The Deck Investigates - Episode 5: Did She Choose to Leave?

Episode Date: October 11, 2024

The focus shifts to Ada Haradine’s home life, as police begin to explore the possibility that she might have left voluntarily, even though the theory clashes with everything her family and friends knew about her. Meanwhile, investigators question Ada’s husband Ed’s potential involvement. 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/did-she-choose-to-leave/ 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!

In late May of 1985, police and Larry Saarhat met with a social worker, a quote-unquote expert of sorts, regarding family patterns caused by a loved one's drug or alcohol addiction. I don't know why they chose this expert, considering that no one ever said Ada had substance abuse issues. But by this point, they had begun to explore the possibility that maybe she'd left on her own. Ada and Ed's youngest son, Jeff, remembers that being common speculation.

I think there are a lot of people just wondering if she took a breather from the family or something along those lines. After three hours of going over everything, that was the expert's opinion. He believed that Ada had been planning her escape for years, but that she made her final decision about a month before. This is Episode 5. Did she choose to leave? The expert thought that Ada's personality traits, combined with her family's dynamic, would have led her to feeling alienated. He thought that she probably took off with a younger male companion to a secluded place where she felt safe. He didn't think she was

going to return on her own, and he suspected that she'd probably be in hiding for a long time. He also speculated that Ada was behind a bizarre tip that Elkhart authorities received a couple of months before. You see, before she ever went missing, this would have been in late March or early April that year, Detective Art Kern had gotten a mysterious phone call from a woman reporting that a friend of hers

overheard a conversation between two people, one of whom was a businessman from Elkhart. And allegedly, this businessman said that he was planning to kill his wife, and that he had started working out at the YMCA to build up his strength in case he went to prison. But this caller said that she was too afraid to reveal anyone's identity. Not her friend that heard this, not the businessman, not even her own. Now I don't know what sparked Kern's memory of this, but when he told the expert about this call, and the caller herself, who he thought was a white woman probably between

50 and 60 years old, the expert theorized that Ada was the one who made the call, and that the whole thing was part of her well-thought-out plan to disappear. But this theory flew in the face of everything police had learned about Ada so far. Friends and acquaintances described her as quiet and reserved, but with a good sense of humor. Someone who was generally upbeat. In fact, she seemed even happier than usual lately, although maybe annoyed by the ongoing home renovations.

If anything, the picture that came into focus was one of a woman who wouldn't just walk away, especially because of her devotion to the son that she still had to care for at home, Jeff. Basically, her life revolved around her community and her family. And that family was close-knit. Again and again, police heard that Ada was a doting mom and that her and Ed had a solid marriage. I mean, their love story began at a place that was special

to the whole family, Richelieu Lodge, which was Ed's parents' retreat on Corey Lake. The two of them came from very different backgrounds. Ed's parents owned the place, and Ada was working there cleaning cottages. The Herodines had deep roots in the area, while Ada's family came to the country when she was a little girl.

Ed's parents had been married for decades. Ada's were divorced. Even their sibling situations were an exact inverse. Ed was the youngest of three and the only boy, and Ada was the oldest of three and the only girl. But you know what they say, opposites attract. They married in 1965 when Ada was 20 and Ed was 24, and they welcomed Greg the following year. Greg says that his childhood was a patchwork of new homes and neighborhoods.

We moved around quite a bit, probably every couple of years, because my dad was in charge of setting up new production facilities for the company he was working for. He got transferred back to Elkhart when I was in fourth grade. Jeff was born probably six months after we got back to that point, and then we didn't move again. He started his own company. In 1975, Ed and some business partners founded Carlton Manufacturing, where Ed served as CEO and board chairman.

He was well known in the community as a successful entrepreneur and as a devoted family man. I always thought we were a perfect family. But as detectives learned, things were far from perfect. Because as Ed himself admitted to police, he had had at least two affairs, one of which occurred within the last year and a half. He was also known to stay out late drinking, a lot, with co-workers. Between that and his long hours at the office, Ada spent a considerable amount of time alone or with Jeff,

although some say she didn't seem to mind at all. At least, she never complained about it. But what I said before about police consistently hearing that Ed and Ada were happy, that's true. Most people they interviewed had no clue about Ed's infidelity. And even those who did, including, and I kid you not, one of the women he cheated on his wife with, had only positive things to say about their marriage.

Although, there were at least a few people, like Ed's mom Louise, who thought that they were having trouble. She and Ed's sister, Betty, told investigators that Ada hadn't been herself lately. Something seemed to be bothering her. Now, neither Ed nor Ada had ever mentioned any marital problems. But Louise suspected that there were some because Ed was never home when she called

to chat in the evenings. And she remembered a moment in the summer of 1984 when Ada had come to her with a problem that she said she wanted to discuss. But unfortunately, the timing was off, Louise was busy, and then the topic was never revisited. So what had been weighing on Ada's mind? Did she find out about Ed's affairs? Ed didn't think so. I mean, he told detectives it was possible, but not likely.

Maybe she was sick of his late nights or the drinking. Maybe it was something else entirely, something unrelated to their marriage, like their finances. For instance, even though they were well off, Ed had just closed an underperforming California branch of his company. Plus, he was being sued over that car accident that I mentioned in a previous episode. And a friend of Ada's told police that she had been concerned about both of those things before she went missing. But honestly, I don't think finances was it either. The Heredine's income was solid, coming from multiple sources like Ed's company and various investments.

