spoke with her mom Misty a lot and kept her updated whenever she was out with friends. Her mom wanted to encourage her to work hard for the things she had, so Misty actually didn't pay Allison's phone bill, which, you know, is very normal, Allison's 20. Yeah, that's totally understandable. But with Allison mostly working part-time in late 2019, she wasn't paying her bill, and this meant that she could really only use her phone while she was under Wi-Fi, or if she was using her hotspot. But she still did her very best to keep her mom

in the loop of where she was and who she was with. Because even though she was now 20, she did still live at home and misty worried a lot, and Allison respected that by staying in constant contact with her. In late December of 2019, things seemed to be going great for Allison. Christmas was approaching, she had an upcoming interview on Monday the 23rd for a job that she really wanted, and she seemed to be in a great mood all week. On Friday, December 20th, her mom saw her for the very last time, and then Allison went out to be with her friends and stayed out for the night. Then the next day, which was Saturday, December 21st, we know that Allison spent time with

her then-ex-boyfriend Ben at their friend's house in North Plains, which is just outside Hillsboro, with their friend's Charlie and Courtney. And Allison texted her mom Misty and told her that she was there and also said that she would be home that day. But she never came home. And for those wondering why Allison and Ben were hanging out just a few weeks after they broke up, it's because he had reached out to her and wanted to hang out. Ben very much used Allison, and their relationship wasn't super serious because they only were

together for a few months. And it really just seemed like he would contact Allison when it was convenient for him or when he wanted something. And the kinda hopeless romantic, sweet young woman she was, she fell into that whenever he came knocking. And he took advantage of that and continued to mistreat her. Yeah, and I mean, it's not uncommon to want to see your ex-partner. After you guys break up, it happens. There's still lingering emotions. Especially at that age.

Yeah, especially at that age. One of Alison's friends later explained to police that on that Saturday evening at around 8 p.m. She picked both Ben and Alison up from North Plains and drove them to Alison's house for a brief moment and then took them to McDonald's so they can all get something to eat. And afterwards, she dropped them off at a nearby Max Light Rail station, which, by the way, is just the Portland area's mass transportation system, at about 11 p.m. And just so everyone knows, the max typically stops running at around 1 a.m. if not before then,

depending on what station you're at and what your stop is. Apparently, this friend has been kind of secretive with her recollection of information for this evening and hasn't been incredibly forthcoming with Allison's family, so why she dropped them off at the Mac station wasn't revealed. Hours later, at around 5.30 a.m. on Sunday, so now it's Sunday morning. Allison and Ben arrived at the Hillsboro Fire Station 5, which is a few miles from the Mac station that they had been at the night before,

and asked if they could use their telephone because they had been robbed by someone with a knife, a couple blocks away. The fire department was very concerned for them and offered to call the police, but they said no and they just wanted to use the phone. The firemen who helped that day were very confused and bit suspicious, so they called the police anyway.

And just as they arrived, so did Ben's mom. The police have Allison and Ben both on their body cams as they questioned them and made sure that they were all right, and according to Allison's family, she seemed perfectly fine, normal, and healthy. They said that they were totally fine and just wanted to go with Ben's mom, so the police let them on their way without ideeing them. Molly, Ben's mother, took them to North Plains to go back to their friend Charlie's house briefly, so Ben could get some of his things, and then took them to get some pie in North Plains at a place called the Pie Guy, and then dropped them off at a nearby Winco Foods, which is basically a chain supermarket.

At this point, Allison, who had been wearing slippers, had lost one of her slippers that morning, and Ben's mom Molly noticed this and apparently gave Allison her wool socks and then drove home. And as we'll get into, Ben wasn't allowed at the house because of his drug use, so even though Ben and Allison apparently asked Molly if she could take them back to the Garland home, she said no, and then dropped them off at Winco and then laughed. Shortly after this, which again was Sunday December 22nd, so the day before Alison's interview, Misty, who had worked a 12-hour shift the previous day and had gotten up early to go to work that morning as well, texted her daughter and asked where she was and why she hadn't come home. Alison responded that she would be home that night, and more specifically she said that she had spent the night with Ben, where he stays, and that he seemed to be doing a bit

better and that he got a job. Allison then followed up with saying she loved her and that she would be home that night. Even though Misty heard from Allison, she was still a little worried about where she was and why she hadn't been home all weekend, especially since she was with Ben. But Misty went to work and just hoped Allison would return that evening. When she got home from another 12-hour shift, Allison still wasn't home, but because Misty was working two jobs at this point and had to go back to work the following day, she went straight to bed and just thought she would wake up to find Allison in her room.

