Going West: True Crime - Lauren Cho // 151

Episode Date: November 24, 2021

In June of 2021, a New Jersey native settled into her Airbnb chef job outside of Joshua Tree, California after traveling cross-country with her boyfriend. But one hot afternoon, she supposedly walked away and seemingly vanished. Months later, her remains were found nearby, and it left a slew of questions. This is the story of Lauren Cho. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-lauren-cho?sharetype=teams&member=14914413&pc=fb_co_campmgmt_w&rcid=r01-163555467478-0ca9ce58613c4171&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_lico%2Bshare-sheet&fbclid=IwAR3zJ0M3JiGOMgpOZg4SteBYcnA4K3oVVpSJtRJe4trWLtL7_TAbnBNRA1E https://www.latestcelebarticles.com/lauren-cho/ https://www.airbnb.co.nz/users/show/1707280 https://nypost.com/2021/10/28/remains-in-california-desert-ided-as-lauren-cho-from-nj/ https://www.wmur.com/article/lauren-cho-missing-vanished-from-california-desert-home/37859821# https://hidesertstar.com/news/179276/what-happened-to-lauren-cho/ https://www.thebharatexpressnews.com/remains-found-in-california-desert-identified-as-missing-woman-lauren-cho/ https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjqj7_CvaD0AhWVKn0KHUh9BX8QFnoECAIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheavy.com%2Fnews%2Flauren-cho-missing%2F&usg=AOvVaw0u1zAo_X99qSSzPlvk9sUo https://www.google.com/maps/dir/8600+Benmar+Trail,+Yucca+Valley,+CA+92284/Bombay+Beach,+CA+92257/@33.4489949,-116.0221676,10z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x80db26460c6b39ef:0x7398d4f9724067a5!2m2!1d-116.4801519!2d34.0956829!1m5!1m1!1s0x80da096a8a2a2f31:0xf3bcadf15c810817!2m2!1d-115.7297152!2d33.3508667!3e0 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/lauren-cho-missing-disappearance-california-b1925806.html https://camas.github.io/reddit-search/#{%22author%22:%22okayrj%22,%22resultSize%22:100} https://www.facebook.com/findlaurencho/ 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. Hope everyone is getting ready for the holiday, Heath and I are going to Portland, Oregon, we're super excited to be back in Oregon. Yeah, we're gonna see a lot of family. Yeah, that'll be really nice. So hope everyone's gonna have a great week. Thank you so much to everyone who recommended this case to us.

We have been following Lauren's stories in September and have just been waiting for more information to be able to cover it, but it's such a rabbit hole that we decided to do it now anyway. So thank you so much to all the people who also helped provide sources for this research by the way who had privately messaged us and they want to remain anonymous. Thank you guys so much. And we hope you guys learned some stuff today about this case.

Yeah, and for anybody who wants extra going West episodes, head over to patreon.com slash going west podcast. We just released an insane case. It's an Italian case that I think you guys will be very interested in hearing. So, yes, it is the murder of Yara Gambaracio. So go check that out in a bunch of other episodes like dozens and dozens more at patreon.com slash going west podcast.

All right guys, this is episode 151 of going west, so let's get into it. The search is intensifying for a missing woman from New Jersey. 30-year-old Lauren Cho also traveled cross-country with her boyfriend before disappearing. She was last seen in Yucca Valley in Southern California about 12 miles from Joshua Tree National Park. Lauren Cho, whom friends Cole L, had been staying at an Airbnb desert resort about a two-hour drive from Los Angeles when she vanished in late June. The pandemic was wearing on her

and she had this opportunity to change scenery in her life and go after a dream of cooking and chef work. Authorities in California say they have found human remains while searching for missing 30-year-old Lauren Cho. Lauren Cho, who went by L, was born on December 20, 1990, and 100 in County, New Jersey, to Korean American parents. And as a child, Lauren was extremely lovable, she was creative, and also super tough, like she was teaching Taekwondo as a black belt at the age of 12. Lauren graduated from 100 in Central Regional High School in 2009 and then went on to study

