The Deck Investigates - Episode 3: First Suspects

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

We explore the tangled web of suspects connected to Ed Haradine, Ada's husband, as investigators race to uncover the truth behind her disappearance. From disgruntled former employees and business associates to strained family relationships, everyone is under scrutiny. But with each cleared suspect, a more unsettling theory emerges: what if Ada was targeted by a complete stranger?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/first-suspects/ 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!

Larry Sarhat wasn't giving his brother-in-law, Ed Haradine, a second glance in terms of being a suspect. And it wasn't just Larry. No one in their family thought he could have been involved in Ada's disappearance. Ed wasn't the violent type, he didn't have a bad temper, and he had a rock-solid alibi for the time when she went missing. As did Ed and Ada's older son, 19-year-old Greg, who was living nearly three hours away at college. In fact, Greg didn't even find out his mom was

missing until the day after she disappeared. They knew they needed to break the news to him, but they wanted to do it in person. So Larry and his wife, Ed's sister Betty, sent their son Mike to collect him on Thursday, May 9th. They were in the room when I got there. So I was surprised when I walked in. He's standing there like, what's going on? He said, hey, your mom didn't come home last night. Nobody knows where she's at. And your dad wants you to come home.

And we don't know what's going on yet. So I didn't take any of my finals or any of that stuff. I just basically left. The card that I sent her for Mother's Day showed up in the mail within the next day or two. And that was tough. Because I ended up getting the mail. And having to see the card that I sent her and she's not there to get it, I remember crying over that.

It was during those first crucial days that investigators began to dig into Ed's circle. Because even though he couldn't think of anyone who wanted to hurt his wife, he did know of some people who had been pretty upset with him recently. This is episode three, First Suspects. The first name Ed gave police was James Wiscatoni. James lived with Ed and Ada's nephew, Mike, and he had also worked for Ed at Carlton Manufacturing for five years, right up until the day before Ada vanished when he got the boot. His supervisor hadn't been happy

with his performance, and she apparently told him to shape up or ship out. But when James told her he wanted to stay and shape up, she dropped the bomb. That actually wasn't a real option. He was out, and Ed agreed with her decision. James was angry about this and felt like Ed should at least have the guts to fire him face to face instead of delegating the task to his supervisor. But even though he was upset about being fired, James hadn't made any threats toward the Haradines. And while he might be holding a grudge, Ed had no clue if James was capable of doing anything to his wife. But a little over a week after Ada went missing, they still brought James

in for questioning to find out. James told them that he had bumped into Ada a handful of times at company gatherings. He found her super approachable, really easy to talk to. And despite his beef with Ed, he didn't seem to harbor any resentment towards her. His alibi for the time that Ada went missing was a little fuzzy. He remembered grabbing lunch earlier that day with Mike and Ada's brother, Jim Van Loo,

both of whom also worked for Ed. And then after that, maybe he went home to relax? Question mark? Mike confirmed that they talked on the phone at around 2 or 2.30, which is right in that critical window police were zeroing in on.

James was cooperative with investigators, although he told Mike that he was upset about answering questions at the station when a simple phone call could have cleared things up. But he was given a polygraph, and when he passed, he became less of a priority for police. Next up was a guy named Johnny Rogers, a furniture dealer from Michigan. He was a distributor for Ed's company and had ordered a shipment of furniture days before Ada vanished. But when the delivery man showed up at Johnny's store, he was short on funds to pay for it. He tried to smooth things over with an IOU, hoping they'd leave the furniture anyway.

But Johnny was already in debt to Carlton, so Ed wasn't having it. And he told police that he got a heated call from Johnny, who warned him that his refusal to leave him the furniture could force his company into bankruptcy. FBI agents caught up with Johnny in Michigan, and he seemed genuinely shocked to learn that Ada was missing. Unlike most people they'd interviewed, Johnny speculated that Ed might be involved in her disappearance. He didn't elaborate on why he felt that way, which makes me wonder if it was just lingering bitterness from their financial dispute. Although he actually denied arguing with Ed over it. Regardless, Johnny had a solid alibi.

