True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 1: Teen's Dog Came HOME, But SHE DIDN'T! Murder In a Small Town

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

What began as a peaceful post-Thanksgiving jog in Acme, Washington, became one of the Pacific Northwest’s most chilling mysteries. When 18-year-old Amanda “Mandy” Stavik’s dog returned home without her, a small town was thrust into a nightmare that would haunt it for decades. In True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha unravels the heart breaking case of Mandy Stavik the beloved college freshman whose disappearance shattered a community and the relentless investigation that finally brought her killer to justice. How did a simple run turn into tragedy? Find out in this gripping episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's fall in rural northwest Washington. Imagine quiet roads, wood smoke filling the air, fog hanging low over the river, and a three-mile route that 18-year-old Mandy Stavik knew by heart. She laced up her brand new running shoes, put on her Walkman in headphones, and took off with her German Shepherd, Kyra, pacing at her hip.

She passed a neighbor, even her little brother saw her on her way back, about a quarter mile from home. The kind of distance that meant nothing to Mandy, as a certified lifeguard. She was a cheerleader, track, basketball player, and the kind of girl that was fearless. She was athletic and she was confident. But now her family had to add missing to the list of things that defined her because that evening her dog, Kyra, came back up the driveway wet, muddy and breathing hard, and the dog came home, but Mandy didn't. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. And if you are new here and you've ever been here, I am Kimberlea.

It's nice to finally meet you. So let me take you back to that small rural town of Acme, Washington. And I swear that these towns just... Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th. The powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamava Theater. Only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

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I could almost miss it trying to look for it. It was 1989, and it was more of a settlement than a town. Think scattered houses tucked away into the woods, fog that would roll in over the South Fork, Newseco River, dirt roads, dead ends, and logging trucks chugging along the highway. I feel like Acme is the kind of place you would go to get away from the world. A silent piece of paradise. And it is beautiful. Breatthaking views of waterfalls right in your backyard pouring right into a bubbling creek.

A sound that would become a soundtrack of peace, lulling you to sleep at night. I always need a sound at night. Mine is a boxman. So this sounds so relaxing and so tranquil. But it was also very secluded, especially where Mandy's mother's house was. It was at the very end of town. Her backyard blended right into an endless forest. It was on a small farm off of Clipper Road, a pretty four-bedroom, two-story farmhouse on a dead end,

with its own stream for fishing, two waterfalls, a barn, stable, and lots of land. 22 acres, to be exact. I mean, look at this picture, if you're watching. This is a screenshot I took from Google Earth. and it is so pretty that it almost looks professional with the sun, peeking through the trees like that. But I'm going to overemphasize, it's the middle of nowhere, because this is what it looks like on the other side of the road from the house. Nothing but trees. Trees everywhere. I mean, look at what the view looks like from the kitchen. Trees. And the bathroom window? More trees. So I think you

get the picture. Families had been there for generations passing their land and their homes down to their children. Neighbors were so close. they were practically family, the type that could say their grandparents are best friends. The kind that you would call your cousins, even though you're not related. It was a really nice town. Mandy had called Acme home since she was 12 years old. She grew up there. It was safe.

And I know I haven't told you much about Mandy. Don't worry. You're going to know everything that I could find. She was an extraordinary person, truly. But just one day after Thanksgiving on Friday, November 24th of 1989, she went missing from the very idyllic place that I just described to you. It might seem unreal, and it did to the people living in this town. It was a living nightmare.

The quiet town came alive in the worst way. It started with phone calls. Was Mandy over there, her mom would ask? And when she wasn't, it turned into friends, piling into their cars, neighbors grabbing flashlights to go search, deputies knocking on doors along Strand Road, where Mandy had been last seen. Then came the search and rescue teams,

fanning out through pastures and timber yards, U.S. Customs, planes were flying over the river, and bloodhounds worked the ditches down below. Professional trackers were sent in, examining every bent blade of grass and scuffed gravel on dirt roads, like a second language that only the best are fluent in, and these were the best. They were on the case. They were looking for any sign of Mandy. A town that never locked their doors and left their keys in the ignition of their cars, were suddenly checking windows, calling their children, and leaving their porch lights on on purpose. All for Mandy.

