True Crime with Kimbyr - Mother & Daughter Vanish Overnight: The Chilling Case of Angela Hyke & Ashley Lucas: Part 1

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

In this gripping episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha unpacks the haunting disappearance of Angela “Angie” Hyke and her 8-year-old daughter, Ashley Lucas. One summer night in Cresco, Iowa, this loving mother and daughter vanished without a trace—leaving behind a disturbing crime scene and a community in fear. What happened that night? Why were they targeted? Join True Crime with Kimbyr as we delve into this deeply unsettling case filled with mystery, heartbreak, and unanswered questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Officers in the small town of Cresco, Iowa, were conducting a welfare check on the home of a 25-year-old mother and her eight-year-old daughter. They knocked and no one answered. They looked inside the windows. There was no TV on. No sounds coming from inside, but they saw candles burning, getting dangerously low, and some were already in small amounts of wax.

And they decide they better enter and see what's going on. No one had heard from Angela and her daughter Ashley for at least a day now. Angela didn't show up for work, which was highly unusual, and Little Ashley wasn't in school. There were dishes in the sink, a fan humming in the hallway like someone had just stepped out of the room for a moment.

Angela's purse was still on the counter, her makeup bag, her curling iron, all the things she would never just leave behind, not even for a quick overnight trip. There wasn't blood or broken glass or anything seemingly out of place, except the bad feeling that something wasn't Right. It was the silence, the little details, the way it felt like someone had just left in the middle of living.

Where were Angela and Ashley? The answers wouldn't be found in Angela's quiet little house. It all started at a local carnival. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. And if you've never been here before, I am Kimberlea. It's nice to finally meet you. So let me set the stage for you again and get back into where we were. I'm taking you to Cresco, Iowa. It isn't the kind of place where Beth's things happen. It's the kind of small town vibe. Kids grow up riding bikes on quiet streets. Neighbors wave from their porches. And everyone seems to know everyone's name. In Cresco, doors are left unlocked. People stop to talk at the local grocery store. And a trip to the local carnival is the highlight of every summer. It's a community that's built around trust, family, and faith. So when a tragedy strikes here, it doesn't just hurt. It shakes everyone to their core. It was Monday morning, July 9th. It's summer in this small town. Angie's friends and coworkers are alarmed

when she doesn't show up to work for her shift at the local fairway grocery store. She's been working there for a few years now. They called her, but there was no answer. They went by her house and they knocked on the door and it was silent. But there were signs that something was a miss right away. Angie's 1997 Grand Prix, it was a gold car that she drove all the time. It was not parked in her driveway. So her friends wondered where she could have gone. They checked the school. and her eight-year-old daughter, Ashley, didn't make it a class. And not only that, her bike and a garden hose was just left scattered across the lawn. Angie was known to be very tidy, not to leave things out like this, especially over a weekend. It just wasn't like her. But not only that,

when they looked in the windows, they saw candles still burning. And that was it. They called the police. There was no way Angie would leave her candles burning like that and just gone somewhere. There were piles of melted wax that had burned all the way down to the end of the wick. Where was she? And where was Ashley? It was really confusing. But let me tell you more about who Angela is, and then maybe it will make more sense why everyone wondered where she could have gone.

Angela Dennett Haich was born right there in Cresco, just after Christmas on December 31st of 1975. But her childhood wasn't quite typical. Angela wasn't raised by her biological parents, Francis and Audrey Heike. Instead, her upbringing fell into the hands of her paternal grandmother, Agnes, and her step-grandfather, Gerald McGee. While we don't know exactly why Angela ended up with her grandparents, family dynamics like these aren't that uncommon in a tight-knit community. Whatever those reasons were, Angela's grandparents stepped up, determined to provide her with stability, love, and the warmth of a real home. Angela thrived under their care. Growing up, she was the kind of girl that everyone adored.

She was bright-eyed and bubbly and always laughing, and people all over Cresco described Angela, who ended up going by Angie as sunshine and human form. She was always happy, and she had a gift for making others feel good. She would effortlessly just spread happiness with a smile, and it felt genuine. And it was probably because her grandparents instilled strong values in her, guiding her towards being kind and responsible, and above all, having faith. Angie was deeply connected to her local church. The Notre Dame Parish Assumption Worship Center, and her faith wasn't just something that she believed. It was something she lived.

She would actively teach her CCD classes to the youngest members of the parish, and this is a religious education program for children and youth, and it's the Catholic school version of Sunday school. Angie wasn't just teaching these children lessons about religion. She would show them by example how to be compassionate and kind-hearted.