He'd been in Kentucky on May 8th attending a friend's funeral, which agents confirmed. And with that, they wasted no more time on Johnny. They also checked out a guy named Kirk, a former employee of Ed's with a bit of a checkered past. Back in 83, Carlton had to let him go after catching him embezzling money, furniture, and wood products. Higher-ups suspected that he stole as much as $50,000. But after he paid back a few grand, they decided against reporting him to police. And Kirk did know Ada. He had visited both their home in Elkhart and the family lake house.

But when agents showed up on his doorstep in California, he was taken aback to hear that she was missing. He owned up to his past misdeeds, but made it clear that there were no hard feelings. Plus, he hadn't left California in over a year. So with nothing tying him to recent events in the Midwest, it looked like Kirk was just a footnote in the case file. Then there was a guy that we looked at named Paul. According to an article in the Herald Palladium, Paul and his wife filed a lawsuit against Ed and Carlton Manufacturing after a bad accident in July of 1984. Apparently, Ed was driving a company car when he ran a stop sign in nearby Cass County, Michigan, and he crashed into Paul's pickup, which sent it careening into a tree.

Paul's resulting injuries were so severe that he couldn't go back to his job as a heavy equipment operator. And police knew a situation like that was ripe for some serious resentment. But ultimately, Paul secured a record-breaking $555,000 settlement, more than $1.5 million in today's money. Although, I doubt that Ed's personal finances took much of a hit since the settlement was covered by insurance. And there's no indication investigators ever followed up on anything with Paul. I don't think they even interviewed him, so I doubt he was ever high on the list of potential culprits. There were also rumors swirling around at the time that the mafia was involved in Ada's

disappearance. It doesn't seem like Ed pointed police in that direction. It's actually not clear how the rumors got started. Maybe it was the mysterious man in the fedora and suit that Ada's neighbor described. Maybe it was because, according to Detective Dave Gizzi, there was unknown mafia presence in Elkhart. Either way, if the mob did have a hand in anything, it would kind of have to come from Ed's end, simply because nothing in Ada's world pointed to such dangerous ties. She didn't drink heavily or use drugs. She was active in her church, and she was a regular volunteer at Jeff's school. She belonged to a garden club.

She liked swimming at the Y and playing bridge with her circle of girlfriends. Not exactly the kind of lifestyle where she'd be rubbing elbows with John Gotti. And I'm not saying that Ed was into anything shady. He didn't have a record at all, let alone one involving organized crime. But his business, Carlton Manufacturing, specialized in upholstered furniture.

So it stands to reason he'd have dealings with textile companies. The Mafia's grip on that industry in New York City has been well documented. Its competitive nature, exploitable and vulnerable workforce, weak unions, and lax law enforcement oversight, along with its control over related sectors like trucking, made it a prime target for infiltration. But the mob's influence stretched far beyond the Big Apple to places like Chicago, which is just a couple of hours from Elkhart. Plus, one of Ed's former business associates

told the FBI that he couldn't think of any reason Ada would have been abducted, except maybe in connection with racketeering. There's no indication that agents followed up to ask why he thought that. But in the copies of police records we have, someone definitely took notice. They wrote a question mark next to that phrase

and underlined it twice. So was this guy aware of some potentially illegal activity that could have made Carlton and therefore the Haradines a target? Or was he just speculating about the kinds of things that sometimes lead to kidnappings? We don't know. But while the mob whispers were prevalent, Larry was focusing on a different sort of family.

Ada's family. Specifically, her brother, Frank Van Loo. One thing Betty loved about her sister-in-law was how she radiated positivity. She was always happy. She had the most infectious laugh. She was always upbeat, never complained about anything. In all the years I knew her, I never once heard her say anything derogatory about anybody. Now that's not entirely accurate. It's true that Ada almost never spoke ill of anyone.