music education at Westminster Choir College. And we did find a video of her on Facebook singing from earlier this year and she was an absolutely beautiful, very theatrical singer. She was a soprano. We'll post that on her social so you guys can see what she's got. So after this, she went on to work as a music teacher at a high school in Irvington township, New Jersey. And Lauren was just, I mean, if you can't tell already, she was incredibly artistic. She had a bunch of tattoos. She was also an apprentice at Diamond Heart Studios in Flemington, New Jersey, but she left that job on November 10, 2020, because in December of 2020, she was set to begin a new

venture. And more specifically, take a cross-country road trip with her friend Cody Oral. She met Cody in May of 2020 during Memorial Day weekend, but she was excited to join him on this journey because this wasn't just an opportunity for her to, you know, see parts of the U.S. in May of 2020 during Memorial Day weekend, but she was excited to join him on this journey because this wasn't just an opportunity for her to, you know, see parts of the U.S. that she had never seen before, but also so she could move to Bombay Beach, California to work on a passion project, which was opening a food truck. Her farewell Instagram post on her piercing account, which is at Diamond Heart Throb, said, one more time for old times sake. You can call the studio to book or do so online at diamondheartstudio.com. It would be a joy to see so many of you again before I head west. Lauren had dreams of being a chef and she actually was quite the baker. She had a

separate Instagram account for her baked goods which is at the headless milkman. Her name reads, Baker L wants to battle, and her bio says, archiving my attempt, striving for tasty improvement. You want a piece of me? Her first post is from April of 2019, and she posted quite a bit until December of 2019, where she took a few months off and returned to say that things had been badly, lately, but that she was back into baking. And it looks like she baked quite a bit during quarantine, both vegan and non-vegan baked goods alike.

For example, on March 30th, she made some mini Pavlovas, and captioned it, I made a small fleet of Pavlovas today. These sexy little nests have a vibrant layer of fresh, homemade lemon curd under those berries, and her top was some candied lemon zest. What did you do to keep from going insane today? She posted desserts here and there after heading out in December of 2020, maybe one post a month or so, and her last post was on April 3rd, 2021, which happened to be another Pavlova. Though she baked lots of tarts,arts pies and cakes in general as well.

I was really hoping that her captions after the end of 2020 would kind of like chronicle her journey or her settling into California or maybe even talk about opening a dessert-based food truck because we don't know what kind of food truck she wanted to open. So I don't know if it was supposed to be dessert-based, but a lot of her captions are very funny. You know, you can tell that she was very sarcastic and had a super silly sense of humor, but she didn't really say anything that didn't relate to the dessert that she was posting, so no like real life updates. But we do know that after getting to California, newly 30-year-old Lauren Cho started working

as a private chef for an Airbnb property called The Whole, which is owned by Italian American filmmaker, photographer, and musician with ties to royalty, named Tao Respoly. And Tao is actually also the actress Olivia Wilde's ex-husband. They got divorced in like 2011. So this Airbnb is located just outside of Joshua Tree National Park between Yuka and Marongo Valley and the 8600 block of Ben Martreil. This Airbnb is about an hour and a half from where Lauren allegedly wanted to open this food truck up, but we're not sure why she chose this location. Bombay Beach is a very secluded community and it's not on the coast like you

might be thinking, it's actually in the desert. It's right on the Sultan Sea, which is a shallow, landlocked body of water, and much of this area is abandoned. So let's talk more about it before we get into our job with Airbnb. So Bombay Beach is a very small place with a population of around just 300 to 400 people. It's apparently attracted a bunch of artists, musicians, and people seeking a more free and creative lifestyle just over the past few years, and many people live there just part-time. So this definitely could have been what Lauren saw in it,

just that she knew that there was a lot of creative people there that she could connect with. so that's what I'm assuming. In December of 2020, Lauren and Cody arrived at Bombay Beach, and Lauren bought an old school bus to convert into her food truck. And to kind of kick things off and test out what this food truck business would be like, Lauren and Cody made some friends within this more isolated community and began hosting dinners every night Which Lauren was in the kitchen preparing all of this According to Cody it became a major staple and hub of this community and they had a ton of fun with it You know, they had all these really nice dinner parties and Lauren just really loved doing these events

