True Crime with Kimbyr - A Dream Vacation Turns Deadly: Ocean City Horror: Part 2

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

In this gripping continuation on True Crime with Kimbyr, we delve deeper into the backgrounds of the individuals at the center of this shocking crime. Kimbyrleigha takes us back to the start, exploring the lives, relationships, and ambitions of the victims and suspects alike. With insights into the couple’s seemingly ordinary lives and the vacation plans that led them to Ocean City, we start to uncover hidden details and eerie coincidences. What could have led to such a horrifying twist of fate? Stay tuned as we follow each step of this tragic journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Upon further examination, the pathologist determined the female died of homicidal violence. However, they could not identify who this woman was, and they needed to find out. They called nearly 100 police departments around Cape Cod, looking to see if there were any missing women who matched the description of their Jane Doe, but there were not. Unfortunately, the investigation ultimately led to the identification of Kelly Ford. On October 30th, 2001, a police detective on Cape Cod called Debbie for a description of one of Kelly's tattoos, a Chinese character for love. Based on this description, the detective traveled from Cape Cod to Boston where dental records reviewed by a medical examiner and jewelry that was recognized by her family positively identified her as 23-year-old mom, Kelly Ford. She had been murdered. It was unbelievable, and the killer was still out there. This was a gruesome murder. Her heart had been ripped from her chest. Her head was missing, and they had no suspects.

They thought this was probably a serial killer. So by the spring of 2002, the case was still unsolved. The family had yet to experience any closure. And after such a tumultuous year of 2001, Jeannie and Josh wanted to just give themselves a break. In May of 2002, Memorial Day was coming up. They knew they would have a longer weekend and a day off work. So they booked a room at the Atlantis condominiums in Ocean City, Maryland for a quick little weekend getaway. They'd spend some time relaxing, and then they would be back home and to work by Tuesday the 28th. They had to be because Jeannie had a big meeting schedule at 10 a.m. that day. So they would drive out Friday after work on the 24th, hang out until Monday night on the 27th when the traffic died down,

and then make the three-hour trip back to Virginia. Also three hours away were BJ and Erica out in Altoona, Pennsylvania. where they were now living and working at their store. They too saw a fun opportunity to go on vacation for Memorial Day. Mitch wanted to treat them to something special for two reasons. One, for working as hard as they were. He was aware that they would be there all night, all day. Sometimes he would see BJ sleeping.

They were stalking, cleaning the store. It was a lot. So we thought they could use a break. But the second reason was because they never got to go on a honeymoon. Mitch had a friend who owned a condo in Ocean City. Mitch's construction company had actually done some renovation work on it. So whenever he or his family wanted to get away, all they had to do was ask. So Mitch booked the couple a suite for a week at the rainbow condominiums in Ocean City.

He and Cookie, they agreed to take care of the scrapbook store while the couple was away. In the 1970s, Ocean City had earned a reputation as a popular beach town with something for everyone, as I explained in the introduction. It was great for families, couples, singles. there was plenty to do from beach activities to boardwalk attractions. The locals and tourists of Ocean City loved it. They felt safe. I mean, there were like the occasional noise violations and disorderly conduct going on there,

but for the most part, it was a great town. It was well-maintained and a fun place to spend a day or weekend, especially on a holiday weekend like this. You know if you've been here how much I love to learn about locations where they were staying, what they were doing. I want to understand everything that was going on. And this area, it has a stretch of beach for 30, miles, a three-mile boardwalk. And most people who come here that really want to experience

everything the city has to offer, they would stay in a hotel or a condo on the beach. But on the other side is the bay. And both of them have awesome views. A lot of restaurants are actually on the bayside just across coastal highway. But the boardwalk is on the beach side. So a lot of people prefer that side. Well, Josh and Jeannie, they picked this condo right here at the Atlantis and it was great. Located right on the beach. It's got a pool. It's close to all the restaurants and bars and the room it was more than what you would get in a hotel because it would accommodate a longer stay with a full kitchen a laundry a living room and a nice ocean side patio balcony now just a four-minute drive away and six-minute walk that was

where bj and erika were staying at the rainbow condominiums i have to say this condo is definitely a step up it's a little more luxurious because of course mitch was able to get this for his daughter and his son-in-law because he knew the guy it was on the 11th floor penthouse suite two stories beach side big pool balcony patio a little bit more private and a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom really nice place for a little getaway and there's also a hooters there so of course bj and erika were planning on getting some exclusive merchandise and maybe trading some tanks from other locations so they can go back home and flip them on ebay it was perfect everything was set erika grabbed a

