True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 1: The DISTURBING Murder of Irish Schoolgirl Anastasia Kriégel - True Crime Deep Dive

Episode Date: April 5, 2026

In True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha dives deep into the heart breaking 2018 case of Irish schoolgirl Ana Kriegel. What began as a simple knock on the door and a trip to the park quickly turned into a chilling mystery when Ana never returned home. Who was the “friend” who came calling—and what really happened that day? In this emotional Deadly Deep Dive, True Crime with Kimbyr blends detailed investigation with compassion, unravelling a case that shook Ireland and left haunting questions behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't worry, you have your whole life ahead of you. It's a common phrase that a lot of young people hear, young people like Anna, a 14-year-old schoolgirl living in Ireland in 2018. No one could have predicted the horrifying events that would take place on an ordinary day after school in May. This is Anna's story. Hi, everyone, welcome back to my channel. My name is Kimberlya. If you've never been here before, nice to finally meet you. This is my very first case out of Ireland and it's fitting for March as this is the month of St. Patrick's Day. That's why my set is set up this way and I saved it for this month in particular. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere

of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot of the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava celebrating its 40th anniversary. U.N. Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. This is the story of Anastasia Creasal. And I can't wait to tell you about her because she was a very special little girl. Anastasia, who ended up going by the nickname Anna, was born just a few days after Valentine's Day on February 18th, 2004, all the way.

Russia. Sorry if I'm not saying that perfectly. It is located in Siberia. After her birth, her biological mother actually surrendered her to a Russian orphanage, where she stayed for the first two and a half years of her life. Now, many of us have heard the word orphanage. And maybe if you're my age, you think back to a little orphan Annie, the movie Annie, and what the conditions were like as depicted by Hollywood. But if you thought that those children were living the hard knock life, Russian orphanages have an even worse reputation. I think it is of the utmost importance to discuss this just briefly. During my research, I read numerous stories about children who lived in Russian orphanages around the same time that Anna did, and their stories brought tears to my eyes.

One story I read was a little boy who was only 11 years old. His name was Zena, and he went through what I could only describe as absolutely horrifying. After being adopted, he was raised in Buffalo, New York, and this is what he said when he was interviewed about his experience as a child. He said he had experienced and seen things that no child should ever be exposed to. Being emotionally scarred, it was difficult for him to discuss the early events of his childhood without getting upset. The fact that he couldn't even discuss some of his child.

of the things he went through should tell you how bad they really were. These children, they feel isolated, abandoned, they go through fear and confusion. And that's at the least. It can be much worse than that. Many Russian orphanages are underfunded. They don't have enough staff members, and they're severely overpopulated with too many children for the staff to adequately care for. And the conditions are terrible. There's inadequate nutrition, insufficient emotional care, And many of these children are underdeveloped mentally and physically. And the longer they stay there, the worse off they are. Children are typically bathed together in ice cold water, by the way,

because not a lot of places have available hot water in these facilities. And it's true that they actually do eat porridge, hardly ever getting meat or protein unless it's tiny scraps of chicken. And the children share beds, usually with old mattresses that are worn out and have been donated. And the mental stimulation is last. because there's no extra funds for toys or other activities to develop their minds. I read all about this and I also found an organization called Human Rights Watch.

They continue to fight for the rights of individuals worldwide and they're still reporting high numbers of neglect and physical trauma in Russian orphanages. And many times children will try to escape and they have a better chance surviving on the streets. This is just a snapshot of what life was like for little Anna. for little Anna. And we don't know everything she went through, but it's been said that she was left alone a lot while the staff tried to manage more unruly children because she was little. She was a baby. And in their minds, probably easier to take care of, but this resulted in Anna having a lack of social and emotional developmental skills at first. Now looking through a different lens for a moment.

Life for a married couple Geraldine and Petriezel, about 4,000 miles away in Ireland, was quite different. By 2006, they had been married for 20 years. They were soulmates, best friends, and a little older in age than the typical first time parents, but that's what was missing, a family. They wanted a child so badly, and the adoption process was very long. It can take years, and the criteria is high. Parents must meet specific standards before they're allowed. to adopt especially outside of their country. And the adoption laws in Russia are very strict.