You know when people say to know her was to love her? As cliche as that sounds, everyone loved Mandy. And of course, her story doesn't start here. It started years earlier, thousands of miles away, with a family that already knew grief all too well. Amanda Teresa Stavik, known as Mandy, was born April 16th of 1971 in Anchorage, July. to her father, Glenn and mother, Mary Stavik. Mandy was the fourth in line. Brent came first, a whole 12 years before her in 1959,

then Mary Alice two years later, and six years after that, it was Molly and then Mandy. But finally, five years later came the baby, Lee Stavik. Home for the Stavik family of seven was Fort Richardson military base and Glenn was a pilot. It was the kind of place where kids learned independence early on. Brent, especially. At 16, he was a proud and very capable hunter, and with permission, he was allowed to hunt on this military base. And I told you that this family was familiar with grief. And that's because on August 5th of 1975, everything changed.

Brent went missing. He could not be found anywhere. He didn't come home from hunting. And then the family got a call. Brent had been found, deceased out in the woods. He had been shot while he was hunting. and Mary was told there were 17, 22 caliber bullets found in his back. It was devastating. And even though an investigation was done to try to find out who did this to him, no one was ever charged. His death is still unsolved. Was it an accident?

Or was it something more sinister? To me, 17 bullets seems very excessive, but I'm not a hunter. You tell me, what do you think? What I can tell you is that it tore this family. apart. Losing a child is an unbearable loss that some parents never overcome, and for Mary and Glenn, at the very least, it led them to a divorce. That's when Mary moved with the kids to a house on Clipper Road in Acme in 1983. Rural Washington. Glenn eventually remarried and Mandy gained step-siblings close to her age, but tragedy followed Glenn. In 1988, his stepson Spencer actually drowned in a river

after a boating accident. He was only 20 years old. By then, it already felt like fate had taken more than its share from this poor family. And I can't imagine losing a son and then getting remarried only for my new wife to lose her son. It's more than tragic, it's almost cruel that Glenn had to relive all that. And as you can probably guess, Mandy's story does not have a happy ending. So the cruelty did not end there. Mary felt insulated from danger that was one of the same. reasons why she moved her children to Acme, it was for safety and for protection from this cruel world. And Mandy fit right in. She could fit in anywhere, but at the same time, she stood out because she was strikingly beautiful, shiny, golden blonde hair that had the perfect amount of

curl to it, a big bright white smile and deep brown eyes, the type that could make you stop dead in your tracks and stare into them just a little too long. She had kind eyes and just a way about her. She was fearless, vivacious, and gregarious, according to those who knew her. She was a little girl who slipped under an electric fence when she was only two years old and toddled into a field with four enormous 2,000-pound bulls when Mary found Mandy. She nearly stopped breathing, knowing that her little one was right there among these very powerful animals. But the bulls looked like they froze. They were just standing in place with this tiny human with absolutely no sign of aggression or danger.

Of course, Mary quickly snatched Mandy back and her heart was pounding, but the story became a favorite in her family. It showed a part of what Mandy was like. She was born, unafraid, according to her family. And that streak never left. She would ride horses bear back when most kids still needed a hand and obviously, you know, a saddle and stirrups. She took on every challenge. And you wouldn't want to dare Mandy to do something because you absolutely knew that she would. But fearless didn't.

mean careless. Mandy was curious, but she was intentional. If someone told her she couldn't do something, she would say, watch me. It's no surprise that once she was at Mount Baker High School, she built a resume that looked impossible, but she made it her normal. And I'm talking National Honor Society, cheerleader, athlete, musician. She played the saxophone. She ran cross-country. She played softball. She cheered for the football games every Friday night. And on top of the time, and on of all that, she made straight A's. Her mom said that Mandy wanted to be good at everything, and she was.

She dived into the school's exchange programs to meet students from other countries, and by her senior year, she had fallen in love with a Japanese language. And honestly, where did she find the time? But if there is any time that we can do something like that in life, it is your high school days. The responsibilities aren't as heavy

as they will be once you become an adult. But Mandy's work ethic was earned through disappointment. Her freshman year, she tried out for the basketball team, and she didn't make it. But she didn't let that entirely crush her. She was determined. She trained hard, and she tried out again next year as a sophomore, and she did make the team in that summer. She went to basketball camp and leveled up to junior varsity.

