The Deck Investigates - Episode 2: No One Saw A Thing

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Despite a neighborhood filled with potential witnesses, Ada vanished without a trace in broad daylight. Was it a well-dressed stranger in a dark car, or was someone closer to Ada involved? As investigators sift through leads, hypnosis sessions, and strange phone calls, the list of suspects grows, leaving more questions than answers.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/no-one-saw-a-thing 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!

When Elkhart detective Art Kern pulled up to the Haradines' home on Crabtree Lane at around 8.30 p.m. that night, he didn't know what to expect. Sure, Ada's family was anxious, but this part of Elkhart was upscale, the kind of place where neighbors knew each other and children played outside freely. Crime, especially violent crime or abductions seemed unlikely here. And as far as he could tell, based on what he'd heard from her family, she hadn't been gone very long, just a few hours. He probably thought this would all be sorted by morning, if not sooner. But little did Art Kerr know that this was only the beginning to one of the biggest mysteries of his career. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck Investigates. This is Episode 2, No One Saw a Thing.

It's often said that people disappear without a trace. But as officers knocked on doors and canvassed the area, they realized that Ada had left a trail of breadcrumbs a mile long that Wednesday. Neighbors saw her out and about. Fellow parents and teachers noticed her at the morning mass at her son Jeff's parochial school. And friends chatted with her at a YMCA luncheon. So how could someone so visible just vanish from her own yard? Just seems so out of whack. I mean, that's not the type of neighborhood where you get abductions, number one.

At that time, it was a high-dollar neighborhood in Elkhart. A lot of influential people lived there. And they all kind of knew each other. That's Detective Dave Gizzi of the Cass County Sheriff's Office in Michigan. He wasn't part of the initial rush to the scene with Art Kern, who has since passed, but Gizzi worked this case longer than anyone.

Elkhart PD said there was no forced entry. They checked all the windows, walked around the house. Nothing out of place. They're there within hours of her coming up missing, and there's nothing to indicate that there's a struggle, anything that went wrong inside that house. Had there been, yeah, maybe then they would have, you know, started to investigate that as the crime scene,

but there was nothing to say that was a crime scene. And maybe that's why police seem to have a hard time believing that something was really wrong. At least, that's the vibe Ada's family got that night, according to Ed's sister, Betty Sarhat. We hadn't been there too long when the main detective from the Elkhart Police Department came in. Immediately, his reaction was not one of concern, particularly.

He said, oh, they probably had an argument and she just went off someplace. And all four of us said, no, that's not Ada. She's not like that. As the wife of a former FBI agent, Betty knew how these investigations were supposed to go. From being in a law enforcement family, it didn't seem like he had the right attitude of what we were trying to go. From being in a law enforcement family, it didn't seem like he had the right attitude

of what we were trying to tell him because Ed had checked all of her friends, Jeff's friends. Nobody had seen her or known anything. Now retired, then-Detective Lieutenant Tom Cutler remembers it differently. He was one of the first group of investigators, along with Kern, to respond to the Haradine home.

As the night grew on and we couldn't find any sign of her, we became more concerned and we did some door-to-door canvassing. We had an evidence technician go in and look through the house, but we were left with nothing. Everything was as it's supposed to be. Her purse was there, all of those things. Nothing to indicate that there had been any sort of a crime or struggle there.

She wasn't there, but everything else was. And that's very unusual to run into because normally, in a missing person, they, especially women, take things with them. So to have nothing gone was a real problem for us. And that's why we started asking questions. We sent people to knock on doors. Though the family wasn't seeing eye to eye with Elkhart PD right off the bat, they did make a concession that put them at ease. The police allowed Ed's brother-in-law, Larry Sarhat, to work the case in an official capacity right alongside them.

