Going West: True Crime - Deanne Hastings // 377

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

In November of 2015, a 35-year-old woman left her Spokane, Washington home late one night to run an errand, leaving a note behind for her fiancé. When she never returned, her fiancé went looking for her, and discovered her locked car abandoned near a music venue with her purse and phone inside. When sightings of her acting strangely poured in from another side of town, suspicions of a mental health crisis were raised, until theories emerged about the two men who were last seen accompanying her, as well as her fiancé himself. This is the story of Deanne Hastings. Sources: 1. KHQ: https://www.khq.com/man-arrested-for-using-missing-womans-credit-cards/video_b50a8238-78ac-11eb-8c01-7f5d1fffc556.html 2. Uncovered: https://uncovered.com/cases/deanne-hastings 3. Missing Deanne Hastings: https://www.facebook.com/MissingDeanneHastings/mentions 4. NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/missing-in-america/loved-ones-still-searching-answers-deanne-hastings-disappearance-n479876 5. Disappeared: https://play.max.com/video/watch/2961635e-238e-4587-a2bc-52ee8dc3bc9b 6. Reddit:  7. The Cinemaholic: https://thecinemaholic.com/is-deanne-hastings-found-or-missing-where-is-her-son-now/ 8. Charley Project: https://charleyproject.org/case/deanne-marie-hastings 9. Carini Arts: https://cariniarts.com/blogs/carini-arts/missing-wings 10. Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Disappeared/comments/iso09b/disappeared_deanne_hastings_my_leading_theory/?rdt=59440 11. KHQ: https://www.khq.com/news/man-arrested-for-using-missing-womans-credit-cards/article_f78fe46e-4ab8-5475-b637-b509ae6659fa.html 12. KXLY: https://www.kxly.com/news/local-news/spokane-man-searching-for-missing-fianc/article_ad96492d-1677-5bdc-a302-aa6e9d6c7bd6.html 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 host Daphne and you're listening to Going West. Hello guys, big thank you to Amy for today's recommendation. You guys might be familiar with this one if you've seen it on that show Disappeared on ID and I'd say this story definitely takes a turn and makes you think. So thanks again Amy and thank you everybody for tuning in. Also I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Aiden if you're listening to this episode, hopefully you are.

Aiden lost his father a few weeks ago and he and his dad would listen to Going West all the time basically every night together and he reached out to me to kind of give him and his dad a shout out on the show. So big shout out to Aiden. Thank you for listening. I'm so sorry about the circumstances here. But this goes out to you and your dad Tyler Lancaster. Yes, we love you Aiden. Thank you so much to you and your dad and everybody else who

listens to the show and everybody who's going through a hard time. We love you all so much and we appreciate you tuning in. Alright guys, this is episode 377 of Going West, so let's get into it. Every story has a beginning. Yours can be unforgettable with a ring as unique as the love it symbolizes. Let Design by Savan craft your one-of-a-kind engagement ring, a masterpiece that tells a story as enchanting as your favorite audio series or as captivating as the latest true crime podcast. I'm Savan, the master artisan behind every thing we create. Our passion is bringing your dream ring to life The story begins at design by savon.com visit for free consultation

In November of 2015, a 35-year-old woman left her Spokane, Washington home late one night to run an errand, leaving a note behind for her fiancé. When she never returned, her fiancé went looking for her and discovered her locked car abandoned near a music venue with her purse and phone inside. When sightings of her acting strangely poured in from another side of town, suspicions of a mental health crisis were raised until theories emerged about the two men who were last seen accompanying her, as well as her fiancee himself. Deanne Marie Krider was born on February 27th, 1980 in Paramp, Nevada, which is about an hour outside of Las Vegas. Born into a tight-knit family, her mom Patricia recalled that they did everything together.

