True Crime with Kendall Rae - Denise Pflum Goes Missing After a Spring Break Bonfire – What Happened to Her?

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

18-year-old Denise was a high school student who went out to a bonfire one night, and disappeared. After her car was found abandoned nearby the next day, the local community knew something terrible had happened to her. But nobody seemed to know what it was that had happened. Denise Pflum Facebook Justice Page: https://www.facebook.com/DavidaPflum Vice Documentary: https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/video/th...  Donate to NCMEC through my campaign!  https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: ZocDoc Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Get on up with Darken Bold from Community Coffee. Hello! Get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get on up! Get, get, get, get, get, get, get, get on up! First to lose when you're born to say, I'm bustin' loose! Look for it at your local grocery or communitycoffee.com. Hello everyone and welcome back. So happy to have you with me here today to discuss yet another case.

And if you're new, then welcome. So before we jump into today's case, and there is a lot to go over, it is very fascinating. It's very frustrating. I think you guys will have many thoughts and your theories will kind of be all over the place on this one. And let's jump into the case. So today we're going to be talking about Denise Fulham's case, which has gone without justice now almost 40 years later. And there are many possible people who could have been involved in her disappearance and possibly her murder. And if you're not

already familiar with the disappearance and presumed death of Denise Flum, then this case is going to absolutely shock you. It's one that I just recently learned about and ever since I found out about it, I knew I had to cover it. And in my opinion, this is one of those cases that could have absolutely been solved. And due to poor police work, it's still unsolved to this day. And Denise's story starts on January 14th, 1958, in Connorsville, Indiana, where she was born to her parents, Judy, and David, who were beyond excited to give birth to a healthy baby girl. Because they had already experienced

three failed pregnancies before Denise was born, so she was their miracle child. Not long after Denise was born, she ended up getting a baby sister named Jenny, who she loved dearly. And living in Connorsville, Indiana was about as exciting as it sounds. The city was first established in 1813 and its economy was supported by local manufacturing and retail. It wasn't anywhere particularly exciting to grow up, but it was a modest, hardworking city that was, for the most part, considered to be safe, located 66 miles southeast of Indianapolis. And from what I can tell, Denise seemed to have a good childhood. And while looking into her story, I couldn't find anyone who had anything bad

to say about Denise. Everything that was said about her, at least that was available to me, was about how amazing she was, and what a good person she was. She was known as an incredible friend, sister, daughter, and a really good student. By March of 1986, she was just weeks away

from graduating high school and going to attend Miami University of Ohio. Her parents say that Denise was a stranger to no one, and from the time that she was very young, she exhibited an outgoing personality. Her friends say that she was very charismatic and chatty, and loved some good high school drama, loved the tea. She was also very kind, she was known to be funny, and have a good high school drama, loved the tea. She was also very kind. She was known to be funny and have a good sense of humor. She loved animals and she was a very talented athlete. In fact, she played four sports and was a natural born leader. As you can imagine, her parents, Judy, and David were very proud of her and believed that her future was bright. And like I said, March of 1986 was a

very exciting time in her life. Prom was just around the corner and high school graduation was shortly after that. But sadly, Denise was not able to experience either of those things. On Thursday, March 27, 1986, Denise made plans with her friend Kim to go to a bonfire party. It was the week of spring break and a lot of her friends were going out of town, going on trips, but Denise had a lot to do, so she wanted to stay back mainly because she had to go to track practice. That was super important to her. Track was by far her favorite and best sport. Bonfire parties were really popular back in the 80s, especially in Connorsville,

and it was a great way to get out and see your friends. And so that's what Denise was doing that Thursday night. But before going to the Bonfire party, she and Kim made a stop at the Glenwood Inn where they knew that they could purchase beer. And then after that, they joined about 100 or so other people at this party. And those who were there that night say that there was nothing, you know, out of the ordinary about the party. Denise seemed to be having a good time and nothing really stood out about her behavior or how anyone else was acting.