But beyond her spiritual life, Angie had a creative streak that everyone admired. She was the type of friend who, and I know you have a friend like this, who could take bits of ribbon and paper and they could make it into something really unique and special. And she would gift her creations to her friends and loved ones on birthdays, holidays, or just a random afternoon. It didn't matter.

And they would cherish every little handcrafted surprise because it showed just how much Angie cared about them. Even animals would gravitate towards Angie. There was just something pure about her spirit, and she was the person that the dogs would just run up to, wagging their tails, the ones that a cat would come up and, you know, they would wrap around her leg and pur softly. She showed the same kindness that she showed her community to animals as well. And life moved forward in Cresco, although at a slow pace.

And Angie grew into a lovely young woman. After graduating from Cresswood High School in 1994, she began working as a clerk at the local Fairway Grocer Store, a job that perfectly suited her warm and outgoing, personality. Angie loved her customers. She would chat with each and everyone getting to know them and remembering them as she rang up their groceries. And everyone left Fairway happier than when they came and that was all because of Angie. But her life wasn't perfect. Nobody's is. And at one point, she met a man named Bert Lucas. Despite their significant age difference, Bert being 18 years older,

the two connected instantly. And their relationship led to the birth of a beautiful daughter on April 12th of 1993, Ashley Nicole Lucas. Angie was about 18 at the time and well, I was doing the math. And I think that meant that Bert was around 36 years old. And I'm not going to go too deep into this. I don't know when they initially met, if she was under the age of consent, which is 16 in Iowa. But interestingly, when I looked, I found something new that I'd never heard of. It's what's called the Romeo and Juliet Law there. That allows 14 and 15 year old to teenagers to consent to intercourse with partners as long as they're no more than four years older. So a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old is okay, or a 15-year-old and a 20-year-old.

Really, Iowa? But okay, back to Angie. She and Bert absolutely lived for little Ashley. She was the most adorable little girl. Like many little ones, she was cheerful and would be bouncing around smiling. She had striking blue eyes and golden blonde hair. that was impossible not to notice. She got her daddy's eyes.

Angie had sort of hazel green eyes, but Ashley's were blue like birds. And Ashley loved everything pink, from her room decor to her favorite Barbie dolls. Like her mother, she brought smiles to everyone who knew her. Angie would joke that Ashley had enough mischief in her to keep her on her toes, especially when they visited Fairway Supermarket.

When Angie was working, Ashley loved to tag along and meet up with her mom at work. She would be giggling and placing those little price stickers on Angie's back, and she would just be so amused by her antics of her mom not knowing they were there. And that sounds so relatable. Just joking around with your mom. Even after Angie and Bert's relationship ended, which was what I was getting at, that life wasn't perfect, they managed to co-parent very well. Bert stayed actively involved. He lived just a short distance away in the same small town, and he saw Ashley every single day without fail. He was close enough to do that,

and he was the local mailman. Everyone knew Burt. He started the job when Ashley was just two years old, probably thinking he needed a reliable source of income to help support her. He had dropped out of high school and got his GED when he was younger and then he enlisted in the army. But unfortunately, due to a medical issue,

he couldn't continue his service and he returned back to Cresco where he grew up. Before becoming a mailman, he did manage several convenience stores and even purchased one of his own, but that became way too much to manage. So he sold it. It was in 1995 when he saw that ad in the local newspaper,

and he decided to apply as a mailman on a whim. Everyone in town knew him as Bert, the mailman. They would watch the tall, lanky, tan man walk up all smiles and deliver their parcels. And over time, they would greet him in many different ways. They would wave, of course. They would say hello by honking their horns as they passed, and they would even yell out his name from windows

as you drove by. Small town vibes, as I explained. Even the cops in town would turn on their sirens and lights just for a second to let him know that they saw him like they were waving hello. He was a very loyal employee, never even called out sick, not once in his entire career. He took the same route every single day and his favorite part of the job was the children. They looked forward to him, they looked up to him, and he watched them grow. He would even bring families pizzas and ice cream and hand out lollipops on his stops. I mean, who wouldn't like that, right?

but I'm getting ahead of myself. So let's go back. After Angie and Bert broke up, she was perfectly fine with him coming over to see Ashley and even if it was just a little hello and then there were times where he would take her for a whole weekend.