Her older brother Carson said fondly, quote, we had an amazing childhood. We had awesome parents. When Deanne was in elementary school, the family relocated from the relatively small desert community of Parump, school, the family relocated from the relatively small desert community of Perump, which hosted about 38,000 residents, to the lush, wooded city of Spokane, Washington, which boasts a population of over 200,000 people. Patricia remembers her daughter as empathetic, kind, bubbly, and gregarious, just an all-around amazing person who seemed to make friends everywhere she went. But in 1996, everything started to change for Deanne. At 15 years old, her parents divorced around the same time her brother graduated high school and moved down south to Texas to serve in

the military. So for the first time in her life, Deanne was without her previously close family unit and it was just her and her mom. Although Patricia recalls it being a particularly tough time for her daughter and that Deanne took the divorce harder than anyone else, she called her daughter her best friend. At the age of 17, while still completing her studies at Ferris High School, Deanne became pregnant with a baby boy. And though it came as a surprise,

Deanne decided that she wanted to commit to raising him as she had been raised, in a loving family that her son could rely on. So navigating her parents' divorce made her especially motivated to stay with her boyfriend, David, and raise their son as a team. So Deanne and David moved in together, and in July of 1998 1998 they welcomed a baby boy

named Hayden. But they really struggled under the weight of the pressure of being new parents and found themselves frequently breaking up and getting back together. And after a couple of years of attempting to make it work, the two officially called it quits for good and Deanne moved back in with her, Patricia, sharing custody of Hayden with her ex, David. Patricia recalls her daughter taking the breakup very hard, and it was around this time, Deanne's early 20s, that Patricia remembers her daughter

began to suffer manic mental health episodes in which it seemed she would disassociate, sometimes for days at a time. In those moments, her family describes that, it was as if another person took over, and they couldn't see any glimpse of Deanne remaining. Unlike her usually warm and very friendly constitution, Deanne could be aggressive and erratic and vindictive.

She would often disappear for days after outbursts, later feeling embarrassed at how differently she had acted when she wasn't in control of her actions and emotions. Her brother Carson remembered, quote, Her behavior when she went into manic episodes was very aggressive, violent in some cases. The language she used, she would curse, she would say things intentionally to hurt people around her. And that was not Deanne. Deanne was not raised that way. She was not that person.

Soon enough, Deanne was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but continued to struggle to keep her episodes under control. Patricia recalls that in those moments, quote, I lost my best friend. I lost my daughter. Emerging from an episode left Deanne both ashamed and exhausted, and the unpredictability was a struggle for her, especially as a young mother, because neither she nor anyone else knew what was going to send her into a downward spiral.

As she navigated her diagnosis, she and Hayden's dad decided that she was just not fit to be a full-time mother in her state. So Hayden's dad took on full custody for the time being in order to allow Deanne the space and time to get better. But despite repeated attempts at therapy and medication, her episodes just persisted. But she continued to push through and try to live her life the best that she could, and since she wanted to be a nurse, she was able to complete her training to become a nurse's assistant, and, you know, kind of start fresh, and things were going really great for her for a long time.

So she moved down south to Texas to stay with her brother Carson while she got back on track, and it was there that she met a man named Brandi, whom Carson knew and vouched for as they were both serving in the military at the time. After a quick courtship, Deanne and Brandy moved in together. They got married and they had a baby daughter and later a son. When the kids were still young and to Deanne's dismay, her bipolar flared up yet again and the episodes became so frequent that it began to put a strain on her marriage with Brandi. Eventually, the weight of her mental illness became too much for the marriage to bear,

and after nine years, the couple made the difficult decision to divorce. Brandi worried about their young children being alone with Deanne in the midst of an episode, as he knew that he could be deployed overseas at any time. Thus, they decided that it would be best for both Deanne and their children if they moved up north to Spokane to live with her mom Patricia, who could care for all three of them when Deanne was unable to do so. Patricia recalls her daughter's affliction becoming even worse after the move, perhaps exacerbated by the stress and her new surroundings, which

kind of proved to be a difficult thing. Every time there was a big change, it caused a bit of a flare up for Dianne. So it was at this time that Dianne decided that she needed serious help and checked herself into an inpatient psychiatric facility nearby in Idaho. After completing treatment, she moved back to Spokane, but this time moved into her own place, with her youngest children staying with her mom Patricia and her oldest Hayden remaining with his dad David. But Deanne was on medication and was working toward the goal of being able to care for

her children on her own without the volatile nature of her episodes. Her brother Carson proudly said, quote, she was working really hard with medications and with going to school to ultimately reach the goal of being capable of being able to take care of her kids on her own again and get them back. And she still had a really good relationship with all of them and that's what she wanted, was to be with her kids. Though she didn't live with them, Deanne saw her children frequently and her family maintained that she was a loving and present parent.