Some people say they saw Denise making out with a guy named John that night that is not confirmed, but that's the only really somewhat notable thing from the bonfire party. But one thing to note, and I will definitely be getting more into this later, is Denise was recently single. Denise had been dating this boy named Sean McCleung, and she met him a while back while on the school bus. At first, Denise really liked Sean, and she would actually take a longer route on the bus so that she could have like 45 minutes of time with him on the bus, but the two of them were quite different from what I gathered. And at first things were going okay, but eventually the

relationship took a turn. And Sean and Denise had broken up in early March, so if she did kiss this guy, John, at the Bonfire party that night, It was probably the first time that she had kissed someone since she and John broke up. But there is one really important detail about the bonfire party that night, and that is that she lost her purse while she was at the party. And it was dark, so she decided to come back

the following day and look for it. And that's exactly what she did. On the morning of March 28th, Denise spoke with her mom, and she happened to mention that she lost her purse at the bonfire and was going back out there to look for it. Now sources say that she had asked a couple of friends if they wanted to join her to go out and look for the purse, but everyone was busy, so she ended up going alone. Around 12.30 pm, Denise took her 1981 cream-colored Buick and drove the 10 or so minute drive

back to where the bonfire was held, or at least it was believed that this is where she was attempting to go. There is nothing worse than going to a doctor's appointment expecting to be the center of attention and then your doctor seems like they have better things to do and better places to be. Instead of listening to you intently asking you how you're feeling, helping you along,

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then find and book a top-rated doctor today. And many are available within 24 hours that zocdoc.com slash Kendall Ray. thoc.com slash Kendall Ray. But after two hours past, Denise wasn't back home yet. And this is when her mother Judy started to become concerned. This little excursion to find her purse should have taken her 30 minutes max maybe 45. So finally around 8.30 p.m. Judy and David

just couldn't take it anymore. They were extremely worried and they ended up calling the police. And of course this was the 80s, not that it has gotten that much better these days. I mean depending on where you are in the situation. But of course, the police did not take her being missing very seriously. They got the response that thousands of other parents have gotten over the years when their children have gone missing. And that was, she's a teenager. She's probably just being a teenager and she'll probably be back soon.

And who knows, maybe if they had actually taken them seriously and taken action right away, it's possible that they would have found Denise, maybe alive. And if not, maybe her killers would have actually been brought to justice. Her parents were very frustrated with the police's lack of concern and action.

So they immediately tried to take things into their own hands and started calling other friends and family to see if they could form a search party. Her father, David, went out right away looking for her in their family car, and Judy stayed back at the house just in case she showed up or called. But unfortunately, by the falling morning, Denise still wasn't home. But they did find a clue. A day after she went missing a farmer called in and reported that he had found a vehicle that was abandoned, and it turns out that that vehicle belonged to Denise. Her Buick was found abandoned on Tower Road less than three miles from where the bonfire was held two nights before.

There were no signs of foul play, and there were also no signs of Denise. 18-year-old Denise Flom was a star student planning to study microbiology in college. She played four sports, her photo, appearing in the local paper from high school competitions, and then March 28, 1986. She was suddenly gone.

The previous night she had been at a bonfire and forgotten her purse. The last time her family saw her, she said she was going to look for it. The next day, a farmer reported her car along this lane, three miles from the party side. The car locked and knows something.

A flood. And they parked it back there next to an old barn. Denise's father David still visiting the site after three decades. So as they come down this road, they knew exactly where they were going. So once more people in the community heard that Denise was missing, many people got involved with the search efforts. And as the hours were going by without her returning and the car had been found, and more and more people were putting pressure on the police, they started taking her disappearance

more seriously as well. The Saturday and Sunday following the reappearance of her car was filled with search efforts, and according to a newspaper article from the Connor's film news examiner published on Monday, March 31, 1996, there were a variety of teams from a variety of departments taking part in the search for Denise. County, city, and state officials searched by foot and plain, yet there still wasn't so much as a footprint on the ground to indicate what happened to her. One detective said it was almost as if she got in her car parked and then

was lifted out of the area in a helicopter. Now there was one possible sighting of Denise that's important to mention. Around 2 p.m. on the Friday that she went missing, a friend of hers said that she saw someone matching Denise's description at a local store called the Fashion Bug. However, the description of her clothing didn't match the description that her mom gave of what she was wearing the day that she went to go look for her purse. So based on what I know, it's definitely unconfirmed if this sighting was Denise, but I thought it was important to mention. As far as the rest of the investigation goes,

there is definitely some conflicting information as to how helpful the police actually were. Based on newspaper articles from 1986, it appears as though the local and state police were involved with the physical search efforts. But when it came to the actual internal investigation, it was in the hands of the county and that's where the ball was really dropped.