One of her specialties was a vegan basil ice cream Which was apparently so good that everyone who tried it told her that she would be famous for it. That sounds so good, I have never heard anything like that. Just looking at her baking Instagram, which again is at the headless milk man, she made some really good stuff. As Lauren made more friends nearby, she was connected with the Airbnb and got a job as a private chef. And she was extremely excited about this because it was a great opportunity to establish

herself further in the community as a chef, and her dreams were actually really coming true. And something I want to mention is that at some point, Cody and Lauren did date, and we don't know exactly when it started, but on February 8th, so nearly two months after arriving in California of, you know, 2021, Lauren posted on her baking Instagram a photo of a very delicious-looking pie, and she captioned it, I know it just looks like an unassuming big puff, but this vegan aquafaba meringue was so tall and so fluffy. Underneath that cloud was vegan bananas foster, custard and cinnamon graham crust. One of my partners favorites, smiley

face. So I'm gonna assume that she and Cody were dating at this time and according to one of their friends in California, they broke up in May of 2021 or so. And this friend also mentioned that they had a more open relationship and that the breakup was not bad because they still hung out every single day. But just over seven months into her California adventure, Lauren went missing. In the summer of 2021, Lauren was staying at the site of the Airbnb with friends as well as her then ex Cody. And it's unclear if she was staying in a room of the Airbnb with friends as well as her then ex-Cody, and it's unclear if she was staying in a room, I think they had a bus that they lived in,

I don't know if it was her food truck or if they had a separate bus, but I know a lot of people on this property stay in vans and buses. But either way, at this time, she was living on site. On Monday, June 28, 2021, Lauren was allegedly last seen on a remote hiking trail near Hoopa Road and Benmore Trail, just a mile from the 29 palms highway, wearing a yellow t-shirt and jean shorts. A housekeeper at the Airbnb stated that Lauren and Cody had been drinking a bit earlier in the day and they got into an argument after Cody wouldn't let her drive.

And we're going to talk more about this drinking situation later because it is disputed. So Cody says that after this happened after their argument, Lauren walked away from their converted bus without her phone, food or water around 3pm and he went inside the bus. After allegedly searching for her shortly after, he couldn't find her anywhere, like not on the trails at all where he thought she was headed. So a couple hours later, at 5.13pm, Cody texted this Commune group chat about Lauren being gone, and then called the police to ask for help in searching for her.

Of course, it being June, the sun wasn't set yet, and it wouldn't have set for many hours, but he apparently was very worried that she didn't have any of her things. Launforcement found no trace of Lauren chose tracks, like there was no obvious footprints or anything to indicate where she would have gone. So because of this, Cody explained that Lauren may have gotten into someone's car. It's interesting to me that the sun hadn't gone down yet and he was this concerned like, if she had walked away, you know, I don't know if he would have been that concerned about this during the day. I do get it because like, think about this way.

Let's say you and I get in a fight in the desert and I just walk off and two hours go by and I don't come back and I don't have my phone. We're going to discuss later that Lauren wasn't a hiker so it wasn't like her to just go off and it was extremely hot that day. So he's like, it's hot as hell. She doesn't have water, she doesn't have her food. I think it would make sense for him to call the police

because in what he's saying is he walked around to where he thought she would have gone in the trails and he didn't see her anywhere. So to him, I guess I kind of understand it as like you're gonna call the police that soon, like maybe she'll be back, but it was really hot. Yeah, and I can understand that. I mean, I can understand going and searching for your partner after an argument.

Well, at this point, they're not dating. Right, right, right, or just, you know, a person that you share a space with. Absolutely. But at the same time, he doesn't know where she went, exactly where she went. He didn't watch her take a trail anywhere. Allegedly, yes. Allegedly, he does not know that she was on a trail or not on a trail. Right, so it is a little bit confusing all of this, you know, because in Cody's words, he didn't know where she went yet. He just assumed she went to these trails, but then he didn't see her there. But the weirdest thing to me, which we'll get into later as well,

is that there was no footprints or any trace of her when police showed up. They literally were like, we don't see any tracks, like pointing to her going anywhere. Which makes you feel like, did she even walk off? Did any of this even happen? Right, and I think that that's kind of my point not to speculate too much, but it is an interesting angle. Oh, I 100% agree. So before we can carry on, we should definitely talk about this Airbnb a bit better. This is gonna get fun. Yeah, so it's a compound with numerous listings that people can stay at, including a one-bedroom 1955 Spartan trailer that holds about two people max.