In 2015, as 35 year old Deanne was working toward her goal of being able to host her children again, she met a man named Mike Tibbet through mutual friends. Mike who worked as a project manager for a company that installed heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems was instantly taken with Deanne, and the feeling was mutual. So the two quickly fell for each other, with Mike claiming that he knew within a couple of days that Deanne was the one. The pair enjoyed a whirlwind romance, quickly moving in together and in the summer of 2015 became engaged.

35 year old Deanne was also on the precipice of a new career path, having just enrolled in cosmetology school, which she was set to begin in November. Yeah, so she is not pursuing nursing anymore, she now wants to work in cosmetology. Yeah, exactly. pursuing nursing anymore she now wants to work in cosmetology. Yeah exactly and though she seemed to be improving in addition to her mental health struggles or perhaps because of them she found herself in a bit of trouble with the law in the months leading up to her disappearance. She received a DUI and was placed on probation which she then violated in October. She also received a

charge alleging domestic violence, though it's unclear who made this complaint. Yeah, and remember this for later, because that could mean something here. But it's believed that this took place during a mental health crisis, and in June, she disappeared for six days, and her son Hayden, who would have been 18 years old by then,

reported her missing. Then on June 15th, 2015, she returned home without issue. So they're kind of wondering, you know, where did she go for six days here? Still, her mom, Patricia and brother Carson, maintain that this time of her life was the happiest and healthiest that she had been in years, and that she was finally looking forward excitedly. Months later, on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015, Deanne headed off to her first day of cosmetology school at the Glendau Academy in downtown Spokane. When she arrived back home after a successful start to her studies, Melanie, her son Hayden's

girlfriend, stopped by to see Deanne for relationship advice. According to Melanie, the two had been taking a break at the time, and she was in need of some advice. Melanie remembered fondly, quote, she's always been a mom to me. According to Melanie, Deanne saw her as a daughter, and said that she believed that they could work things out. So after a couple of hours of doing each other's nails and chatting, Deanne saw Melanie out, telling her to get home safely.

Melanie texted Deanne when she arrived home, which Deanne responded to, telling Melanie that she loved her and that she would see her soon. Melanie recalls Deanne being in good spirits, and that she didn't sense that an episode was imminent as she left Diane's house around 9.30pm that night. The last person to hear from Diane was actually Hayden, whom she texted about her successful day of school, telling him that she hoped he was proud of her. That text went through around 10pm and was the last contact to be made from her phone. Shortly after 10 p.m., Mike arrived home to an empty house and a note that Deanne had left for him.

According to Mike, the note read something like, ran to the store, just got done doing nails, had a great day, see you soon. And I say something like, because the police never saw this note as we're gonna talk about later. Now at first, he waited patiently, but after over an hour,

he said that he grew wary of the situation and feared that something had gone wrong. And with Deanna answering her phone, he decided to drive to their local grocery store because she said that she ran to the store, which he said was about five minutes away. And when he arrived, he saw that the store was closed and the parking lot was virtually emptied.

So there was no sign at all of DN. Now, apparently in this note, she didn't say what store she was going to. So it's possible that she went to a different store and then the one that he was thinking, you know what I mean? Maybe this was the closest, most obvious one though? Yeah, and I totally agree with that. I think maybe he knows that this is the grocery store that she frequents the most, and so that's why he checked there.

It's interesting too, because he got home after 10, and that would have been around the time she left, so it seems like he's right behind her if this is all the way it went. So after Mike realized that they're closed, he returned home and continued to wait there. By Mike's own recollection of the timeline, between 2.30 and 3.00 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, November 4th, 2015,

Mike tracked her phone and saw that it was pinging in the parking lot of a live music venue called the Knitting Factory. So he drove to her car, hoping to find her inside, but instead found that it was dark and empty. So he called her phone again, and to his horror, he heard a ring coming from inside the vehicle. On the seat inside her car, he spotted Deanne's phone

and purse. And unsure of where she could have gone, Mike decided to wait in the parking lot in his car in hopes that she would return to hers, but she did not. So it's weird. Let's recap a little bit. She apparently left this note saying that she was running to the store and that she'd be right back. She had a great day and she's not at the store or in the parking lot of the store. Her husband tracks her phone, and she is in the parking lot of a music venue. Yeah, and by the way, for anybody who's interested,

