The Deck Investigates - Episode 11: The Neighbor

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

The case takes a surprising turn when a woman who lives near the newly-discovered crime scene shares a revelation that casts suspicion on Ada’s neighbor, Steve - one of the last people to see her alive. Investigators hadn’t previously considered Steve a suspect, but that changes as they begin to reexamine his statements and behavior. And it’s not just Steve who’s under scrutiny — his stepfather also becomes a focus of the investigation.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/the-neighbor/ 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!

Considering the sparse landscape, Cass County detective Dave Gizzi probably didn't have high hopes that this area canvas would yield much. And for the most part, it didn't. Locals reported a few incidents — cars idling, people hanging around — but nothing that gave investigators pause. Except when they spoke to a woman who lived at the first house north of the crime scene. Her name was Connie. Connie told Detective Gizzi that she used to work as a cleaning lady for the Herodines' next-door neighbors, the Dye family. She had gotten the job through a friend of hers who knew Ray Dye, and she'd clean for them a few times, including in May of 1985. But she said she had eventually quit, in part because she felt uneasy around Ray's son, Steve. And as you can imagine, that immediately caught investigators' attention,

because Steve was one of the very last people to see Ada alive. to see Ada alive. This is episode 11, The Neighbor. Detectives had never been suspicious of Steve Dye before. No one had. He was always just a neighbor, one of many they'd interviewed to piece together Ada's movements on the day she disappeared. He had talked to police willingly, undergone hypnosis,

even answered phone calls at the Herodines' house. And he had no violent criminal record, just misdemeanor marijuana possession and a bunch of traffic infractions. But with Connie's revelation, everything seemed to change. Suddenly, Steve went from being a helpful witness to someone who needed a much closer look. Granted, there really wasn't anything pointing directly to Steve, just his loose connection to Connie and her connection to the area where Ada's remains were found. And there's no indication that Steve had ever even been to Connie's house or knew where

she lived. And though it probably wouldn't be difficult for him to find out, all in all, it was a bit of a stretch. But the more detectives thought about it, the more the pieces seemed to fit. The most puzzling aspect of this case had always been how Ada could have vanished without a trace from her nice suburban home in broad daylight. Well, if her next door neighbor was involved,

well, maybe it wasn't so mystifying after all. This new perspective led this new crop of investigators to start right back where Elkhart PD had. We just started where she disappeared, at the house. But the house, and the neighborhood, had changed in three years. Like Ed, the Dyes had since moved on from Crabtree Lane. Steve, who was now 25 and married, had relocated to La Porte, Indiana, an hour away from Elkhart. Ray had split from Steve's stepfather,

who we're calling Tony, and she lived in nearby Mishawaka with Steve's 19-year-old half-brother. But before all of that, the Herodines and the Dyes had lived next door to one another for nearly a decade, since the mid-'70s. They weren't best friends, but they did socialize. In fact, Tony had even done

some independent sales work for Ed. I think Ada actually used to babysit for the two kids. Investigators were especially intrigued to learn that the families had keys to one another's homes. After all, they were learning everything about this case for the first time, which means they just learned about that suspicious thump Ada's niece Susan had reported hearing. They went in, they sat down, they talked a little bit, and during the time they were talking, they heard a noise inside of the house. And she described it as not the common

creaking floor or something like that or the furnace kicking on. It was kind of a strange noise to the point where they both kind of looked up and they kind of looked around a little bit, but they didn't find anything. It's one of those pieces of the investigation that's unanswered, but it fits in with her disappearance. Why does it happen just a couple hours before she disappears? I mean, is there something to it? Might not be anything to it, but it sure makes the hair in the back of my neck stand up."

It's a detail that also stuck out with then-ELCART PD chief Tom Cutler. "...the noise in the house has always bothered me. And I always thought it was somebody in there and they got caught and they couldn't get out. So they had to sit up there and wait until the girls got done with coffee and then whatever happened happened. My speculation was that they had come home and interrupted somebody that was now hiding upstairs.