They actually discourage foreign adoption. And they prefer children to be adopted domestically. For example, the foreign adoption agencies, they must go through all this accreditation process and they have to be certified by Russia or they can't do business there. Once a child does become available, it takes months before they can be even considered

to be ready for adoption. And then there's a waiting period of between five months, and a year. Not to mention the fees. There are many fees included and generally speaking, I have seen adoption fees, not including travel, upward of $25,000 to $35,000. The creusials lived in a safe home in a quiet country village, a leafy suburb called Leakeslip, and this is in the northeast county of Coldair, Ireland. They had the resources. They had the means and the flexibility to care for a child. Patricke was originally from Paris, France. He taught commercial and business French language skills to students at the Dublin

Institute of Technology while Geraldine worked as a senior manager in the legal department of the state public transportation company. They both had successful careers. And after years of waiting for a child to call their own, they were informed that little Anna, only two and a half years old, was available and they could not wait to meet her. It was love at first sight. They flew all the way over to Ireland for their very first meetup and the creasials couldn't wait to shower Anna with love. This was their dream. But they didn't want to get their hopes up. So they kept the adoption quiet until they were 100% certain it was going forward. And once everything was set up and they got Anna back to Ireland, they could not wait to tell their friends and family that

they finally had a daughter. It was August 10, 2006, the official adoption day. And a week later, Anna came home with them. Actually, to announce the good news, the excited parents gathered all of their family and friends together and they gave them a little Russian nesting doll to open. These are traditional Russian toys and collectibles. If you've never seen them before, each wooden nesting doll opens up to reveal an even smaller one. Well, Patric and Geraldine, they had a special surprise in their nesting dolls. The smallest of them revealed a picture of Anna inside. And as a matter of Anna's new parents wanted her to appreciate her native culture. They believed Anna should know her entire story,

and that's why they decided to keep her name, Anastasia. Anna's nationality played a significant role in the entire family's lives. Anna even found and maintained contact with her younger birth siblings as she got older. Not only did Geraldine and Patricke celebrate Anna's birthday, February 18th, but they continued to celebrate every year on August 10th, the day that they finalized her.

adoption. It was a big deal. Anna also had a younger brother Aaron and I'm sorry to say there wasn't a lot of information for me to ascertain whether he had also been adopted, but I assumed since Patric and Geraldine were a little older and age at the time, they probably did end up getting Aaron from possibly even the same orphanage, although I don't know how old he was or how much later they adopted him or he was born. Nevertheless, family was the most important thing to the creusials. And their once quiet life as a couple turned into quite an adventure once Anna and Aaron came along. Anna was daddy's little girl and mommy's little princess. Here are some adorable pictures that I found of her and Patric together. And of course, Anna and Geraldine. They wanted

Anna to have everything that they could provide. And I can tell from these photos of her childhood that her family spent time loving on her ice skating, skiing, eating at restaurants, painting, just spending quality time together. And Anna was just precious, those big blue eyes. She had such innocence and wonder, and the family grew very close. Spending time with extended family, especially her Aunt Jan and Anna's best friends. They were her cousins. Their names were Sab and art, and they had so much fun together. The family spent, every summer in Ansi France to visit Patric's side of the family and they also had a home there. It's where Anna made a lot of friends. This was an annual tradition that Anna always looked forward to.

She loved her father's homeland and she was proud to be able to learn the French language as well. And every night, she would come into her parents room, she would kiss them good night and she would say in French, good night, sleep tight, have beautiful dreams. I love you. I told you Anna, was a very special girl. But with all the positives in Anna's life, there were a lot of struggles that wouldn't be a parent from the outside looking in. While Anna was growing up, she faced several difficulties.

Initially, it was the language barrier. Since she was only exposed to Russian for the first two and a half years of her life, Anna struggled to learn English. And that's to be expected. It's typically easier for young children to learn a second language, but Anna faced obstacles due to her experience in the orphanage.

