The Deck Investigates - Episode 10: Birch Road

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

The search for Ada Haradine takes a tragic turn when her remains are discovered by chance in a remote, wooded area just over three years after she vanished… and with this revelation, the investigation shifts focus from finding her to uncovering what happened in her final moments.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/birch-road/ Let us deal you in… follow The Deck on social media.Instagram: @thedeckpodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @thedeckpodcast_ | @audiochuckFacebook: /TheDeckPodcast | /audiochuckllcTo support Season of Justice and learn more, please visit seasonofjustice.org. The Deck is hosted by Ashley Flowers. Instagram: @ashleyflowersTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieTwitter: @Ash_FlowersFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!

Thursday, May 12th, 1988 was a warm day in Porter Township, Michigan, a small rural community about 12 miles from Ada's home in Elkhart. That's when a guy named David was driving down Birch Road with his girlfriend Rhonda and her three kids. They were out to do some mushroom hunting, so they were going slow, carefully scanning the woods on the side of the road. This was a new activity for Rhonda, and when she spotted what she assumed was a huge mushroom

on an embankment, she got excited and asked David to stop. Now, this wasn't David's first mushroom-hunting rodeo, and he knew that whatever the large white thing was, it wasn't what they were looking for. I mean, it was way too big. At first, he thought it was a deflated ball or something, but still he pulled over and walked up the slope to investigate.

But when he reached down to pick this thing up, he realized that he and Rhonda were both wrong. It wasn't a deflated ball, and it definitely wasn't a mushroom. It was part of a fractured human skull. Curiosity got to them. They started searching around to see if they could find anything else,

and they found some more bones. They went further up the hill where they saw the lower part of the jaw, and toward the top were ribs, pelvic, and leg bones. This quiet hillside had suddenly transformed into an impromptu crime scene. Though these weren't trained crime scene techs, so you'll forgive them for gathering up the bones in a bag and putting them in the trunk of their car. They drove a few miles down the road to a campground where Rhonda's sister worked.

And that's when they called the Cass County Sheriff's Office. As Detective Dave Gizzi and other officers headed over to meet them, they had no clue that they were stepping into an ongoing investigation, one that would continue to haunt them to this very day. This is episode 10, Birch Road. When police got to the campground that afternoon, they found David and Rhonda waiting for them. As they recounted their story, explaining how they stumbled upon the bones, investigators knew they were already at a disadvantage. The remains had been disturbed. But David said he could show them

where most of the bones were originally positioned. And while it obviously wasn't the same as having law enforcement preserve the scene from the outset, they had to take what they could get. We then had them take us back to the site of where they found it. Then we sealed off the area and started an investigation. The area Detective Gizzi's referring to was an isolated, densely wooded hill just north of a dirt trail locals called the Switchback that connected Birch to Carter Lake Street,

which is a gravel road that ran along the top of the embankment. There wasn't even reason for our patrol cars to go down that road. It was so desolate. But once officers started looking in the area, they quickly found more bones, 21 of them, and an IUD near where David and Rhonda said they discovered the pelvic bones. So right away, they knew the remains belonged to a female. We then called the forensic anthropologist out of Andrews University,

who had assisted us on prior cases, and he came over and helped us collect the bones. All told, 72 bones were recovered. And while that only makes up 35% of an adult human skeleton, they had some of the most crucial bones that might help them learn more about who this person was and possibly how she died. We brought all the remains back to the sheriff's department.

Dr. Hughes reassembled them to try to get some idea of how many victims there were. He was satisfied that those remains all belonged to one victim. Even the evidence they couldn't find helped tell a story. There was no clothing near the remains. And I don't just mean a missing shirt or pants. I mean, there was nothing. Not even a shoelace or a zipper, which investigators knew was a strong indication of sexual assault. If she had clothing, where's her belt buckle? Where's the eyelets on the shoes?

Where's the buttons? None of that stuff shows up. So you got to assume she's probably naked at that spot. Although they couldn't find any indication of clothing, it did look like she had been wearing one thing. A gold ring which investigators found with a metal detector. It hadn't been buried, none of her remains were, but it was somewhat embedded in the soil like it had been there for a while.

In fact, a biologist at a local university concluded that the remains had been on that hill for two to three years. Left exposed on the surface, they likely stayed near where they were discovered. The scattered and missing bones, most of which were small ones, were due to animal activity. Now, he dismissed the idea that the woman had been dumped from the road above the hill. He said all the plants and bushes would have stopped her body from rolling or sliding all the way down. Police didn't find any other belongings or anything that might help them identify this woman.

And the woman who'd gone missing three years before in another state wasn't top of mind. When you showed up that day, what did you know about Ada? I mean, at first, really, she didn't come to mind. We were aware of the missing person out of Elkhart three years prior to that, but we weren't actively involved in Elkhart's investigation. We already had dispatch looking at missing persons reports and doing the old fashioned computer checks there to see if there were any missing persons in our surrounding area.

Ada's name was on the list of possibilities. And a strong one at that, because the idea of crossing state lines with a victim was somewhat of a common occurrence in this area. From being here years and years it's not uncommon for crimes to be committed in Elkhart homicides, and they dump the bodies in Michigan. It's a very rural area, and I think they feel confident in doing that. In my career, I can think of probably seven or eight homicides we've had

that were actually committed in Elkhart, but they dumped the bodies in Michigan. — After a round of calls to nearby police agencies, Ada's name moved to the top of the list. And on Friday, May 13th, when they compared her dental records with the skeletal remains, and her gynecologist confirmed that the IUD found that the scene was an exact match for hers, they knew. Ada Heredine had finally been located. And now they had to find out what happened to her

and also break the terrible news to her family. Elkhart police captain James Comer was the one who went to Ed's office that Friday morning to tell him that their search for Ada was over. At first, Ed barely reacted. He said he'd already come to his own conclusions that his wife was probably dead. But he was angry about the previous speculation

that Ada had left on her own. And then he started to cry. He knew he'd have to tell his sons that their mother was never coming back. A then 12-year-old Jeff got home from school that Friday to find his dad waiting for him. We were in the kitchen of the townhouse, and my dad said,

we've got some news about your mom, I need to talk to you about it. He said, they found your mom's remains, and it floored me. I was like, oh, shit. It was kind of that moment where you lost hope to ever see her again. And so I think that recollection tells me

I probably never gave up, you know, maybe there's some hope that she comes back or she's found or whatever. Greg had spent three agonizing years worrying about his mom with every awful possibility playing out in his mind like a nightmare. But in all that time, he hadn't let himself truly believe that she was gone.