And for the next three years, she was a starter on her team and one of the most valuable players. It taught her a lesson. Put in the hard work, and it can open doors for you. Mandy was described by her older sister, Molly, as larger than life. She was very popular. Everyone knew Mandy, even if you weren't close friends with her. And even though her personality was big enough to fill an entire room, her circle of friends was a tight-knit group,

her best friend Annie, her three older sisters, and her first true love, Rick Zender. He was a year ahead of her in school, and they met when she was a freshman and he was a sophomore. They made an adorable couple. He had dark hair and hazel eyes, and they were the typical high school sweetheart. They just looked at each other with those puppy dog guys, and you could tell how much they adored each other's company.

But Rick always thought that Mandy was entirely out of his league and that he was so lucky to have such an amazing girlfriend. For people in Mandy's life, it wasn't uncommon for them to say things like this and actually mean it. Even her own mother said she didn't know what she did to have a child like Mandy. She was just so extraordinary because Mary herself said that she was normal. She couldn't understand how she essentially created this beautiful, well-rounded, grounded, intelligent, athletic, all-American sweetheart. But Mary sacrificed a lot for her children. She built a very steady life for them.

She even drove the Mount Baker School District bus so that her schedule could align with her kids' schedules. She would show up for their sports games and for school pickups and all those moments in between that shape a teen into who they will become as an adult. So Mary, Mandy was amazing because you are amazing. I think a lot of parents underestimate just how much they do for their children. And sometimes I can tell just by reading everything I did in cases like this and hearing Mary speak about her children. She herself was an extraordinary woman, and I think you will find that out.

In June of 1989, 18-year-old Mandy crossed the Mount Baker High School stage with honors. And that summer, she worked at the YMCA Children's Day Camp. And in classic Mandy style, she quickly developed her own opinions on how everything should be run around there. Speaking up would rub some people the wrong way, like her coworkers in this case. But that also fit exactly who Mandy was. Remember, she was the little kid who darted under fences and faced bulls head on at just two years old. If something could be better, she was the one that was bold enough to say it out loud. That's how change happens.

She was outspoken, and she was unwilling to accept less than what she was. believed was right. And by the fall, Mandy had already set off to attend Central Washington University. It was three and a half hours away from home in Ellensburg, Washington. It would have been quite the change for someone like Mandy who came from such a small town. She was excited for this new chapter in her life. Her father, as I told you, was a pilot. So initially, Mandy had planned to study aviation and become a commercial airline pilot. But during that first semester, she realized that she wanted to focus on nutrition and fitness, and she also wanted to do a career that would help people.

It makes sense. For someone who pretty much played every sport in high school, she loved being active, she would regularly jog everywhere around campus, and back in Acme, she would too. She would take the three-mile route on Strand Road from her mom's house all the way down to the river in a straight shot, and her mom always went with her. Mandy would run with Cairo the dog as well,

and Mary would ride her bike, and they would go to the river and then go back home. And she continued this routine around campus jogging all the time. Sometimes her dorm roommate, Yoko Yuchiyami, would actually join her. They lived in an all-women's dorm, and Yoko was an exchange student from Japan, and they quickly bonded. They would practice each other's languages every day together, and by the time Thanksgiving rolled around,

Mandy actually invited Yoko to come home with her to celebrate back in Acme. She couldn't wait to introduce Yoko to all the American traditions. She was also excited to come home and experience the familiarity she had been missing because being homesick happened even to the most prepared and ambitious students. And this break would give Mandy a few days to step out of the cafeteria line and back into her family kitchen, see familiar faces around town, indulge in Turkey, a living room full of family, laughing and sharing jokes that only made sense to the people that knew them. And right when she arrived back home, She slipped easily back into the rhythm of this small town. The same mailbox with a dented corner, the route to the river, the dog who was a bit older now, but still glued to her side. It was home.