Children's brains develop at a fast pace in those first two years of life, but nevertheless, the creasials did everything they could to help their daughter. And soon she was assimulating just fine into her new home, but next there were the attachment issues. And again, due to the neglect in the orphanage, most of Anna's time there was spent in a crib. She wasn't cuddled. She wasn't shown love like a parent usually does with their children. and some children just lay in the crib all day long.

Those nurturing relationships and positive learning experiences, coupled with proper nutrition and health, that's what gives babies a solid foundation for life. And Anna lacked these vital aspects. She missed out on that love and affection. But Geraldine and Patricke, they made up for that loss once she was in their care. They supported their daughter with whatever she needed. And one of the first significant struggles that Anna faced, was medical in nature. She was in elementary school and a doctor found a tumor in her right ear

during a routine medical exam. And although the doctor said this can be removed, the five and a half hour surgery left Anna almost deaf in her right ear and she was partially blind in that right eye. But that didn't stop her. She even had supposedly a noticeable scar left behind. But her mother described her as wild, wonderful, electric, and full of fun madness and laughter. And I tried to look for the scar. I couldn't find any pictures that showed it. I did see a small one right by her eye, but I wasn't able to pinpoint where any of the others were to my eyes. She was just flawless as can be. The scar was apparently on the back of her head and she had another one under her chin due to a bad fall. But aside from the scars being cosmetic in nature, her hearing and vision

that did cause her to fall behind academically. Unfortunately, she also had short-term memory issues related to some of her ailments, which made it very difficult for her to remember terms that she had to learn in school. So it was hard for her to get ahead. During primary school, which in Ireland is all the way up through middle school, which means until eighth grade, her parents often met with her guidance counselor. She was put into special classes so that she could try to get on par with other students. And the counselor did have some concerns about Anna, considering she was getting a little later

start academically, but she was doing really well considering everything that she had gone through. She was happy. The concerns were more about the future when she had to transition into high school. And I'm dealing with that right now with my 11-year-old. This is a time in these children's life when everything's changing. Hormones are changing. They're in an awkward stage. And the counselor was giving a warning that she thought Anna might.

have some trouble adjusting primarily because of how sensitive her nature was. But there were other things as well. Anna had a very colorful personality. She could be a little loud, obnoxious, overly excited, and that's normal for many kids or age. However, she had a tendency to gravitate towards younger children. She was still interested in cartoons, for example, when a lot of other children were moving more towards sports. But the creusials were determined to make life comfortable and happy as possible for Anna. So they decided to put her in swimming and she was very good at it. She was very athletic and growing at a much faster rate than most of the other kids her age, which made her in this more athletic side by nature. She also loved to

dance and sing and she decided to start dancing with a local dance troupe in the area where she met some of her closest friends. Anna would spend hours practicing her dancing in front of the mirror, and she would put on YouTube videos. She would look at the dance moves on YouTube, and her mom loved to watch her. It was one of her most fondest memories of Anna growing up. As her guidance counselor predicted, though, things weren't smooth sailing for Anna in secondary school

before even getting there. When she was about to make the transition, she confided in one of her teachers that she didn't know if she wanted to live anymore. And that's really sad. She just kept saying she was excited, because she imagined that maybe she was finally going to make some nice friends her own age. She craved friendship. She just wanted friends so badly. She wanted to belong. But once in secondary

school, which goes from ninth grade until 12 or from about the age of 12 to 15, and I know this can be a little confusing because I'm here in the U.S. and her school was called confi college. In the U.S. when you say college, that's after high school. But in this instance, Anna was going into what we would consider the ninth grade. Anna's school had over 700 students. Here's a picture from the website currently, and the kids definitely look way older. It's a transition period, for sure.

And it was harder for her to make solid friendships. Everything was new. Kids came from different primary schools. You have to get to know everyone all over again. And with the dawn of social media, what's important isn't just about what's real. Now children have the added pressure, of appearing cool online as well as in real life.

