Morbid - The Bobbed Haired Bandit

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

In the winter of 1924, the boroughs of New York City were plagued by a series of robberies ostensibly committed by a young couple. This was not the first time a woman had been involved in armed robberies; however, rather than be a reluctant participant in the crimes, it appeared as though the traditional roles were reversed and the young woman was the mastermind behind the hold-ups. The press quickly caught on and soon the “Bobbed Haired Bandit,” as she came to be known in the papers, was grabbing headlines across the country.Starting with the robbery of grocery store in early January, the Bandit’s crimes got bigger as weeks passed, as did her personality. Not only did the criminal pair become famous for their exploits and fashion, but also for the ways in which she taunted the police with notes daring them to come after her. In time, the NYPD’s inability to catch the bandit began to reflect very poorly on Mayor Richard Enright, who was ridiculed by both the bandit and the public.Finally, in late April, the Bobbed Haired Bandit and her partner were arrested in Florida, having fled New York earlier in the month after a robbery in which someone was shot. To everyone’s surprise, the couple wasn’t quite the Jazz Age antiheros everyone was expecting, but a young newly married couple who were desperately in need of money at a time when employment was hard to come by.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesBrooklyn Daily Times. 1924. "Bob Hair Bandit and man shoot National Biscuit Co. cashier." Brooklyn Daily Times, April 1: 3.Brooklyn Eagle. 1924. "Bobbed-haired girl held as boro bandit in crime roundup ." Brooklyn Eagle , February 6: 1.—. 1924. "Bobbed Haired Bandit may be a boy; cusses like sailor but has feminine feet." Brooklyn Eagle, February 3: 5.—. 1924. "Girls let their hair grow fearing they'll be taken for Bobbed-Hair Bandit." Brooklyn Eagle, February 24: 78.—. 1924. "Hold bob-haired girl as pal of alleged bandits." Brooklyn Eagle, February 7: 2.—. 1924. "New gunwoman defies police to catch her." Brooklyn Eagle, January 16: 1.Dorman, Marjorie. 1924. "The Bobbed-Hair Bandit is a revolt." Brooklyn Eagle, March 16: 95.Duncombe, Stephen, and Andrew Mattson. 2006. The Bobbed Haired Bandit: A True Story of Crime and Celebrity in 1920s New York. New York, NY: NYU Press.Getty, Frank. 1924. "'Fish peddling bums" victims of Bobbed-Haired Bandit." Buffalo Enquirer, January 24: 1.Johnson, Nunnally. 1924. "One word after another." Brooklyn Eagle, February 21: 16.New York Times. 1924. "2-gun girl bandit holds up a grocery." New York Times, February 24: 1.—. 1924. "Alienists to test Cooney for sanity." New York Times, April 25: 19.—. 1924. "Bobbed Bandit gets ten years in prison; warns other girls." New York Times, May 7: 1.—. 1924. "Bob-Haired Bandit attempts a murder." New York Times, April 2: 21.—. 1924. "Girl bandit proudly describes 10 crimes." New York Times, April 23: 1.—. 1924. "Hold-up girl gets $600 from grocer." New York Times, January 23: 10.Times Union. 1924. ""Bobbed Haired Bandit" annoucnes her "getaway" for neighboring state." Times Union (Brooklyn, NY), January 22: 1.—. 1924. "200 police fail to trap bobbed haired girl bandit." Times Union (Brooklyn, NY), January 27: 1.—. 1924. "Enright may try himself to nab Bobbed-Hair Bandit." Times Union (Brooklyn, NY), March 23: 1.—. 1924. "Ex-chorus girl arrested as chain store bandit." Times Union (Brooklyn, NY), January 15: 1.—. 1924. "Note writers want Helen Quigley freed." Times Union (Brooklyn, NY), January 22: 3. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is a rainy day morbid. So you might hear the pitter, pitter, pitter of rain in the background. Kind of soothing. I think it is. That's probably the only soothing thing that we're going to talk about, though. Definitely is.

This is a frustrating episode. It's a confounding episode. Oh. And it's an unsolved episode. Girl. I know I apologize, but I would like to see the solved. Well, same. I really, really want to see this solved.

Let's get it done. So we are going to be talking about the unsolved murder of Blake Tyler Chappelle. This was back in 2011. But before we get to that, before we start the entire tale, I wanted to talk about some true crime news because it's something that you guys know is very important to me, very important to me and Ash. Damien Eccles from the West Memphis 3 case, he took. He took his case back to the court in Arkansas, said, hey, there's this new MVAC evidence collection, like vacuuming technology that's happening. We want to use this to take evidence off of those ligatures that you have in custody. We think that it's going to show something, maybe some new DNA, maybe we're going to find who really killed these three eight-year-old boys.

Brought the case to the court? The court said, no. They do not want to test to find out who really killed three eight-year-old boys. Because one, they know. And two, they don't want Damien, Jason, and Jesse to ever be let off the hook for this. Ever be proved innocent. They don't want it. In fact, during this whole thing, Keith Crestman, the prosecuting attorney for the second judicial district of Arkansas, said, and this is wild.

They were like, no, if you do that, just if we get DNA off of those that isn't Damians, that still doesn't prove that he didn't do it. And it's like, honey, that's like literally what DNA evidence is for. Right. Is to prove that someone did do something or didn't do something. Right. And they also said that they would rather just like keep it as it is. Rather than preserving physical evidence, they said this would be a one-shot deal that forever alters it. But if you are not planning to test that evidence ever, because that's what you're saying to me, is that you don't want to alter that DNA evidence that's on that ligature.

You just want it to stay there and for no one to know what it is. We just want to know that it's there possibly. Like why? And then just never test it. And we all know why. And if you don't, so if you're planning on never altering this, you don't want to test it because you don't want to destroy it. What? What?

How does it? It doesn't matter then. If I destroy the evidence on there, it doesn't matter because you're never planning on testing it anyway. Right. So if they destroy it, which isn't necessarily the truth here, but if they alter it in some way with this MVAC technology, it doesn't matter because you were never planning on testing that anyways. So all we're getting is some results. It's unreal. I'm just like, can they go to a different court and appeal that?

Like, is there an appeal here? Well, they are planning to appeal it, luckily. but who knows what's going to happen here? They seem dead set on not finding out who actually killed three eight-year-olds. And just going to such great lengths to be like, no, we actually don't want to know. Yeah, they just, they don't want to know because they know. Exactly. Somebody knows here.

A group of people know here what happened. And just to put it out there, DNA was tested between December 2005 and September 2007 at one point. And all that evidence failed to link Damian, Jason, or Jesse to these crimes. Right. No, one shred of evidence. And here's the thing. That whoever said, like, it's not going to prove that they were there. Yeah.

And we were like, that's exactly what that does. Because on the same token, had their DNA been there, they would have sat there, like the judges and everything would have sat there and said, well, that shows that they did it. Exactly. But then somebody else's DNA showing up is not showing that they were there? No, of course not. What? And the evidence that they did have was a hair that was found in the bindings of Michael Moore. The ligatures found on Michael Moore.