That when Ada went up there, that's when it happened. She stumbles onto the devil in the second floor. Whatever happens, happens, and he takes her from there. And that would have meant then some sort of struggle happening in the house. Something happened. Something happened. But it doesn't necessarily have to be a struggle if it's quick enough. Now to be fair, the Dyes weren't the only ones with access to the Heredine's house. Another neighbor, one of Ada's closest friends, had a key too.

But the chips were starting to stack up against Steve in other ways. Detectives discovered that he had traded in his car a 1980 Toyota Land Cruiser in late May of 1985. And when they revisited his initial statement with a more critical eye, they spotted some red flags. For instance, Steve had told police he didn't go to work the day that Ada went missing. He had just started a job installing pools for a local company, but he said that his back was bothering him. So he sat around at home studying for his upcoming real estate exam. Besides him being there, what was suspicious about what he was saying or doing?

Well, he indicated that he'd smoked some marijuana while he was studying for the test. Then he said that he went to Michigan to visit a friend, which we all kind of question as to why you study for a real estate exam and all of a sudden you decide you're going to just get up and go to Michigan. That Michigan-based friend was a guy named Kenny Neal, who at the time lived in Edwardsburg, about 20 minutes from Crabtree Lane. Steve had told detectives about Kenny from the get-go. But for some reason, maybe because no one suspected

Steve, Kenny, his so-called alibi witness, had never been interviewed. And I say so-called since police referred to Kenny as an alibi witness. But that's not accurate, because Steve never really claimed to have an alibi, at least not for the critical window of 2.05 to 3.20 that afternoon. He said he went to Kenny's place later, at around 4.45, which was backed up by Ada's son Jeff, who initially told detectives he remembered seeing Steve drive off

sometime after he got home from school. And by then, Ada was already gone. When Kenny sat down with investigators, he shared that he had known Steve since they were kids. They lived near each other for years before Kenny moved to Michigan, and they were close. Kenny was even supposed to be the best man in Steve's wedding, but he mixed up the days and missed it completely. Which probably would have ended the friendship for me, but it didn't for them.

Circa 1985, Steve was in the habit of stopping by Kenny's every couple of weeks. Although when asked in 1988, Kenny didn't remember if Steve came over on May 8th specifically. Still, he said it wasn't unusual for him to get home from work and find Steve waiting for him, hanging out with his living girlfriend. And before you ask, there's no indication that Kenny thought they were up to anything while he wasn't there. In fact, he said that Steve was loyal to his wife, despite Kenny's own attempts to hook his buddy up with other women. What detectives really wanted from Kenny more than anything was intel on the Land Cruiser. For instance, did Kenny ever see Steve deep clean the inside of it? Kenny told them no, but he said Steve was generally meticulous about maintaining his

belongings. The vehicle was in good condition and he kept it waxed and polished. But Kenny said he wasn't surprised when Steve traded it in for a VW Jetta in late May of longings. The vehicle was in good condition, and he kept it waxed and polished. McKenney said he wasn't surprised when Steve traded it in for a VW Jetta in late May of 85. He'd been talking about getting a new car for at least a couple of months by then because Steve commuted to a job in Chicago. I'm not sure if that was in addition to the pool installation gig or what, but he said the SUV's poor gas mileage was a concern. As for Ada, Steve had only mentioned the whole situation a couple of times to Kenny, like when he told Kenny about undergoing hypnosis for the investigation.

So all this to say, based on everything he knew about his longtime friend, Kenny said he would be shocked if Steve was involved in Ada's murder. But police, they still weren't so sure. So they decided to bring Steve in for an interview. Elkhart PD had talked to him a couple of times before, but that was as a witness. Now, unbeknownst to him, he was a suspect. Steve told detectives that from what he remembered about the day of Ada's disappearance, he likely woke up at around 10.30 a.m., watched some TV, studied for his real estate exam, and took a few naps.