In fact, they had been doing so well that they recently brought in an accountant that they knew to manage their personal finances. A task that had always fallen to Ada, but now there was more money than she felt comfortable handling on her own. Plus, like many people who grew up without it, Ada worried constantly about money. She had for years. And that shift that her in-laws noticed was a more recent development.

Whatever the circumstances, police wanted a second opinion on this idea that Ada ran away. So they brought in other experts, a couple of counselors from a local psychiatric center. And their conclusion was the complete opposite of the first experts. They pointed out that Ada had a lot going for her, which didn't lend itself to the option that she chose to leave everything behind.

They thought that the most likely scenario was that Ada had been abducted, or that she initially left willingly, but then was forcibly restrained from coming back. So police began to ask this question. If Ada hadn't left because of Ed's bad behavior, was it possible that he was somehow still the reason she was gone? Friends and family couldn't imagine Ed being involved in Ada's disappearance. In any way. Here's Ed's nephew, Larry and Betty's son, Mike Sarhat.

Was your family ever wondering if Ed was behind something since he was the husband? No. You'd have to know Uncle Ed. Ed couldn't hurt a fleet. There's no way that Ed could have done that and then been able to function without anybody knowing it. I mean, I've been around long enough to know that you can't 1,000% guarantee anything, but I just don't believe that.

He loved the boys. There's no way he would have put everybody through that." Even though the family was confident, investigators who weren't related to Ed weren't so much. A sergeant who went to check the house for evidence soon after Ada went missing was the first one to raise suspicions. He thought Ed was acting unusual, kind of disconnected from the situation.

Whenever the sergeant tried to talk to him, Ed would answer and then walk away, and he never asked him any questions about the case. Instead, he played catch with Jeff while police dusted Ada's car for fingerprints. Also, Ed had initially reported that Ada's house and car keys were missing, even though her car was still in the driveway. But the moment that the sergeant looked inside her purse, which was on her dresser, he found the keys. I mean, they were right there. Dude didn't even have to rummage through it. Now, to me, both of these things could have innocent explanations.

Ed might have been trying to keep Jeff's mind off the situation. And maybe he just forgot to look in Ada's purse during the panicky flurry of activity. But when Ed first took a polygraph at Larry's urging, the results weren't great. I don't know if Ed failed the test or if it was inconclusive, because the wording is somewhat ambiguous, so I'm just going to have an actor read the report verbatim. On May 8, 1985, did you plan to have Ada taken from your home? No. On May 8, 1985, did you have Ada taken from your home? No.

Right now, do you know where Ada is? No. Have you told any deliberate lies to the investigation, circa, in this case? No. The subject's polygram contained consistent specific responses, indicative of emotional stress on the relevant questions set forth above. After careful analysis of the subject's polygram, based on the case facts available,

it is the examiner's opinion that his truthfulness could not be verified, and he could not be cleared in this matter. Now, Ed had a rock-solid alibi. There were multiple witnesses placing him at work throughout the day that Ada went missing. But even that didn't exonerate him completely. Maybe he paid someone to get rid of her. Investigators took a closer look at the Herodines' assets, freezing various bank accounts as they delved deeper.

Accountants ultimately assured police that all of their transactions were reviewed and everything was above board. No unusual activity or unexplained withdrawals. But I don't know if law enforcement conducted an independent financial review, or if they just relied on the Herodines' own circle, the accountant, bankers, even Ed himself,

to provide and interpret the data. Anders, even Ed himself, to provide and interpret the data. And unfortunately, we couldn't do our own investigation because the most recent relevant banking records we found in any case files were from 1983, two years before Ada went missing. We also couldn't verify something Ed told police, which was that the only life insurance policy on Ada was a modest policy that would cover the remaining $20,000 they still owed on their home. Now, we did find entries for payments to various insurance companies in the Herodines' older checkbooks,

but there was no information about the policies themselves. But overall, detectives couldn't find any financial motivation for Ed to want Ada gone. And despite his dalliancies, there was no clear romantic angle either. It didn't appear that he was involved with anyone else as of May 1985. And he told police that the thought of divorce never entered his mind. He said he was actually happy with Ada. The only issue he could name was that her mother was too demanding and spent too much time at their house.

And so it seems like police's interest in Ed started to fade, at least on paper, after he passed a second polygraph test less than a month later. He even offered a $20,000 reward for any information leading to Ada's safe return or to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for harming her. But his later behavior would raise more eyebrows. Just three months after Ada's disappearance, in August, he had his sister clean out her clothes and belongings. Although when we talk to Betty now,

she doesn't remember why. And then a couple of months after that, he started dating again, a woman who Ada's friends set him up with. And then around that same time, which would have been September, After that, he started dating again, a woman who Ada's friends set him up with. And then around that same time, which would have been September, police heard a rumor that shook the foundation of their investigation. And even though the rumor was about Ed, it actually put someone new directly in detectives'

crosshairs. Word around town was that Jeff wasn't Ed's son. That's next in episode 6, The Rumor. You can listen to that right now.