bunch of hooter tanks that she already had on hand because she was hoping to get one from Ocean City because she didn't have one of those in her collection yet. So now you know that both couples are here in Ocean City. Josh and Jeannie arrived on Friday and BJ and B.J. and Erica came Saturday, May 25th. Erica had just gotten her nails done that day and by noon they set off in their Jeep Cherokee. They stopped to get some beer and snacks before heading up to their penthouse suite 1101. Erica was eager to make her way down to Hooters. That was a their first stop. They ordered a couple pictures of beer and they had some of their famous hot wings. I don't eat meat anymore, but I used to love their naked hot wings. Erica did her typical

routine. She was being nice to the waitress. And then she revealed that she had some shirts to trade. And they also took a ton of pictures for Erica's scrapbook. They were having a lot of fun. Erica ends up asking the waitress, where's the best place to go to hang out around here for drinks and dancing? The waitress was like, hands down, it's secrets. Not. Now this place is spelled S-E-A-C-R-E-T-S-C grids like the C. And it is the most popular destination in Ocean City. However, it's a 21-minute drive or over an hour walk. This beach is long, but Ocean City, they had set up a bus system and the locals and the

tourists, they referred to it as the drunk bus. It operated from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. and then on demand from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. It would come by every 20 minutes at various stops on the strip. And there was a stop right in front of BJ and Erica's condos. It was perfect. It takes you to the most popular destinations, and it's only a couple of bucks. So it's cost-effective and safe for people who are out there drinking and don't want to drive. They decide to head back to their condo and then get ready for a night out.

Meanwhile, Josh and Jeannie had jumped into Jeannie's Maroon, Acura, and made their drive to Ocean City. The first stop they made was to a grocery store in town. They wanted to fill their kitchen, stock it up, up on snacks and food so that they could cook and they didn't have to spend all their money on eating and could indulge in other things that weekend. Like the liquid diet perhaps. I mean, they were on vacation, they could do that. So they came back, they unloaded the groceries, and then they laid low for the first night because they worked all day and had this long drive. But there was a Celtics game the next night on Saturday. So they planned on going to get some food

and drinks at a sports bar and watch the game. Then make their way out for some drinks and fun at a bar. Four days later, on Tuesday, May 28th, Fairfax Police Department, gets a call from a worried coworker of Jeannie's. She said she never showed up for that meeting that morning, and there were 25 people waiting on her. It was extremely out of character. Even when Jeannie was away, she was working. She was on top of it.

She was on her computer making calls, and even checking in with her employees. She never missed a meeting in over 20 years. But then the communication just stopped. And now she was nowhere to be found. They had already made contact with Jeannie and Josh's family and friends. to see if anyone had heard from them. Josh was also missing from work on Tuesday,

and Josh's brother said the last time he spoke to his brother was the evening of Saturday, May 25th. Josh had called Mark after the Celtics game. Mark recalled it being really loud in the background as though Josh was out at a bar, and you couldn't hear him very well. So they exchanged some small talk about the game and how excited they were that the Celtics beat the nets by four points,

and Mark asked Josh how him and Jeannie were doing at the beach, and he said that they were having a great, time. But Mark let him know, hey, I just completed an exhausting 12-hour shift. I'm tired. I got to go call me tomorrow. That was the last time they connected. Mark just figured Josh was enjoying his vacation and he didn't want to bother him. No one had heard from Jeannie since that day either. She had checked in with her colleagues on Saturday here and there, but after that, it was silence. She wasn't returning anyone's calls, emails, nothing. Well, these were adults. If they chose not to keep in contact on vacation, so be it. It was up to them. So this wasn't a full-blown investigation

yet. But after they didn't show up for 48 hours, Fairfax police decided to reach out to Ocean City Police Department on the morning of Wednesday, May 29. As the Fairfax Detective Mike Boone spoke with Ocean City officers, he asked if there was any missing people from Virginia that had been reported, and after looking over files, he discovered there were not. Detective Boone let the OCPD know that a Virginia couple, 51-year-old Martha Crutchley, and her 32-year-old boyfriend Joshua Ford had been staying at the Atlantis condominiums and he provided the unit number. Before he hung up, he made mention that Martha went by Jeannie and he provided a description of her vehicle, a maroon Acura with a special custom license plate with her name on it. It just said G-E-N-E-Y,

Jeannie. This would make it easier to spot among all the vehicles in Ocean City. Detective Scott Bernel was briefed on what was going on. He was actually just getting off from a graveyard shift that morning, but knowing that there was a couple missing at his beach town, he wanted to be part of the search right then and there. However, his supervisor, he ordered him to go home. They didn't have the budget to support his overtime. He told him, you could pick up on the details at your next shift. But for the first time in his career, Detective Brunel disobeyed orders. There was just something that pulled him to start looking right then and there. He said it was a gut feeling. Now, since it was after a memorial day, the crowds had died down to almost nothing.