And this arrangement seemed to work for everyone, especially Ashley. She had the comfort of knowing both of her parents were always nearby, especially because like many little girls, Ashley was afraid of the dark. She was really afraid. She would wake up screaming

and crying for her mom in the middle of the night. Nighttime was really difficult for her. She tried leaving a light on for her daughter or other methods to calm Ashley, but Angie couldn't find anything that really worked. But she knew exactly how to comfort her if things did go wrong. She would run into her room,

she would sit with Ashley reassuring her that she was safe, she was loved and protected, and that there was nothing wrong, that there was nothing to be afraid of. But it's sad to think that apparently there was something to be afraid of. They just didn't know it yet. Angie and Ashley's days were filled with a combination

of work, fun, school, and community. It was a simple life. It was the kind of life that makes tragedy seem impossible, almost unreal. No one in Cresco could have guessed that such a peaceful existence could be shattered so suddenly, violently, and without warning. But that's exactly what happened.

And this community's illusion of safety was about to be torn apart. Bad things can happen. They can happen anywhere, even in small towns, to nice people, to anyone. But let's go back to that Monday.

It was the morning of July 9th of 2001. After Angie's friends came to check her house, they called 911, and Kimberly Orth was dispatched to the scene. Now, there's a little background on Officer Kimberly Worth. This town was small. I've told you that.

Under 4,000 people. And Kimberly, The officer, who's now conducting a welfare check, is not just a cop. She's a friend of Angie's. They're practically neighbors. She lived two blocks away. She knew Angie and Little Ashley very well.

So she was even concerned, knowing that they were not home, and that Angie's car wasn't there. She walked up, she knocked, no one answered, which was already expected by this time. And Angie's granddad had been alerted, and he was pulling up when Kimberly and another officer came by. Andy's granddad had the key to her house and they entered the home together with the cops with their guns drawn, not knowing what to expect. In the living room, the candles were now burning to little stubs and they had clearly been burning for hours.

Kimberly blew the rest of the candles out and then cleared the room, making sure there wasn't anyone hiding inside. The fan was still running, just humming subtly, untouched since the night before. Moving into the kitchen, she saw dishes lingering in the sink, leftovers from dead. that Angie didn't even bother to clean, which was completely out of character for someone who was very meticulous and cared about her home like Kimberly knew Angie did. And then that's when she spotted Angie's purse on the counter that stood out. If Angie left, she would have most certainly taken her purse with her. In the bathroom, Kimberly noticed all of Angie's makeup was still out like she just used it. Her curling iron, her haird dryer were there too, things that she would have packed if, let's say,

she went on a trip. Ashley's toys were scattered on the floor of her room and throughout the house, now just eerily frozen in time, in the same places that they'd been the previous night. Audrey Haik, who was Angie's stepmom, told police that Angie was the type of person to shut everything off and even unplug appliances when she left, especially if she was going on a trip.

And Ashley's Nintendo, it was like the little one you take everywhere, that was still there. It was left behind. That was unusual. as well as Angie's contact lenses and her glasses. I wear contact lenses and glasses every single day. At night, I used my glasses, contacts during the day. So her stepmom knew she can't even see without them. There was no way she would have left them there.

So she did not leave on her own. So at this point, without finding any clues as to where Angie had gone, the officers decided to do two things. One, they put out a bolo to be on the lookout for Angie's vehicle, a gold 1997 Grand Prix with a licensed plate 799 BFP. Secondly, they began to canvass the neighborhood to see if anyone had seen Angie. They focused their efforts on a two to three block radius thinking that they would start there and then move outward. They went door to door, questioning neighbors, each conversation bringing

them closer to understanding the last moment Angie and Ashley spent at their home. One neighbor said they recalled seeing Ashley outside around 9 or 9.30 p.m. on Sunday night. So the night before. and she was playing the yard, running through the water from the garden hose, and playing on her bike. Interesting, that the bike and the hose were left on the lawn on Monday when the officers and friends went by. Another neighbor offered a strange observation. Something that immediately stood out, he said. He was driving by Angie's house between 5 and 6 a.m., the same morning, Monday, and noticed that Angie's Grand Prix was backed into her driveway, and that stuck out.

Angie never parked her car that way because she dented it during a prior accident where she ran into her house, so she avoided backing up at all costs. He knew that. So seeing her car backed in that way in the morning, made him pause and made him look and kind of do a double take. And now that she's missing, he's racking his brain to see if he can remember anything. It was weird how the car was positioned a way that she wouldn't have parked it. And then he noticed that someone was sitting in the driver seat. But he said he wasn't sure. was Angie because it looked like a woman, but it looked like she had lighter hair than Angie. Angie's hair was like an Auburn brown. This almost looked blonde. He said he couldn't be 100% sure it was her. So after this, Officer Orth, Kimberly, she goes back into Angie's home. She enters her friend's bedroom and she begins looking for anything that might lead to a clue to help her track Angie down.