the Knitting Factory is actually a chain of music venues. They actually have one here in LA. They don't anymore. It closed many years ago, I don't know why. Oh, interesting. I know they have one in like Salt Lake City or in Boise, but yeah, it's interesting that she would be outside of this music venue. And I wonder if there was maybe a concert going on that night or if she just happened to find herself in this parking lot. Okay, so I did look this up and it was a Tuesday,

which doesn't mean I mean concerts are any day of the week But I I saw a concert that week that occurred three days after this one for a band named Marianas Trench and It just doesn't seem like there was anything that night also I think about the fact that Melanie left her house at 9 30 and her last text was sent at 10 p.m. So the show would have been, if there was a concert, it would have been over or almost over by the time that she would have even gotten there. But if she did go to the store first,

but also since we don't know what store it would have been or was, we don't know how close it was to the knitting factory. But the knitting factory was about four minutes away from the address that we found for her. But either way, how her car got to this empty parking lot, because of course by the time he got there after 3 a.m., the building was locked and the parking lot was empty.

So it's very mysterious. And it didn't appear that there was any surveillance footage or else they would have been able to find that, correct? Right. We actually are going to talk about surveillance in a bit, but it's not for this venue, but obviously if there was footage of the parking lot that could show her car and how it got there, that would be so helpful to this investigation

because this is such a mysterious piece of the story. So after a bit more time passed, Mike decided to return home and that next morning around 7.30 a.m., so just a few hours later, Mike called Glendale, which is Deanne's school, to see if she had shown up for class that day, but they hadn't seen or heard from her either.

After Mike expressed his concern, the owner of the school graciously offered to let him use the school office to print missing persons flyers, which Mike actually gladly accepted. Mike began canvassing the city of Spokane with posters, hanging them anywhere Deanne was known to frequent, or may have been the night prior. But why he didn't immediately report her missing to police and decided to instead take the

investigation into his own hands is very strange to me because if he's going so far as to make missing posters for her, it's odd that he didn't first go to police and see if they could help him, you know? Sure, I mean, you would think that that would be the first move, but I guess in some situations like this, you don't really know what to do because this is kind of an unexpected thing.

Yeah, this is just such a weird part of the story to me, and it just in general, Mike's actions in the early hours of Deanne's disappearance are some of the first and a lengthy list of reasons why many have speculated about his involvement. Around 12.30 p.m. on November 4th, while Mike was busy hanging missing posters, he claims to have received a notification from Deanne's bank that one of her cards

or perhaps a joint card had been used at Laytaugh Trading Company, which is now called Yoke's Fresh Market, which are both a grocery store in South Spokane. And not to get too confusing, but I did think at first that this would have been the grocery store that Mike had checked originally, but this grocery store is about 8 minutes from the address that we found of hers, her last known address. So it doesn't seem like this would have been the one, um, but we just don't know. Anyways, carry on. I will carry on. Alright. So this sequence of events was also a later cause for concern, making many wonder if Mike received notifications

for all of Dianne's purchases and was controlling about her spending. Or maybe this was less about being controlling and more about keeping track and being aware. The next questionable choice that Mike made came when he saw the notification from the bank and instead of racing to the store to try and find her, he returned to her car, assuming that she was coming back for it. Which again, makes me wonder how close this grocery store was to the knitting factory,

because if he's going back to her car and not to the grocery store that he has the name of, that's over 10 minutes away, how does he expect her to get from that grocery store if she indeed made that 12.30 p.m. purchase all the way over to the knitting factory 10 minutes away without a car? Yeah, and that's exactly why it's so questionable

because it's like, you know, she doesn't have her purse, her phone or her car. So then you have to ask, how did she even get to this other grocery store to make this purchase? where was she all night? Why aren't you going directly to her? But Mike later did acknowledge that he regretted not going to the grocery store immediately to try and track her down. So after waiting at her car again with no sign of Deanne, he did head to the grocery store hoping that he could still catch her.