But now we've made it full circle. Back to the day after Thanksgiving. Friday, November 24th, Black Friday. A day for leftovers. Cousins chatting together on the couch. And everyone moving a bit slower and relaxing. Mandy got ready to do what she always did. her daily jog. It was around 2 p.m. when Mandy laced up her brand new running shoes,

clipped on her Walkman player to her waistband of her sweb hands, put on her headphones, grabbed Kyra's leash, and headed out to Strand Road. Mary broke routine though. She assumed that she would have a couple more days to spend with Mandy, so she hung back to visit with her sister, who was also in town. It's something she would live to regret. But why would anyone think that Mandy would be in danger. It's a mile and a half to the river and a mile and a half back, and it ran right through their small hometown. It was in the middle of nowhere. Surely no strangers would be out there waiting for a woman like this in a place like this that only happened in dark alleyways in big cities, not in Acme. Mandy walked out the door with Kyra, and that was it.

That was the last time her mother would ever see her daughter alive. And what's scary is how ordinary that day was. Someone's last everything. Last goodbye. Last jog. Last breath. It was an ordinary Friday until it wasn't. And that actually happened around 5.30, three hours after Mandy had left. But well before that, after she was expected home, Mary was already worried. She began to get concerned when Mandy was running late. These days, we'd just pick up our cell phones, but back in 1989, we're talking before people were regularly even carrying pagers. Mandy was so responsible. And that night, she actually had plans to go see a movie with Yoko.

So it was really odd that she was taking it so long. It usually only took about an hour to go the full three miles to the river and back. Mandy's little brother, 13-year-old Lee, had come home from his friend Jeremy Anderson's house. He was back around 3.30, and he told his mother, he saw Mandy. He saw her jogging away from the house. And then about 15 minutes before he went back. Back home, he saw her jogging back in the direction of home. She was only about a quarter of a mile away.

So Mandy should have been home before Lee. So by 4.30, he and Mary got into a car and went looking in the neighborhood, thinking, you know, could she have stopped to talk to someone? Or worse, was she hurt? But there was no sign of her. Now, once back at home, an hour passed since they had left and still nothing, and that is when they spot Kyra,

Coming up the driveway alone, wet, muddy, and breathing like she has been sprinting for hours. But there's no Mandy behind her. And that's when Mary's stomach drops. She actually yelled out to the dog, where's Mandy? What happened? Where is Mandy? But this loyal pooch was in a panic. She was whimpering, pacing the front porch, and Mary knew right away, something wasn't right. She called Mandy's boyfriend Rick. He hadn't seen her. He tried to calm Mary down. He was giving her her logical explanations. Maybe she took the long way around. Maybe Kyra got away when she was like tying her shoe or something. Maybe she just wanted a longer run after a big Thanksgiving meal. She'd be back. Don't worry. But Mary was worried. And that had turned into fear. Each minute,

those explanations made less and less sense. If Mandy was with a friend or she changed plans, she would have let her mother know. That's who she was. Mary had run out of options. She called everyone that she knew, so she had to dial 911. And the response was immediate. This was one of their own,

someone they knew a family in town, but more than that, they knew it wasn't a teen runaway. It wasn't a troubled person that would just leave, nothing like that. So a deputy sheriff came and questioned the family to take initial statements. Between Yoko, Lee, and Mary, they were able to describe

what they remember Mandy wearing last. A light-colored sweatshirt, dark-teal green sweatpants, new white Reebok running shoes with blue and purple stripes, and a gold watch, silver hoop earrings, and a Walkman portable radio. Mandy was 5'8, she was 130 pounds with shoulder-length curly blonde hair and brown eyes. She was last seen by her brother Lee,

and from his vantage point at the Anderson's house, located about a half a mile away from their home, He watched his sister run from the direction of their house, past the Andersons on her way to the river, and then ran right past him on the way back. Family and then friends, and then the entire town was searching within hours, with Mary begging them, please look for her.