And that's when she notices Angie's diary. It's like a day planner slash journal. where she knows that Angie writes everything down. Her plants, her thoughts, everything, things like that. It's sitting out on the dresser. Kimberly puts on a pair of gloves, picks up the diary, puts it into an evidence bag. She just had such a bad feeling about everything. Everything she knew so far makes her decide that she's going to declare Angie's house a crime scene

and get technicians in right away to collect anything that they see as evidentiary value. And next, Kimberly. and I hope it's okay that I'm calling her Kimberly. That's because she is an officer, but she's also a friend. But Officer Kimberly Orth wanted to speak with someone, someone she knew would be keeping tabs on Angie, her ex-boyfriend, Bert Lucas. He saw Ashley Daly and he was also the mailman,

so he would have been driving around town that morning. Did he see anything? Or would he have a reason to make Angie disappear? Kimberly was interested to see if Ashley was maybe at Bert's house, because that would be a sign that he may know something. He'd already been alerted to what was going on. There was a message on his answer machine. They left it for him.

And when he got off work, he listened. And he expected the police to come speak with him. In situations like these, investigators always start close to home, often with very good reason. But Bert was cooperating fully. He was shaken just by the message. Can you imagine? It literally just said,

Angie and Ashley are missing. And I think any parent that gets that kind of news would be an absolute wreck. He was like, what do you mean? They're missing. He told police the last time he spoke to Ashley was on Sunday before her and her mother just vanished. Ashley was excited. She told him all about a canoe trip she was taking with her mom and her mom's best friend, Lisa. Bert's emotion seemed genuine.

He seemed like a distraught father who was worried about his daughter's safety. He told the officers that he knew Angie. He knew she would not. Never. Just take their daughter anywhere without letting him know. That was very concerning. She had never done that since the day Ashley was born. And in Cresco, the news traveled fast, especially the kind that you hope you'll never hear. And by that Monday afternoon, word about Angela and Ashley's disappearance had spread. Neighbors gathered in small groups on their porches and on the sidewalks,

and they were exchanging those worried looks, and they were quietly whispering things. This wasn't supposed to happen in this town. The biggest scandal there was usually a person who loses their pet or an argument over property lines. But now a mother and daughter were gone, vanished, seemingly into thin air with no clues left behind. Detectives moved fast, but the investigation was already complicated. The scene at Angie's home, even though there were no obvious signs of violence,

it was unsettling. There was just this eerie absence of them not being there anymore, even though there were no overturned furniture, no broken windows, no blood trail, just a disturbing normalcy of everything. Like they had just been plucked away on a normal evening. The police knew they had to widen their search. So they put out a bulletin with Angie and Ashley's information. 25-year-old Angie had shoulder length, curly, sometimes straightened, brown hair, and green eyes.

She was five feet tall and weighed about 160 pounds. 8-year-old Ashley was only four feet tall and 92 pounds. with blonde hair and blue eyes, and anyone with information about their whereabouts, were told to call Cresco police immediately. And by the middle of that week, the community was rallying around Bert. He was a wreck.

Bert couldn't help but wonder if his daughter was safe, or if she was dead or alive, or if she needed her daddy, if she was calling out to him, his words in an interview. This period was incredibly difficult for him. He knew his daughter had that fear of the daughter. had that fear of the dark. So he said that he just hoped wherever she was, it was well lit,

and she was safe. Everyone wanted to help any way that they could because everyone loved Angie and everybody loved Bert and they just couldn't believe that his daughter was gone. But Angie was just so loving and happy. It was just shocking to know that she was gone, disappeared. Bert would just cry thinking about where they could be. No one had seen Angie's car anywhere in town. So chances were if they were taken away, they were far away from Cresco at this point. And even though Burt appeared to be seemingly distraught, even telling everyone that he wasn't eating or sleeping since knowing they were gone, investigators were still cautious. They verified Bert's alibi rigorously. Bert said he had been at a local bar on Sunday evening watching a sports game,

and then he went straight home. Police talked to everyone that they could. Bartenders, patrons, co-workers, they all confirmed Burt's story. He was exactly where he was. he said he was. And his emotional state matched the panic of a father that was truly worried about his child. His boss also confirmed he was at work on Monday morning, as expected. Next, police spoke to Angie's friend Lisa, who Burt claimed went on a canoe trip with her and Ashley on Sunday. Lisa said she spent the whole day with Angie and Ashley, confirming they had been happy and healthy the last time she saw them, which was about 5.30 p.m. And she has no idea what could have happened afterward. At this point, it was clear that this wasn't just a simple misunderstanding.