People had all headed back home. The front parking lot to the Atlanta's condominiums was entirely empty, except in the far corner where Bernal spotted in maroon, Acura. He knew right away, this is the car he's looking for. And you could tell it had been there for a while. There were leaves, sand, and debris under the tires, and dust all over it. He walked to the rear of the vehicle and confirmed that it was genius by the license plate. Now it was time to make his way up to the room

and see if they had perhaps just decided to see if they had perhaps just decided to see. stay a little longer than expected. Extend their vacation a few more days to have some fun in the sun. Detective Burnell was accompanied by OCPD Officer Brian Brown, and they didn't even need to search warrant because at this point, they were conducting more of a welfare check. So a manager let them inside the unit and right away. Bernal had a gut instinct that told him that something wasn't right. First off, Josh and Jeannie weren't inside. Secondly, it was like everything was frozen in time, as though they had just disappeared. Josh and Jeannie's Percival belongings were everywhere. One may assume they truly did just decide to stay longer. After

all, these were not hotels. They were independently owned condos. So they didn't keep records of guests. That was up to the owner of each individual unit. It's kind of like an Airbnb. And considering this was now off-season, the owners would have most likely trusted that their vacation guests had left. And unless the unit was booked again soon, they probably wouldn't have housekeepers going into cleaning yet. It'd only been a couple of days. at this point. They were doing a walk-through. In the kitchen, there were opened potato ship bags on the kitchen counter next to a grocery bag and an empty cooler that looked like it hadn't even been used yet. There was also a few wine bottles, some of them were open, a couple knives

were on a glass cutting board, there was a cigar cutter, a half-empty glass of wine was sitting on the sink, and then there was another one inside the sink. That one was empty. Along with a coffee cup and a couple plates, a Tupperware container, and a few forks and knives. It looked as though they were just waiting to clean them. Like Josh and Jeannie had had a quick bite to eat, hung out, had a glass of wine or two, left, and figured they would just clean up later. There was an empty wine bottle in the trash along with a chip bag and some paper towels. A receipt on the counter showed all of the groceries that were purchased and it was dated for Friday, May 24th. Brunel looked in the fridge and in the cabinets and he took note that most, if not all of the items,

were still there. They hadn't been eaten. Bernal made his way to the dining area. You can see there's a table just past the kitchen. The chairs didn't even look like they had been pulled out and sat in. There were items on top of the table, so they quickly scanned that area. If you're not looking at the screen, that's okay.

I always describe the things that I'm talking about, but I do have pictures of all this if you're curious. On the table, there was an open camera bag with a camera next to it, a CD holder that was open and unzipped, lying on the table you can see some of the CDs inside. Next to the camera bag was a black sun visor and in front of that was a Patriots ball cap. These items being there indicated to Bernal that the couple had most likely taken them off after being out during the day when they came back to the room.

There was also an empty cup and what appeared to be a stack of work papers, folders, and a laptop computer at the end of this table. Moving into the living room area now, they see a black bag next to one of the chairs and there's a snack bowl with some popcorn still left in it on the coffee table. This was in front of the couch, and there were also two wine glasses. They were half empty with some playing cards and two stacks, as though two people were playing just before they left. There was a pair of men's loafers.

They were untied lying next to the couch in the living room, an ashtray with a cigar and cigarette and a little bit of weed in there too. Moving on, they went to the outside balcony patio. There were a few chairs, a table, another snack bowl, an empty wine glass, an empty cup, and a few tubes and bottles of sunscreen along with a fly swatter. Okay, so onto the bedroom. The bed looked a little disheveled. The comforter was no longer on, the top she was kind of hanging off, like it had been pulled that way. You could kind of see the box spring underneath.