As we previously mentioned, some people refer to the compound as the whole, but we found it on Airbnb listed as the Sea of Tranquility compound. There's also another one-bedroom listing called the library, which is an absolutely stunning decorated space known as the ultimate writers and thinkers retreat. Tao described the sea of tranquility as an always evolving desert compound located a mile and a half up a dirt road, and the properties located on six acres which adjoins hundreds of acres of government land. There's an incredible 80-foot-long pool outside

as well as a hot tub which you quote must go in naked. Here are the property rules. One, please be as clean as possible when entering the water, especially no oils, sunscreen, etc. wipe any dirt off your feet. Two, if you make your way over to the main house, please be careful that doors are properly shut and that the cat does not get out. 3. Very open, liberal environment, but of course, please be calm, kind, and respectful to all. 4.

P-anywhere, but in the pool, smiley face. 5. We get many return visitors, and we have to remind ourselves some of our dearest friends were once Airbnb guests. That said, we also enjoy and respect people's right to a private experience. Please do the same. PS. Yes, there's a fire pit, but please only use it if there's absolutely no wind and it's not too hot and dry out. Bring your own wood. Other things to note, no Wi-Fi in the library library yet good cell reception and Wi-Fi at the main house That is a really good little piece of information that we know that there is good cell service out here

Not that it matters because when Lauren disappears. She didn't have her phone But it's still good to know yeah definitely and I mean we're gonna post pictures of this compound this this calm you It's it's really actually kind of interesting. It's I mean, we're gonna post pictures of this compound, this commune. It's really actually kind of interesting. It's, I mean, it's beautiful. There are like a lot of trailers on it. It seems like a lot of people bring their buses or their vans, like I said. And, you know, this pool is amazing.

Yeah, it's a very artsy and like kind of creative space. Yeah, and super spacious, it looks like, you know, there is that sense of privacy, but there also is an opportunity to all come together. So as of 2020, Tows' primary residence was in the main house, and he's known to hang out with guests. On the property, there's also a vintage air stream

along with other trailers and buildings as well. So many people can stay on the property at one time, and we can assume that they were booked out in the end of June, since the properties say, Towspace on Airbnb is usually fully booked. And allegedly, I say allegedly heavily. A friend that Lauren met during her time at this property said that, There are tons of drugs on the property and that quote,

Things get weird in the desert and girls are offered drugs and can't get home. So I cannot verify this source because I found it on Reddit. And who knows if it's even relevant, but if it's true, it does kind of give us a bit of a sneak peek into life on the compound, you know, as if the Airbnb listing descriptions didn't do that already. But I did also read in the Airbnb listings quote, nobody under 18 is allowed on the property.

Which I thought was interesting because I've never seen that in an Airbnb listing before, and I've stayed in a lot of Airbnb's. So it really seems like Tau likes to hang out with guests and it's definitely more of an adult paradise kind of thing and not kid friendly. So now that we know more about the property that Lauren was last seen on, let's go back to her disappearance.

A whole month later in late July, the area in which Lauren went missing was searched from the air via a fixed wing aircraft, as well as on foot by police and canines, but nothing was found. She apparently had some clothes and water in her car, but as we said, Cody wouldn't give the keys to her to leave. Though we can't be sure why she was leaving anyway if this story is even true. It's just like you had mentioned earlier, like this whole little story from Cody is very, just I don't really get it.

Like I don't really get why you guys got an argument which we haven't been able to find, why you wouldn't let get it. Like, it don't really get why, why you guys got an argument, which we haven't been able to find, why you wouldn't let her drive, why did you have her keys? We're gonna get into the day drinking thing and how that wasn't true. So I don't see why, I don't get this whole situation,

the whole story of her disappearance doesn't make sense. Yeah, it's really suspicious to me, but we're gonna get more into that. So although the housekeeper later told News Nation that Lauren had been drinking, many people believe that this was not true, because people at the Airbnb as well as Lauren's friends denied this. Yeah, like people, her friends that were there, were like, no, she wasn't drinking that day.