Mike circled the parking lot and pursued the aisles inside, but he came up empty handed. Deanne was just nowhere to be found. He did however notice that they had security cameras inside, which may have captured her presence there, so he asked if he could view the security camera footage, and the store manager agreed, but he was told that he would have to wait until Saturday to do so. So at this point, Mike just knew that it was time to contact the police. Though Deion was known to take short trips by herself with little contact or notice, you know staying in a hotel or even visiting a friend out of state, going this long with

absolutely no contact was abnormal even for her. So finally, on November 5th, 2015, around 10 o'clock in the morning, Mike called Spokane Police to report his fiance missing. In another move that Mike was later heavily criticized for, he declined to tell her family what was going on, claiming that he didn't want to worry them, and that he hoped that this was one of her routine disappearances, and that she would surface safely in the next couple of days. But with no car, no purse, no phone, or belongings, wandering on foot in the chilly Washington fall with only a few of her cards in her pocket, How far could she really have gone? When the concerning news reached her family, they too hope that this was one of Deanne's

routine breaks from the pressures of her day-to-day life. But Patricia remembers that from the beginning, something felt different about this disappearance. Dien Son Hayden agreed that at the very least, she wouldn't have left her phone. Like even in the midst of an episode, she usually checked in to let her family know that she was somewhere safe. When she had vanished back in June,

she also declined to check in, which they found so disturbing that Hayden had reported her missing, but this time, the circumstances were even more unsettling. Given her history with mental health struggles, her family and friends were growing increasingly concerned. Deanne's brother Carson recalled, quote, she had just told me how happy she was that she was in love and getting married.

There are too many things that are wrong with this. It's different this time, very different. When police questioned if perhaps she had chosen to disappear herself, Mike responded quote, her son was getting ready to graduate high school and go into the military. She wouldn't have missed that.

As panic began to rise among her loved ones, words spread around the community. On Saturday, November 6th, 2015, Mike was able to stop into the grocery store to view that security footage, and his findings were alarming to say the least. He spotted Dianne quickly, hair up in a ponytail and clad in jeans, boots and an oversized jacket.

But Mike described her as paranoid and disoriented and that she didn't seem to know exactly where she was or what she was doing. From the grocery store, she purchased string cheese, energy drinks, birthday candles, cigarettes, and vodka, items which Mike could not justify the purchase of. And just a reminder, this is the footage that came up the next day at about 12 30pm. So this is not the night before when she initially disappeared. This is

the next day, meaning who knows where she was overnight, but now she's at the store buying all these off items. But more alarming than the footage is what happened outside the grocery store that day. So the grocery store is situated inside a complex surrounded by businesses, including a coffee shop, a bank, a salon, and a restaurant, among others. And police discovered that employees of the nearby hair salon were called Deanne, wandering in and referring to one of the stylists as Mommy. Later slumped down in the parking lot and appeared confused, two women stopped to help

her and talk to her, later reporting that she couldn't even tell them her name. Deanne told them that she thought she'd been drugged. The women stayed with her for about an hour and attempted to give her a ride home, but she refused. So concerned, they called the authorities. Both officers and medics arrived, but Deanne again remained tight-lipped, refusing to give them any information about herself, except to say that she believed

she had been drugged and beaten up. So when they continued to hit a wall with Deanne, who staunchly refused to give them any personal information about herself, the officers gave up and left, believing that she was not in any imminent danger and that she was likely a homeless woman or simply drunk or using drugs. With nothing to arrest her for and no reason to believe she posed a threat to herself or

others, they left her alone. Hearing this days later, when it may already be too late for her, was very frustrating for her family. Mike said woefully, quote, I didn't feel she was important to them at all. As confusing as this piece of the story was, another piece was about to fall into place in the form of a witness. A young man phoned Mike

after having seen the picture of Deanne on the missing poster, and he revealed that he had actually been the one to give Deanne a ride from where she had abandoned her car near the knitting poster, and he revealed that he had actually been the one to give Deanna Ride from where she had abandoned her car near the knitting factory to where she had last been spotted, which is the parking lot of the grocery store the next day. The young man was actually an employee of that grocery store, which again is Yokes, and claimed that he met her in front of a bar a few doors down from where she had parked her car. He claimed their interactions had been purely friendly.

He had offered her a cigarette and then they popped into a few bars to drink and smoked marijuana together. And to answer the question of where she was overnight, she spent the night at his apartment and the next morning, they drove to the grocery store where he worked to buy cigarettes. So that is how Deanne got from the next morning, they drove to the grocery store where he worked to buy cigarettes.