He still recalled seeing Ada in the backyard, and he had a hazy memory of a blue Lincoln parked in the Herodines driveway, the one Susan had been driving that day. He said he went to Kenny's place in the late afternoon and assured police that Ada was never in his vehicle. Now, they wanted to get a sense of how well he knew the area where her remains were found. And he told them that he was somewhat

familiar with that community, just in general. Sometimes he and his friends would get some beer and drive around the back road since his car had four-wheel drive. But he said he never did any off-roading there, like he wasn't cutting through the woods or anything. Steve agreed to take a polygraph test, which he passed. But unlike others who appear to have been cleared based on that alone, that wasn't the case for Steve. Now, Detective Gizzi denies that suspects were eliminated just on the strength of polygraph results. The polygraph wasn't like 100 percent that, you know, if you pass, you're out of this.

If they pass, we put them in that pool of, you know, they're not in the active case, they're over here in the inactive pile. So, cleared, inactive, either way, Steve's name didn't get moved to any other pile but suspicious, even though Terry's did. He was eliminated as a suspect, not by me so much, but as the task force as a whole. How's Terry eliminated?

Some interviews, they talked to, if I remember right, they talked to him, they re-interviewed him. He was cooperative. They talked to some friends, neighbors, whatever it is, and the polygraph. I, again, he was not assigned to me, so I don't remember specifically what he said in follow-up interviews, but I know in the meetings,

they said they didn't think that he had required any further investigation. The frustrating part is, in all of Cass County's files, we can't find any record of investigators conducting further interviews about Terry with anyone. In fact, after he passed a polygraph, his name essentially disappears. There's no mention of him in any subsequent reports in all of the years that follow, with the exception of a single overall case summary created decades later.

But say that happened. Say they did interview people and those records are just lost to time. And say that the people they talked to said, he's good, like Kenny said about Steve. Terry is cooperative, like Steve has always been. And Terry passed a polygraph, like Steve just did. But Terry drops off. Steve stays in their pool of suspects. But maybe that's because Cass County was approaching the case from a different angle than Elkhart PD. We're looking at it from a new perspective. We've got a body to work with. In your right

hand you had a pool of people it could possibly be and then you would take them out if you could get an alibi or a polygraph or whatever and then you move them over to the other hand that they're no longer involved. Their name's still in a report, they're still actively get an alibi or a polygraph or whatever, and then you move them over to the other hand, they're no longer involved. Their name's still in a report, they're still actively listed in the case, but at that point we weren't focusing on them. Despite there being a pool

and some very suspicious swimmers that I'll get to in a later episode, for some reason, Steve was really the one in the hot seat. And I think for them, it all came back to location, location, location. They just couldn't ignore his proximity to her home. It was the only thing that seemed to explain what for so long felt unexplainable. When investigators asked Steve to take another polygraph, it began to dawn on him that this was more than just routine police work. During the examination, three tests were conducted on the subject.

During the first test, the subject was asked the following relevant questions and gave the indicated responses. Do you plan to lie on this test? No. Are you withholding any information about Ada? No. Did you speak with Ada at any other time that day? No.

Do you know who hurt Ada? No. Were you with Ada the day of the disappearance? No. Have you ever hurt Ada? No. Have you intentionally lied to any of these questions? No.

On the subject's first polygrams, he does display specific reaction to the question of having been with Ada on the day of the disappearance. He was then questioned further concerning that reaction. At that time, he indicated he was somewhat confused by that question, and he had considered if talking to her constituted being with her. The other reactions were not substantial on this particular polygram." The polygraph examiner asked two more sets of questions as part of this exam. He noted sometimes Steve would display a reaction, but not on super relevant questions.

And when asked about his reactions, Steve pointed out that he was just becoming aware in that moment that he was a suspect. The reactions displayed is generally delayed and is not consistent to all the relevant questions. The subject does also not experience a great deal of emotion during the test announcements. Based upon the inconsistency and the delayed reactions, it is the opinion of this examiner that the subject substantially told the truth concerning this matter." While he answered questions during that second exam, Michigan State Police processed his

old Land Cruiser, which they managed to locate even though it had changed hands a couple of times. They didn't find any blood or damning evidence, just some hairs identified as being from a white person that did not match Ada's. With no physical evidence and a second-past polygraph, police might have had every reason to move on, but they still weren't ready to give up on Steve. They began digging into every corner of his life. They spoke to his former boss at the pool company he worked for when Ada went missing. And that boss told them Steve had done a few stints there over the years, mostly in the summertime. And his most recent employment began in late April of 1985, although it didn't seem like he