The pillows seemed to be used. There was a head impression still on the top of one of them that was leaning on another one underneath, and there was a third pillow in the middle of the the bed. Several magazines were at the side of the bed on the floor next to the side table, and there was an empty glass on that side table. A purse was located on top of the bed, along with a wallet. As Bernel peered inside the open purse, right away he sees Martha's work badge with her name and picture on it. There's a pen laying nearby, a wallet that contained a number of credit cards, debit cards, bank cards, calling cards, an ID with Martha's name on it from George Mason University. Inside the purse, they found a receipt.

It was dated the night of Saturday, May 25th, and 9.25 p.m. from the Green Turtle. It was for two draft beers, a soda, one eight-ounce New York strip, one bowl of crab soup, and a large shrimp dinner totaling $49.23. The closet had men's and women's clothing still hanging inside, but it appeared that two of the empty hangers may have had clothing on them before being taken off. worn since those two hangers were in the middle of ones with items on them. Next to the foot of the bed was what appeared to be a bath mat, which was kind of odd, and near the window was a window blind. It had either fallen down or been taken off. You can see it right here laying on the floor. On to the bathroom, they find all of the couple's toiletries scattered

on the bathroom counter, toothpaste, a hairbrush, mens razor, foundation, a comb, couple toothbrushes and a blow dryer among all kinds of normal everyday items. Clearly, Josh and Gene had planned to come back to the room. Now, something I picked up on, and maybe you did too, it seems like there's a lot of wine glasses and cups considering that only Josh and Jeannie were renting this room. I counted at least four wine glasses at all different levels of wine.

And of course, they could have had several drinks, but usually you just refill your glass, not dirty another one. Bernal noticed this too. And this led him to believe that they may have had company over and they were taken or something worse. We immediately called the station

and wanted to designate this room as an official crime scene. With only two receipts located in the room, one date of the 24th and the other the 25th, it appeared as though the couple hadn't been back after that date. They had Jeannie's car towed for analysis and to keep it in a secure place. And when Bernal got back to his office, he made calls to all the local police departments,

as well as one's neighboring states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. He was checking to see if anyone had been reported missing or if they were incarcerated. He also checked if there were any Jane or John Doe's that had been picked up, and none had. No Josh and no Jeannie. Detective Brunell realizes because this is a vacation town, many people who were there when Josh and Jeannie arrived were most likely already gone.

So he was trying to work fast to get flyers printed out, pass out everywhere, up and down the boardwalk, at all the different bars and restaurants. They were hoping that someone may recognize them. They also want to head over to the Green Turtle Bar, and see if any of the servers remember seeing this missing couple. Here's what the flyers look like. It had both of their pictures on it, their height, weight, eye color, hair color, as well as a brief description of when they were last seen or spoken to.

Bernal also checked their credit cards and bank records in their cell phone records. There was no activity past Saturday night on the 25th. But so many people come here to do activities like boating and hiking, and they didn't know if somehow they went away on an excursion and they got hurt. It could be anywhere. Bernal wants to know if any emergency calls had come in on Saturday night or maybe any time that weekend. He wants a log of all of those 911 calls. That's when he's informed that one came in at 301 on Sunday morning, 301 a.m.

Followed by an additional one not too long afterward. And that call had ended abruptly. It was disconnected. So of course, Bernal wants all the information on this call. He gets the transcripts and then he requests the audio. I'm just going to tell you what the audio revealed. So the operator had picked up and said Ocean City Police, the voice on the other end was that of a woman. She was speaking loudly.

She was saying, hello. And the officer replied, yes. That's when she heard some kind of clicking. And then the operator said, hello. Hello, Ocean City Police. And the woman on the other line said yes again. Confused. The operator said, ma'am, did you want the police?

She's now frustrated. She's wondering what this woman wants. She's not spitting it out. And she says, yes, I do. sorry, the operator started to ask where she wanted the police, but the woman interrupted her. She said, yes, I did, but I think someone is on the line right now listening. And then there was a pause. The woman did not sound very coherent, and they get a lot of drunk calls in this area.

It didn't sound like there was an actual emergency going on at the time, and the operator just kept saying hello, and there was silence. Then all of a sudden, the woman said, do you have a direct line I can call you back at? And the 911 operator said, yeah, and she gave the woman a number to call. The woman said, okay, thanks. And she hung up. She didn't call the direct line, but about an hour or so later, another 911 call comes in. Similar in nature.