Right. They also found a hair on a tree stump nearby the bodies. These hairs did not belong to Damien, Jesse, or Jason. They belonged to sell on them. These hairs were consistent with the DNA of Terry Hobbs, which was Stevie Branches. stepfather, this hair in the ligature. The one on the stump was consistent with DNA of Terry Hobbs' friend. Now, what's even more interesting about that, I'm just putting this out there, by the way.

I'm just putting out this fact. He was never considered a suspect Hobbs. Which is insane. Which is wild. Because three witnesses who were near their houses, they came forward. They filed affidavits in October 2009 with the Arkansas Supreme. court that said they saw those three boys with Terry Hobbs they saw him before the bodies were found now Terry Hobbs told police that he was never with his stepson he was never with those three boys

he totally lied about it and they they contradict the statements given from witnesses and then to find out so you get so that happens and then you find hair that is consistent with that man and his friend Right. At the crime scene. And you don't look into that. But no evidence to connect the three people you convicted of the crimes to the crime scene. Who spent close to 20 years in jail. One of them was almost killed in prison. But we don't want to test that evidence.

We don't want to consider him a suspect. We don't want to walk down that. We don't want to stroll down that avenue. And I like, we don't want to peek around the corner of that avenue at all. I don't understand them not wanting to look bad. Like I'm not saying I understand that. But I'm just like, I just, what is, why are you not doing this? Like, either way you look bad.

The fact that you're not testing this evidence is making you look incredibly bad. And I know that you know you're going to look bad when it comes out that you sent three innocent men to prison. But which one, like, let's weigh our options here. But here's the thing. Nothing's happening to them. Who gives a shit? But it's like, they look bad?

You look bad either way, though. So it's like. But look bad isn't their problem. They don't give a shit. No, I know. They look like shit, but they don't care. I'm just saying it from like a human. What human point of view?

What's going to happen? Nothing. Such bullshit. They got away with it. They can just keep saying no. They can just keep going and just citing precedence. It's such a stain. Yeah.

It truly is. And I really don't want this to stop. No. I don't think it will. But we have to all make sure it doesn't stop. I mean, I swear, I wanted to be at this hearing so bad. We actually talked about how we could make it happen. And unfortunately, we just weren't able to.

But we wanted to be there. If there's an appeal and people can show up, because I know Damien was like saying like supporters come, like be there to support us here. Let's go. If that's still the case with the next one, we're going to be on the lookout, I really want to find a way to be there. Like I just need to do something in this case. I feel like I'm going crazy. Well, in this case has like been so important to you. And then it's become so important to me through you for, I mean, you've been so involved in this case like from the start of it.

It's so frustrating. So I know a lot of people were telling us about this and I was following it. Everybody was following it. But this was not the outcome any of us wanted, but it's the outcome a lot of us. We're unfortunately expecting because of how it's all gone. But it's not over. We got to keep fighting for it. And we won't stop talking about it until it is, until justice is served.

Yeah. Damn it. So that was something I just needed to talk about because it was making me. absolutely bonkers here. But with that said, let's move on to one frustrating unsolved case to another. Okay. Yeah. So we're going to be talking about, like I said,

the story of Blake Tyler Chappelle. I just want to point out because I saw that Sarah Turney on Voices for Justice, we love Sarah. Our girl. Friend of the pod. Friend of the pod. I saw that she had, when I was like looking up stuff, I saw that she had done an episode about this case as well. And I believe it said in the.

the description that she spoke to his mother, Melissa. So I urge you to go listen to that, because I'm sure it is like I'm going to listen to it now that I've researched the case. Yeah. Because, you know, you're going to get it right from his mother. So after you listen to this, definitely if you're looking for more information and to hear from like his family and everything, I really urge you to go listen to it because Sarah's great. It's a great podcast. We'll link Sarah's episode on the show notes. We definitely will. But I'm going to give you the load down here. So Blake was born February 7th, 1994 in Clayton County, Georgia. He lived with his mother, Melissa.

She worked in a management position in retail for a long time. She was a really hard worker. She did everything she could to provide for her family. His biological dad was really not in the picture, and that was just like whatever. But Melissa took over everything. So Blake was a super creative kid. He had a lot of dreams. he had a lot of goals. He was trying his hand at a lot of different things, like as he was growing up.

Cool. And he was kind of excelling at them, actually. He was really good at what he was doing. He liked to draw. He was a really good artist. He modeled a bit. Cool. Which he was adorable. If you look up a picture of him, I mean, he has like blue-gray eyes that are like very kind, sweet eyes. I was just going to say he has kind of eyes. Yeah, he does. And he has this wavy, beautiful hair. He has this sweet smile. Like, you just look at him and you just like, like, oh, I just want to pinch your cheek. But he was kind of, he was like a bit of a ham as well. Oh, yeah. He, when he was a kid, he would perform full on rap performances for his whole family.

Amazing. And he continued, he loved rap. And he loved rapping. And into his teenagedom, he would continue to rap for his friends who were all like, we told him, like, you're doing great. But like, he was not doing great. Which I love that they were just like, you're great. We love a supportive squad.

Yeah. And he loved it. Yeah. And whatever. It makes you happy. He was also into skateboarding. He kind of looked like the cool skateboarder guy. He's got the haircut.

Yeah. Like that everybody was like, oh my God, swoon. I was sweening so hard over that haircut back in the day. Right. And he had the, we'll get into it, but like he had the cool piercings. Like he was just a cool kid. I love it. Now, everyone in his family, especially his mother, say that he was just a wonderful child.

And everybody loved him. She said one story. I read it in an article. I'm going to link some of these articles that she said when he was little, he had learned in school about like don't drink and drive. Yeah. And he thought that meant don't drink anything at all. So one day she had an iced tea from the convenience store and she went to get in the car and he jumped out of the car and was like, I can't let you drink and drive. And she was like, it's an ice tea.

Oh my God. But he was like, no, I learned it in school. That is so sweet. I was like, what a precious. Oh, I love that. That killed me. goodness guys i remember listening to podcasts way back in the day like four years ago before we even had one and i was hearing all about some kind of magical thing and i was like what is this all about

and it was all about curology and i was like i don't know guys i got doubts i've tried a lot of skin care routines i've tried a lot of different products and i've never really seen much of a result until i actually gave curology a chance everybody all right let me ask Add a quick little bit of context, though, if you don't know what curology is. Curology is game-changing custom skin care made for you by a dermatology provider. This dermatology provider is going to create a custom prescription cream for your specific goals. Maybe your goals are tackling acne, maybe you've got some clogged paws up on your face, you got skin texture you want to work on, dark spots, fine lines, I don't know.

You've got a lot going on. But what you're going to do is you're going to log on, you're going to take a short online quiz, you're going to upload some picks to yourself, selfie time, baby. And if it's a good fit, they're going to ship that formula right to your door, custom formula. It even has your freaking name on the bottle. I get my shipment every two months and I think it's been close to two years at this point actually since I started using chirology. No joke, I would not go back. I get so stoked when my new bottle comes in the mail. Sometimes I'm not even done with the last one and I'm like, oh, I just want to open this one. So it's like the same thing. I don't know why. But when I started

noticing my fine lines and you know just like some dark areas i was like excuse me what what is this about but now i have seen such a significant change spots i had on my face are not noticeable neither are the fine lines and i just didn't realize how easy this process was going to be it's making a few simple changes that has made me feel so much more confident now you can start your curology journey just like i did with a free 30-day trial at cureology dot com slash morbid just pay five dollars for shipping and That's C-U-R-O-L-O-G-Y.com slash morbid to start your free 30-day trial. Cancel any time, prescription is subject to consultation. But she said he would have done anything for anyone.