A neighbor then came forward, and he said he also saw Mandy. You couldn't miss her. Everyone knew who Mandy was in the neighborhood. And she was headed towards her house with Kyra by her side. by her side. Now, his vantage point was even closer than Mandy's brothers was. This man lived on the last house before you turn that curve before Mary's place. And he said as he was pulling into his driveway, she was running up ahead. And the only thing between her and her house were woods on the right side of Strand Road. So what could have happened to her within a thousand

feet of making it home, 0.2 miles, a curve along a small town road. It didn't make sense. Of course, officers want to speak to, you're probably going to guess, her boyfriend, Rick. Of course they do. The people closest to someone who's missing are questioned first. And he's stunned. Like everyone else, the new and loved Mandy, he asked tough questions, but it was clear he wasn't involved. He wanted to know what happened to his girlfriend.

They had dated for over three years, and he said, sure, they had, you know, their ups and downs. They broke up here and there, high school drama, but Rick was always there. for Mandy. He was the one who drove out to the university, picked her and Yoko up, and drove them back to Mary's for Thanksgiving. Rick was cleared of any suspicion. He wasn't even in the area at the time his girlfriend vanished. Now he could focus on trying to find her. When Mandy's older sister, Molly, got a frantic call from their mother saying that Mandy was missing, she couldn't believe it. She yelled, this can't be happening to us again. And that's because she already lived through her older brother going missing and being found dead.

It was so familiar. Mary repeated it back to Molly, reassuring her, and she said, no, this can't happen to our family again. It just can't happen. Of course we're going to find Mandy. It's going to be okay. The thing is, Mary didn't really believe that. Deep down, she feared the worst.

And it didn't take long for this to become a very intense search effort. Deputies started knocking on doors along Strand Road. Mount Baker residents are throwing on jackets. They're following Mandy's route that she always ran. Bloodhounds are arriving with their handlers. There's even a helicopter that's sweeping the river from above. It was from a company called Glacier Helicopters, and it was owned by Andrew McMurray,

and he volunteered this chopper because his daughter, Heather, was one of Mandy's school friends. Even Border Patrol agents rolled in, and volunteers were on horseback all around the car. all around town. Everyone was hoping that Mandy would be found alive and unharmed, but by nightfall, she had still not been located. They needed more daylight, so the search picked up

the very next day on Saturday the 26th. And Sheriff Larry Mount officially upgraded this case from a missing person to a possible abduction. The search grid expanded to four miles out into Watcombe County. And their search and rescue were everywhere, combing the tree lines, the cut-throughs, house to house, re-asking the same questions, looking for any shift in someone's story. What time did you see her?

Which direction was she running in? Was she alone? Did you see the dog come back? There are only about 12 houses between Mandy's and the river. That's it. But tips were coming in fast. Someone actually reported seeing a white Jeep Cherokee or a similar vehicle with black window trim.

There was a woman and two teenagers inside, and it was unfamiliar to the area. So, of course, deputies are asking the public to come forward, especially if you are those people, just so that they could be questioned in case they saw something. The phones wouldn't stop ringing. Everyone wanted to help, and it wasn't long, before Mandy's disappearance attracted local, state,

and even national media attention. This happened almost immediately. Now, 52-year-old Mary, her mother, pleaded publicly for her daughter's safe return. And while she's on camera, her voice is shaking. and you can just tell the desperation in her voice. This woman already knew tragedy. She was called strong for what she was going through,

but she said, no one can be strong through something like this. She pleaded to whoever might have her daughter to not hurt her. She said, don't hurt her. We need her back. She's got things to do. And that just broke my heart. I mean, this is a young girl with so much potential and so much life ahead of her.

And at this point, the deputy, are filming everything with cameras, video cameras, because they don't know if this is going to be a potential crime scene, and it seems like everything might matter. And that's smart. They want to document the way everything looked just in case. And then they do find something. Down a rough spur road, they find a pair of green sweatpants. And they knew Mandy was last seen wearing something similar. And they think this is a lead. So they bring Mary down to take a look. Now you have to understand what this looks like. And I think I might have some very very footage from the actual cop who took this video and saw the sweatpants. There was a lot of dead grass and a lot of leaves and things like that and brush around. And it looked different from how new the sweatpants appeared among everything that was there. And that obviously stood out. But when Mary saw them, she noticed that the sweatpants were dirty. They had rips in them. And Mary's like, no, no, no. My daughter would never wear a pair of pants like. like that. But she also admitted that she didn't want to believe that they were Mandy's.