Now it's how many followers do you have, not what sports do you play? And kids will find just about anything to bully other people about. Some of the things that set Anna apart, for one, was that she was adopted. And that shouldn't be a big deal. But when some of her schoolmates found out that Anna didn't have, quote, real parents, she was actually teased about that. They would call her parents fake. and that made her feel like she didn't have that genuine love and connection that other kids did with

their families. I don't usually give my opinions in my videos. I try not to, but I can't help it in this case. I might hear and there voice something because as a parent, I know we can't control our kids, but we can teach them. I feel like it could help to explain to our children that everyone is different and to allow them the chance to realize how hurtful can be to criticize others for being different. They should never make it harder on anyone. You don't know their story. Be kind. Be remembered for the nice things you said and that you did for others, not the mean ones. And sadly, Anna was having a rough time. She just wanted to be friends with everyone so badly, but she turned inward. She felt rejected. And she began to spend even more time online where she had profiles

on a number of social media sites. By the time she was a teenager, She was on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and she had her own YouTube channel. YouTube was her absolute favorite. But as I'm sure you know, being online opens you up to a whole new world where anonymous people think it's their right to express any thoughts that they may have. And many times, they aren't very nice. And you're lucky if you've never experienced online bullying. I have.

I actually do on a regular basis on a daily basis. And not all of us react the same way. And not all of us can handle it. Being so young and impressionable, many teens and preteens can take these comments to heart, and it can destroy them. Worse, it can lead to them deciding they don't want to be on this earth any longer. And as much as Anna loved social media, it brought her more heartache than joy. Soon, however, Anna would go through another struggle.

All of a sudden, she started experiencing extreme emotional and physical pain from a growth spurt. and this was when she was around 13. She grew to 5 foot 8. After conducting a few tests, doctors diagnosed her with Oshkid Slaughter disease, which causes swelling and irritation of the growth plate on the top of the shin bone. And in most cases, it fades away when a child stops growing. But the most common symptoms of this disease are pain and swelling of the knees. And it is usually associated with growth spurts in children between the ages of 9 and 14 years old, especially if they do sports or activities that involve a lot of running and jumping, which Anna did a lot of with dance. Now, there was another thing setting Anna apart from her peers, and I just told you about it, she towered over them.

Many people, including her close friends, said that she looked like she was 18, not a mere 13-year-old. Being tall was looked at as odd. She's Siberian. So if she had been surrounded by other Siberian children, Russia, they may have been a lot similar. but she stood out in a crowd. And you'd think that would be a good thing. I used to dream of being taller. But as a kid, you stand out and standing out is not always a good thing.

She wanted to belong. She was taller than her father. Just think about it that way. I bet a lot of other kids looked more like kids. And not only that, she matured faster physically. And what I mean by that is her figure. She was filling out. Her hips were filling out.

Her chest was filling out. And with boys going through puberty, you can probably imagine how that went. teasing, you know, some of that may be seen as normal, like boys will be boys, but it doesn't mean it's okay. And it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt people. And soon, there were a lot of sexual comments being made towards Anna, online and in real life. It was a lot for a young girl to deal with, especially with her new hobby, posting dancing

videos on YouTube. And it wasn't long before Anna actually had over 100 subscribers. And that's actually a lot, especially back then. It's not easy. She was posting regularly, sometimes doing live streams, just chatting on her camera. And her YouTube channel still exists, but all of the videos have now been privated. However, I did find some screenshots from videos that she posted. And in one, she can be seen here wearing a red shirt with the word femme power on it.

Basically, girl power, and her hair was so wet from the shower, there was a towel on her head, she was doing her makeup while she was chatting to her viewers. You can see her with her bright pink eyeshadow, her red lips. She looks really pretty. For the most part, people had kind words to say to Anna, but unfortunately social media creators do open themselves up to criticism and ridicule. And some creators have thick skin. They can filter through the negative post, but Anna was naive.

She was 13 years old and she was sheltered. And the comments on these videos crushed her. She confided in her mom about what was going on. and it's hard when something you enjoy can bring you so much pain. I've been there. It's such a double-edged sword. Geraldine was very concerned. You know that times have changed.