So a man named Ted McQuinley was the primary investigator, Windonese First, when missing, and when I tell you his investigative methods, your jaw is going to drop. This man literally never took notes when conducting his investigation. He said he kept all the details in his trusty old brain. And that's his words. And here we are almost 40 years later and still without any answers. So his trusty old brain ain't so trusty anymore. He literally kept no record of who he did and didn't talk to during his investigation. This was mind-blowing to me. And so that means obviously he didn't take any notes when he did conduct interviews. He kept

it all in the old noggin. And I'm not even sure interviews is the right word to use here. I mean, he pretty much went and had short conversations with people, took what they said at face value, and when they said they didn't have any involvement, he just moved on. Oh, and to add to it, this dude relied heavily on psychics during his investigation. So that's great.

And he never even searched Denise's bedroom or get phone records. There's nothing to suggest that this man even tried to get phone records. Obviously, phone records in 1986 are going to be way less descriptive and give us a lot less information than they would today, but still, what have been helpful? If Denise really had called her friends and asked if they wanted to go look for the purse with her, maybe one of these people learned something from Denise that

could be helpful, like maybe she had planned to meet up with someone after looking for her purse. And here's the thing, Detective McQuinley was actually David's cousin. So Denise's father's cousin. So you'd think that'd be a conflict of interest, right? At the time they figured it was great to have someone that they trusted, someone who cared about Denise in on the investigation. But looking back now, they're frustrated. They just figured he was doing everything in his power to locate Denise. But the reality is, he should have contacted additional resources for help. I could continue sitting here talking about all the things that didn't happen, but should have, but that doesn't help our situation now. So, let's talk about what did. Now, if you consume a lot of true crime,

you probably are already thinking about the ex-boyfriend. After all, they had broken up recently. And even though Sean was spoken to, I can confidently say that he wasn't properly looked into. And like I kind of alluded to before, things in their relationship were not good towards the end. At the end of the day, Denise deserved way better than Sean. And he knew it and she definitely knew it.

So I'm glad that she ended the relationship with him. And that's important to note that she was the one that ended the relationship with him. Now big red flag here, Sean actually left the state of Indiana after Denise went missing and moved to Arizona. And this was around the same time that it started to become clear that he lied about his alibi for the day that she went missing. And yes, you heard that right. He lied about his alibi.

He told detectives that he was fishing that morning and afternoon, but none of the people that he named could corroborate this. Denise's parents have found out a lot about the investigation somewhat recently. And one of's parents have found out a lot about the investigation somewhat recently. And one of the things they found out is that Sean hadn't been fully vetted. This was pretty shocking to him. They thought he was pretty much cleared. Detective McQuinley has been interviewed in the last few years about his investigation. And when they asked him about his conversation with Sean, all he could say was that he thought he spoke to him one time

and was under the impression that they had an amicable breakup. But if it was such an amicable breakup, you would think that Sean would have been involved in the search efforts for Denise. I mean, he would still care about her to some degree if they broke up under good terms, right? Wrong. He was nowhere to be found during the entire search effort. And we know that their breakup wasn't necessarily a good one because one of Denise's friends came forward with letters that Denise had written. It's unclear if these letters were shared with police right away, and I hope they were, but I doubt it because the police didn't consider Sean a suspect.

And that makes me think that they didn't see those letters until much later. But I'm going to share what we do know about them. So Denise and a close friend of hers became pen pals after this friend had moved away. This is when writing letters back and forth with friends was super common. And having a pen pal was really cool. And Denise and this friend would write each other letters that, you know, talked about their lives, what was going on, what was new, all the typical penpal stuff. But on March 3rd, 23 days before Denise went missing, a pretty

strange letter arrived at her friend's house. And it said that she and Sean had broken up, but also said, I feel so guilty I could kill myself, and I'm scared to go to school tomorrow. And I want to be very clear here that even though Denise said in that letter that she could harm herself, there's no indication that she ever did. Her disappearance and presumed death was not self-inflicted. But just from the tone of this letter, you can tell that Denise felt very eerie and uncomfortable about her breakup with Sean. Friends in her hometown say that Sean was super possessive over her.