But unfortunately, the next morning, Allison still wasn't there. Misty was upset at this point and just didn't understand why her daughter kept saying that she would come home and then didn't. So she texted Allison asking where she was and then she went to work. That same morning, a homeowner in the North Plains area named Ralph saw Ben sleeping in his truck early Monday morning. And by his truck, we mean Ralph's truck. So obviously Ralph was very confused as to why a young man and a stranger at that was sleeping in his truck, so he woke Ben up.

And that's when Ben allegedly explained to the man that he was in a truck, so he woke Ben up. And that's when Ben allegedly explained to the man that he was having a bonfire with friends and his girlfriend the night before, and then they left him, so he was taking cover from the rain. Then Ralph drove him home to his parents' house. It's important to note that Ben wasn't on good terms with his family at this time because of his consistent drug use and there being a warrant out for his arrest. But that morning at around 7 a.m., they allowed Ben into their house, where he showered, and ate some food, and supposedly told his mom that Allison had gotten arrested.

Apparently his mother Molly was shocked at this, and she looked at Allison up online to see if she had indeed been arrested, but she wasn't able to find her on the county's booking list. So this kind of confirmed that Allison was not arrested. Then Molly called around to local hospitals looking for her, but nothing. It was noted that Ben had wet his pants, was covered in dirt, and even had blood on him when he got to the house that morning. He apparently looked messed up.

This was noted by Ben's family as well as the owner of the truck, Ralph. After Molly cooked her son Ben some food that morning, she told him to go take a shower while she washed his clothes, and then her husband Don came home. When Don asked Ben where Alison was, he first said she was in jail, and then he said that he left her in the woods. At around 12.30 pm, Don, Ben, Ben's sister, and Ben's sister's friend all went out to North Plains to search for Allison.

And, by the way, another reason Ben really wasn't welcome in the house is because he had previously assaulted one of his sisters and he was ordered to stay away from her. Ben had also assaulted a local young man in a separate incident, so he had at least a couple charges against him for his violent behavior. Wow. I mean, this guy's just assaulting everyone. That's kind of why he's an interesting character in this story because he just doesn't seem like the most trustworthy do to have around.

Yeah, and he's violent. Before they left to search for her, Misty still hadn't heard from Alison, so she went on Alison's messenger app on Facebook and reached out to the first few people she saw asking if they knew where Alison was. One of those people that she contacted was Molly Garland. Misty wasn't sure who Molly was, but quickly learned that she was Ben's mom when Molly responded saying that she had seen Allison the previous morning when she got her and Ben some pie and then dropped them off at the Wincoe in Hillsboro. They chatted throughout the day and Ben's mom asked Misty at one PM if she had heard anything, but Ben's mom didn't share any other information. Misty said she hadn't heard

anything. This means that Molly, who was Ben's mom, didn't mention any other information. Misty said she hadn't heard anything. This means that Molly, who is Ben's mom, didn't mention anything about Ben coming home that morning, all dirty, saying that he had left Allison in the woods. Molly asked Misty if she had heard anything 30 minutes after her family went out looking for Allison, yet she didn't tell any of this, Misty received a phone call from Molly Garland, who finally told her that Ben had come home that morning, saying he had left Allison in the woods the previous day in North Plains after they got separated. Molly then explained that her husband Dawn, as well as one of Ben's sisters, had been

looking for Allison in the woods all afternoon, and they couldn't find her so they phoned police. Dawn had actually called police just after 5pm, so their search for Allison as well as the phone call to police, occurred before ever mentioning anything to Misty or the rest of Allison's family. Don told police on the phone that his son Ben had been on a hike with Allison and that they had gotten separated, which is a different story than what Ben had told his family, and a different story than the one he told the owner of the truck he slept in who remember is Ralph. So this is all extremely strange, especially since Molly had kept this information from Misty

all afternoon during their conversation on Facebook Messenger. So at this point, Allison's family frantically headed out to the North Plains area, since that was the area she and Ben had supposedly gone hiking in. Allison's Aunt Billy described the scene as desolate and dark, with the fog being very super that evening. There was light rain as well, and throughout the night, the temperatures hit around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which isn't much lower than the average 45 degrees that it was throughout the day.