You see, Larry wasn't just any retired FBI agent. He had run the entire Boston field office, overseeing federal cases across four states. And Detective Gizzi remembers him as a formidable presence in law enforcement circles. He had so many assets to bring to the table. I mean, he could reach out anywhere in the country and get things done. He had that type of clout with his background. It seemed like Elkhart was happy to get some help coordinating what needed to be done and when. Tasks were quickly divided, and some detectives went to check on Ada and Ed's three-story

cottage out on Corey Lake in Three Rivers, Michigan. Everyone knew Ada loved it there. She'd even talked about selling their home in Elkhart and moving to Corey Lake full-time, like her in-laws. So maybe, just maybe, she was there for some reason. Though without a car, that didn't make much sense. And sure enough, those who went there found no sign of her. Back in Elkhart, other police were already knee-deep in gathering preliminary statements from her loved ones and neighbors. And as they did, they were struck by the uniformity of their accounts. It had been a normal day in a busy, active community. People had been outside enjoying the warm weather, sunbathing, during this small window of time when Ada

apparently disappeared. So if something bad or violent happened, how come no one heard or saw a thing? And who would be brazen enough to grab her in the middle of the day? Nobody's seen anything. And there were people out that day. Everybody said, oh, yeah, it was a nice day, really warm, and we were out. I seen her in the backyard. I talked to her across the fence. Everybody's seen something, which is very nice, but it's also when it doesn't take you anywhere, it gives you a lot of things to do,

and you don't know what, if anything, is important. Meanwhile, locals told police about observations that under normal circumstances, they probably wouldn't have given a second thought. Like Detective Kern and other officers heard about suspicious people around the neighborhood, mostly white guys, some of whom were described as scruffy, and some vehicles, a lot of which were green or blue. They even got plate numbers for a few of them, although nothing came of any of those tips. One neighbor, who you've heard of before, Hal Combs,

had that specific encounter to share with police about seeing Ada as he was wrapping up his usual afternoon walk on May 8th. But there was a significant problem with this lead. Initially, Hal wasn't sure if he saw Ada that Wednesday or the Tuesday before. And then once he was sure that it was Wednesday, since he said he played golf on Tuesdays, he claimed that he saw Ada talking to a man at 4.10. And he was certain of the time, which he noted as he got home from his walk. However, we know that couldn't have been accurate.

Jeff was already home from school by then. And I don't know if someone mentioned the discrepancy to him, but Hal essentially retracted his initial statement within hours of making it. He said he'd been mistaken and that he had actually seen Ada at 310. But the matter still wasn't settled because after that, Hal's wife discreetly reached out to investigators and basically disputed his news story. She said he usually took his walks later, around 3.30 or 4, and he'd passed Ada's house that day without seeing anything out of the ordinary. Now, even with all of this back and forth, detectives didn't dismiss Howell's revised statement. It fit right into the narrow timeline that they had established, with Susan leaving at 2.05 and Jeff getting home at 3.20.

And perhaps because her neighbor Steve Dye saw her puttering around her yard sometime between 2 and 3, they seemed to make Howell's account an official part of the narrative. Now, according to police reports, there was another neighbor, a young man named Zach Huth, who told detectives that he, too, thought he remembered seeing Ada in the front yard at around 3 p.m. And at the time, he said there was a dark car, maybe blue or black, that was parked in front of the Haradines. So, if all of the accounts are accurate, Steve sees Ada outside, and she is in the front yard by 3 when someone's dark car comes to the house. Then Hal sees her talking to maybe the driver of that car at 310.

Police thought, surely all of these people had to have seen something helpful. It was just locked away in their brains. So they decided to do what they loved to do in the 80s. Hypnosis. Forensic hypnosis was all the rage thanks to an infamous 1976 abduction, otherwise known as the Chowchilla kidnappings, which I actually covered on Crime Junkie a few months back. In that case, three men kidnapped a bus driver and 26 children and buried them alive in an underground trailer. Miraculously, they all managed to escape,

and under hypnosis, the bus driver was able to recall most of the license plate number from one of the kidnappers' vans. After that, hypnosis went from an experimental practice to a celebrated investigative tool. And as Lieutenant Cutler recalled, Elkhart PD needed all the help they could get. Our problem was we didn't have any idea what had happened to her other than she wasn't there. As people were interviewed, we realized that we didn't know anything. It's hard to have a direction when you're directionless. A prosecutor assigned to Ada's case was reluctant to use hypnosis,