Many parents don't know how to navigate social media and the issues that come with it can be very complicated. They don't want their child to feel alienated by taking away social media or their devices, so it's this back and forth delicate balance. If you take away these things and they're isolated and they're not allowed to experience life online with their classmates or group chats on text, they can be seen as an outcast and then they can be bullied more. Plus, it now seemed like Anna had more connections online than in real life. So Geraldine figured it was best not to remove social media from Anna's

life, but instead she would monitor it and that seems pretty reasonable. Every night Anna had to turn her iPhone in and her tablet over to her mom and give her all the passwords so that she could log in. This is so that Geraldine would go to all the sites and see what was happening. She was hoping to possibly shield her daughter from the negativity. Soon, Anna's mother was shocked by what she saw. In several comments on Anna's videos, people were saying things like, go die. Another person said that they were going to execute her. There was all kinds of talk about poisonous barbs and weird threats,

and Geraldine did not know what to do. Who were these people? It can be pretty confusing because parents usually conclude, it must be someone that my child knows because they're not famous, they're not a prominent YouTuber, so how else were these people finding her? But what many people don't understand is that the algorithms on these sites are made for discovery.

To find new things and new people, anyone can find you, anyone can hurt you, all while hiding behind a screen anonymously. Concerned for her well-being, Anna's parents, immediately arranged for a meeting with her new teacher and the principal at her high school. They expressed their concerns that Anna was susceptible to bullying because of her insecurities, her developmental delays, her adoption, and now her online presence. They were armed with screenshots. They showed the principal and the teacher all the comments, but the principal said that that would

not help. They could not identify, let alone control, something that someone did online. And it only made things worse for Anna because word got around that her parents were concerned about her. And soon her schoolmates found all of her social media profiles. And this led to even more bullying. And now it was online too. But Anna's bullying extended beyond the internet and into the real world in October of 2017. She had been doing some charity work. She was helping out at a costume party for children.

And then she was making her way back home walking by herself. she would take long walks all the time sometimes hours at a time wearing her favorite blue headphones and listening to music but this time she comes across four young men they block anna's path they wouldn't let her pass them they were taunting her and then one of them grabbed her rerend and he made really really inappropriate sexual remarks literally telling her that he was going to have intercourse with her and remember Anna looked like a grown woman but she was still a child on the side and she was terrified. She was pushing her way through the crowd of men, running home in tears, devastated. She was banging on her mom's door. She was embarrassed. She was horrified. And it took a long

time that night for Anna to finally calm down. This incident upset her so much. And Geraldine and Patricke, they did not take this incident lightly. They go down to file a report against these young men who harassed their daughter. And over in Ireland, they have one now. And they have one National Civilian Police Force and they're called Garda, which is Guardians of the Peace in Ireland. It has 14,000 staff members and they provide local and national law enforcement services. And like I said, commonly referred to as Garda. So they told the Garda officers about the man, how he touched Anna inappropriately. And after speaking to the young man who grabbed her behind, Garda simply issued a warning.

No charges were filed against him, and Anna's parents were worried. They decided they would drive her to school every day and then walk her to her classes, which is not normal for a teenager her age. This again opens her up to ridicule and bullying. The same month, there was a change in Anna. There were signs. For one, Anna painted a black eye on herself. She used makeup and made it look like she had a black eye from being injured,

and she went to school like this pretending that she had been hurt. And this concerned her teacher. It was a cry for attention. Her parents were called in for a meeting, and Geraldine and Patricke met with Anna's principal at the school, and they believed that she was acting out how she was feeling internally. Internally, she was bruised and broken and injured, and she was portraying this artistically, I guess, on the outside.