He would give you the shirt off his back, even if it was his last shirt. He was just that kid. Why is it always like people like this? And this, he really just seemed like a really cool guy. And he would have become such a cool adult, I feel like. In fact, according to an article in the Noonan Times heralds, he would also bring in stray animals and stray kids home. Melissa, his mom said that he would want to feed animals. Like he would bring, he loved animals.

He would bring them into the house and be like, it's a stray. We have to feed them. We have to let them stay here and keep them warm. And she was like, okay. Like she was like, he loved it. So here we are. And then he would also bring kids in and be like, hey, this kid got locked out, like because they got. you know they were home late yeah and like their parents were trying to teach him a lesson by just like

lock in the door oh man and they'd be like well you know like can we give him some food and like can he stay here and Melissa would just be like okay like sure we all had that stray friend growing up I was the stray friend growing up you were the stray friend's family always they always fed me there you go well in this Blake's family like Melissa they seem like a family that didn't always have a ton of physical stuff to give because they were like struggling but they always gave anyway. Like they didn't have it, but they gave it anyway. And it's like those are like gems of people. They are. And I feel like those are the people that always have just like the worst luck and the most unfortunate things happen to them. And don't deserve to go through this stuff.

No, nobody does. Now, according to an article at 11alive.com, his friends agreed with family saying he was just super lovable. His longtime childhood friend Max said, quote, he was hilarious. He was one of the funniest people I knew. If you were down in a bad mood, he would make you laugh somehow. He was always just right there. And a stroll through a couple of the Facebook pages associated with Blake and his case. There's like an RIP Blake one. There's a justice for Blake one. That will tell you everything you need to know about him.

His friends and family who comments on those and even those people who like knew him in passing really have nothing but amazing things to say about him. They comment on pictures of him and say like he was such a goofball. He really let it. He was the light up the room kind of. guy. He was someone who could bring people out of the deepest of funks. Like people will look at pictures on those pages and somebody would be like, I remember that day I was in such a bad mood and he got me out of it like that smile right there. It hurts my heart. Yeah. Getting to know him through the people who loved him really makes this case unique because you can stroll through those and be like,

wow, I feel like I know him. Now Melissa, his mother, was quoted as saying, quote, he always looked at the best in people. He loved people. His friends were so very important to him. I don't think he ever had an enemy in his life. Wow. Now, it was a devastating blow, though, when she suffered, Melissa, suffered a really bad medical diagnosis. Oh, no. And she had to stop working due to complications. So obviously, she was supporting their family. And this was sometime around 2006, 2007, I believe. And she was supporting their family. So this was a really tough financial blow. They struggled a lot. And Blake definitely felt it as he grew up. But he even wrote about it, for a school paper saying that he and his mother had nowhere to live for three months,

but they had each other. Oh gosh. And in the paper, which he titled poverty, and I think this is also a very big testament to how his mother raised him. Absolutely. Because he talks about what they went through, but the, and he says the things that he had taken for granted before,

the things he sees people continue to take for granted now. He talked about how he's so thankful for everything he does have and that everyone needs to take a step back and remember that it can always be worse. Wow. It was like a really insightful paper that honestly is really relevant at all times to all people. Yeah. Like when you lose things, you suddenly become aware of how lucky you are to have them.

And it's better practice to just be thankful for what you have, which is what he was saying in this paper. And I think that's kind of a testament to how he was raised that even though they were struggling, he was clearly taught like, you know what, let's be thankful that we have each other and we're going to get through this. Not what we don't have. Yeah. Now, when things started to turn around a bit and some sense of stability returned,

he was still in the mindset of making money and trying to be self-reliant. Of course, yeah, because he had experienced poverty. Exactly. So he started a little side hustle business where he would buy, like, big things of monster energy drinks and sell them to kids at school for like a little bit higher of a price, thus making a profit. I mean, a fucking smart businessman. An entrepreneur mind at work. People used to get in trouble for doing that.

at my school, which was like so annoying. But it's like, that's just business minded. That's all. Honestly, like, you're, I'm teaching people better thoughts than the school is. Exactly. Like by doing that. I'm saying he was able to save up and get a guitar hero game, which was like huge back then. And he was like obsessed with it. Guitar Hero was like his thing. Who was not? And his mother said he was so good at it. And his friend said this that he could turn his back to the screen and play the songs perfectly. Oh my God. And his favorite one to do was carry on wayward son. Oh, great song. song. Hard not to sing right now. It's really hard not to. Now, he also collected tabs from

Monster Energy Drink cans, and he would have people that he sold these cans to give him the tabs back because he could eventually trade them in to get a monster dirt bike. Oh shit. Like he got enough to get a bike and he got it. I did not know that that was even a thing you could do. He was like, I got a goal. I want a bike. So I'm going to get this. We have a little entrepreneur on I'm saying. And this is just setting goals. no matter what they are and he's stuck to them yeah good for him he's obviously finding himself capable of that and he got the bike yeah he got the bike and it was like his pride and joy and he had like the potential to do something later in life and it's a shame he wasn't given the chance because he had that like mind business mindset

he had a business mind but he also had this really like empathetic mind it seems and he had a really like he was able to look at both sides he was able to say i need to be thankful i've struggled but now i'm Here, like, he had a lot that he could have carried with him through life that I think would have served him really well. And it seems like he would have to. And it's like a real shame. Now, in fact, he may have become a lawyer later in life. That's what he said he wanted to be. He had taken broadcasting classes in high school and he was toying with the idea of becoming a television anchor. Oh, cool. But he was really interested in becoming an attorney and just helping people. Now, he was always concentrated on helping people. And again, very evidenced as to the fact that, he would take in people and animals into his home. He was just a caring guy. Now, there was a very dark event that happened before he went missing. And it's something that's heavily discussed today without a ton of details.

Now, Blake was dating a girl somewhere around May 2011. He was living in a trailer park in Clayton County when this happened. The girlfriend was 16 years old. He was 17 years old. So normal teenage relationship. she had run away from home though and she wanted to stay with Blake. No one is quite sure the circumstances that led her to this or exactly what the plan was, but her parents did find out, specifically her stepfather, and they came looking for her.

Now, there is a May 28, 2011 Clayton County Police Report that says police were called to the trailer park and when they arrived, they found Blake had been violently assaulted. Oh no. He reported he was hit in the face and the head, thrown to the ground, and kicked at least twice more to the face while on the ground. Witnesses reported they saw the girlfriend's stepfather, and he was walking around, and that he had actually come right up to people,

asked where Blake was, and then lifted his shirt to show a handgun, tucked into his pants, and he was with another adult man when he did this, and he told the witness, tell him I'm looking for him. So, yeah, so the stepfather assaulted Blake. And hopefully he's like still in prison for doing so. What the fuck?