They said that their relationship wasn't as great as most people thought it was. And of course, if any smart, right-minded detective heard this, they would look deeper into him. But once Sean moved Arizona, that was pretty much it. And he was sort of ignored after that, up until about a few years ago. But before I start talking about what Sean did a few years ago, I wanna introduce two more people who have been considered suspects over the years. First, a kid named Benny Johnson,

who was a few years older than Denise, and he really drew attention to himself in the years following her disappearance. On more than one occasion, Sean was heard making drunken bar confessions that he had killed Denise and hid her body. And he wasn't the only one to do this either. His cousin, Randy Cates, was known to do the same thing. And Randy once told someone that he and Benny picked up Denise and went to some building to party and do drugs. He said that Denise was super uncomfortable with the fact that they were doing drugs and she threatened to tell her dad. And in response to this, Randy said that they freaked out, they killed her, and then they fed her to the hogs, which

is super disturbing. And if you ask me, this is wildly specific, but none of these claims have actually been seriously looked into. Now people do confess to crimes that they didn't commit all the time. It's very weird. I'll never understand it. People have many different motives for doing things like that But there is something about this that felt

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at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. We are inhaling and long exhale out. Peloton is for all of us. Wherever we are, whenever we need it, download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier, or paid subscription starting at $12.99 per month. And there's the fact that the place where the bonfire party was held and where Denise's car was found abandoned was actually property that was owned by Benny Johnson's family.

Not to mention his family was very wealthy and a very prominent family in town. So if something happened on their property, many believe that they could have paid someone to make this go away. And here's the thing. Two days after Denise went missing, Benny's girlfriend at the time said that he took her out to a wooded area where his family owned a cabin on their property and said that they were going to clean up this cabin for a party that night. First of all, why are you throwing a party in an area where a girl has just gone missing two days prior?

But second of all, and this is very creepy, Benny's girlfriend said that when they got to the cabin, she noticed an excessive amount of blood on the floor. And she was told that the blood was from a girl losing her virginity there. But she said that there was no way that this amount of blood could be due to something like that. But before she could do anything about it or let anyone know, someone mopped it all up.

And police did end up getting a search warrant for the cabin, but it wasn't until five years later. So if there was any evidence there, we will never know. And the suspicion around Benny definitely doesn't stop there. He also took his girlfriend to the Mary Gray bird sanctuary. And this was not long after Denise went missing. And he told her that he wanted to show her something. The girlfriend said that she immediately had a bad feeling about all this and refused to go with him. She said in her mind, she was worried that Benny was going to take her to where Denise's body was. There was a pond there that people speculated could be where Denise's body was.

However, years and years later, they searched the pond and nothing was found. But before I wrap things up on Benny Johnson, because there are other people we got to get to here, there is one more big thing. Less than a month after Denise went missing, Benny supposedly called Judy and David Flum, Denise's parents, and asked if he could sit down and speak with them. They agreed, and they went to his house, and when they sat down with him, the first thing out of his mouth was, I didn't kill your daughter. Which is pretty strange if you ask me, especially considering that at this point, they didn't suspect that daughter, which is pretty strange if you ask me, especially considering

that at this point, they didn't suspect that Benny had anything to do with it. And this is a pretty weird thing to just bring up. And something that you would say if you were worried that people suspected you of doing something, right? And of course, and this is frustrating, please never looked into Benny Fully. They never did their due diligence to rule him out, and maybe if they did, we would know more. He did take a polygraph test that was paid for by his well-known wealthy family, and even with pretty questionable results, the police just shrugged him off. So the next thing I want to mention is a story told by the children of Vivian May. She has

since passed away, but her children say that on the day that Denise went missing, their mother heard several blood-curdling screams that truly scared her to her core. And not only that, these screams came from the direction of Benny Johnson's family farm. Me and many others believe that the screams very possibly could have been from Denise, but we can't say with 100% certainty, it was never looked into more than that. And unfortunately, over time, Denise's case went cold. Rumors continued to circle town,

but no official efforts were made. In August of 1988, a tip was made by a woman claiming to be Denise. But after David and Judy made the emotional journey to Virginia to see this woman, it was revealed that the entire thing was a hoax. Things were quiet after that, but in 2007, luckily, a new detective got involved in the case. His name is Scott Jarvis. He's with the Indiana State Police, and he took interest in Denise's story and tried to piece together this mystery after all these years.