specifically on Hal, although police reports don't say why. But investigators still wanted to proceed. And they eventually managed to get the green light. They even brought in a clinical psychologist, Dr. William Wester, to lead the sessions. And this guy was a big deal in the world of forensic hypnosis at the time. While the Cass County Sheriff's Office gave us extensive records in response to our FOIA request, Elkhart PD just gave us a one

page report. And the Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office denied the request altogether. So long story short, we couldn't get our hands on the hypnosis transcripts or the recordings, whether they don't exist anymore or we just weren't given access, I don't know. And the reports summarizing the sessions are short on detail. But the gist of them is that under hypnosis, Hal and Zach both recalled additional information about what they saw that day. And voila. Just like that, the first solid narrative and description of a potential suspect emerged. Police announced that Ada was last seen at her house just after 3 p.m. on May 8th, talking to a mystery man. And this was minutes before she was said to have vanished.

News releases and bulletins offered varying layers of detail about this guy. But ultimately, he was characterized as a white male, 45 to 50 years old, about six feet tall with a medium athletic build and no facial hair. He was said to have been sharply dressed in a business suit and hat, like a fedora or a snap brim style. And his car was dark in color, maybe black or green or blue, possibly a Cadillac from 1978 through 1981. And that's a pretty detailed description, especially considering Hal initially couldn't recall anything about the man's attire and barely anything about his overall appearance. So my question is, how much stock can we actually put in it? According to an article in The Guardian

by Ariel Ramchandani, even back in the 80s, skepticism about hypnosis was already on the rise. Research showed that it could lead people to remember things that never happened and make them super confident about the accuracy of those made-up memories. Nowadays, many experts see forensic hypnosis as unreliable at best and dangerous at its worst. Though it still has some advocates, an increasing number of states are limiting or banning its use in criminal cases altogether. Now, what's wild is that our reporter Nina got in touch with Zach Huth, one of the witnesses. Back then, he was 19 and just wrapping up his freshman year of college.

But here is what he now remembers about that day. There was a white cargo van out front and two guys that I still to this day have no idea who they are. I waved at Mrs. Harrity, who didn't wave back. She normally does, normally would. I know she saw me. Pulled into my driveway and went inside.

We gave him copies of the various records he's mentioned in, most of which reference his reports of a dark-colored car. He told us that police must have noted it down incorrectly. I've seen the stuff about the blue cars and all that stuff. That's at least not what I saw. I very clearly remember the white van, very clearly remember two guys outside,

and very clearly remember Mrs. Harradine outside. They were definitely white. Mom and dad's age, so 40-ish. There actually was another sighting of a similar vehicle, a white panel truck. It was one that a neighbor saw at the Harradines at around the same time, although the other neighbor who saw it

said that he wasn't positive of the exact day that he saw it. So was there really a mysterious, well-dressed man or a suspicious, dark-colored car outside Ada's house that afternoon? TBD. But at the time, that's what police went with. They also hypnotized Ada's neighbor, Steve Dye, although a detective lieutenant from Elkhart

led the session instead of Dr. Wester. We couldn't get his transcript or the recording either, but a police report indicated that he didn't offer any new intel. He again recalled seeing Ada twice that day, once in the late morning dressed up in a pink or reddish outfit, he said, and then in the afternoon wearing jeans and a top. He said they exchanged brief greetings, but didn't really chat. Ada was kind of going back and forth in her yard, and he was studying for his real estate exam. So within this very short time period, she goes from gardening to... Gone.

And remember, this wasn't some secluded spot. There were plenty of people out and about on that warm spring afternoon. A friend of Ada's was right in her own backyard, literally 100 feet away from the Haradines' backyard at around 3 to 3.30. She was planning the details for an addition with a contractor. She said she didn't hear or see anything alarming. And these aren't giant properties with huge plots of land

and six-foot privacy fences. Picture a typical subdivision with houses that are maybe 50 feet apart. Somebody should have seen something if it was an abduction or if she just left with somebody voluntarily. And we could never get anybody to say that. That neighbor wasn't the only person doing renovations. Actually, the Harrodines were on a home improvement kick of their own, which, in fact, presented an entirely different landscape of challenging leads.