Their Ben's sister met up with them and explained further that she and the rest of her family had been searching for Allison for many hours that day. When they asked Ben what had happened, he told them that he and Allison had been hiking throughout Blackberry and Brambleberry bushes, as well as other people's property at around 3pm that afternoon.

And at some point, they went their separate ways, and he didn't see her again. Something I want to point out right away about this story. Why would his whole family go out looking for her for hours without telling the water sense if she and Ben had simply gone separate ways. Like how would that simple statement invoke a search that lasted many hours? I just can't wrap my head around that because they had only been dating for a few months. I don't know why they would all go out looking for her like it was this huge thing if he had just said that simple thing. Oh yeah, we just went our separate ways. Then why are you out looking for her like it was this huge thing if he had just said that simple thing

Oh, yeah, we just went our separate ways then why are you guys looking for her? It's also very bizarre to me that Ben's family says they were looking for Allison for multiple hours without contacting Allison's family and then they reported her missing and then called misty It's just all very strange like that makes me feel like maybe they were covering something up Which we'll talk about later. I don't know I just like I'm getting these really weird vibes from this this doesn't really make sense. Yeah I mean I totally get that him saying hey we just went our separate ways that's not alarming enough to you know send in the troops to go for on a search party. Exactly. And then on top

of that it's like the first thing you should do in this situation is contact Alison's family. That's the most important thing to do. And police, if you really think that there's something going on here. Especially if there's something going on where four people in your family, and the sister's friend, are going out there in the woods searching. Like if you're out searching like that, tell Allison's family, but you should also maybe tell police if it seems that serious.

Like, that's why I feel like I can't trust this information. It's just weird, weird to me. And that's just my personal perspective. You know, I've thought a lot about this case over the past week or so, and this to me just, it stands out. So there was a house near the area that were searching in North Plains, Oregon, and the homeowner explained to authorities later that they had been visited by Allison and Ben

that Sunday, and this was of course before Ben and Allison had supposedly gone their separate ways. The couple explained that they had been in a car accident and needed to use the phone. The woman noticed that Allison looked scared and had mud in her hair, and she asked for a glass of water which the woman gave to her. Ben called his grandmother explaining they'd been in a car accident and then called someone else. Now this gets a little tricky because originally Ben's father, Don, apparently told Alison's family that Ben called them after his grandmother.

But later, he denied this to be true. After making the phone calls, both Alison and Ben left, and she saw them walk down Old Pumpkin Ridge Road, which was right where this woman lived. The homeowner later explained to police as well as Allison's mother Misty that Ben was wearing only socks and no shoes. Allison was wearing his shoes, and Ben's grandmother did come looking for both Ben and Allison to give them a ride, but she couldn't find them. And by the way, before Ben and Allison left,

the homeowner, whose name is Sally, gave Ben a pair of slippers, and then they were off. After Allison's family searched for her in the woods to know a veil, they went home and hoped the police would jump on the case immediately. There are a lot of different stories here because Ben changes his story so many times. He went from

saying he left her to they went off on their own separate ways amicably to Allison saying that she was going to kill herself and then walking away to Allison walking up to a house and getting arrested. It's just all completely all over the place and it doesn't make any sense. When police got involved they went straight to Allison's friend Charlie's house in North Plains to see if he or anyone at the house knew where she was. And there they found Ben. Ben went running outside and into the bushes where police eventually coaxed him out and put him under arrest.

The charges were unrelated to Allison's case, and they were the reason he had a worn-out for under arrest. The charges were unrelated to Allison's case, and they were the reason he had a worn out for his arrest. Fraudulent use of a credit card and second-degree theft. While at Charlie's house, police also found a truck nearby that had been reported stolen that Sunday. Ben was also charged with stealing the truck, which he had done Sunday morning, after his mom Molly dropped

them off at the window. After police tried to question Ben further about Allison's whereabouts, he loyered up and refused to speak on her disappearance any further. And maybe that's why Ben suggested that Allison had been arrested because of the stolen truck, but that was his doing and regarding whether or not they were actually in an accident. The reports are not confirmed, so it's unclear if this is a made-up story by Ben, or if something really had happened to the stolen truck. At this time, Misty explained that she didn't believe Alison and Ben had actually gone hiking that day, but that they were really just visiting a friend who

lived in the area. Because that's what Allison had told her mom she was doing on Saturday, the day before she was last seen. After Ben was taken into custody and the police briefly searched the woods, the case was kind of put on hold for a couple days because they really didn't know if Allison was endangered missing or if she had gone off willingly. But with no trace of her at all and suspicious changing stories from Ben, the Washington County Sheriff's Office began an official search for Allison two days after she was last seen on December 24, 2019. They had the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department search and rescue, the