they were truly missing, and this situation was growing more urgent by the day. They were determined not to lose precious time, so the people of Crescoe jumped in action. They organized themselves to raise awareness. They had flyers designed immediately featuring pictures of Angie and Ashley and detailed descriptions of the missing mother and daughter and contact information for anyone with tips. But the townspeople knew they needed to reach more than just their quiet community. They needed eyes across the country. So they had a very clever idea.

They realized that truck drivers could be used as their lifeline. Truckers would travel from coast to coast, passing through countless cities and towns. So if anyone or to have seen Angie and Ashley, it might be someone on the road. So the residents began handing out flyers directly to truckers as they stopped through town, pleading with them to please keep their eye out during their long halls.

They hope desperately that somewhere along America's highways, Someone might have recognized these faces that were staring back at them in these flyers. And meanwhile, investigators were hard at work tracking down any financial activity connected to Angie. They carefully reviewed her bank accounts and her financial records, searching for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. But initially, nothing stood out. But still, as a protective measure, detectives quickly placed a freeze on Angie's checking accounts. This meant that any attempt to cash a check or use any information,

financial resources would immediately trigger an alert, providing police with a much-needed lead. Every hour mattered. And while the flyers and the bank alerts offered some hope, the town was beginning to think something even worse may have happened, something sinister, and that Angie and Ashley were in grave danger. And then, suddenly, a promising tip broke through the tension. A small, blonde hair, blue-eyed little girl had been spotted at a nearby truck stop. And for a fleeting moment, Bert's heart was full of hope. He was like, this is Ashley. Had someone finally found his daughter. But unfortunately, that hope was short-lived. The crushing news came in that this was not Ashley. And that pain of being disappointed like that

hit him so hard. Each dead end was a new wave of grief and frustration. And Bert was forced to once again confront the agony of not knowing where in the world his little girl was. or if she was still alive. And the detectives found themselves at a frustrating standstill as well. No clear suspects had emerged and every potential lead seemed to slip away as quickly as it appeared.

The clock was ticking. An investigator struggled to find any clues that might finally break this case wide open. Then they turned their attention back to Angela's home, hoping maybe they overlooked something. They finally decided to carefully examine something deeper, though. Angie's diary.

Because diaries could, reveal a lot of things, hidden truths, secret fears, important encounters. And Angie's diary was no exception. It did offer detectives an intriguing new lead. In the days leading up to her disappearance, Angie had attended a wedding alongside a local police officer, but not her female friend Kimberly. This was a male officer, someone that hadn't come forward yet. Investigators quickly brought him in for questioning curious as to why he hadn't initially told them he was with Angie before she vanished. The officer explained that he hadn't mentioned their outings

simply because he knew he wasn't the last person to see Angie. After all, she had gone canoeing with Lisa, her best friend, the very next day. So after thoroughly verifying his account, investigators cleared him as a suspect and once again, they were left searching for answers. However, the piece about the wedding wasn't the only interesting piece of information

that the officers learned from Angie's diary. Between the lines of everyday details and ordinary worries, detectives discovered something else. Angie mentioned meeting someone new. Someone she playfully referred to in her diary as back rub clay. She said they met during the county fair that had just come through town recently. That seemed innocent enough.

Just a passing encounter at the fairgrounds. But to investigators, it stood out. This was someone new, someone unknown, someone who might have answers. The county fair, I'm sure most of you know, you have one in your whole, hometown, one day you're just driving down your normal route, and then out of nowhere, an entire parking lot is full of bright colors, flashing lights, and towering rides just appearing out of nowhere, turning into ordinary farmland or a fairway into a magical, chaotic world full of swirling excitement, the Ferris wheel towering above everything else, slowly rotating and its glowing

lights a signal to those young and old to come have some fun. You can almost hear children laughing high above the ground, mixed with screams of delight and feet. from thrill seekers clinging to their seats on rides that are spinning and tilting. The air smells different, a mix of sweet, irresistible cotton candy and funnel cakes, dusted generously with powdered sugar and buttery popcorn popping endlessly. It's magical. It really is. Especially for a little one, like eight-year-old Ashley, the perfect outing for mother and daughter. But who was this mystery man that Angie met?