And I was thinking to myself, well, I mean, just because they were ripped at this point and dirty doesn't mean they were when she went out running in them. They might have gotten ripped and dirty from a struggle. And the officers are thinking the same thing. So they bag them and they send them to the crime lab. Now, initially, when they did an examination of these pants, they believed they were unrelated to the crime. Now, they are very similar color pants, but they didn't find any hairs, they didn't find any prints on them. And when they compared some of Mandy's items to these pants, the Bloodhound didn't signal that there was a connection. So it seems like a dead end for now. And that's when trackers are sent in. And I'm so impressed with what these experts can do.

They look for signs, things that we would probably miss because we're not trained. For instance, Did you know that trees bleed and that leaves bruise? And when a branch is broken, it wounds in its own way. And over time, that wound, much like ours, scabs over and then scars. And this is a timeline that we can build based on the damage and the spots on the leaves from being trampled on. And they get darker and darker with time. Another indicator of when they were walked on or torn from a branch. And all of that is very interesting to me.

They were out there and they finally find Mandy's shoe impressions and Kyra's paw prints in the dirt on the right side of Strand Road, not too far from where her house is. But then they just stop right there on the road, like they were just plucked out of the sky. No sign of a scuffle or struggle in the dirt. And now investigators believe someone must have pulled up next to Mandy in a car and maybe used a weapon to convince her to get inside or else. When one of the officers tried to get Kyra to come and retrace the path that, you know, the dog and Mandy took together, the dog was so scared. And now seeing the prince and seeing that dirt, they think that poor Kyra was kicked and

that she probably went down an embankment into the woods. She couldn't protect Mandy. That gave her abductor a chance to pull her into their vehicle. Now, with this theory in mind, they think it must have been a gun. And Mandy had to have been terrified. But was this just a random stranger passing through their lovely town, spotting this beautiful young woman just jogging, and in the spur of the moment, decided to take her?

Or was it deeper than that? Was she targeted? And worse yet, was her abductor someone that she knew? Someone local. Now, that was terrifying to the residents of Acme. Parents start keeping their kids inside. No one is jogging anywhere anymore, and Strand Road is quiet. Where was Mandy?

In less than 24 hours, her friends, neighbors, business owners, they actually raised more than $8,000 for a reward fund. They were placing jars and local shops, and they were desperate to do something, anything to find her and bring her home. Her college dorm mates were distraught. They had just seen her, and now her face was plastered on TV. The community was just stunned. No one could understand how a young woman,

just on Thanksgiving break from college in her safe hometown, could be taken like that. Everyone was glued to the news for updates. Now, by the third day of the search, Monday, November 26th, their last resort was to check up and down the South Fork-Nusica River by boat. And that morning, a couple of searchers

headed out on a fire department provided inflatable rescue boat, checking the shoreline. A volunteer firefired, from Everson Hall leaned over the side of his boat, and he said that he spotted something hung up on a sandbar, three and a half miles downstream from where Mandy was last seen. So they throttle closer.

It's about knee-deepwater, the kind you would wade through without thinking, but they don't get out. They don't wade. They don't disturb anything. They call Sergeant Ron Peterson over, and he stood on the shore in front of where their boat was, and he too saw something. you saw something. He said it looked pink, and he realized it was an unclothed body,

wearing only a pair of white Reebok running shoes and socks. Now, those shoes matched the description of Mandy's, so we knew it must have been her. What he saw that was pink was actually her skin from being in the water as long as she must have been. She was face down, caught on a branch and debris that kept her from drifting even farther away. This was a man that had seen a lot of tragedy in his life. He had been in a war, but this moment would be the hardest one of his entire career. He was the one who actually stepped into the water. He knew he had to, oh, so carefully turn her over just to be certain it was Mandy,

but also he needed to preserve any evidence that could be present. Now, he had coincidentally, just and luckily, by the way, taken a 13th, course, an FBI training program in Quantico, Virginia. And it was all about the advances in DNA, which back then really were still in their infancy, but he knew he had to act with the utmost care. So he slowly turned her over. And he was shocked when he looked at her face. He said, it shocked him because she looked just like his daughter and he choked up. She was the same age, had the same feature, same hair color. And it was too much for this investigator, but also this bother to keep his composure. It hit too close to home. He remembers when he got to her and he lifted