North Plains Police Department, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Department and their team, Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue, as well as other local Sheriff's Departments and Canine search teams outlooking for Allison. So they had quite a lot of people searching for her, and Allison's family was right there by their side amongst the gloom and light rain showers that occurred throughout the week. By day three of the search, nearly 100 people were searching for Alison, including many local volunteers. And for those wondering how Alison's body could have reacted to the temperature during this time? She was wearing an orange-ish yellow hooded sweatshirt, black jeans, and white Nike shoes when she was last seen, so she was wearing a fairly warm outfit.

But I will have to mention, for those of you who don't know what the weather's like in Oregon, in the winter time, it's not dry cold, it's very wet cold that can be almost like soaking to the dry cold. It's very wet cold that can be almost like soaking to the bone cold I feel like it's a lot worse than dry cold because not only are you cold, but you're also wet Oh right, so she I mean she wasn't wearing you know, it's not like she had a coat and like I don't know Thermal you know pants under her pants. I don't know exactly So the chance of warm outfit right so the chances of hypothermia are a little bit higher, I would say. By the end of day three, the Washington County Sheriff's Office publicly announced that

they had found some interesting items and clues, and that they would refocus the next day's search on a particular area. And no volunteers would be allowed to help the following day, just trained personnel. On the fourth day, investigators announced that they were looking for a resident who may have received a knock on their door just before midnight on Sunday, December 22, the day that Allison went missing. And they don't believe that the homeowner answered the door, so they announced that if this sounded familiar to anyone in the area, to please contact them.

They also announced that they were looking for someone who gave Allison's mother Misty an iPhone at the Reedville Cafe in Hillsboro since Misty gave this phone to Allison. Investigators were having trouble pinging the phone, so they hoped the original owner could help them potentially locate it. And in reality, they likely weren't able to ping it since Allison's phone could only be used at this time if she was under Wi-Fi or using a hotspot. The same day, which was December 27, a detective with the Washington County Sheriff's Office announced that there was a 30-hour gap between the time Alison was last

seen and when she was reported missing. So this was the first that the public had learned about that. And this makes things incredibly difficult because there's already so many different stories coming from Ben, so when you take on a 30-hour time gap, it makes the whole thing even more suspicious. This search lasted a total of five days and came to a close at the end of December 28. The share of selfies felt as though they had done everything they could at this time as far as searching went, but they planned to continue the investigation. They really just hope that people with gaming cameras or home security cameras in North

Plains could review their footage and come forward if they spotted Allison because they just had no idea where she could be. That same day, Misty made the following public plea. Allison, I will never stop looking for you. I would like to ask everyone else to not stop looking either. She's a very special girl and she deserves to be looked for. A few days later on January 3rd, 2020, the Washington County Sheriff's Office released a photo of the red truck that Benud Stolen and was driving that Sunday, which was a 2001 Ford

F-150 and hopes of stirring more leads. Regarding what police had found during their search that was interesting to them, was Allison's red backpack. It was found in a field next to Old Pumpkin Ridge Road, which is the same road and area that she was last seen on by the first homeowner. Unfortunately there was nothing in the backpack that gave them any clues. It was just her typical belongings. We know police did, however, find other items during their search, but it's not been released if any of those belongings were Allison's, nor what they were.

Over the course of the next six months, tips continue to come into local police departments, as well as the Sheriff's Office, from people claiming to have seen Alison. Some people even had photos, and those photos were typically sent to Misty to review, and she never felt like any of them really looked like Alison. Over the course of this time, Alison's family never stopped looking for her, even though the police had halted their search efforts. During this time as well, Ralph, the man who owned the truck Ben had slept in that Sunday night,

was said to have been caught on cameras numerous times taking down Allison's missing posters. In June of 2020, something would be discovered that would prove all the so-called sightings to police were never Allison. Her remains were found on northeast Corrie Road in North Plains on Saturday June 20th 2020 just before 5pm and this area is just a half mile from Ralph's property so a half mile from where Ben had spent the night in the truck. The area where Allison's remains were found was between two different properties.