So that is how Deanne got from the knitting factory, where she was overnight, and how she got to that grocery store, a little over a 10 minute drive away from the knitting factory the very next day. So while he was popping in to get cigarettes, he left Deanne in the car, but when he returned, he claims that she was gone. He circled the parking lot looking for her but found no sign of her, so he decided to

leave, assuming that she had just taken off. And actually, this man had proof of Deanne's presence, her car keys, which she had left in his vehicle. And by his own admission, Mike became a bit combative and suspicious of this guy, who claimed to have spent Deanne's last no night with her. But the man offered to let Mike search his entire residence, which is actually an offer that Mike took him up on, and he found nothing nefarious. Now able to unlock her car, Mike scoured the vehicle in her phone for any indication of what went awry that evening, but he found nothing.

Armed with this new information, the Spokane Police Department began to take her disappearance seriously and investigate the possibility that foul play was involved. Strangely, they found that the cards Deanne had removed from her purse continued to be used between November 7th and November 12th. But when they tracked these transactions, they discovered that Dianne had not been the one to make them. Instead, a man and two companions could be seen stocking up on groceries using Dianne's cards. And one of the men also discarded Dianne's driver's license outside of a nearby deli.

Spokane police released surveillance footage of the three people, two men and one woman, who were caught on camera using Dianne's cards, and quickly identified the ringleader as a local man named Randy Riley, who's a small-time criminal and drug user who was already known to police. So identifying their first person of interest was a huge step forward in the case, but when they questioned Randy about the use of Dianne's cards, he feigned ignorance. Initially, he claimed that Dianne offered him her cards, wanting him to be able to get something to eat, but another link to Randy indicated that he may know more than he was letting on.

On November 25, 2015, three weeks after Deanne's disappearance, a woman called police explaining that she was Randy's former landlord, having evicted him shortly after Deanne's disappearance. She said she believed that she had seen Randy, Deanne, and an unknown man together on November 4th, which is the day that Deanne was spotted in the grocery store parking lot the day after she went missing. Across the street from the grocery store was a storage facility called Storage Solutions Spokane, which provided investigators with another clue. Spokane, which provided investigators with another clue. Surveillance camera footage pulled from the storage facility depicted Randy and a male companion of his, along with

Deanne, stopping by a storage space that Randy was renting at the facility. According to Randy's landlord, Deanne had seemed disjointed, perhaps drunk or high, and the three appeared to be passing around the bottle of vodka that she had just purchased at the grocery store. In addition to the sighting by his landlord, one of Randy's neighbors passed them in a car

and seeing Deanne apparently lying on the ground, stopped to ask if she was okay. Deanne, though a bit out of sorts, was lucid enough to explain that she was just going through a tough time and apparently claimed that she was navigating a divorce. The motorist who stopped to check on her, though alarmed, decided that Diane seemed coherent enough to walk to her destination so she drove away. Police again questioned Randy about his involvement and this time he actually broke down in tears,

claiming that he felt guilty about leaving her outside alone in such a vulnerable state. He explained that the three of them, Randy and Deanne, along with a friend of his named James, were taking turns drinking swigs of vodka together and that they spent two to four hours drinking together that day. A few weeks later, on December 10th, 2015, Randy was finally arrested for identity theft and stolen property for taking and using Deanne's credit cards. But this time, his story changed, because he was basically claiming that he and James had found her coat, with her identification and credit cards in the pocket, on the side of a road and started using them. He admitted to using her cards without her consent, but swears that he didn't have anything

to do with her disappearance. That they parted ways after drinking together for a few hours, and that he hasn't seen her since, claiming, quote, we left her standing on the side of the road. Police also spoke with James, who distanced himself from Randy, saying that they didn't know each other well. He claimed that at one point, Deanne had separated from the men

to go to the bathroom in some nearby brush. He said that he went to go check on her when she didn't return immediately, but he walked back down to the road when she seemed okay by herself. Then he says that he watched as Randy went to check on her himself, and according to Randy they walked back down the hill together. But James claimed that he didn't see Deanne again after that. Tragically, they were just around the corner from Deanne's house at the time, with her