The operator picks up, says 911, what's your emergency? The woman is now whispering. She's like, yes, I have an emergency at my apartment. Still sounding a little incoherent. The operator said, what kind of emergency do you have? The woman said, there are people in my house that I don't know. and my purse is suddenly missing, I think I'm going to have a robbery here.

And then she said, there's an emergency here, send somebody fast. The operator was trying to confirm by saying, okay, there's people in your apartment at this time, and the woman repeated, yes. And the operator told her that she was going to connect her

with the police and to stay on the line. But then the woman said, hey, and interrupted her again. The operator said what? And the woman said, I'm in an upstairs bedroom. They don't know where I am. The operator told her,

okay, I'm going to connect you to the police. You can tell them everything. There was a moment of silence and then an officer came on the line. The woman said, hi, there are people. But then as she began that sentence, the line just went dead. Detective Bernal is concerned. This was a woman saying that she was in trouble. She sounded intoxicated in the middle of the night

and was apparently hiding from intruders. However, no officers were sent out there. For one, they didn't get a location from the woman. and though it may seem like it's normal to trace calls, that's not exactly how these things happened, so nothing came out of this call. Except concern now, days later. Bernal was trying to piece together what happened to Josh and Jeannie.

Could this have been Jeannie? Well, back home in Boston, Josh's friends and family and ex-wife were worried sick. Josh had not contacted Zach in days. He never went this long without calling him. With what happened to Josh's niece Kelly being murdered and dismembered on a woman, beach in Cape Cod, this whole situation seemed unreal. It brought back so many horrible

memories and feelings from when Kelly was first reported missing, and they knew what the outcome was. The killer was still not found. Josh's ex-wife was filled with worry and fear. She knew she was going to have to tell her son the news. She dreaded the conversation. She didn't know how it was going to impact him. When Zach came home from school that day, he noticed his mom and his stepdad crying at the the kitchen table. His mom told him his father had gone missing. Zach was only eight years old. He was full of confusion and fear. He didn't understand what was happening. What do you mean they're missing? Like where is he coming back? It's so hard for a child to understand. He believed that his father was going to be okay. He just wanted to know like when am i going to see him again? His young mind

could not comprehend the gravity of this situation. All he wanted was to be reunited with his father and everyone was hoping that that would happen soon but it wasn't looking good. It was Thursday, May 30th. Almost the week had passed since Josh and Jeannie set off on their getaway. Bernal and colleagues were heading out to the Green Turtle. The day manager told them they would need to speak to the night manager and the night staff because the couple was there at 925 p.m. on Saturday. However, they did have surveillance and sure enough it captured the couple. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all. They were just enjoying some food and some beer watching the Celtics game. So the investigators had to wait to speak with the night staff. Meanwhile, Bernal was informed of the gruesome murder

of Josh's niece, Kelly. Something seemed off the connection. It was two beach towns. They didn't know much about Josh at this point, so they had to run every theory in their minds. They began to think that maybe Josh had something to do with this. Just the summer before his niece goes missing and she's found dead, he's dating this much older woman. Was there a chance? He was after her money? He was after her or he just snapped. I mean, they looked happy, but we all know the looks don't mean much. Or could Jeannie be the culprit? Could she be conning this young guy somehow?

Could there have been an accident of some kind? They had to look into everything. And one of those things was also Jeannie's ex-husband. He had been calling nonstop asking all kinds of questions, and though it seemed helpful, it also seemed suspicious. They looked into him too, and at least they were able to rule him out as a suspect so they could move on in their search.

The Criminal Investigation Division of the OCPD was working the case. They still had no leads. They go back to the Green Turtle when the night staff is there, and they ask around once again, and finally, one of the servers says she remembers the couple. She said they stood out because they were so polite. The server explained that she remembers them eating, but cannot say where they went or what they did after they paid their bill.

As the detectives were canvassing the area around the Green Turtle, which was their one and only lead at this point, They noticed a bus stop, and that was the drunk bus. They thought that maybe Josh and Jeannie may have hopped on this bus after dinner since they know their car was in the same spot hadn't moved back at the condo. After an extensive search of the transit logs

for the evening of May 25th, detectives eventually locate the bus driver, and he confirmed that he remembered the couple taking his bus that night. The bus driver echoed what the server had said. He remembered them because they were incredibly friendly and kind. They got on the bus, near a stop at the Atlanta's condos, and they sat in the front.