So again, which leads me to believe why wasn't she allowed to have her car keys? Yeah, kinda strange. There's also no evidence whatsoever that Lauren ever left the compound that day. The only person to say this was Cody, and then he said that she was potentially picked up by a car. But considering that there were no footprints and canines couldn't pick up her trail, a lot of people feel that the investigation should be focused within the compound itself. However, as the Morongo Basin Sheriff's Office couldn't find any evidence of foul play, they kind of started to believe that Lauren was voluntarily missing. I will add though, that it was very difficult for them to search these areas because of

the extreme heat. So going out there with the dogs and hiking through these rough terrains, like they can't do that for a long period of time, so the search was definitely stretched out and this is one of the reasons why. And mind you, Lauren had nothing on her, you know, like again, no phone, no water, yet in this area on June 28, 2021, temperatures reached 104 degrees at its highest, so it doesn't make sense that she would have walked off into the heat and disappeared on purpose, or at least to me. Oddly, one of the first things that Cody mentioned to police was that Lauren was suffering

from mental distress. This could indicate that she either left willingly or that she was attempting suicide, which is something that was really going around, yet it's also something her family was quick to shut down, and they said, she is the most loving, caring, and loyal aunt, sister, and friend, and the most hilarious person you could ever meet, and we cannot give up on her. So the big issue with the circulation of this suicide theory is that her family was worried that police already think she went off voluntarily and they're thinking now if they think that she committed suicide, they're not going to look for her.

And they didn't think that she did that, so this was really like impeding things. And according to her newer California friend named RJ Ok, a musician who helped run the Airbnb, Lauren had texted him in the morning asking for help on the bus that she was making into a food truck, hours before she disappeared, and she worked on it a lot including that day. Also, by the way, Lauren had a parakeet named Pork Chop, who she could not stand leaving for long periods of time. So even if she was away from him for like a day,

she would be incredibly worried. So it was clear to everyone that was close to Lauren that she did not just walk off. When we last left off, we were talking about Lauren's friend RJ. And RJ has gotten into it with a lot of people on Reddit. A lot of people on Reddit. Yeah, it's not good. And he ended up deleting a ton of comments. But based on things that he said, a couple of Lauren's New Jersey friends joined in to

rebut his comments. Here's one from RJ. You have no idea about Elle's mental state and the day's leading up to it. There's a reason why all of us were instantly very concerned for her, and that's because she had expressed her suicidal thoughts to us all in the recent past. She didn't just announce, hey I'm gonna kill myself now everyone, like you make it sound either. Again, you talk about respect for the family yet you seemingly want me to release every little bit of very, very personal details

about her mental state beforehand and why she was feeling that way. Make up your mind because you can't have it both ways. The night before she left, she promised me that she wouldn't hurt herself without contacting me first. But I still didn't doubt that's what she went to do even though she didn't contact me, because I can imagine if you're already in that mental state to begin with, it's probably not a huge leap to go, fuck it, I'm out of here, especially if one is doing it to make a point, however terrible of a motive that is. I know where she was that day, and that's why I panicked when I heard what had happened. And of course we must take this with a grain of salt because these statements about her mental health cannot be confirmed.

We're just telling you guys what we read, but we just can't assume that this is true. And like Heath said, I mean, RJ made a lot of comments, many of which were super defensive. Yes, it's kind of weird how defensive he actually is. Oh my god, so so defensive. Yeah, it's kind of weird how defensive he actually is. Oh my God, so so defensive. And a lot of these comments were in October of this year, but he also commented in August and September as well about Lauren, including the one that Heath just read. RJ also mentioned something about the Housekeeper's comment

on her day drinking. He said, she wasn't day drinking. That started with the Housekeeper being mistaken and giving an interview. She didn't drink drinking. That started with the housekeeper being mistaken and giving an interview. She didn't drink very much at all. And regarding Lauren possibly getting into the car with someone, like Cody mentioned, RJ said, she didn't get in a car with someone. She didn't know anyone else. She was on a foot and we had gone hiking a week earlier and we both had a rough time of it.

So trust me, she isn't going up and over any of these giant hills. I really think she's super close by, on one of the neighbor's private properties, having done exactly what she threatened to do. Also according to RJ, Tau Raspoli was out of town when Lauren disappeared, as well as the weeks leading up to her disappearance and the weeks after. And sorry that we keep referencing RJ, but he said a lot of stuff that hasn't been said anywhere else. So even though we don't know if we can trust everything he says, we feel like it's definitely worth mentioning. So a lot of people are skeptical about Cody, because of course he was Lauren's ex

and the last person to see her alive. RJ had this to say about that. I love them both dearly, and there's absolutely no part of me that suspects him of anything whatsoever. I cannot stress enough the fact that neither of them have ever shown themselves to be remotely violent people at all. We had vegan dinners every night you guys. He couldn't even stomach the thought of violence against a chicken, and I raised chickens, and so he's well aware of how they can be little asshole birds sometimes.