He theorized that Denise may have come across a drug deal or seen something that she wasn't supposed to see and that ultimately led to her death. He said that he conducted interviews with inmates who claimed to have known what happened to Denise, but none of these efforts resulted in new information. As of 2014, Denise's DNA from an old baby tooth was submitted to a national database in the event that someone comes across her remains. But to this day, there have been no matches. Finally, in 2018, efforts picked up again, and everyone's hopeful that progress was going to be made this time. On May 3rd, 2018, the Justice for Denise Flum,

Facebook page was made, which I will link below if you would like to follow it. It's a great resource for information and a way that her parents continue to share their daughter's story. And by August of that year, the case was picked up by Detective Stacey Reiss, who is really awesome, and this was definitely a hopeful turn for the family. Since finding this case, Stacy has truly made it her life's mission to solve the disappearance and presume death of Denise Flum and her efforts have been truly amazing. And what drives her so much is she has a personal connection to the case. Her mom was actually Denise's babysitter growing up.

And for years and years, her disappearance and the lack of justice has really bothered her. So now, as a detective, she began looking into the case and decided to go to each of the suspects herself and see if she could learn any new information. And boy, did she learn a lot? So let's start with Benny. Since the 1980s, Benny has had his fair share of run-ins with the law. He has been arrested several times for attempted battery of a police officer and also resisting

arrest. And from what I can tell, he remained living in Conor'sville and ended up hiring a lawyer after police recently started looking into him again in connection to what happened to Denise. His lawyer stated that he would make an official statement, but unless police had evidence against him, he would not be sitting down to answer any questions. There wasn't much information about Randy Cates, but I imagine it's a similar situation. Until police can prove that he was involved, he will not be cooperating any further.

There's a vice documentary on this case and it's really interesting. I'm going to link it below for you guys. It's a three-parter, but I think it's worth watching the entire thing. They go and interview a bunch of people and Stacy's really involved in it. It's very well done and fascinating. And they go and try to interview Benny, try to interview Randy and they talk to them somewhat, and it is sketchy. They are so so creepy, in my opinion. They don't get any new information out of them, but just hearing their voices, I think, will tell you a lot. So there is another theory that we haven't even gone into, another possible suspect, and that is a serial killer. Well, suspected serial killer,

Larry Hall, who is currently serving a life sentence for Well, suspected serial killer Larry Hall, who is currently serving a life sentence for kidnapping, and he's believed to be connected to many, many murders. Unfortunately, please have never been able to prove his connection to any of these murders, hence why he's in prison just for kidnapping. However, Larry did end up writing a list with names of a bunch of people that he claims to have killed.

And Denise is one of the names on that list. However, it's hard to believe. I mean, there have been many instances where serial killers have claimed that they've killed people that they actually haven't killed. And it's been proven that they didn't actually do it. I don't know why these people do it. Maybe they feel like it makes them a more like iconic serial killer in their sick mind. And the problem with Larry is that he's known for making false

confessions. And considering what I've already shared about the case and the other possible suspects, I have a hard time believing that Larry actually was involved. Of course, it's possible. I just personally don't lean that way. And I think you'll agree with me, especially after I shared this next part. So let's go back to Denise's ex-boyfriend, Sean McClellan. Just like Benny, Sean went on to have a life riddled with arrest. While in Arizona, he was arrested on multiple occasions for crime such as intimidating, battery assault, and domestic violence. And all of that really doesn't scream good guy if you ask me.

So later on in his life, he ends up moving back to Connor'sville. And when he does, he ends up taking a polygraph test. And polygraphs, ugh, they're so frustrating. They can be accurate. They also can be very unreliable. And even though his results showed that he was lying on multiple occasions, these tests are not admissible on court, they can't be used to make an arrest. And that's just because they're not very accurate.

