The Deck Investigates - Episode 1: Something's Wrong

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

The Deck Investigates returns with Season 2, delving deep into the perplexing case of Ada Haradine, a 40-year-old home-maker and mother of two. What started as a typical day in May 1985 ended in a baffling tragedy that has haunted Ada’s family for decades.If you have any information about Ada Haradine, please contact Michiana Crime Stoppers at 574-288-STOP or 800-342-STOP or submit tips online at michianacrimestoppers.com. Tips can be made anonymously.You can also reach out directly to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office by calling their main line, 269-445-1560, their tip line at 800-462-9328, or online at www.ccso.info. View source material and photos for this episode at: thedeckpodcast.com/somethings-wrong Find more of The Deck Investigates on social media.Instagram: @thedeckpodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @thedeckpodcast_ | @audiochuckFacebook: /TheDeckPodcast | /audiochuckllc The Deck Investigates is hosted by Ashley Flowers. Instagram: @ashleyflowersTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieTwitter: @Ash_FlowersFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to share your thoughts about the case, discuss all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!

Last season, when we covered the case of Darlene Hulse, there was a lot I had to leave out. In almost 40 years of case documents, you can't include every detail, even in an 18-episode series. Most are red herrings anyway. But there was one tip that I kept coming back to, mostly because it seemed so fantastical it couldn't be

true. But it was interesting. I always referred to this tip as the Sheila letters. In a series of letters to law enforcement, a local citizen named Sheila proposed a theory that Darlene's case was connected to the deaths of other women in the area around the same time. Sheila didn't have insight into the cases. She was just working off newspapers. But she said there was a pattern. The women's initials. All the women had the last initial H,

and the first initials were descending through the alphabet, like A-H, B-H, C-H, D-H, and so on. Now, she didn't even have all the letters. She couldn't find a C-H. So there weren't enough data points to make the argument compelling. Not for police back then, because there's no record of them talking to her, and it didn't really make sense for us to chase that lead early on when we had so many more viable ones that needed work. But we did put out feelers. We tried unsuccessfully getting in touch with Sheila,

and I began looking at the other cases she pointed to. The A.H. case that happened almost a year after Darlene was killed. This woman, Ada Haradine, was a stay-at-home mother and wife taken in the middle of the day from her home in Elkhart, Indiana, just an hour away from Darlene. Ada's case is still unsolved. That's pretty much all you'll get from archived newspaper reports. So if I wanted to know more, we were going to have to go digging ourselves. And before I even got the chance, guess who I got an email from? Ashley, I hope this email finds you well. I'm a listener of Crime Junkie, The Deck, and The Deck Investigates, as well as other Audiochuck productions.

I'm not sure where to start on this email, so I will dive in. I am one of the granddaughters of Ada Haradine. My dad is her firstborn son. She is the three of clubs on the third edition of Cold Case Cards in Indiana. Ada was taken from her house in Elkhart, Indiana on May 8, 1985. She was last seen at 3 p.m. My uncle, her second son, got off the bus at 3.20. He did not see her that afternoon and decided to go to the neighbors since she wasn't home. She was never seen again and was discovered just over three years later on May 12, 1988 in Cass County by mushroom hunters. We don't know much more about her case, although over the years, my dad has begun to talk about it more.

My sisters and I are big fans, and when I was listening to the Deck Investigates, I had texted them about how similar the Darlene Hulse case was to Ada's. My youngest sister then reminded me that Darlene's daughter, Kristen, had reached out to her a few years ago to see if there was any connection to the two cases as well. The area where Ada's body was found is actually on the way to and from my house in Indianapolis and my parents' house in Michigan. Every time we pass that area, she is all I can think about. I know you must get tons of messages,

and I do want to thank you and applaud you for all that you do. Bringing light to these cases can really do wonders, and I hope that all of these cases can get some answers. I would love to see your case highlighted, and I know my dad and uncle would love to get answers. I would be more than happy to talk to or to be a point of contact. I know my youngest sister would be too. It saddens us all that we never were able to meet her.

My mom only met her once when her and my dad were dating at Ball State. From all of the stories, she seemed like a kind soul and a great mother. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Best, McKenna Haradine-Schutz. That's it. I was in. And I'm going to do the one thing you're not supposed to do in storytelling. I'm going to give you the answer to the question that's been posed right at the top. I don't think Darlene's case and Ada's case are connected. But what we, me and my reporter Nina,

uncovered to come to that conclusion is a story in its own right. A bewildering maze of suspects and theories. Multiple law enforcement agencies have twisted and turned through this labyrinth, trying to make sense of something that makes absolutely no sense. The more I learned, the more I realized

that season two of The Deck Investigates was unfolding right before my eyes. And you'll have a front row seat as we retrace the steps of an investigation that spans decades, confront assumptions that may not hold up under scrutiny, and try to unravel a mystery that has haunted a family for generations.