brother Carson estimating that they were only about 300 yards away, if only she could have made it there. James vowed that he thought that she was headed home, or he would have tried to intervene to make sure that she got home safely. And Mike agreed with this and believed that she was attempting to make her way home. In March of 2016, Randy was sentenced to 13 months in prison for theft and possession of stolen credit cards, so this seemed like something that he did pretty often. Though he's never been found to have a connection to Dianne's disappearance, he does have multiple

domestic violence charges on his record. Ground searches of the area where Dianne was last seen were conducted by police and volunteers, and investigators also brought in cadaver dogs and helicopters, but none of their efforts turned up any sign of Deanne. The possibility of mental health crisis being the catalyst for Deanne's disappearance was high, and her family recalls that this was likely due in part to a recent change in her habits. Deanne's insurance made the decision to stop covering the brand of bipolar medication that

she had been taking and was pushing for her to take a cheaper generic brand with a different chemical compound. So Deanne claimed that she had already tried that particular type of medication and that it didn't work for her, but her request to her insurance continued to be denied, which is just so sad that that's something that she had to worry about and so many other people do. And just four to six weeks before she vanished, she hadn't been taking the medication that she needed

to maintain stable mental health. Carson said sadly, quote, when she enters a manic state, anything is possible. However, many Indians in her circle believe that she was having trouble at home. So a friend of hers named Michael, with whom she had spent a few of her bipolar episodes, wrote this after her disappearance, quote, De'en and I would sometimes go through periods of not talking, but we were always in touch one way or another.

Shortly before her final disappearance in 2015, she contacted me and told me that she had to get out of her current relationship because it was unhealthy. Deanne was known to tell stories and bend the truth, but I felt this sincerity in her voice. She really seemed to be turning her life around. The proof was in her actions. She looked and sounded better than I had ever seen or heard. She was asking for help long before it reached the point of needing help.

I heard stories from her friends about an abusive relationship, and she inched closer and closer to walking away. I could tell that Deanne was on the precipice of showing up at my door again or asking me to come get her, and I was ready to accept. I never got the call because she disappeared for the last time. We found this thread on Reddit where somebody is just talking about the entire case and their theories, and the top comment is from Carson himself, who again of course is

Deans brother, and his kind of affirmation of the theory of Mike's potential involvement. So here is what Carson commented, quote, I am her brother and I feel your spot on with your assessment. I've talked to James. He's no murderer and Randy is just a low-level criminal type. Mike did so many things that are questionable that there is no doubt there was involvement. He disappeared the night after she did to quote Seattle. He tried to pick up a girl at the search. He refused and never did turn over her cell phone. He changed his phone number and moved shortly after. If you're expecting someone to come back, you don't do these things. Police know all this and never did

anything to dig further. Disgrace. As Carson mentioned, Mike was asked to surrender both the note that Deanne left for him and her phone and declined to give either to the police. His reasoning was that he wanted to hold on to the last pieces of Deanne that he had. Which I just find kind of silly. I mean, if giving up those things could help find her so she can continue to be with you, you wouldn't hesitate to give those up, I'd imagine. Yeah, like if you're saying or you're claiming that this note does exist, you think it would be easy to just say, well, here it is. There's the note that she wrote for me, but, you know,

I don't know why you wouldn't do that. It just seems so suspicious. I think something that's hard for me to wrap my head around, like I want to put a lot of credibility in Carson and his theories and beliefs because he, unlike us, he is in the middle of the story. This is his sister's disappearance. So I kind of almost want to go automatically with what he thinks because he knows every piece of information there is to know unless there are certain things that police are keeping to themselves. But he knows way more than we do, right? Yeah. So I want to put a lot of credibility in that. But it's hard with the information that we have with what has been released by

the police. Um, you know, knowing that Mike did go looking for her, that we do know that of course he didn't report her missing until the next day, even though he was apparently up all night looking for her. But then you also have to put her, um, mental health into play. And maybe he didn't want to go to the police because he really didn't think it was anything nefarious, right? But then I also think it's interesting that he did want to see the surveillance footage and he even told the police that he didn't think that she would go off on her own because her son's graduation was coming up. She would never have done that. Whereas if he was involved, I would think that he would say, yeah, you know, her mental health was declining

to use that as leverage for police not to look into this as foul play, right? But I also feel like I do see what Carson's saying that he, I mean, I think it's weird if he went to Seattle the next day, but it's not actually believed that he went there. Though I will say as well, I can't figure out exactly what he would have done and when.