So witnesses, yeah. So witnesses then saw the stepfather grab Blake's then girlfriend, put her in the truck, and leave. Now on July 2nd, 2011, Blake was the one put into Clayton County Jail for custodial interference because he was 17 and she was 16. She was a minor and he was considered an adult interfering with her parents. They put him in jail. He spent 16 days in jail. After having been assaulted by a grown man. Yeah.

And what happened to the man? What happened to the stepdad? Well, and he spent 16 days in jail. He had to wait to get bond. He was raising money to get bond. He wasn't released until July 18th. What? As far as I could tell, I don't see what happened to the stepfather.

Are you kidding? Nothing was done. Now, luckily, the prosecution decided to drop this case. because the ex-girlfriend told everyone that Blake had encouraged her to go home. And she was the one who decided to run away. It wasn't his fault. He had done nothing wrong. He's just giving her shelter.

And he was literally like, you need to go home. Like you can't stay here. We can't make this happen here. Like, we got to figure this out. She ran away from home. Like, this should have been that. And from the sounds of it, probably for good reason. Yeah.

So he was still set to be in court on October 24th of 2011, but this never happened. Now, understandably, this entire event really shook him. Yeah. Like, in a big way. He was really affected by it. After all, he had been assaulted by grown men. And then thrown in jail. Throne in jail for 16 days for doing absolutely nothing wrong and had actually

suffered a concussion from the assault, but he had refused to go to the hospital because he was worried it would cost too much. Oh, my God. America. Seriously. Seriously. The fact that that was even his... concern. Now, he was closing off a bit after this. And his mother said he was suffering from

selective muteness where he would go completely silent if he was nervous or scared. Like he was also, and he was also starting to dabble a little bit into drugs, but wasn't getting into like a ton of trouble or anything. Like he wasn't like, like spoken pot. Yeah, I think he was just like he might have been doing like, I don't even want to point to anything because I don't know. But he wasn't going like ham. He wasn't getting like arrested. He wasn't getting in trouble with cops or anything. It's just like, was not a great time. Yeah. And it was clearly a time where he was suffering from some, like, PTSD-type symptoms.

That sounds just like PTSD actually. Very understandable. I mean, that was a very big traumatic event. Like a grown man just beat you up and then you ended up in jail. Yeah, and you have a court date. Even though the prosecution is saying they're going to drop it, that's scary. And you don't know. Yeah.

Now, after this, the family moved away to Sonoya in Coetta County with Melissa's boyfriend. because they wanted to get out of Clayton County. Yeah. Because they were worried about Blake's safety. And honestly, they were worried that the stepfather would look for him again. Oh, God. That's how scared they were. They were so worried that they wouldn't let Blake have any contact with friends in Clayton County

because they didn't want it to get back to the ex-girlfriend's family. Like where he even was. Yeah. Now, the gun and threats and assault are certainly enough to make these fears very valid, in my opinion. And to be clear, the police say they have cleared this man, the stepfather, as a suspect in what would later happen to Blake. I'm sure they have. I would like to know exactly how, but I'm sure they have.

Okay. That's all I'll say about it. I haven't heard all the details, so I will wait to form an opinion until the end. So Blake was doing well in the new town and made a lot of friends. He started dating a girl. I'm not going to say her name because she is listed in some things, but in something she's not. So I don't know. I'm just not going to.

So I'm just going to say he started dating a very little. Very nice girl. A gal. Very adorable. They were adorable together. She was quoted as later saying, he was country. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he really was. And she said his laugh was the thing that she loved the most about him.

And a lot of his friends share this same sentiment about him. His sense of humor and laugh is often called out as being like very unique and very special. Yeah. I just feel like he's like that friend that you had like that you can point to that one friend. You know what I mean? And you see like there's a lot of video. him and like pictures of him and you're like I know that kid yeah we like you know what I mean like I love that kid yeah so it's just like oh his mom Melissa said when they moved from Clayton County it was obviously

tough on him but what made him so happy was he discovered they were moving to a place with a fishing pond readily available to him oh cool she revealed that fishing was probably the thing that Blake loved the most which is why his girlfriend was like he wouldn't admit it but he was pretty country I don't love it I love fishing no he started doing little things like like a little bit of rebellious things again he wasn't getting into big trouble or anything no and you know he just had to uproot his whole life he had a lot of course he's gonna rebel a bit yeah he got a lip piercing the snake bite bottom lip piercing when the cool kid got their snake bites the boys who got the snake bites come on my brother-in-law has snake bites there you go

but everybody loves a snake bite tattoo it just worked for him he also got a playboy tattoo on the left side of his chest. Fucking icon. Melissa was not happy with the tattoo. No. She said, you know, but teenagers are going to teenager. But she said, he did not tell me he was getting that tattoo. I happened to see it when he was changing his shirt once and she was not pleased.

The classic story. Of course. But his girlfriend said later that he would actually do piercings for his friends as well and he was actually pretty good at it. Oh, sick. Again, another thing he was excelling at. So fun. Now, according to justflipthedadog.com, which by the way, I recommend going to that

site because I know it sounds like like what they've got a ton of really in-depth articles and stories like true crime stories all kinds of stuff they just do a really good job they did a great job covering this case um but sometime in the fall of 2011 Blake actually started a handwritten bucket list he had it had a hundred things he wanted to accomplish on it and it was written in his own handwriting things that were on it were like hug my mom like I've never hugged her before that tells that simple thing on a bucket list tells you absolutely every last thing you need to know about him as right it really does that's so precious another thing was proved to yourself you can do something you never thought possible just i'm sorry like i got chills saying that how old was he again he was 17 to have

that mind set like i can tell you for sure i did not have those ideas at 17 years old i did not yeah everybody's an asshole at 17 not Blake yeah he's got these like I'm like I'm like, fuck, this kid sounds so cool. Like, it sounds like, what a fucking shame. Like, what a shame. Because he sounded like, like, another one on there saved someone's life. Oh, my God. Another one realized how good your life is.

Wow. Like, what insightful? Like, what the fuck? Yeah, he was deep. I love it because mixed among these, like, holy shit things were like, be in a movie. Yeah, like everything. Stay a night in a mansion.

Fuck yeah. Then one that absolutely shattered my heart was, become a grandfather. I know. Doesn't that like... It hits different. It really does. It's just like, man, like...

And fuck people. What 17-year-old boy is thinking like, you know what? I want to become a grandpa one day. I want to be a grandfather. Very few and far between. I can tell you that much. That one like broke my heart. Yeah.

But this brings us... That's just like you need to know Blake. You need to know his friends. You need to know his family to know how devastating this whole thing is. So this brings us to the evening of October. October 15th, 2011. This was only months after the assault that rocked his world. He was beginning to form a new life with new friends in a different county. He was 17 years old at the time and he's now going to school at East Coetta High School. This evening there was a homecoming dance and he was excited to be taking

his new girlfriend to it. Blake was wearing black dress pants, a white tank top, a brand new white Fruit of the Loom t-shirt over his tank top, a black dress shirt over that, like super sleek. Shop. He also had on black Ralph Lauren shoes with R.L. in white lettering on the sides of them. He had stopped with his mom at Coles before the dance because he decided he wanted a tie that matched his girlfriend's dress. Oh my gosh. And I think it was purple, I'm pretty sure. Now, so through texting picks of choices to her, like they've together picked the one that matched.