had a regular set schedule, and within a couple of weeks he was fired for being quote-unquote undependable. They went back even further and reached out to administrators at both of his old high schools, the public one he graduated from in Elkhart and a nearby private Catholic school that he attended before that. I even had a weird moment when reviewing this because one of the athletic directors that they talked to used to be my next-door neighbor growing up. But I didn't have any kind of special in because everyone they talked to,

including my old neighbor, only had vague memories of Steve. And their lack of specific recollections made police doubt that Steve had been a problem student. But they still weren't able to shake their suspicions. specific recollections made police doubt that Steve had been a problem student. But they still weren't able to shake their suspicions. So in late June, Steve took a third polygraph. Now there's some confusion about the specifics of the test.

Detective Gizzi said that it was a private exam that Ada's husband, Ed Heridine, paid for. And because of that, investigators could never access a full report of the results. Meanwhile, according to Michigan State Police records, it was the sheriff's office that administered it. But whoever did what, one thing everyone agreed on

was that Steve failed this one. And so finally, they had what they considered to be a strong indication that they were on the right track. It was still hard for us to understand what they were feeling, though. So we asked Marshall Jones, a consultant and expert in law enforcement policies and procedures. He retired from policing to establish Florida Tech's Forensic Psychology program, and he now serves as an assistant professor and director at the school's center for applied criminal case analysis.

Just that fact alone, they passed it twice, they came back to the third one, suggesting to me that they collectively felt enough that something ain't right here. But what? What wasn't right? That's what we kept trying to nail down during our interviews with investigators, like former Elkhart Chief Cutler. Why do you think him more than anyone else? Well, just because of proximity. Just because of the proximity?

Yeah. Anything in his background that was disturbing? No. Detective Gizzi said the suspicion around Steve didn't hinge on a single bombshell clue. There was a lot, a lot of little things that, with Steve, just kept him at the top of the person of interest file. But it always circled back to a key detail. He was there, nearby.

Where is the most logical place that this could have happened at where nothing, nobody observed anything? Well, obviously the die house is right next door. It's real close. They know each other. I mean, we kicked around the ideas. Did Steve say, hey, Ada, can you come over here and help me a minute? And it was our understanding she would have went over there.

They knew each other real well. So, you know, that was just kicked around. It's an interesting theory. Maybe there was no obvious crime scene at the Herodines because the crime happened next door. Now, unfortunately, we can't ask Steve about any of this. He passed away back in 2019. But I do know that after the third polygraph, he put his foot down, or rather his mother did, and they decided to hire a lawyer. Luckily, that lawyer, Edward Chester, is still practicing,

and he agreed to speak with us and share what he could without breaking confidentiality. He told me he had given a polygraph in at least a couple of interviews with Cass County, Michigan detectives and it became confrontational and that's when he walked out and asked his mom to help him find a lawyer and that caused her to call me because we were acquainted from several years before. They were upset and anxious. Stephen was sort of defiant. He told me he didn't do it and didn't know who did and didn't quite understand why they were accusing him. So he was even kind of in the dark about like, why are they looking at me? Why are they? That's the way I understood it. I gathered it was because he was a next-door neighbor,

but I didn't really have any specific reason to know why they targeted him, but clearly he was targeted. A few days after Steve failed the third polygraph, Edward Chester contacted the Cass County prosecuting attorney and he basically told them to back off. He made it clear that if law enforcement wanted to talk to Steve again, they should go through him. But by then, detectives' theories about what Steve

could have done or who might have been involved had evolved. They thought maybe they could get their answers by talking to someone else in his family, like his soon-to-be former stepdad that we're calling Tony. Tony had been married to Steve's mom, Ray, for about two decades. They had one son together, Steve's younger half-brother, and Tony had adopted Steve. But Tony had a quick temper that sometimes turned violent against the boys, and once he'd even slapped Ray. The final straw for Ray was discovering that Tony was having an affair in the summer of 1986. She kicked him out, and according to Steve, Tony pretty much

split from all of them after that. In fact, he had relocated to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he was running a charter boat business. None of Elkhart police detectives had talked to Tony when Ada first disappeared. And now, years after the fact, neither Steve nor Ray could remember if Tony was even home the night after Ada went missing. Ray thought he might have been, but she wasn't positive since he traveled frequently for work. He'd often be gone all week. So it doesn't sound like Tony would be winning any awards for father or husband of the year. So it doesn't sound like Tony would be winning any awards for father or husband of the year. But it's also not clear why investigators became suspicious of him in relation to Ada. Or even how they thought he would be involved if he was.