And I know strict vegan menu proves nothing, but my point is we're all very much fundamentally opposed to any sort of violence. We're a handful of creative types and the closest thing we have to a shared goal or common project would probably be just a desire to be better, kinder people, and help others more. And like all of us have been, Cody has always been nothing but 100% cooperative with the investigation, even when inconvenient or momentarily terrifying. Yeah, I mean, I don't personally see why anyone on the property would want to kill Lauren. My only foul play thought here off the bat would be maybe that something happened on accident

or that someone outside of this commune came across her with ill intentions. But it's definitely weird to me that so many people were on this property and apparently none of them saw where Lauren went. But I mean as we know, it's also on a six acre property so people have their privacy for sure as well. But again, I just can't get over that there were no footprints or trail of her walking off. Like, how do you explain that?

I don't know, in my mind, it's just so weird. I keep going back to this whole drugs thing and this whole commune thing. Like, is it possible that she was drugged and she somehow died that way and they had to cover their trail? Or is it possible that she, you know, was drugged and she somehow died that way and they had to cover their trail? Or is it possible, you know, because everybody's so free, I mean, you heard, you know, go into the hot tub naked and all that kind of stuff. Is it possible that somebody sexually assaulted her and then killed her? Well, that's what I was thinking as far as a cover-up would go if somebody, if she died by accident, but it's so hard to speculate because we really don't know.

All we can really say is apparently one of Lauren's newer friends said that this property is kind of sketchy as far as it goes with girls and drugs. I can't confirm that. If we could confirm it, it would definitely kind of help. But I just, the whole, her walking off story, again because of the no-foot-per-ins and no trail, even with canines they couldn't trace her scent at all on this supposed trail she went off on, and then even RJ confirms, yeah, she was not going to go walk on those trails. However, here's a response to RJ's comments from one of Lauren's friends. On Reddit, by the way.

I have no interest in connecting with you on IG. I have nothing to prove to you. I have no Lauren since high school. She was the one who insisted I watch Rent because she was obsessed with it. Lauren's disappearance isn't the story of RJ and his man bun friends. Oh my god, that's so savage. I know. As far as the family is concerned and Lauren's close friends who have known her forever are concerned, you are a creep who's done nothing but harass the family and perpetuate a totally unfounded narrative about Lauren, which is harmful to the effort to find her despite many requests to stop.

You have made this whole situation about you, like you encode the victims here, which you are not. You don't know either of them that well, and eating vegan dinners literally proves nothing about someone's character or how they treat women. I know several women who have been abused by their hippie vegan boyfriends. Guess what? They also have weirdo friends who defended them to the end. You are not the only friend Lauren has.

She has so many friends from New Jersey who have known her for so long who care about her, who hate this immediate and insistent suicide narrative who want answers. So there's that. And I gotta say, RJ and Cody's very insistent mental health angle on this is a little odd as well. Especially because RJ is so publicly defensive like you guys should see the dozens and dozens of aggressive and defensive replies that he has to all these people on Reddit were just casually and calmly discussing Lauren's case. It's very odd.

Yeah and I mean even in some of them he's like belittling these other posters and using the R word to describe them. Yeah it's it's very It's like, why are you getting so mad? Why are you here at all? Anyway, he really is kind of making this about him. Yeah, I mean, I just don't see the purpose of going on Reddit and attacking all these different people on there. It just doesn't make any sense to me. But let's get back to the search.

So please seem to take some serious time off of this search, because it took a couple of months until they questioned all the surrounding neighbors and checked properties. And the compound isn't as desolate as it seems to be, which is why police did search neighboring properties, because there is definitely a lot of other properties close by. They did search the property as well as the surrounding areas by air and by foot as we stated with canines as well, but nothing was ever found. In August, they even had seven different canines on the Airbnb property, but in September of 2021, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office got involved after the investigators with the Marongo Basin Sheriff's