Like, come on. That's so, so cute. Yeah. So Melissa, his mom, dropped him off at his girlfriend's house, and his girlfriend's mom, Shannon, drove the two of them to have dinner together at a sushi restaurant called Tokyo's. Cute. He loved sushi, by the way. And I knew you would love that. I do. In fact, his mother said he loved sushi, loved expensive steaks. If you took them out, he was going to buy the most expensive thing on the menu. Yeah. Now, Shannon, the girlfriend's mom, then drove them to the dance after they were finished with dinner around 7 p.m. The dance by all accounts was great for everyone.

Yeah. His girlfriend said they danced all night. Blake ended up taking off his black dress shirt and tie because he was having so much fun and he was like sweating. You know he tied that tie right around his head. You know he did. You know he did. But she said they were just like having a ton of fun the whole night. There's pictures of this like everywhere.

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And they went back to the girlfriend's house. They watched a movie together. Somewhere in the 1130 hour, Shannon drove Blake to his friend Austin's house where he was planning to spend the night. Now, I'm going to tell you a lot of like back and forth here of where he went, but I'm at the end going to kind of explain the root a little better. And I'm going to explain like how I think this route went because a lot of it is unknown. Okay. I also have a picture of it on the, on the monitor in front of Ash and I so that she can also see it. So we can have like a proper discussion about it.

But just so you know, we're going to get into like the roads and everything a little more later. I love when you do that because it helps visualize it. I love doing that. Yeah, it is. It makes it much easier. Now, Melissa said this was Blake's first time staying overnight somewhere since the move from Clayton County. She was still nervous. She was worried about him being by himself overnight.

She was still like protecting him. Yeah. And you know, it's homecoming. Like, of course you're going to be nervous. Like you don't know what's going on. Yeah. And she said like, you know, he had stayed places when we're in Clayton County, but that was before that assault happened.

Yeah. That was before this man had done something to him. I'm worried something else is going to happen to him. Yeah, that will rock you. So when he got to Austin. after the dance and after his girlfriend's house, he called his mom Melissa immediately when he got there. He told her what an amazing time they had. It was such a fun time. We danced all night, told her all about it. She was like, he seemed very happy. Like he had had a great time. Nothing had gone wrong.

So she told him, you can stay at Austin's house tonight, but I want you to stay there and not leave. So the last thing he said to her was, Mama, I love you. I'll call you tomorrow. Oh. Now, Austin says they just hung out texting friends. I think they had gone to a convenience store at one point to try to like buy cigarettes or something, but they were, they couldn't. So they came back home. And he said they were just like texting friends hanging out. And he said around 2 a.m. Blake texted his girlfriend telling her he was going to come back over her house. And just like so romantic. And she was like, sure, whatever. And she went back to sleep because she was like, okay, whatever. Yeah, like sure you are. Austin recalls sometime between the two and three a.m. hour, he was told, he told him he was going to his girlfriend's house. Like, came in the room, like, I'm going. Austin says he gave him a jacket because it was freezing outside, which like adorable in house skis. Because he was like, you can't like knock on the door. You know, they just come in. And he was wearing the same black dress pants and white t-shirt that he had on at the end of the dance. So it was close to 5 a.m. when Blake crawled through his girlfriend's window. She said, they just hung out and they talked about the dance. They just laid on her bed and like cuddled and talked about what a good time they had. Now she said he was wearing a white hoodie from Arapostal with the lettering in brown down, I think, one arm.

When she saw him and not a jacket. Maybe the friend had just said like that was a jacket. Later, Austin said that was not the jacket he had given him. Huh. Weird. Just a little note that that was not the jacket he had given him. Now, that was a sweatshirt that Blake had brought with him to Austin. Austin's in a backpack. So I don't know if he just switched them out or what. Just an interesting

little tidbit. Maybe the jacket was uncomfy and he just wanted that instead. But then her grandmother walked in her bedroom. Oh no. And I guess she just walked in and was like she probably knew what was up. Well, and I think she was like, I'm going to tell your mom. And then just walked out. Like she was like, I'm just giving you a heads up. I'm going to let your mom know what's going on. So I guess Blake was like, I got to go. So he goes and climbs out the window. And, you know, immediately Shannon comes in the room and it's not pleased because of course we've all been I would not be pleased either and Blake knew that so did the girlfriend so immediately Blake starts texting his girlfriend and Shannon his girlfriend's mom saying sorry just apologizing profusely oh my

god to the point Shannon said she ended up telling him Blake everything's okay like everything's gonna be okay because she said he was so apologetic and she was like I knew he was a good kid like right so I just told him like, it's cool, man. Like, I love you. I get it. Like, we're good. But he was, like, very remorseful. Like, he was like, oh my God, please don't hate me. It sounds like he, like, respected all the people around him, you know. So he's walking back to Austin's house. Now, this was about a three mile walk. I think it was three point two miles. Walking back to Austin's house, around 5.30 a.m., he texted his girlfriend, saying he was, quote, getting pulled over by a cop, which is weird because he was walking.

walking. He told her he was walking near a bridge at this point. Then a few minutes later, he said the cop talked to him, asked him where he was headed, checked his ID, and then left. Okay. Which is whatever. A little strange, but like, okay. But I could also see a cop seeing a young guy walking and being like, hey, where are you going? Like, you good? It's just like, I guess that makes sense. And then, but the weird thing about this, I suppose, is there's no record of this. no officer has ever said that they stopped him and there is no report of anything of this kind I guess I understand why there wouldn't be a report like they would have to though oh if you stop someone and you check their ID you have to you would have to make some kind of note of it oh okay and even if

there was no report which like that would be bad somebody well that's what one of you did it I don't get that whole part and it's like this is a very big case you would think that officer would come forward and be like hi, that was me. Yeah, I mean, you look at his ID. You know his name. At this point, we don't even know where he was. Right. And he said he could come forward and say, this is where he was. This is where he was going. This is how he looked. Right. This is, you know, this is how he seemed to me. No one has come forward. No one will say that they did it. They have no record of it. That's probably because they didn't make a report of stopping him. So like they, it would lead to like a tailspin and that's really shitty that they're not willing to do so. See, I don't even think that's it. Because

that's not that big a deal. No. Like if they came forward and Oh yeah, we didn't make a report of it because we just looked at his ID and left. No one's going to fault him for that. Who gives a shit? To not come. That's not enough to not come forward. No, I don't get it. So he then texted his girlfriend something like it's like it's really freezing out here.

And then, and this was around 530 as well. And that was the last communication. Now his girlfriend and his girlfriend's mom kept trying to get him to respond, but they were getting nothing. And they were like, huh, maybe his phone does. like, I don't know. So around 9 a.m. they call Austin. And they're like, hey, like, he's back there, right?