Like did they believe that he and Steve acted together? Or what? And Detective Gizzi couldn't provide much clarity on it when we asked him. "...was there a particular reason why you guys were saying, hmm, maybe we should focus a little more in on these guys over here, on this family specifically? Not that I recall. I can't recall why.

Again, it was who knows the most about Ada at that time to try to develop something. I mean, and in the circumstances, why did just all of a sudden leave town and move to the Caribbean? Other neighbors were still there, other relatives were still around, but just left. So it kind of raised a red flag to us, and we need to find out more. That's where it stood with him.

We noticed a couple of things in the case file that might help shed some light on law enforcement's interest in Tony. For starters, Ed had mentioned Tony to detectives way back in 1985. He confessed that sometimes he felt jealous of Tony, who he thought of as macho and good-looking. He said Tony was egotistical, a party animal, and a flirt.

When they traveled together for work, Ed would often see him picking up different women. He'd even hit on Ada, although nothing beyond his usual flirtatious behavior. Now at the time, Elkhart detective Art Curran had noted that they couldn't verify Tony's whereabouts on the day Ada went missing, so they planned to interview him. But for some reason they never did.

Another potential factor that could play into why they're interested in him now was an anonymous tip that police got just a week after Ada's remains were found in 1988. The caller claimed that Ed had been having an affair before his wife went missing. An affair with his married neighbor, Ray Die. And interestingly, when investigators spoke with Ray after Ada had been found, she almost offhandedly, or at least that's how it reads in the report, said this. Mrs. Die stated that although she places no real significance on this, she did want to advise us that Tony had made phone calls to Ed's dealers,

telling them that Ed and Ray had an affair. This was before Ray and Tony separated. We felt that we wanted to talk to D- in person, and the best way to do it was just to surprise him, not to call him or try to make any arrangements. So that's what we did. We learned that he was getting the sailboat serviced in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

He was taking it into dry dock. So we made arrangements to fly down to San Juan. Two investigators flew down there and we actually surprised. We walked up on him while he was working on the sailboat and we conducted an interview with him. He didn't expect us at all. In June, Detective Gizzi and an Elkhart Sergeant

traveled to Puerto Rico at Ed's expense. We didn't have the finances to go to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ed did. And Ed said, if this is part of the case and you guys deem it necessary, I'll pay for your airplane tickets to San Juan. And he did. They found Tony at a shipyard, and he agreed to talk to them later that night. So that evening, they picked him up and brought him back to their hotel for an interview. Tony said that he was surprised they had come all this way just to speak with him,

especially since no one had ever bothered to interview him when he was still in Elkhart. But he shared what he remembered about the day Ada went missing. He thought he'd been working in Michigan and that he got home sometime between 4.30 and 5.30 that evening. When he got there, Ray mentioned Ada was gone. Ed had already come by looking for her, but Tony said he didn't think much of it at the time. He also said that he was told,

though it's not clear by who, that Steve had been home all day studying for his real estate exam. He relayed to detectives now that Steve was mo home all day studying for his real estate exam. He relayed to detectives now that Steve was moody and kind of a loner, someone who never completed what he started. Tony said that's actually why he was taking the same real estate course as Steve, to ensure that he actually finished it.

Since Ray was a realtor, they planned to go into business together once he and Steve were licensed. And Tony said that they went to take the real estate exam that evening at around 7. By the time they got home, police were in the neighborhood searching for Ada. Now officers had canvassed the Dyes' house that same night. It was their first stop. And there's no indication that Tony was there at the time because according to records, they only spoke with Ray and Steve. Plus, even though Detective Gizzi says they verified that the two men at the time, because according to records, they only spoke with Ray and Steve.