A homeowner was mowing their lawn in an overgrown spot when they came across a shoe, which was one of Ben's shoes that he had given to Allison. The homeowner then went up a bit and uncovered essentially a pile of bones, and other clothing items covered by blackberry bushes. All the clothes Allison had been wearing the day she was last seen were found in that area. All but her undershirt. The spot where her remains were found was not an accessible area, and this confused police. Deputy Morris with the Washington County Sheriff's

Department stated, it would take some work. People aren't just going to go on a walk and end up in this area. It's just not going to happen. Investigators informed Allison's family of the findings just after they had gotten home from Allison's cousin's wedding to be specific her Aunt Billy's son. So obviously this was just an incredibly devastating time for this discovery to be made, and it just shocked Allison's family to their core. Although they couldn't confirm that very day that the remains belonged to Allison, a few days later a medical examiner made the positive connection.

After confirming that the remains belonged to Allison, the medical examiner tried hard to find a cause of death. But due to her very advanced state of decomposition, they had almost nothing to work with and couldn't conclusively say how she died, or at least they have not released that information. Since Allison's case is still open, it's possible they're keeping this information to themselves, but Alison's family is still unaware of their exact answer. Something strange is that Alison's cell phone has never been found. It wasn't found in her red backpack, nor by police during their search, and it wasn't found with or near her remains.

And the search team got on their hands and knees and searched the brush and overall area incredibly well after her remains were found. They even had the department of land use and transportation, go out and trim back some areas that were too thick with blackberry bushes and her phone was not found. Something Ben told investigators early on was that after he got separated from Allison, he wrestled with blackberries for hours. And then she ends up being found essentially tangled in a web of blackberry bushes. Currently, Ben remains in prison for the charges he faced after Allison disappeared.

He pleaded guilty in April of 2020 to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, fraudulent use of a credit card, and second degree theft. His probation had also been revoked on charges of unlawful use of a weapon, attempted coercion, fourth degree assault, and obliteration or change of a firearm identification number. So he had committed a lot of crimes in late 2019 and he was sentenced to three years in

prison for all of this. There is a lot of suspicion that is placed on Ben's family for numerous reasons and this isn't necessarily by police because they haven't released this but I'm just talking like us true crime people. Great Vine. Great Vine. Great Vine. Great. It's like what I do. Great, great.

Yes. Great Vine, the internet, like there's a lot of suspicion. It's possible they're trying to, you know, protect their son but not only have some of their stories changed but there is some information that they gave in the very beginning of the case that they now deny. They also have loyered up and refused to speak about Allison's case to the public. And of course, I understand this, like it's smart to hire a lawyer, especially if you're innocent, because the police, as we know, can be very, very tricky.

But I just, I feel like from the beginning, they weren't very upfront with Allison's family at all. It seems like they're hiding a lot of things, at least to me. Also to be fair, and as Allison's family has said, they don't want to place blame on Ben or his family if they didn't directly have anything to do with Allison's death. Of course, I mean, if Allison hadn't been out there with Ben, she likely would be alive today. But no one is trying to grasp at straws here and make things up.

It's just hard to ignore the suspicions against Ben and it only makes you wonder if his family is covering for him. Allison's family has noted that it's strange that Ben wasn't allowed at his house, yet his parents still seem to jump to help him with things. Obviously, there's still his parents at the end of the day, so this really isn't strange. But the fact that Ben wasn't allowed at their house on Sunday when he was with Allison, but then was allowed there on Monday morning is kind of curious. Also the fact that the whole family I know of brought this up, but they spent much of

the afternoon on Monday in the woods apparently looking for Allison without even calling Allison's own family is unexplainable. And then, they reported her missing. A lot of people wonder if the reason for this was because they were covering something up on Monday, and that's why Ben's mother Molly wanted to wait to tell Misty, you know, to buy some time. Of course, this is just speculation as we unfortunately don't know what really happened here. As far as motive goes, many people speculate that Allison died accidentally and then Ben covered

it up. Also with Allison knowing Ben's whereabouts, some wonder if Ben killed Allison because she was going to try to turn him into police. Because he had told Allison's mom Misty two days after she disappeared that the last time he saw her, she told him that she was tired and done walking and she was going to turn herself in. It's believed that she meant for the stolen car, but again, Ben was the only one seen driving it, so he really was the one who stole it. Yes, she was with him, so maybe her saying she was going to turn herself in meant that