It had practically been a construction zone that spring. Inside, doors were being widened while new windows and carpeting and stair railings were being installed. Outside, the sprinkler system was being upgraded, a new driveway poured, and the lawn was getting a makeover. With renovations in full swing, the place was teeming with unfamiliar men and vehicles. Friends assured police that even though Ada was bothered by the ongoing project, she never mentioned feeling uneasy around any of the workers. But of course, detectives couldn't just take that at face value. Everyone had to be scrutinized. So they looked into each worker, sifting through

their accounts for any signs of unusual incidents or overlooked details. But nothing stood out. Though there were contractors from two companies that were at the Harrodines on the morning of May 8th. One named Tim Anderson of Horn Irrigation Systems, who tried and apparently failed to fix a malfunctioning sprinkler. And then there was Greenleaf Nurseries employee, Dan Moreno. He had been by to put some insecticide on their lawn. The two men didn't cross paths with one another

or Ada, who must have been at Jeff's school. They both said that the jobs were uneventful and they didn't see anything unusual while they were on the property. Now, there was one contracting company that stood out for a brief moment. This company was set to install new carpeting the day after Ada went missing.

But come May 9th, they never showed up, which raised Larry's eyebrows. But Detective Kern found out that the installation was delayed because the carpet Ada wanted was on backorder. They had actually previously notified Ada about it, but I guess she hadn't passed that information on to Ed. So overall, police didn't seem suspicious of any of these guys, although Kern noted that the carpet guy he spoke with was, quote unquote,

overly helpful. But it is worth noting that there had been at least one sketchy construction-related occurrence, sort of, on the day that Ada went missing. A woman who lived in the same subdivision, about a third of a mile away, reportedly saw a thin, dark-haired white guy crawl through the basement window of a house that was being built right behind hers. And this guy wasn't a worker. The contractor told police that his crew was gone by 11 that morning, and he had no clue who that man could have been. As far as we can tell from the records we have, doesn't seem like police ever found out either.

So the only description they ever really had of anyone was the one provided by Ada's hypnotized neighbor, Hal. And a dude hanging around in a suit and fedora doesn't exactly scream construction worker. But let's say a well-dressed businessman was involved. If that was the case, police wondered if it could be someone Ed knew. Maybe someone was trying to extort him, using Ada as leverage. I mean, the Haradines didn't flaunt their wealth, but it's not like their status was a secret.

And that theory seemed all the more plausible when the family got a second odd call the morning after Ada disappeared. Larry Sarhat answered this one, and just like Ed the night before, he was met with only silence on the other end of the line. Larry felt like the calls were troubling enough that he had actually arranged for the phone company to put a trace on the other end of the line. Larry felt like the calls were troubling enough that he had actually arranged for the phone company to put a trace on the line, starting that day and lasting through the end of the month.

Now, tracing a call isn't like tapping a phone. It's more of an early form of caller ID and designed to identify where a communication originates from. And detectives knew that any information gleaned from these calls, whether it was a ransom demand or just more unsettling silence, might be the key to finding Ada.

But according to Larry's reports, no more strange calls came in after the trace was activated. There were two back-to-back calls that he noted. They happened late in the evening on Monday, May 13th. And I'm not sure why they stood out to Larry, because literally no one picked up on the Haradine's end, just these back-to-back phone rings. But something about it must have caught his attention.

But as Larry documented, when he followed up with the phone company to get trace results, they told him that there had been some technical difficulties. All they could determine was that the calls were from Elkhart. I find it so strange how silent hang-up calls just seemed to stop after the trace was activated. Is it possible that the caller knew about the trace? If so, they must have been close to the investigation, or at least talking to someone who was.

Detectives and Larry alike didn't seem to pick up on that detail. Or if they did, none of them wrote about it in their reports. But I have the benefit of getting to look at this as a whole picture. Back when that trace was first placed on the phone, they were still deep in it. And they weren't just going to wait and hope that another call came through. They were going to track down every person Ed worked with who might have had a bone to pick. Just in case one of them held the key to Ada's disappearance. And as they quickly learned, Ed's circle gave them plenty of avenues to explore.

And a surprisingly long list of potential suspects. That's next in Episode 3, First Suspects. You can listen to that right now.