They rode the bus for a few stops, and then he recalls, they pulled up to another condo, and a couple boarded the bus. They attempted to pay with a $20 bill, and the driver said, exact change only, sorry. And the couple realized they did not have exact change. And unfortunately, the driver can't take anything

but exact change because he can't give you anything back. So the couple is looking around in his pocket and her purse. while the passengers, you know, a lot were already intoxicated, they're annoyed because these people are holding up the bus. Finally, the guy's like, I have a five. And again, the driver said exact change only. So the dude is waving the $5 bill and he's asking if anyone on the bus had changed. Josh spoke up.

He asked the couple where they were headed and they said secrets. Josh and Jeannie were too. So he stepped up and took care of the couple's fair. The guy looked at Josh and said, thanks, man, I'll get you and your girl a drink. when we get to the bar. That's all the driver remembered. He dropped a bunch of passengers off right in front of secrets at night and that's all he knew. This is good. It meant that detectives had another location that they could search and interview staff. So that's what they do. Staff members say they recall seeing Jeannie and Josh. They were with a few other people,

including another couple and they were hanging out. They were outside in line for about an hour, and then they made their way inside where they had drinks. No one had any idea what time they left, or if anything out of the ordinary happened. But in just a few hours, they were going to get their biggest lead yet. After midnight on May 31st, OCPD Officer Jason Hart got dispatched two-way hooters nearby. Apparently a silent alarm had gone off,

and him and his partner, Officer Freddie Howard, they drove out to find out what was going on. It was after closing time on a Thursday night, now into the early morning on Friday. When they pull up, they see a bunch of merchandise sitting outside on benches right outside the restaurant near the entrance of their gift shop. It appeared that they had pulled up in the middle of a robbery. They see a man and a woman bringing clothing items out of the store.

The man stops. He puts his hands up in the air and he says, okay, we stole it, but can we just put it all back? Howard, without responding at all, he grabbed the man's arms, put him in handcuffs, and then he starts frisking him. He finds a gun in his waistband, and it's loaded. He's also strapped, but there were no weapons inside the holster, just a couple clips. Howard makes the guy sit down on the curb, and then he went to the woman who at this point is having some sort of medical emergency. She can't breathe, and she's sitting there with her hands above her head, and she's gasping for breath, and Howard grabbed a hold of her. He fell to her on to make sure she wasn't armed.

That's when he finds a knife. It's a type with a clip on the pocket or inside your waistband so you can put it somewhere. while it was clipped in place right in her waistband. Then he finds a gun. In the back of her waistband, it's actually shoved far down enough that it was hidden between her booty crack. She repeats what the man had asked

if they could just go and put all the stuff back. What? That is not how this works. Howard had her sit against a wall and he could see she was having a really hard time keeping it together. She kept saying, officer, I need help, I need my medicine, please. When the officer has someone in their custody, they're responsible for what happened

them and without medics on scene at the moment, he was doing all he could to try to remedy what looked like some kind of minor medical issue. So she instructs him to please go to her vehicle and get her purse. Her medications are inside. Howard told her to try to stay calm. He went to go look for her meds. And I have to say some officers have so much patience. I was watching a video the other day of a DUI. This woman was in the middle of the intersection, totally fell asleep at the wheel, and she was just going off on these officers. I don't know how. They keep it together because I don't have the patients. As Howard made his way over there, he finds the woman's bag.

He looks inside. He's looking for medicine. But he sees a wallet. And he figures while he's at it, he's going to find out who this woman is. He opens it up. He finds two driver's license inside. A man and a woman's he hands them over to the other officer. They run the names.

And they realize there's a missing person's alert out for them. It's Martha, Crutchley, and Joshua Ford. Wow. So they're sitting here. They just stumbled upon these two missing people, or supposed to be. supposedly missing people in the middle of robbing a store. They also had social security cards for the couple and a fitness club membership with Jeannie's photo on it.

They look at the vehicle, there's black tape on the license plate. Maybe they really don't want to be found. But as he's analyzing the information on the report, he realizes the missing woman is 51 years old, and the person that he's staring at sitting against the wall doesn't look a day over 30, so something is not adding up. So Detective Bernal is called to the scene, obviously, because this is his case.

He immediately walked up to the woman in custody. He read her Miranda warnings, and then he asked her, How do you know Martha Crutchley and Joshua Ford? She tells Bernal she has no idea what he's talking about. He further explains what he's referring to. The two IDs that were in your bag? Still, the woman just sit in there like a deer in the headlights. Bernel shows her the missing person's flyer.