This is the story of Ada Haradine, the three of clubs from Indiana. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is Season 2 of The Deck Investigates. This is Episode 1, Something's Wrong. 40-year-old Ada Haradine was a quiet woman who lived on a quiet street in a quiet neighborhood, a long way from the prisoner of war camp she was born in back in Germany. Her parents, the Vanleus, immigrated to the specific corner of the world where I grew up along the Michigan-Indiana border, affectionately known by locals as Michiana.

As a young woman, Ada found work for a wealthy family at their lodge. And it was that wealthy family son, Carl Edwin Haradine Jr., known as Ed, who gave Ada her upper-class, quiet life. Make no mistake, though, Ada was no wilting flower. She was strong and smart, and though she didn't work outside of the home, that was only because she had always been too busy working in it. Between their 19-year-old son away at college and their 9-year-old in elementary school, Ada had been a full-time

mother and homemaker pretty much every day of their 20 years of marriage. She ran the household finances and operations, and what little time wasn't occupied by her kids, she filled with church or home renovation projects, yard work, and social activities. She actually ticked all those boxes one late spring day in 1985, the last day that she was ever seen alive. Ada wasn't even supposed to be at her home in Elkhart on May 8, 1985.

She initially had plans to visit a friend in Fort Wayne, Indiana, about an hour and a half away. But she rescheduled the trip when she found out her younger son's school was holding a Mother's Day mass. She didn't want Jeff to be the only one without his mom there. So when that morning started, she was still in bed as Ed left early to hit the gym before work. After getting up herself and getting ready, she and their son Jeff headed off to the Mother's Day service. It was uneventful, routine, if you will, in the way that most mass services are. After that, Jeff went off to class. And if Ada made any stops on her way home, they couldn't have taken long because she was at the house by 11 when her niece Susan arrived to go to a luncheon with her. The two chatted for a little bit until Ada's friend Judy picked

them up at around 1130 to take them to the local YMCA. The whole time, Susan thought Ada seemed to be in a good mood, like usual. All the ladies were talking about getting things ready for summer and opening up the houses. And one lady was saying how she couldn't get her storm shutter or window screens or whatever it is that you put on for winter. She couldn't get them off and her husband was gone and, you know, she didn't know how to do it. And Ada thought that was so funny that she was this helpless woman because Ada was, Ada could take care of herself. She was the cool aunt. Judy dropped them back at the house by 1.30, and Susan and Ada settled in to chat a little more. They had lots of catching up to do because Susan actually lived in Arizona at the time. She'd gone off to college there, and now that she had graduated, she had come into town interviewing for some jobs,

hoping that she and her husband could relocate back to the area. The reason Ada and I were so close is because no matter where we lived, I'd be spending my summers here working for my grandparents and running the resort, and Ada did the same thing. She was there all summer, and she was kind of the surrogate, big sister, young aunt that was a friend and an aunt. We all had dinner together in my grandparents' kitchen. I sat around the big table. We all worked together. We all played together.

So the women were seated in the family room, enjoying their time together, when suddenly they heard a noise coming from near the entryway. Like a thud. Like if you ran into the wall. That's what it sounded like to me. It just sounded like a thud to me. The noise didn't scare them, per se, but it made them curious. No one else was supposed to be home, and the Haradines didn't have any pets.

So they looked around a bit, even checked outside near the front door. But they didn't see anything that might have caused the sound. By 2.05, Susan had to leave for a job interview at a local bank. Ada, meanwhile, had plans of her own. Susan remembers her saying that she was going to change and do some yard work. But she was still wearing the dressy outfit she'd worn to lunch, a rose-colored skirt and a short sleeve sweater when Susan left. She walked out with me and walked to the mailbox at the end of the driveway. And we had been talking about, because it was May, we were getting excited for summer. They had just bought a ski boat. So she opened the mailbox and there was a ski magazine that had come.

As I'm pulling out, backing out of the driveway, she holds up the ski magazine like, you know, summer's coming. Left alone, it's assumed that Ada went back inside and changed out of her clothes and into something she could do yard work in. The rose-colored skirt and short-sleeved sweater she'd been wearing when Susan left were found neatly put away, and the shower and sink in the bathroom off her and Ed's bedroom were wet, as if she had washed up. Her family would also find that water skiing magazine that Ada had grabbed from the mailbox on a little accent table near the living room. One of the next-door neighbors, 22-year-old Steve Dye, saw Ada outside sometime between two and three doing yard work in a t-shirt and either shorts or jeans. He couldn't remember which.

He hadn't seen anything suspicious. The only unfamiliar car he remembered in the Hardines driveway was a blue Lincoln, which turned out to be what Susan had been driving. Another man from the neighborhood named Hal Combs was out for his usual walk when he saw Ada in her driveway, deep in conversation with a man that he didn't recognize.