So at that point, please pretty much couldn't do anything else, but wait. So detective Reese ended up getting in contact with Sean in 2019. And they had a conversation and he told her that he and Denise had been broken up for quite some time before he went missing, but the two of them stayed friends. Personally, I'm not super inclined to believe him, but that's what he said. Sean also said that he has a gut feeling that something happened at the bonfire that night that caused Denise to go missing the next day. And this I can somewhat agree with.

It's quite possible that she saw something or did something or had some type of altercation with someone that led to whatever happened to her. After that conversation in 2019 with Detective Reese, Sean kind of shut down and wouldn't talk about it anymore. That is until 2020. So before I get into arguably the most insane part of this case, there was a search effort in 2018 that I want to quickly talk about. Remember earlier when I mentioned the Mary Gray bird sanctuary and how they searched the lake and nothing was found. The one that Benny Johnson tried to take his girlfriend to to, quote, show her something. I didn't really explain how they searched the pond. So in 2018, they got an anonymous tip that Denise's body was in the pond. Several agencies went out to the pond

and brought canine teams with them. And these dogs were equipped to detect the smell of human remains. And it turns out that two of them detected that smell right by the water, but here's the thing. When the teams went back to drain the pond and excavated, it started to literally downpour, so they could not get this pond to drain. So what they decided to do, and I wanted to mention this because I thought I was so interesting, they ended up filling like 20 trucks with dirt and mud and then they dumped it where the dogs indicated and then they went through all the mud by hand. The hope was that they would

find Denise and if they did, this video would end here, but it doesn't and they didn't. They never found Denise's body to this day, which is just absolutely heartbreaking. I can't imagine the pain that her parents feel, not being able to lay their daughter to rest is a feeling that nobody should experience. At this point, of course, they would love justice and answers, but what they want most is Denise's body so that they can bury her with her grandparents. And if this case can be any more upsetting and frustrating, let's get into where things leave off today. In June of 2020, just about three years ago now, Sean McClellan became incredibly sick, not with COVID, but in extremely life-threatening condition. And while he was in the hospital, Judy found out and decided to write him a letter. Obviously,

this was kind of a last-ditch effort considering that Sean could have died. And I thought this was really smart on Judy's part to write this letter, and she really tried to appeal to his conscience. She starts it off by talking about his mom and how she was a lovely lady who loved her boys, and how he probably wants to go to heaven and be with her. And then she says,

you know, you're probably going to have a hard time getting into heaven if you don't come clean about what you did. Judy and David have really always believed that Sean was involved, but just like the police, they never had enough evidence to prove it. So by writing this letter, Judy's kind of hoping that she'll convince Sean to come clean and that she'll get a deathbed confession. But what she God is not what anyone expected. Sean was arrested shortly after his hospitalization on charges completely unrelated to Denise's disappearance. And after spending just a few days behind bars, he says he wants to talk to someone about what he knows. Now, I don't know if it was being in jail or if maybe the letters really did make an impact on him, but finally,

after 34 years, a confession is made. I don't know what's the space that I'm used to, you know, go over to do, no games, no lies. I'm here now, and no games on my end either, man. We just wanna know what happened, and we just wanna find her and take care of this. So I happened that morning. So I happened that morning. Told me that she had came to pick him up that day. They had taken a ride.

They ended up at the three mile bridge, which is a location south of the Sheriff's Department here, next to the river or the water river, and that they had been talking about some things. I got a good. Joey is telling me, I can't try and just put the shit back together. That's done so hard to bury now.

They're bringing it back out. That's been starting to see your face again. I had to for a long time. We were sitting there talking and, uh, back to put my hands on our push or getting ground. I put my hands on it, put it in your head and ground. That was it. And obviously this was huge for their family and everyone who knew Denise, this felt like a groundbreaking

moment that they finally had hope for the first time in years. On July 9th, 2020, Sean McClengue was arrested and charged with voluntary manslaughter. And it seemed as if a massive weight had been lifted off everyone's shoulders. Developing news after searching for answers for 34 years, investigators now believe they've solved a cold case in Connorsville.