Office had exhausted their investigation. Then during a San Bernardino Sheriff's Office search on Saturday, October 9, 2021, investigators discovered unidentified human remains in Yucca Valley. It wasn't immediately obvious who the remains belonged to, and as you guys may have heard, a lot of people believe that there's a serial killer in this area, because a lot of bodies have come up over the years in the Joshua Tree area. But a few weeks later, on October 28, 2021, the remains were confirmed to be Lauren Chose. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office said,

The cause and manner of death is pending toxicology reports. No further information will be released on this case until such time when toxicology results are available and new information is discovered as a result. And as far as definitive answers go regarding if Lauren's body was hidden, what it was near, and what stage of decomposition it was in, those details are still not available. And from the time we're recording this, it's been about five weeks since she was found

and just three since the remains were confirmed to be hers. And as we know, toxicology reports can take, you know, like four to six weeks typically or longer. I mean, there's many factors that come in to play on the timing of this, but whenever these details are released, we will make sure to update everybody. What we did read is that her body was found on private property, an area in which she would have to climb a barbed wire fence with a no-tress passing sign on it to get there. This area is also said to be just a five-minute walk from the property she lived on, which

has a lot of people speculating. You know, I think the fact that multiple canines and officers and search and rescue teams search this area numerous times, yet her body was so close by and wasn't found for a few months, is incredibly bizarre. And I really do look forward to learning more about whether or not her body was covered, or of course her cause of death as well, because I think those details were answered so many questions, but it's definitely a very strange situation. Extremely strange.

And of course, extremely tragic. Yeah, and the one thing that I go back to is the fact that RJ said that they're probably going to find her body somewhere on, you know, a private property, a neighboring private property. That is suspicious. That's very fucking weird foreshadowing. That really is. I didn't really put those two together. I just think if she was five minutes away, I don't know why she herself would

climb a barbed wire fence, and I read somebody on Reddit also say, like she wasn't lost. She was five minutes away from the property, that's so close, and she'd been living here for months, so she probably knew it fairly well. Yeah, so this obviously clears up something for us and that is that she was probably not lost. She's five minutes away. So I would assume that she could make her way back to camp. But the other part of it is that, you know, that only leaves us with so many other options as to what happened. And I'm really curious to see what you guys think.

And again, I know that it's difficult because there's not a lot of information out but we do have some interesting characters here and there is a lot of discrepancies in these stories. And her family is absolutely heartbroken by the news because if it wasn't obvious already, Lauren was such an amazingly talented and vivacious piece of that family unit. Just recently during the second week of November, Lauren's family gathered together to honor her life. They wrote this on Facebook. This past week, family and friends gathered to say our goodbyes and send El off onto

our next adventure. The memorial service in particular was a marvelous reflection of who Elle was as a person. Through the tears there was laughter as we immortalized her notorious quick wit and sense of humor. Then as the week went on, the laughter dissolved into tears, then more laughter emerged. Then the tears resumed. Grief isn't linear. Grief isn't ocean that can make a peace offering today with quiet waves of remembrance, and

the remind you of how powerless you feel as a storm of sorrow brews on the horizon. However, being knocked off your feet as you endure the storm does not mean that you are incapable of ever moving forward. Storms do not last forever. In the midst of my own storm lately, I've witnessed the clouds break for the sun to burst forth in the form of those who have been part of Elle's village. This particular chapter ends by resting on a note of hope. The love that Elle experienced in her life continues to bloom through the memories of her that

we hold close. We are so thankful for the outpouring of kindness, generous financial support, and friends that continue to weather this storm with us. Please know that we are grateful beyond what words can express. Thank you for remembering Elle with us. If you have any information about the death of Lauren Cho, please contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office, Non-emergency Desert Line, at 760-956-501. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Going West. Friday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. I know this case is a bit tough because there really is so little information,

which is why we originally wanted to wait at least until her cause of death came out, but it's also important to share her story and hopes that someone has information and will come forward. So thank you all so much for listening and please share Lauren's story. Again, we will update you when we know more about her death. Yes, we hope that Lauren's family gets closure soon. Please share this episode. And if you want to, you can leave us a review, leave us some comments. We love interacting with you guys on our social medias. Yes, please let us know what you think about this case and all the others. Our Instagram is at going West podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod, and then on Facebook

we also have a regular page going West True Crime. But then we also have Going West Discussion Group, and that's where we, Heath and I, jump in and talk to you guys about the cases every day almost. So, go join that group. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc

1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc Thank you. you