she was going to turn both of them in, and Ben, who not only had a worn out for his arrest, but who had done jail time before, didn't want to get caught therefore he killed her. Again, this is just a theory as we don't know how Alice and died, but it's awfully suspicious that all of her remains were found in such a difficult area. Maybe an area that someone hit her in hopes that she just wouldn't be found. Obviously this is a true crime podcast, so it's easy for us to kind of speculate on a true crime aspect. But of course there are other things that could have happened to Allison, but the way I'm

thinking of it is, of course it's December. In the Pacific Northwest it does get pretty cold. It wasn't snowing that week or anything, but it was raining a thinking of it is, of course, it's December. In the Pacific Northwest, it does get pretty cold. It wasn't snowing that week or anything, but it was raining a bit and it was in the 40s and sometimes in the 30s. So definitely not temperatures you want to be out in, right? Especially if you're lost in the woods. Right, but the thing that stands out to me is,

if she did, let's say, die of hypothermia, why was she in the spot that she was in? Because even the deputy said that that particular area she was found in was a really difficult area to get to. So if she was really cold, why would she go to this random area instead of going to someone's house and asking for a phone, which we know she had done before? Why didn't she go to the road and try to flag down a car? Right, and I don't know if she would have died from the cold overnight?

Yes, it does get cold in the Pacific Northwest, but we're not talking, you know, minus degree level. Oh no, it was 40 degrees, like that was the coldest it got overnight. Right, and then the fact that she's found on somebody's property, yeah, maybe it's a big property, but she was still found on someone's property. So she was close to someone's home. Great point. So why wouldn't she go to the door, and why would she go off in some bushes, in some random area? That to me just doesn't make any sense. I don't see her naturally dying right there. I just don't. Yeah, and I don't want to put the blame on Ben or his family either, but considering he does have a violent past, we have to look at that. Also there's the fact that she could have maybe they did separate and she ran into somebody

with ill intentions. We don't really know, and so that's why we can't definitively say, but these are all just very good theories. Exactly, and it's also interesting to me that her phone was never found, because she could have definitely dropped her phone somewhere else, but the fact that her backpack was found, all of her clothes were found except for her undershirt, and then her phone is missing, which is a fairly heavy object. It's not, I don't really see an animal going off with an iPhone, you know, but with her

clothes, which are much lighter, those were still there, and maybe an animal took off with her undershirt or something of that nature. I just wonder where her phone was, and why did she get separated from her backpack? Yeah, that's very interesting to me because yeah, it's definitely possible that she accidentally lost her phone or she dropped it or something, but if that wasn't the case and she did die of natural causes, like your phone's like the number one thing you're probably gonna keep on you. Right, so why, I don't know why that wouldn't have been with the rest of her.

That's, yeah, exactly. To this day, police have not named a person of interest in the case, nor have they made any arrests regarding Allison's death. It is known that they have been on their radar, but right now, they're keeping pretty tight-lipped about what they do know since her case is still open, but her family is desperate for answers.

We know the police are still receiving tips regularly, so if you have any information about what happened to 20-year-old Allison Waterson. Please call the Washington County Sheriff's Office at 503-846-2700. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and next week we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. Again, thank you so much to Billy for telling us about Alison's story.

You are amazing. I had such a great time talking with you. You're such a beautiful person and I'm so sorry that this happened to your family and to Allison and I really, really hope that answers come your guys way. Yeah, and please share this episode so that we can get some more information out there to the public. Yes, please, please share this episode and thank you guys so much for listening.

Thank you, everybody who has joined our Patreon in the last week. Remember, we just released that brand new episode on Peggy Beckler's case in Newport, California, and we're going to have another one coming out sometime this week for you guys, so stay tuned. And thank you so much to everybody who joined in the last week. Yes, thank you patrons.

We got to give a shout out to you guys. Big thanks going out to Amanda, Ashley, another Amanda, Ruthie, Riley, Jackie, and Rebecca. Thank you so much to Kelsey, Jason, and Lauren, Taylor, Kaitlyn, Gabrielle, thank you Kendra, Megan, and Arjan, thanks Arjan. And big thanks going out to Vanessa, Sarah, thank you Jessica, Sanja, Ben, Naomi, and Leah. And last but not least, thank you so much to Rory, one of my favorite names ever, and thank you to Dylan. We love you guys so much.

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