Did somebody take her? She kidnapped, she's still alive, and somebody's holding her somewhere. That was kind of always my thought. She'd be in hell against her will until you get the official word that they found her and she's not alive. You always think that there's hope that you're going to see her again.

Part of you always thinks you're going to see her again until somebody tells you you're not. Ed's sister, Betty Sarhat, was heartbroken, but not necessarily surprised. I think we kind of resolved ourselves to the fact that it happened and I just prayed and prayed and prayed that somebody would find her body. And my husband always said, it'll either be a deer hunter, mushroom hunters, or people just hiking.

And that's what happened. As her family began planning a memorial service, police were busy. They quickly formed a task force and detectives at the Cass County Sheriff's Office, the new lead agency, poured through Elkhart's records trying to get up to speed on their investigation. I know most of the detectives down there, so not only did I read their report, but I talked to them, that they did a pretty thorough job in that three-year period and trying to run down where Ada may have gone. They basically told us a few days into it, we don't have any good suspects in this case.

Because in three years of investigation, we don't have anybody. Investigators hoped there would be something there at the scene that might lead them to a suspect. So they expanded the search area around the crime scene, determined to uncover every possible clue. But that proved to be challenging. Ada's remains were about 150 feet away from an unofficial dumping ground.

Up at the top of that hill, I mean, people would just pull out. There's no cows around there. They just throw their stuff out. It's like a little pull-out here along the road at the top of that switchback. I think the kids would go up there and drink. Detectives couldn't tell the difference between a potentially crucial clue and literal trash.

They collected a 14-inch machete with a shirt wrapped around it that they found under a burn barrel. At first, they thought there was blood on them, but testing revealed there wasn't. Nor was there any other valuable evidence like hairs or identifiable fingerprints. But there was blood on the gold ring, which turned out to be her wedding band, the only jewelry she reportedly had on when she went missing. A big rock near the bulk of her remains and the same layer of soil as her bones also showed some possible signs of blood at a microscopic level.

Police wondered if this could have been the murder weapon, especially considering Ada's autopsy results, which showed multiple skull fractures, including a massive one on the left side of her head, along with several broken teeth. Ultimately, there were no other signs of trauma, like knife wounds or bullet holes or marks or metal fragments that might indicate a gunshot. The ME thought that the head injuries would have been enough to kill her, and based on the scene investigation, he thought it was highly unlikely that she died there, just that someone tried to hide her body there.

When the Michigan State Police Behavioral Science Unit assessed the scene, they pointed out that cases like Ada's usually involve at least two, if not three, distinct crime scenes. The point of abduction, the location of the homicide, and the final resting place of the body. If witness accounts were accurate, Ada was last seen in her driveway around 3 p.m. supposedly talking to that man wearing a business suit. Investigators believed that the only way she would have left willingly was if someone she knew

and trusted lured her away with some kind of ruse, like if they pretended there was an emergency with the kids or Ed. But their working theory was that the assailant just knocked her out with a blow to the face and then put her in a vehicle and took her to another place, probably Carter Lake Street above the hill that she was found on.

This person either took off her clothes or forced her to do it and then tried to sexually assault her. And then, they believe, Ada, fighting for her life, managed to get out of the car and run down the hill. But the man caught up with her and then overpowered her and struck her in the head with the bloody rock found near her remains. They think when he would have gotten back to his car and realized her clothes were still there, he probably threw them out somewhere. They doubt that he kept them.

So it sounds like the medical examiner and the state police had fundamentally different views on where the actual murder took place. But there was one thing that everyone agreed on. The Birch Road, Carter Lake Street area was an important piece of the puzzle. This wasn't an area you just stumble upon. You had to know it. It was hard for me and Nina to understand how Ada could have been out there for three years without being buried and not be found in all that time.

Then all of a sudden, poof, a mushroom hunter sees her. But when Detective Gizzi took Nina out there this past May, almost at the exact time of year when Ada was found, it became more obvious. A skull was found down just inside that tree line. The area is dense with brush and grass and trees. It would be easy to drive by without noticing anything. But as Gizzy pointed out, when you're mushroom hunting, you're keeping your eyes peeled for anything white.

And the skull stood out to them. And that's why they got out thinking it was some mushrooms and find out it's not. It's just so thick with woods. I mean, it's no wonder really that nobody saw it for so long. I guess if you're not driving along here like two miles an hour, what are you gonna say?" Exactly. Even with the isolated surroundings, police set out to canvas the neighborhood, although calling it a neighborhood might be misleading.

It was really more of a rural stretch of land dotted with a few houses. One of those houses, a little less than half a mile from the crime scene, belonged to a woman named Connie. When Detective Gizzi knocked on her door a few days after Ada's remains were found, she said the whole situation was pretty ironic because she had a connection of sorts to the victim.

And Connie went on to tell police something that would dramatically alter the course of the investigation, sending it in an entirely new direction that no one saw coming. That's next in episode 11, The Neighbor, which you can listen to next week.