her up. He whispered, I've got you. That made me tear up. My motherly side, it just shattered for her family. And it was clear. Mandy had not died from natural causes. There were scratches all over her thighs on her legs and arms. And right away, Sergeant Peterson knew why? Because she ran. She had run so hard right through the Blackberry bushes that surrounded the riverbank and they had thorns all through them and she ran trying to escape her killer. They never did locate the rest of her clothing or her walkmen. But one good thing about it being November was that the water was cold and it preserved evidence. Actually, the people that were there when she was found said that she just looked like she was sleeping and then at any moment she would just wake up. And that is so, so sad. And now it was time to tell

this heartbreaking news to her family. What could be surprising to some people was that Mary already knew. She said she knew that Mandy was dead. She said she doesn't know why, but she knew. And maybe mothers just do. She said she heard it from other mothers that they have known as well, that it's a feeling, a confirmation that you don't want to believe, and Mary just knew that feeling all too well. Her boyfriend, Rick, was at the house when an officer came, and he watched them speak to Mary, and then he was made aware of what they were relaying, and he knew that Mandy was not coming home.

And back at the scene, which was actually six miles away from her home, Mandy's body was placed into a body bag and then removed from the river. It was transported to the medical examiner's office for her full autopsy. And that's when the full picture of what happened to her came into focus. There is blood on the back of her head, beneath her thick hair, a two by three inch hematoma. It's the kind of blow that doesn't have to be fatal, but it can knock someone out long enough for, let's say, someone to take advantage of them. There were a few scratches on her, like I had mentioned, and they were likely from those Blackberry

thorns, from a frantic push through those bushes to get away. Now, there were no defensive wounds, and this meant, you know, she didn't fight to the death instead, the examiner concluded that Mandy drown, which is its own kind of haunting thing to think about because Mandy was a very strong swimmer. She was a certified lifeguard. And the water where she was found was just knee-deep. But that is if she had been conscious she could have swam. She could have stood up. But her assailant, he made sure she couldn't. And I say he, because there was another finding that the detectives know could matter more than anything else. male DNA recovered from Mandy's body.

I think you know what I'm saying when I say male DNA. Detective Ron Peterson pushes hard to get this case into the DNA pipeline so it can be tested. And with federal help, they actually got a profile, an unknown male. In 1989, it's like you have the right key, but you don't have the lock to try it in because, of course, they need to find a person to test it against. But they decide to preserve the samples. like the future depends on it? Because it does.

Dave McEachran was a district attorney for Waucombe County and he gets involved. This was murder. Mandy was taken, violated, beaten over the head until she was unconscious and thrown into the river. He's ready to find out who did this and then prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

They already suspect this could be someone local. One investigator said he either knew this area well or he's the luckiest son of a bitch in the world, that he was able to get around unseen in the middle of the day, nowhere to snatch Mandy, where to hide her body, and it could have never been found had it drifted further down that river. That was probably what the monster was hoping would happen.

At Mount Baker High School, the girls' basketball team, of course, was completely distraught. This was Mandy's team. And they had a game scheduled that night when her body was found. They decided to still play. It wasn't about winning or gaining points. It was about doing the thing that she always did, which was show up. Even though it was extremely hard for them to focus, they played for Mandy. And then, of course, came her memorial service.

It was on Sunday, December 3rd. It was a dreary, cold, rainy day. They needed the high school auditorium because no church could hold what this town needed. There were more than a thousand people that came out. There was a large drawing of Mandy and read, white point cietas. Her friend Julia read a poem about a gold chain that won't break. Her boyfriend Rick and his brother Chris and their dad played the guitar. And Mandy's basketball coach, who was like a father figure to her, made the room laugh through their tears, with a line that

everyone could just hear Mandy saying in her voice. Wow, Freeman, look at all those people. Then two of her classmates and friends Pete Stewart and Annie Sergi performed Mandy's song. It was written just for her. Some of the lyrics are, I can't believe evil's taken innocence away. And that's exactly what it felt like. It gets recorded. It's even played on the local radio and it's sold in stores. And the proceeds go to the Mandy Stavik Fund. Now after the service, the Poinsietas are carried out to the high school track field, Mandy's place. And the burial is then private. She's laid to rest in a small cemetery just up the street from her house. There is this picture of her boyfriend Rick

holding a teddy bear that he once gave to her. He's holding it right in front of her grave. And he said for a while it smelled like Mandy, but then slowly it didn't anymore. And I think about that all the time. I've lost loved ones, and their clothes will smell like them for a short while. It's just holding onto that tiny piece of them.