She says she has never seen those people before. She doesn't have a clue how their IDs would end up in her bag because she knows she didn't put them there. But there's something else in her bag. Something that concerned the officers even more than finding the IDs spent shell casings. The woman explains she's just now learning how to use her new gun. Her husband had been showing her and she kept the shell casings as a memory. Like the first time shooting, I don't know.

There was a third handgun found inside their vehicle in the center console. What in the world is going on here? What is their connection to the missing couple? Underneath the gun, detectives find, a lock picking kit, as well as masks and gloves. They keep searching and they find flex cuffs. These are like zip ties that are preformed into handcuffs. They take the tape off the license plate. They run it in their system and it doesn't take long before they know both of the names of the couple that they have in custody.

It's none other than 24-year-old newlyweds Erica and BJ Siffret. What are they doing? They're not broke. Why would they be stealing from Hooters well? You and I both know why. This was ideal for them. What's better than bribing waitresses to give you rare items and one-of-a-kind memorabilia, stealing it of course.

Wow. And they had clearly come prepared. Look at everything they removed already. There was a ton of hats. They even took a cigarette display with a bunch of packs of cigarettes. There were backpacks, sweatshirts, hooters bandied the license plates. I mean, wow. They put Erica and BJ in separate cop cars and bring them down to the OCPD for questioning.

Meanwhile, they're rifling through the couple's Jeep. And that's when Bernal takes note of a parking pass in the front window. It's for the rainbow condos. He thinks, oh my God. With all the items we just found, maybe Erica and BJ have held this couple hostage. So they immediately head over there hoping that it's not too late and they haven't been harmed. Considering Erica has spent bullet casings and her possessions, guns, knives, they have no idea what they're going to find. Burnell is able to get confirmation that Erica and B.J.

are indeed staying at the rainbow. condominiums and they have been since Saturday the 25th the same night then Josh and Jeannie had been last seen. Bernel called to get medical assistance to the scene in case they stumbled upon the couple in distress. At first the property manager would not allow Bernal inside without a search warrant. Understandable but he explains the evidence that they found in BJ and Erica's possession and they have a reason to believe that Josh and Jeannie are in danger so they're allowed to enter under exigent circumstances. The Penhouse Suite is two stories. There's an upper and lower level. They enter,

and I do have pictures of this condo too, so I'll put them on the screen. But they make their way inside and nothing seems amiss. Detectives and officers spread out. They're looking for people who are alive. The fact that there were plastic handcuffs and masks in the Jeep led them to believe there was some kind of hostage situation going on. So they go room by room, and they're not seeing any signs of Josh and Jeannie. Since they don't have a full. full search warrant, they can't search anything. They can only look with their eyes. Here's what they observed. A very organized living room, remember, we're talking about Erica here. She's got OCD. She likes things in a particular order, so everything looks normal. There's a paper towel

roll on the coffee table in the living room. That's probably the only thing out of place. And then there's some items on a table behind the couch. It looks like a clone bottle, some keys and a pen, nothing really stood out. They make their way up to the upstairs bedroom. The bed is completely made, everything looks put away, they look out on the balcony, there's nothing there. There is an attached bathroom, so they peek inside, and it looked clean. They stepped in, they saw the chakouzy tub, and then they spot their first clue that something may not be right. But is it a clue of foul play or a woman that has severe OCD? Cleaning supplies right outside the bathroom door, paper towels.

Looks like it could have been a six-pack, there's two missing, and we know there's one downstairs, so maybe that's not too much of a concern. There's garbage bags, chlorox bleach, and a bunch of other cleaning supplies. They head back downstairs and they're looking at the small kitchen area. They see an open laptop on the counter with a pad of paper and a pen next to on one side. On the other side, it looks like purchase orders. Some USPS packing tape. These appeared to be items that BJ and Erica would use to send out merchandise and connection to their eBay store.

So it looks like they were working on vacation. So could it be possible? that they didn't have anything to do with Josh and Jeannie. Maybe Erica stole their IDs or got a hold of them somehow. But something just not adding up. There's a glass dining table with some water bottles on it, some photos, a lighter, a nash tray, more keys, and a substance that looked like cocaine.

There's also a random little note on the table. It says, it's a to-do list. It says stuff to do at the house, fine jean shorts, hook up the cable, among other things that I can't see in this photo. So ordinary. Then one of the officers yells for Bernal to come quickly. He found something.