But she made an exception for her brother, Frank. It was no secret that the two of them had a rocky relationship. Frank was six years younger than Ada, and he kind of saw himself as the family outcast. Frank and Ada had never been particularly close. She thought he took advantage of their mother, Ricky. Despite earning a decent income, Frank often relied on Ricky for financial support. Ada, on the other hand, wanted their mom to use her money for herself rather than supporting Frank's lifestyle. It was a constant source of tension between them. Ada also didn't hold back

her opinions about Frank's ongoing messy divorce from his second wife, Carol. He was living with a new girlfriend, and I guess he wasn't providing enough support for Carol or their kids because she found herself struggling, even needing to apply for welfare. And Ada actually urged her to get a lawyer. So things had reached a boiling point in the year or so leading up to Ada's disappearance. Although, it seemed like they were making efforts to mend their relationship. Ada even wrote Frank a letter apologizing for meddling in his marriage. But she hadn't mailed it yet. But multiple people told police that Frank had a bad temper, possibly exacerbated by his tour of duty in Vietnam. And given his and Ada's turbulent

history and his personality, Leary couldn't help but think that he might be capable of more than just harsh words. When investigators sat down with Frank, he admitted that he and Ada had their share of conflicts in the past. But he said she had really overstepped by getting involved in his tumultuous divorce. She also influenced their mother, he said, to hike up the price of her house, a house that Frank was planning to buy. So yeah, he said, he had plenty of reasons to be pissed. But he was adamant that none of those issues would drive him to hurt his sister. And he had a strong alibi. Frank was clocked in at a job

at a water treatment plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 60 miles away from the Haradines-Elkhart home from 7 a.m. to 3.20 p.m. He didn't recall what he did after work, but since it was a Wednesday,

payday, he said he probably followed his usual payday routine of running errands, maybe followed by dinner out with his girlfriend. He said he only got wind of Ada's disappearance later that evening when their younger brother, Jim,

gave him a call. In the end, Frank agreed to take a polygraph, which he passed. And once Detective Art Kern verified his alibi, Frank pretty much fell off their radar. As the roster of suspects began to dwindle, the scope of the investigation actually grew. Because each time the investigators ruled out someone Ada had a connection to, they had to consider a more unsettling possibility. What if a complete stranger was involved?

Was someone out there targeting housewives in broad daylight? It was a chilling thought, and it wouldn't be the first time. In fact, the local newspaper was drawing parallels between Ada's disappearance and another case in Argus, Indiana, about 50 miles from Elkhart. 28-year-old Darlene Hulse was abducted from her home just yesterday. But the search for her ended here. Sound familiar? It hadn't even been a year since Darlene was abducted and killed, brazenly snatched from her home one August morning in 1984 after her husband left for work. Now, there were some big differences between the two cases.

Darlene's body had been found just the day after she was taken, a few miles from her home, whereas police still weren't even sure Ada was a victim of foul play. Darlene's killer had left a mess behind, and since he struck in front of her horrified children, investigators had a clearer, albeit somewhat broad, idea of the perpetrator. A clean-shaven man in his 20s with blonde, streaky, or two-toned hair, light eyes, a thin nose, and a long, narrow face driving a rusty green or blue-green early 1970s four-door car. And yes, there were multiple reports of suspicious green or blue cars in Ada's case as well, but the police didn't know if any car was involved in her disappearance, let alone a green or blue one. Still, the similarities were compelling. Both women were stay-at-home moms from

Indiana who were here one minute and gone the next, leaving behind grief-stricken families. Both stories forced everyone to ask a troubling question. Just how safe are our neighborhoods? And like Darlene's situation, Ada's made absolutely no sense to anyone. None of us could figure it out. Just couldn't imagine in the middle of the day what happened to her from her own backyard. I mean, she wasn't out gallivanting.

It didn't seem like there was anybody that was a prime suspect. And as Detective Gizzi pointed out, Ada's case had another layer of confusion. So 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.

Detective Kern sat down with FBI agents and Larry to try and determine if there was any chance that the cases were linked. But in the end, they just couldn't find enough common ground to suggest a single culprit was behind both crimes. And when they spoke to South Bend Tribune reporter Renee Brokaw, they dismissed any rumors of a connection. But that's not to say they weren't quietly questioning whether Ada's disappearance was part of a larger pattern. Because even more recently, just a few weeks before Ada went missing, a woman in a neighboring county vanished under terrifying circumstances.

Like Ada, she was a mother of two. And also like her, she went missing in the middle of a seemingly ordinary day. That's next in Episode 4, Another Missing Woman. You can listen to that right now.