An unfamiliar car, presumably the man's, was parked toward the back of her driveway, deep in conversation with a man that he didn't recognize. An unfamiliar car, presumably the man's, was parked toward the back of her driveway. Now, he said normally Ada would throw a friendly wave or hello Hal's way, but this time she was so focused on the chat that she didn't even acknowledge him, which surprised him. Still, there was nothing alarming about the encounter he witnessed. The Haradines had been doing some remodeling and various workers had been in and out, so at the time, Hal figured the man was just another contractor. The timing of Hal's sighting did change from his first statement to his second, but his final answer was that he saw Ada at 3.10 p.m. But by the time Jeff's school bus pulled up to the house ten minutes later,

Ada was gone. The school bus would drop me off literally right in front of the house. I'd get home from school, she was just always there. It was like clockwork at our house. As Jeff went to let himself in, he noticed that their front door was ajar, although the screen door in front of it

was closed and locked, blocking his access to the house. He saw a note from Ada on the door, but it wasn't for him. She had written it earlier that day to the sprinkler repairman, letting him know about an issue their system was having. The garage door was also locked, and for a minute, Jeff wondered if he'd be stuck outside. But there was one more door he could try. He made his way around to the back of the house,

where a rake and gardening tool were leaning against the wall near a bay window. I'm sure Jeff didn't even make note of it. He was probably too focused on getting inside. And luckily, he found that the back screen door was unlocked. Once inside, he called out for his mom. But the house was quiet and empty. Now, Ada wasn't the kind of mom to just leave things to chance. On the rare occasion she planned to be gone when Jeff got home, she would arrange for someone to be there. So Jeff was confused, but not necessarily worried. Her orange Chevy Citation was right there parked in the driveway, so how far could she possibly have gone? Jeff decided to have a snack, change out of his school clothes,

and then he settled in to do what kids in the 80s did after school. I think I remember turning the TV on and watching some cartoons at the time, probably some Scooby-Doo or something. And then I remember my dad calling. Ed was calling from the office. He'd actually been calling Ada sporadically all day to try and firm up plans for the family to go to a local baseball game later that night.

And he knew Ada was often out and about during the day, running errands, seeing friends, so it wasn't weird that he hadn't gotten a hold of her earlier. But late afternoons were for Jeff. I recall us having a quick conversation, and then him maybe expressing some concern about Mom not being there, but nothing really even still registered

as being unusual or alarming to me. Ed, however, did register it as unusual, especially when he got home from work at around 5.15 and Ada was still MIA. By that point, though, Jeff wasn't alone. Susan had actually returned from her interview, planning to go to that baseball game Ed had been trying to call Ada about all day.

So Ed asked if she knew where Ada was. But Susan was just as in the dark as everyone else. She had assumed Ada would be here just like everyone else. And Susan says she remembers Ed's immediate concern. He's like, well, something's wrong because she would be home. She's never not home when Jeff gets home. Ed waited around for a little bit, hoping that she would come home. But when she didn't, he decided it was time to take the search outside of the house. Ed and Susan and even Jeff started checking in with their neighbors and calling around to friends and relatives, hoping someone knew where Ada was. Somebody in the family asked me to start, you know,

going to check down at some friend's house. Their next-door neighbor, Steve's mom, Rae Dye, called the local hospital to make sure Ada wasn't there, and she helped them search the house again. And when Steve got home that evening, he was able to help fill them in on a few blanks, telling them about seeing Ada first in her dressy clothes sometime in the late morning, and then again in the afternoon, changed into her clothes to do yard work. And he said he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when he left to go to a friend's place at around 4.45. As the minutes ticked by, Ed's fear just grew. And he realized that he couldn't handle this alone. So he called his parents and he decided to bring in the big guns. His sister Betty's husband, a guy named Larry Sarhat.

Because you see, Larry was a retired FBI agent. He would know how they should handle this. Now, Larry passed away in 2018, but his wife Betty remembers getting that call, or the message, rather. They had to call Ed back, and when they learned that Ada was gone, Larry did know what to do.

Call the police. By this time, daylight had faded, and the gravity of the situation had begun to sink in for all of them. They knew that the only way Ada wouldn't have been home was if someone was keeping her from it. So at 8.15, they made a call to Elkhart PD. Susan says they wondered if they were going to get a ransom demand. After all, the Herodines were well off

and everyone knew Ed owned a business, Carlton Manufacturing, which specialized in upholstered furniture. In Elkhart, there's a lot of businessmen, a lot of entrepreneurs, and he was connected with that whole circle of successful businessmen. A ransom demand actually seemed like one of the better possible outcomes.

I mean, at least it would mean Ada was still alive. So as police began their investigation, her loved ones hoped and prayed for a call. But when the phone rang, it wasn't Ada or an abductor with instructions on how to secure her return. When Ed answered, there was only silence on the other end. Ed repeated hellos over and over, but the caller didn't say a word. Until eventually, Ed hung up on them.

When the nothing came in that night about a phone call or a ransom or an accident or anything like that, then I think people were like, this is bad. You can listen to episode two, No One Saw a Thing, right now, wherever you get your podcasts.