Denise Flum drove away from her Connorsville home in 1986, never came back. This week, the Fayette County Sheriff's Department arrested Sean McClum. He is now charged with voluntary manslaughter. The sheriff says McClellan had been claiming that Flum was alive this

whole time, but now admits that he killed her. The family says they hope this will lead them to finding her remains so that they can give Flum a proper memorial. So Sean actually made a plea deal that stated he would be granted

immunity on this charge as well as other Charges he was facing if he was able to take Investigators to Denise's body like I said earlier all the family wants at this point is to bring Denise home And if they have to make a deal to get that done they were willing to do it So he has police take him out to where he says Denise's body is. And they quickly realize that this is a show. He is confused about exactly where it is because the area has changed. He changes the location. And in the end, they realize that he has no idea. And the area that he took them to was on the Johnson family farm.

But in the end, he can't locate her body. And police are frustrated. Denise's family is frustrated. And because he couldn't live up to his end of the deal and show them where Denise's body was, he remained in prison on those charges. Denise's family was still leaning in the direction of Sean though and felt like maybe he really did do it. Maybe this confession is genuine even without her body everyone was hoping that they could at least

charge him with her murder and that there would be some relief through that but in September of 2020 just two months after making his confession, Sean McCleung ended up passing away. And what makes this even more devastating is the day before Sean died, he made the opposite of a deathbed confession. He recanted his previous confession. He literally said that he only admitted to killing Denise because he thought it would keep him out of jail. He said that he actually somehow thought that his kids were going to get $25,000 if he did this. And sadly, and

he hoped that people had that Denise was finally going to get justice this time, died along with Sean. New tonight, a confession made in a cold case murder is now being questioned. The man who made it died two months after being charged and now his attorney says the confession was false. Tonight our Lauren Kostek breaks down the new developments

and what's next for this investigation. Over the summer, investigators thought they found their guy. Sean McClong was charged with the killing of Denise Flum. The 18-year-old went missing more than three decades ago in Fayette County. Her family never losing hope.

You don't give up. You just...you spend your life looking. But new details surrounding his confession is leaving investigators back at square one. No suspect and no answers. According to our partners at Conner'sville News Examiner, McCleung confessed to the killing in exchange for immunity and dismissal of two other cases. But that agreement was thrown out after he didn't disclose the location of Flums' remains. Two months later, Judson McMillan, the defense attorney for the case, says McCleung

recanted his confession. Saying in a statement, based on my own private conversations with McCleung and his overall lack of credibility, I believe the person responsible for the death or disappearance of Denise Flum is still out there. Now I still believe it's possible that Denise's disappearance and murder could still be solved one day. Of course, in order to achieve this, police need to find her body. And keep in mind, there are two people still alive

who have admitted to killing Denise, or at least people have heard them admit to killing Denise, but without proof, investigators can't make an arrest. And so there are so many possibilities of what could have happened to Denise. And of course, I want to know what you think. Do you think it was Sean? Do you think it was Benny? Do you think it was Randy? Do you think it was Benny and Randy together? Do you think there were more people involved?

Someone that we haven't even brought up yet? Do you think it was Larry? Is it possible that Sean, Benny and Randy were all in on it together? I mean, Sean did bring them back to the Johnson family farm when he said he knew where the body was. I mean, who really knows what I do know is that this investigation could have been handled so much better. And I'm sure that has to be so incredibly frustrating for Denise's parents. I truly can't imagine being in their position and having lived all this time without her

and without answers. Denise seemed like an incredible person. She did not deserve what happened to her. And it's a shame that no one's ever been held accountable for her death. I can only hope that eventually her body will surface and we'll get answers to all of these questions and that maybe, maybe, there will even be justice for this family and for Denise.

I really wish I had a different ending on this case for you guys. I wish there was more information. I wish there were more leads, but unfortunately that's all there is as of now. but unfortunately that's all there is as of now. That is gonna be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel,

which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. [♪ Music playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000. The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more. All loans terms and APRs depend on meeting our underwriting and income criteria and may require collateral. First Franklin Financial Corporation is licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission CFI-215, Georgia Residential Market Chalice and C-5656,

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