If after she was drinking with Randy and James, did she make it home and then something happened from there? You know, like maybe she went missing for a day, came home and there was some kind of altercation and then, you know what I mean? Maybe it went in that direction after she went missing and possibly returned. Right and just pure speculation but you know you would imagine that most people would be pretty pissed off if their partner their their fiance is staying the night at a random dude's apartment from a grocery

store or hanging out with two guys, you know, who are drinking and they're just drinking all day together. Like you would imagine that most partners would be upset by this. So could that be, you know, maybe motivation to do something about it? I don't know. And I'm not trying to blame her.

Obviously she can do whatever she wants to do. I'm just saying that maybe that was- The catalyst. Yeah, it could have been. Yeah, I agree just saying that maybe that was... The catalyst. Yeah, it could have been. Yeah, I agree. I think it is totally possible that that could have happened. Of course, there is no evidence of that happening, but there's no evidence of anything happening.

So we kind of have to open the conversation. But before we theorize a little bit more, let's talk about a bit more about her relationship with Mike. So another friend of Deansne's also has a story that she believes corroborates this theory. In October of 2015, so just a couple weeks before she disappeared, DeAnne sent her friend Amanda a text regarding her relationship with Mike

that read quote, I want out. Honestly Amanda, I'm 99% sure he drugged me the other night. On October 21st, 2015, just two weeks before her disappearance, Deanne said that she was so sure that he had drugged her that she actually went to the doctor to be tested, but told Amanda that the doctor made her feel crazy. She claimed that she was glad she did it, however, writing quote, whatever, it's on record now. So if anything ever comes up, I reported that I felt that way. Which is really eerie to know that she said this and then she went missing.

And right before she was last seen, she was telling people that she felt like she was drugged. But that is what is so incredibly difficult about this case is that originally hearing that, you almost wanna write it off and assume that she was experiencing an episode and wasn't thinking clearly about her reality, but her suffering from bipolar disorder doesn't automatically mean that she disappeared

because of it, which is the most tragic part of the story, that kind of write-off mentality, but we just don't know. But I think also, you know, she's not just talking about the fact that she thinks she was drugged, she's also talking about the fact that she wants out of that relationship. So we don't really clearly know what those reasons are, but she very clearly told her friend Amanda, I am, I'm done. You know, I want out. Well, Amanda also maintains that Deanne had been trying to leave him for weeks before her disappearance.

Mike, however, claims that all of these behaviors and incidents leading up to her vanishing could be explained by her struggles with her bipolar disorder. So in the end, I guess he kind of did use that as leverage. Yes, exactly. Yes, exactly. However, Mike is still waiting for her to come back, apparently saying, quote, everything I can forgive. I don't care what it is.

I will go get her no matter where she is. I don't care. I love her and she can come back and start off where we left off." So it's just very difficult. We don't know the exact nature of their entire relationship. We don't know. It's almost like he said she said at this point and it's really hard to know what the truth is. But either way, the question remains. Where is she? something happened? Well her family is just absolutely desperate for answers Deanne Hastings stood at five feet four inches tall and weighed about 130 pounds She had brown hair and brown eyes

Deanne's ears were pierced and she sported multiple tattoos including Viking runes, Thor's hammer, a tribal pattern on her upper back, a sun, moon, and stars on her lower back, and also a large flower with her children's names on her abdomen. She was wearing a diamond engagement ring and a cloud-aw ring. She would now be 43 years old. If you have any information about the disappearance of Deanne Hastings, please call the Spokane Police Department at 509-242-8477. 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 on Friday we'll have an

all new case for you guys to dive into. This is such a difficult case to discuss or speculate on. There's so many different elements to this story, but either way, we sincerely hope that Deanne is found sooner rather than later. Her family deserves all the answers. So please make sure that you share this case. Thank you for listening to it, especially if you're in the Pacific Northwest or West Coast of the US. It means a lot.

Keep talking about Deanne. I absolutely agree. Please share this episode. And if you wanna see photos from from this episode as we always say, check out our socials. We're on Instagram at Going West Podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod, and we're also on Facebook, we have a discussion group, so if you have some theories, or you just want to talk about this case, let us know your thoughts. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger Thank you for watching!