It's comforting but also heartbreaking all over again. when that scent just fades away. But what wasn't fading was investigators' efforts to find Mandy's killer. People in the area were both frightened, but they were also angry. It felt as though evil had invaded their town, tearing apart the sense of trust

that had defined it for so many generations. Families who once just left their door wide open for neighbors to come and go, they were double checking their locks at night. Parents who always let their children roam freely, kept them close by. Mandy's murder didn't just devastate her family and friends. It changed this entire community,

especially because this happened during the holiday season. It's a time when people come together. They're happy. They're spending time with family. They're enjoying the warmth of the season. But how could they? When there was a killer walking among them. He was still out there.

And within days of Mandy's body being discovered, crime stoppers gets involved. They post a thousand-dollar reward. and they open up a dedicated tip line, and the calls come in. Witnesses have already reported that white Jeep type SUV, and then another resident had a tip about a vehicle as well. It was Paul Malik, and I told you about him earlier. He was the one that was pulling into his driveway when he saw Mandy closing into that curve close to her house.

He said that he saw a full-size, possibly a Chevy, it was dark, it was a pickup truck with a gold stripe and oversized tires. It also had a matching canopy on top. And these were details that was on everybody's radar because everyone knew everyone else's trucks and cars in the area. But Paul couldn't give them much more information. He couldn't give them an exact make, model, plate number,

or a year, but I was thinking, why would he have known to write any of that down? It's after the fact that he's like, oh, wait, yeah, I saw her running towards her house and, yeah, I saw this car. But for some reason, the investigators kind of think that he's purposely inserting himself into Mandy's case? Some people do. And that made him suspicious and raised a red flag. He even says, oh, I don't want to give any DNA unless the court orders me to do so.

But I will have you know I'm not going to go into everything they said and did in interviews. He's excluded. His DNA does not match the unknown male sample from Mandy's body because eventually he does give his DNA. The community was also at a loss about what they were supposed to do. You know, nothing like this has ever happened anyone there. And the advice that was given by officers at press conferences was, well, if you're jogging, just, you know, face traffic. That way you won't be taken by surprise if someone tries to grab you. And that, to me, did not feel like real advice, especially if you're faced with a deadly weapon. With the scale of the fear getting bigger, more questions are being asked.

People are wondering, could this be the Green River Killer? It's Washington. I don't know how familiar you are with that case, but also people have lived through Ted Bundy's headlines. That was in Seattle. And they were currently living through the Green River case at that point. Mandy's age, the way she looked, it seemed to fit the Green River killer's victim pattern.

A lot of them were underage or people with vulnerable lifestyles, runaways, things like that. And they were found in the Green River. But the Green River killer, he had a very dark, of, I'm going to say, not really disposing of his victims, he would keep them hidden in brush outdoors, and he would come back and he would do things to them until they were too decomposed. And it's just terrible. But still, Waltham County detectives on Mandy's case sat down with the Green River Task Force,

and they start comparing notes. And eventually it's established. This does not match the pattern. Part of this is a relief. It's a reset. If it's not the Green River killer, then who is it? They're just ruling things out, which they're supposed to do. Now it's the new year, though.

It's 1990, and Mary refuses to let her daughter's case fade away. She put herself in the public eye. She appeared on talk shows. She gave interviews. She was determined to keep Mandy's name in the headlines. By August of that year, with the case now kind of getting cold, unfortunately, and still no arrest, Detectives released some new details so that they could spark some attention. At this point, after extensive research, they do confirm what Mary couldn't believe at the scene.

Remember those green sweatpants found off that dirt road? Well, they did belong to Mandy. They were hers. They were the ones that she was wearing on her run before she was killed.