We haven't been able to get in contact with him. And Austin gets up and is like, yeah, he's not here. He never came back. So they're like, what the fuck? So Shannon and his girlfriend picked up Austin. They went to, like, so the mom and the girlfriend picked Austin up, and they all went searching immediately. They called Shannon's husband Matt.

He also helped in the search, but they found nothing. It was around 11 a.m. that they happened to see a police car driving by, and they stopped this police car and were like, here's the story. And they told them Blake is missing. Now, Melissa, his mom, was informed around 11.30 a.m. And she was basically informed,

you have to file a missing person's report. And she was like, what the fuck are you talking about? So she spoke to Austin and she said, what do you mean he's missing? He was at your house? Like, what do you mean he's missing? Did he get, was he stolen out of your house? Like what happened?

Because she has no idea. And she, and Austin was like, He went to see his girlfriend in the middle of the night and he had never come back. So unfortunately, it was immediately looked at by police that Blake had voluntarily run away. Now, they said, yeah. Like, how often do people really run away guys? I know. I'm like, and again, like overdue.

Right. Do too much. I'll never be mad at you for doing too much and expending too much resources. Nobody's ever going to be mad. I will always be mad at you for not expending enough. So it's like, just. Just do. too much.

Overreact. It's fine. I will turn the other way if it doesn't work out. That's the frustrating thing and I always say that whenever it's brought up, but it's like, you don't know these people. Their parents know them. Their parents know, like at least most of them would know if their kid was booked around the way or not, you know?

And it's like, again, just treat it like it's not. There's no harm in that. There's much harm in the other way, but there's no harm in overtreating it. It's frustrating. Now, they cited his issues in the court case. even though it was being dropped for reason for him wanting to run away. So as weeks go by with absolutely no sighting of him and no, nothing, like nothing is coming forward. His family was like, this is not the case.

He did not run away. And he wouldn't just leave his family. And his girlfriend was like, he wouldn't just leave me, like out of nowhere. No. They never believed he would just leave without telling anyone. He was just not that type of kid. He loved his family as evidenced by his bucket list by the way he was. Like, come on.

And even just like his last text to his girlfriend. And like, he would just never talk to her again and just say the last thing is, it's really freezing out here. Like, no, that would not be, no. And eventually, even his girlfriend, though, was starting to kind of believe, like, did he just leave? Like, did he just, like, she was, like, devastated. And she was like, did he just, like, bail on me? Yeah.

Well, and maybe she was thinking, like, maybe that's the reason he came over and spent time with me that morning. Exactly. And even though she couldn't understand why. And again, it didn't fit into their time together that night or that morning. She was like, I just don't see it. she was honestly probably just in like self-preservation mode at that and just like had to believe that he voluntarily left instead of thinking something awful happened to him. But she said they had talked about the court case before and that she was actually going to go with him, like support him.

And she said he was rightfully nervous, of course, but she was like, he knows he didn't do anything wrong. Like we would have got through it together. He has like support system here. And they were going to drop it anyway. Yeah. And she was like even if like something went awry, like we were all here for him. And like, I think he knew that. Now, she was so confused why he would bail.

It just wasn't who he was. And she was quoted as saying, he always kept his word. Like, he was always someone who kept his word. It wouldn't have been that. So things are still quiet. Then five weeks after Blake went missing, Melissa, his mom, got a phone call. This person said nothing on the phone. What the fuck?

She could hear a little bit of noise happening in the background somewhere. She just listened at first. Then she was like, is this Blake? And then she was like, do you have Blake? And she started begging them, please speak to me. Is this Blake? Please tell me if you have Blake. Nothing.

They hung on for minutes and then hung the phone up. Who does that to somebody? Like who the fuck does that? No matter what that was. What the fuck? I have like chill bumps from that. Because it's like, first of all, that's a fucked up prank. And if you hear that mother saying, is this Blake?

Because that's the person that has Blake. What the fuck is wrong with you? Who are you to sit on the phone and listen to a pleading mother? And it's like, come on. If it was a prank or either way, who are you to do that to somebody? But it was still strange. And it was near Thanksgiving that she said. So she said that happened.

Then Thanksgiving came or it was coming. And she said suddenly it was like her hope just deflated. And she said she got this sudden wash over her that said he's not alive anymore. Oh. And she's a mom. Yeah, mom's no. Like she knows. And to me, because as we'll see,

We do not have a timeline for Blake. We don't know when he died. It is possible he could have been kept somewhere. He could have been kept somewhere. Maybe she knew the second it happened. She's a mom. I fully believe that, like, that shit, especially with, like, how close they were. Yeah.

That's just, which, like, kills me because I'm like, I can't imagine her feeling that. Like, oh. So December 19th, 2011, two months after Blake went missing. Blake's family and friends received the worst news possible. A body was found face down in a creek under a bridge on the Summer Grove Parkway in East Noonan. The creek ran along the Summer Grove Golf Club, and it was also right along the route that he would have taken between the two homes. Okay. So by December 22nd, only a couple days later, it was announced via a press release that, based on his tattoo and jewelry, they identified the body as that of Blake Chappelle, who,

was 17 years old at the time. He had been found wearing a white t-shirt and underwear, and he was faced down in the water. Nothing else. He wasn't wearing his pants, his shoes, his sweatshirt that he was wearing when he left his girlfriend's house. Yeah. But the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. Oh my goodness. Now, the autopsy was not released. And no one has said when he was actually killed. There were circling reports that he was possibly in the creek for three days, but where he was before that, for literal months. And how decomposed he was? We don't know. Right. No one will say how long he was dead before his body was placed in that water. No one will say how long he was in the water. No, we have no timeline here. He could have been in that

water for a day. And is there, did they give a reason for why they won't release the autopsy? They did. Because he's a minor. No, it's because he's technically. not a minor. He's an adult. Okay. So they did come out later and say it's one of those things where only the person who did this knows certain things and we want to keep that stuff to the chest because we don't want somebody else. But there's a lot of things that I'm like, I don't know, you got to give us something here. Like the times of death and stuff, I'm like, I understand to a point, but like I want more information. Also, like it's been 11 years so maybe we could get a little extra something. At this point, I think we can maybe trickle out a few more pieces of information.

And also, like, his family deserves it. Like, his mom really wants to know what the fuck happened here. And she's got nothing. Like, she's not getting anything. And there are times where family solve cases. Yeah, it's true. Because they know the person. They know more about it, you know.

And what's crazy, too, is his clothing was never found. Yeah, that's weird. His pants, his shoes, his sweatshirt. And no wallet, no phone, which were on him when he left his girlfriends. He was texting with that phone. the night he went missing and no keys to Austin's house, nothing. And there's no way to like ping any of his movements afterwards? Well, we'll get into that.

Okay. So now we're going to come to the let's take a look at the route he would have taken. Okay. Because I was curious just to see this. I have never been to Georgia. I do not have any knowledge of Georgia. It's hard for me to picture. So off to Google Maps and Google Earth, I go.