Right underneath that glass table, there were two spent bullets. Upon closer inspection, they appear to be covered in blood and flesh. I'm not kidding. Here are the photos. This is what they look like when the officers look down through that glass table. And here they are up close. This is definitely enough for a full search warrant. One of these bullets looked like it had actually been taken out of someone's phone.

Flesh. Meanwhile, BJ and Erica are booked for burglary, and they have all their personal belongings confiscated. Those will be searched too. And it's clear to see that Erica's designer purse is full of what appears to be very expensive jewelry. We know that she's into collecting jewelry, just like her mom, and she's got a lot of it. But why would you be carrying thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry on vacation? They collect all the items for further inspection. She also is wearing a necklace when she's arrested, so that's taken as well. And here, Here are some items from Erica's purse. There was a camera, a watch, the spent shell casings that I mentioned before, some gift cards,

a blockbuster video card, a gap credit card, old Navy card, a chapstick, some photos, and a folded up little, I don't know, like origami, she had this on her. It was full of pictures of her and VGA on trips to different places like Vegas, Virginia Beach, and Florida. And if you look closely, there's a little shell. It's actually a change person inside are some pills. Now on to the full CSI search. They're looking for evidence in the Rainbow condo.

Is there a connection between Erica B.J., Joshua, and Jeannie? Well, as they rummage through the furniture and the closets, they noticed Erica had brought an abundance of items with her. In the corner of their unit, there was a stack of boxes filled with scrapbooking materials and other things used to make decorations. It looked like Erica had practically brought her entire house with her on vacation. She had meticulously documented every detail of her and BJ's relationship, from the mundane to the over the top. They find that Erica has actually brought a lot of items on this vacation, and they're in these big plastic storage containers, including the scrapbook from July 1999 through August 2001.

It says Beech and Laney on the cover. Seems odd that she would carry these things around, but okay. They open it up and it's full of pictures of previous trips that the couple has taken. One from June 2001 shows them together and of course Erica is wearing a hooter's shirt. But look. On the right it says everyone settles in, even Bonnie and Clyde with a picture for hugging BJ. Bonnie and Clyde? Well, there's something to this. But at this point, seeing it makes Bernal question things even more.

I can't forget to mention there were also pet pythons in a cooler in the bedroom. Yeah, we'll get to that. They brought their snakes on vacation. Lord help me. They wonder why they're coming up through people's toilets and stuff in other places when they're not supposed to be there. Then they find a connection. On the table behind the couch, Bernal picks up keys and there's a rubber placard on it and it says Atlantis. It's the condo building that Josh and Jeannie were staying at. Finally, there's an actual connection, even though it doesn't have like a unit number or anything, but there's more. A stack of pictures were on the dining table and on top, I don't know if you're going to be familiar with this.

If you're my age, you'll know, but there's like a sheet of thumbnail pictures of each picture usually used to go back and get more prints of the ones you like. Well, even though these pictures are small, Ronell is looking at them, and he thinks he sees one that could be Josh and Jeannie. And sure enough, I swear this couldn't have come together more perfectly. He picks up the next picture in the stack and it's literally a picture of Josh and Jeannie. And these pictures are inside BJ. and Erica's condo rental.

Wow, and they're from Erica's camera. The other pictures in the stack tell a story of everything BJ and Erica did on their trip to Ocean City. There were pictures of them at Hooters, at the beach, playing mini-golf. All normal, so generic. And then this,

a picture of the couple that's been missing for a week now. They did meet. They took pictures of them. And the cup, you can clearly see it's from secrets. There's the logo. Not only that, look at the, Another picture of Josh and Jeannie, and this time it's on the balcony of their condo rental

at Atlantis. Clearly, they didn't take this photo of themselves. It was either Erica or BJ. So they were there with them back at their place. No wonder there were so many wine glasses there. Armed with this evidence, Bernal wants to try questioning his suspects. He runs a background check and finds out that BJ has quite an impressive resume. Navy SEAL honor men at that?

Coincidentally, though it's rare, Burnell has a question. had been in the Marines, and he too was an honor man. He hadn't met another one in his career, especially sitting across from him being questioned about a missing couple. He felt like maybe. Just maybe BJ would see him as an ally, a friend, a fellow comrade. He goes into the interview room.

It's four o'clock in the morning. He introduces himself and right off the bat, he lets BJ know that he's a fellow honor man. Well, BJ lawyer's up right then and there. He's like, you wanna know what happened? Ask my wife. I'm not saying another word. I want a lawyer.