Plus, even though Detective Gizzi says they verified that the two men took the real estate exam, we have no documentation to back that up. So is Tony's story accurate? TBD. And speaking of the neighborhood, investigators had noticed something interesting, which they brought up to Tony during their interview.

They mentioned that others who lived there seemed reluctant to discuss their little community, and Tony speculated that might be because there was a lot of quote-unquote bed-hopping in their subdivision. But he was quick to add that he was certain Ada wasn't the type to get involved in any of that, or even have an affair at all. And Tony also never believed that she would leave on her own. Based on the timing of her disappearance, he theorized that Ada knew whoever took her. However, he didn't have a clue who would do something like that.

Now, detectives had two main goals for this trip. One, interview Tony. Check. trip. One, interview Tony. Check. The second was to give him a polygraph. The interview was moving along nicely, but as they talked that night, Tony was throwing back scotches. And I don't know why they let him do that. Maybe they wanted to loosen him up. But it backfired when they decided that he had drank too much to take the test. So they asked him if he'd do it the following day. He agreed, but said he wanted to speak with his lawyer first. And you can guess how that turned out. Bright and early the next morning, Tony called them and said thanks, but no thanks to the polygraph, along with any further interviews.

So investigators returned home empty-handed. But they finally had talked to him, which was more than anyone had done before. Although, there was one thing they didn't ask him about, at least not as far as I can tell. That rumor he supposedly spread about Ed and Ray having an affair. In fact, based on the records we have, it doesn't seem like they asked anybody about it.

Not even Ray. Not even when she brought it up. We have no idea if Ed and Ray were having an affair before Ada went missing. But we did learn that they became romantically involved at some point. Details about their relationship are extremely hard to come by. There are no reports documenting anything about it, just a blink-and-you'll-miss-it mention in an interview transcript police conducted with Steve's friend Kenny. But Detective Gizzi told us that police did eventually become aware that they were dating, although he's not sure how or when.

It concerned us. We went to see Ed, and he confirmed that he was seeing Ray Die. His explanation was he wanted to see if any of the Die family was involved in Ada's disappearance. The problem with Ed's excuse is that it can't be true. The people we spoke with couldn't pin down the exact timeline of their courtship. But Ed's sister Betty told us that Ray was Ed's date to his older son Greg's wedding, which was in August of 1987. See the problem? No one was suspicious of any member of the Dye family in 1987.

No one was asking questions about them until after Ada's remains were found, nine months after that wedding they attended together. The one person we got a little insight from was Ed's longtime friend, Gary Adamson. He said that Ed appeared to care about Ray when they were dating. They seemed very compatible, and I just liked seeing him be a little happier

or have some companionship, you know? So why would Ed tell the police such an obvious lie? It's like he was rewriting his own romantic history. Maybe he felt embarrassed about dating anyone. Or maybe he was retroactively worried about the optics, you know, being involved with the mother of a man who was rapidly becoming a top suspect in his wife's murder. I don't think we'll ever know, because the two people who would know aren't around to ask. Ed's been gone for decades, and Ray passed away in 2012.

So all in all, Tony wasn't giving police anything helpful, and thanks to his lawyer, the door on Steve was now closed. But there was still a window of opportunity with Steve's friend Kenny. On Friday, August 5, Detective Gizzi went to see him again. And they idled in his unmarked police car, parked right in Kenny's driveway. At first, it was just more of the same. Kenny insisted he didn't have any new info to share. But then, right in the middle of their talk, Kenny got a visitor. Some car pulled in behind us at Kenny's house and a dude ran up to the car and said,

hey man, can I score a bag? Gizzi had already noticed a steady stream of cars coming and going from Kenny's place. And he told Kenny, who was getting increasingly nervous, that he was well aware he was selling drugs. But this wouldn't become an issue for him if he cooperated with Ada's investigation. And suddenly, Kenny had a whole new story to tell. That's next in episode 12, A Friend Flips.

You can listen to that episode right now.