So here we are. I'm bringing it up for you so you can see it. Thank you. This is our beginning spot. Okay. So the route from his girlfriend's home around the Avondale Circle area of noon and Georgia to Austin's previous residence, which was along the Highwoods Parkway, which is west of Summer Grove Park, is like I said before, about 3.2 miles if he took the suggested route and possibly the easiest

to travel route. But from what I looked at, it seems like there was a slightly. better route than what they will suggest. Okay. They suggest you take this route. You should go from Avondale Circle, take a left onto Vanderbilt Parkway. From there, you would likely take a left on Mary Freeman Road. And then you have it where you would kind of stay or bear left onto Lower Fayetteville Road.

Yep. You would do this for a long time until it meets up with Highwoods Parkway. Okay. But judging from where he was found, and where he was texting his girlfriend about a bridge, I think that he went a ways up on Fayetteville Road, like right here. So I think he went a ways up there.

And then he actually took a left at Summer Grove Parkway. Okay. And that's because... Because that's a bit of a shortcut. It is. It looks like it was probably a bit shorter, or at least it seems like if you take that straight, it dumps you right off at the Highwoods Parkway.

Right. So it's going to dump you right there. But he was found in a creek under a bridge along the Summer Grove Parkway next to the golf club. This road that I just described to you that I would have taken, this road leads, it actually crosses over a creek, which is White Oak Creek, which runs directly under the Summer Grove Parkway in a spot that is next to the Summer Grove Golf Club. I see it. Okay. So I've looked, and I haven't found it confirmed that he was found in this creek. But that's the creek that runs next to the golf club.

It's connecting to Highwoods Parkway. There's a bridge. I don't see where else he would have been found. And everything I saw says that he was found in a creek next to the Summer Grove. Yeah, the Summer Grove Golf Club, which is exactly where this was. Yep. And it's along that parkway. So it has to be that.

That's right there. There's nowhere else. So what I want to know is, did someone bring him back there two months later? Along the same route? Yeah, that's the weird thing about this. And it's like, why? Right. And again, we don't even know how long he was outside in the elements. We don't know how long he was in the water. We don't even know how long he was dead for. He could have been dead for, he could have been deceased for a week. And we don't know it. So why is he still along the same route he likely would have taken? Because again, he's a missing person. We know where he was going. He was going from his girlfriend's house to Austin's house.

they've definitely searched that route. Well, that's my question. I was going to say, had they... Had they searched that creek before, or could you not find out? There's no, to me, I didn't find out that they specifically did. There's no way they didn't, though. Right. That is the root.

Like, there's no way they would have just, like, ignored that body of water. Right. For a missing person. So to me, that says he wasn't in that creek before there. And had to have been being held somewhere of them. That's the thing. So, and again, why was he along the same route? he would have taken. Did someone follow him? I feel like it would have been weird for it to be a

random thing that somebody just came across him while he was walking home. Yeah. Like how would they even know he was there though unless they were following him that whole night? And then they somehow they dumped him there as like a something. The thought of that is so terrifying to think that he may have been followed that entire night. And then also what I saw was along this route. And I have to see if I can bring it up here somewhere. Along this route, there is like a hiking trail. Can confirm. We just paused so that Elena could show me how to follow the trail and where this hiking trail came out. And I have a fucking theory. It's right there. So it's a hiking trail. It's before the lower Fayetteville Parkway turns into the Summer Grove Parkway. It's right before that bend.

There's a connector trail. And it's a hiking area. It's a big wooded area. It's on the way. was someone waiting there? Did they take him in there? Well, my question is too, like I think it kind of comes off of what you're saying. Somebody could have spotted him walking along that route, knew that they would get there faster through the connector trail to like, I guess they knew where he was going, and then went through the trail and got there before he did or right at the same time that he got on to Summer Grove Parkway. Yeah. And that begs the question, are we talking about someone random or are we talking about someone who is waiting for him? Right. And it's like, I just don't get this random thing. I don't know. I mean, it happens, obviously. I think the thing

that makes the random thing hard to believe is the fact that we don't really know where he was for two months. And he, from the sounds of it, definitely wasn't in that creek. I don't know where he was. I don't know if he was kept alive. I don't know what happened here. And that's the thing we did. Like, you know, Yeah, you don't know because the autopsy wasn't released. So we don't know what state he was in when he was found. We have no idea. We don't know how long he was in the water even. And that's what's killing me.

And you had mentioned phone records. I had. I said, could they ping some shit? Well, the phone records indicated that the last text he sent were the ones apologizing to Shannon and his girlfriend and the ones where he told his girlfriend he was freezing and that he had been pulled over and released by a cop. I hate that at the end of his life. He was so stressed out.

I know. He was just like, I just got to get someone. Now, Melissa, his mom, begged the police to track or triangulate his phone on that night to try to find his movements. But she isn't sure they ever did. Why would they not? When 11 alive reporter Savannah Levens asked Lieutenant Robinson, who is like the new person on this case, he's the one who's like currently on the case, she asked him about it. And he said, quote, they've pulled some phone records, not necessarily triangulated, but we pulled some phone records. But the area is pretty broad on that.

Sir what? It wouldn't be broad if you triangulated. Why are we not seeing where this phone is pinging off of? I mean, it's 2011. We know that he was sitting on his phone texting. As he's walking back the whole time, he's walking past all of these cell phone towers. And it's just like you're not sure.

It's like, yeah, we pulled some phone records. Like, not necessarily. Not necessarily, did you or didn't you? Like, what exactly are you doing? Not necessarily is not an answer. Nope, man. Like, you say no. Say no, we did not.

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I don't know how it started. I thought you were going to say, yeah. Yes. Thank you. And the other night, keep that microphone in front of you, don't put it away. Because the other night, we got one pan black bean and pabloano, casadias with, by the way, a lime crema to drizzle on top, or if you're me, to literally take multiple tablespoons and douse on top.

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And if you like have people over, honestly, if you're like trying to plan ahead, you can choose like the different quantities of meals. So you can get a meal for like four people if you're having a little double date night and you can really impress your guests with the quality of food. And by the way, Hello Fresh is 72% cheaper than dining at a restaurant and it's even cheaper than going grocery shopping. So not only is it putting money back in your pocket, it is making your stomach the happiest stomach on planet Earth. I'm telling you, go to hellofresh.com slash morbid 16 and use code morbid 16 for up to 16 free meals and three free gifts and delicious, delicious life. I don't know. Again, that's hellofresh.com slash morbid 16 and use code morbid 16 for up to 16 free meals and three free gifts and like I just told you delicious life. In that interaction, he texted his girlfriend about the whole, like we said before, the cop pulling him over.

That one, I could not. I'm like, what? That's just like, I don't, that one stuck with me. They can't find, again, any record of that event or anyone saying that they did it. And when they asked Lieutenant Robinson about it, he said, quote, we're still kind of hazy as to what that interaction is. But it didn't appear that our agency had contact with him. Is this detective's middle name vague? Like hazy?

You're hazy on whether one of your... You're an investigator. And then he says it doesn't appear our agency had contact with him. It doesn't appear or they did or did not. So who the fuck was that? That pulled him over. And I've seen it posited that this was a real police officer and also that this was someone posing as a police officer.

Well, that was my question, something I thought of when you mentioned the police officer. I was like, was that a real police officer? And it's like, well, if he thought a cop was pulling him over, I'm like, I wonder if they were in a marked car or not. Well, that's perfectly into what I was thinking because I don't know how he would have known that this person was a police officer if it was someone posing, though. Because think about it. This person would probably need sirens or something because Blake was walking. If a car pulled up beside or behind him, he would probably not initially think an unmarked car was a police car.

Right. But he said to his girlfriend that a cop was pulling him over. So this, and he said he was like in the process of pulling him over. So this person identified themselves as a police officer somehow. I'm not saying people don't do that, like don't pose as a cop. Yeah, we've seen that happen. But did they have a badge or a siren or a uniform, I wonder, to make him say for sure to his girlfriend, a cop is pulling me over?

Potentially. And not just some creep is following me. I don't know if it's a cop. Yeah. Like he was very clear in that message, a cop is pulling me over. Think about the hillside stranglers. And that's what I'm like, so this person had to have something that identified them as a cop. Definitely. At the very least, though, honestly, it could have been like a black, like Ford. You know what I mean? Because if a black Ford is behind me, I'm pulling over. I think you're a cop. So it could have been that. And then somebody dressed in like a police uniform really could have been enough and a siren. Yeah. I mean, it's true. And it's like, was that him saying, was that even him saying that the cops released? Well, that's the other thing. And then just to see. And then just to say, say it's freezing. Yeah, it's freezing out here. No context or anything. And was it someone else

texting from his phone? Like I've seen some people he knew question this saying he didn't really text to that way, like the way that it was said. Really? So they said it didn't really seem like him, but they didn't know if they were just like looking at it too hard or if they were just like confused by it. But they were like, I don't know him. A lot of people said like him saying a cop's pulling me over didn't make a lot of sense to them because they were like he was walking. I don't think you would have said that. He wouldn't have said pulling me over it. Yeah.

I mean, maybe in like the stress of the moment. Maybe. I guess just to play doubles out for guilt. Well, another weird thing. He left a backpack at Austin's house when he left for his girlfriends. This backpack was confirmed to be there by Austin, but now he says it's lost. What? They were moving, apparently, and somehow it got lost in the move.

Okay. But why wasn't it turned over to police immediately? I'm just curious. Like why didn't the police come get it? That's what I mean. Like, why wasn't this part of the whole, like, what? And his mother said that when he took it with him that night, the backpack initially had the white hoodie he was wearing when he got to his girlfriend's house. It had, and obviously that isn't in there anymore. So where the fuck is that? He had had his phone charger, cologne, deodorant, and a knife, which he kept on him always, but didn't have on him at the time because he wasn't going to bring a knife to a school dance. But he put it in his bag. Okay. So that all should have been there and it's gone. And I'm interested to know if he had that knife with him when he went for the walk.

If that was a knife he always had. That's what I'm wondering. I'm assuming it was for some kind of protection, especially after what he had gone through. Exactly. So it's like, was that still in the backpack? Was that on him? If so, it's not, we don't know where it is. Yeah.

And if so, we still aren't even being told if he had knife wounds. Well, that's another thing that I was going to ask. We're not even sure if he had any kind of wounds other than that gunshot wound. Exactly. We don't even know if he had several gunshot wounds. All we know is that his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. Right. We don't know anything else about the condition of Blake's body.

Was his mother ever allowed to view his body? They were allowed to view the body and they were like they viewed him at the memorial. They said they're goodbye. He was cremated. Okay. But I don't know what else. Like nothing else is released about. that can like what else what other injuries could have been inflicted here.

Right. And if he had that knife with him, did he have knife wounds? Like, I don't know. But the investigation went into overdrive immediately after this. Like, they really went for it. I'm like, did it? They offered a $20,000 cash reward for any information leading to anything about this. This was the highest award ever offered at the time.

Wow. And actually, police said the money didn't even seem to be a factor in the leads that were receiving. People were calling and not giving a shit about the money. They just wanted the killer caught. Yeah, it's a 17-year-old boy that was murdered. Yeah, and they just wanted justice for Blake, which is like, again, a testament to Blake. Now, December 29th, 2011 was his memorial service. Like I said, he was cremated, but his family was able to say goodbye to him first. They played Blake's favorite song, carry on my wayward son. Stop. Yep. Melissa said, quote, my only wish is that whoever did this, they asked God's forgiveness and repent. That's what Blake would have wanted.

And I have to try and forgive these people and move on. But it's so hard. Sometimes I just feel like my life is over. To which I'm like, I just want to hug, Melissa. I do too. Because I'm like, oh, it's no one should ever have to go through this. There has been very little to no movement in this case, which is so frustrating. The police department, again, like we said, is holding a lot of this stuff close to the chest. We don't know a lot about his death, nothing. I guess we can only hope that that's for the best. Yeah. I mean, Lieutenant Chris Robinson said, and he took the case over in 2019, so very recently. He said, quote, as suspects are developed, a lot of details would only be known by those people, so we can't really release too much. Everything we received has been run down and vetted

and ruled out at this point. Without community support and people who know something coming forward, It just makes it near impossible to get anywhere right now. Now, there is still a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in Blake's case. Callers can leave a tip for the Noonan Police at 770-254-2355 or crime stoppers of Greater Atlanta. You can remain anonymous. You don't have to give your name. I'm going to put that information in the show notes, so you have it again. Awesome.

But this case like needs movement. They need to figure out who did this. They need to find out what happened. Because there's so many just missing pieces. There is. So many questions that need answers. That's the thing. And everybody deserves justice.

Yeah. And Blake specifically deserves justice. I just want to, I want to see it for his family. I want to see it for him and his friends. It's like. And it's like his family has already gone through so much in losing him. And then they just, they have no answers as to how they lost him. It's been too long and something needs to give here.

I don't know what, but something needs to give here. I want to like figure out a way to move this forward somehow because it like really, it like irked me reading this. I was just like, come on. That's the thing. I feel like sometimes it can feel so helpless. Yeah, it can. But the stuff that can be done, whatever updates I have that I can give you, like things we can do, like anything, I will make sure to let you know on the next episode or whatever episode we can find. stuff on. And if you have any information, like if you're from this area and you've been too scared to

come forward or something like that, it's the right thing to do. Now's the time. You can remain anonymous. Remain anonymous. Just call. Say, I don't want anyone to know who I am. Here's the information I have. Because his family and he deserve it. Yeah, it's like, come on. Come on. It's been 11 years at this point. Let's go. Right. But that is the case of Blake Chappelle. Like I said, Sarah Turney interviewed his mom, Melissa, I urge you to go listen. I'm going to go listen to it now. I'm going to link it in the show notes. I'm sure she did amazing.

She always does. Oh, yeah. And you know, you can get to know Blake and his family more because Melissa seems like a great mom and like I'm just really sad for her. I want to give her a hug. So yeah, let's hope that somehow, some way it can be moved forward. Yeah. Everybody.

Let's manifest it. Let's figure it out, guys. Let's do it. And in the meantime, we hope that you keep listening. listening and we hope you keep it weird but not so weird that if you don't have any hold on I messed up but not so weird that if you have any information about this case you don't come forward with it yes I feel like somebody knows something somebody knows something and you can remain anonymous just do it thank you