She actually told her parents she felt invisible. And it's sad because things only get worse for her as the year goes on. She didn't just suffer from poor grades, but she started to get in physical fights with other students. And one of these confrontations led Anna to be suspended from school. During Anna's suspension, Geraldine checked her daughter's social media accounts. She wanted to make sure that everything was okay. And that's when she saw something even more concerning, more concerning than the things

that she saw before. She saw something that deeply upset her. Anna's mother discovered that Anna had created a number of social media accounts. They all had different names and different profile pictures, yet they were all connected to her accounts and her email addresses. She owned and controlled these additional accounts, but it gets even more confusing and concerning. When Geraldine did more digging. She realized Anna was using these accounts to comment on her own YouTube videos. Okay. So maybe she wanted increased engagement or something like that. She wanted to grow. Maybe she was trying to game in the system a little bit, making herself look more popular. And that would kind of be concerning, but it was much worse. Anna was using these accounts

to write hurtful things about her on her own YouTube channel. She was pretending to get bullied. would even comment on the other bully's comments and agree with them with these fake accounts. So that shocked her mother. And not only that, Geraldine found a photo on Anna's phone. A photo of Anna blindfolded and tied to a chair. What was going on here? That was beyond concerning. Parents have a tendency to feel like they don't even know what their child is doing when they're not around. Where did this picture come from? How did she get in that situation? Geraldine thought that maybe, just maybe, Anna felt that the only way to bond with her peers was to do as they do and poke fun at herself under these anonymous accounts to fit in.

But it was evident from Anna's comments that if she really felt this way, that she didn't think very highly of herself, and that was painful for Geraldine. Geraldine was devastated, but her beautiful, kind daughter felt this way. And when she confronted her about that photo, Anna said, that was just a funny prank I was doing with a friend. That's all that was. It was nothing serious. Geraldine wanted to understand more. And apparently the girls thought it would be interesting to pretend that Anna had been kidnapped and was in trouble. So they sent these photos to a boy that Anna liked to see if he would come rescue her. This sounds like more than a prank, but teenagers, they don't think like adults, right?

So maybe it didn't appear to be such a big deal, but coupled with the other things that they knew, Anna's parents were even more concerned. And they had reason to be. And soon it would be too late. Anna had resorted to cutting, and this is a physical way to get out your inner pain. She used a pair of scissors on one of her arms. And Anna's parents, although they were concerned,

they kind of convinced themselves that this wasn't that severe, that she wasn't really trying to do anything bad. She was just copying what she saw another kid her age do, imitating him. But enough kind of was enough at this moment. point. They feared that Anna could do something more drastic and they wanted to get her help. Geraldine Patric and Anna's principal thought that it would be wise to seek outside counseling for Anna. So they reached out to an organization called Kandahar Youth Services. Their website

states that they are a partnership of young people, volunteers, and staff working together to respond to the emerging and changing needs of young people, their families and communities, including youth counseling. However, when they feel, they feel, they. found out about the cutting, they informed Anna's family. That was beyond their expertise and they referred them somewhere else. They had them go to Pieta House. This is a non-profit organization that specializes in helping people who have a tendency to cause harm to themselves or have thoughts about it. And they began to do assessments to determine Anna's risk to herself. She began going to these sessions every week and Patrick would come get her and she no longer

walked by herself because of what happened with those boys and being bullied. All of this was a lot for Geraldine. She truly felt bad for Anna. She even cried because she would watch other girls walking out of Anna's class together, arms interlocked, skipping around, and then she would see Anna. She would just see her with her head down, with her headphones on, just kind of like she said, a ghost to everyone around her. And I feel for Geraldine because that can be really tough, you just want your children to be happy. You so badly want them to be happy. Finally, after six sessions at the Beeta House, they determined that Anna was low risk and she could actually go back and get those youth counseling services at the other facility. So she started getting

one-on-one counseling every week. And over time, Anna did end up making a few closer friends. She would engage in sleepover. She would go on outings, watch movies, and talk to friends about her boy crushes in no time. Autumn had turned into winter and then spring. And soon, Anna's first year of secondary school was almost over. On the afternoon of Sunday, May 13th, 2018, Geraldine was going to sit down with Anna to help her study for an upcoming test. This was something that the mother and daughter did on a frequent basis, especially on the weekends. Even though Geraldine worked very long hours, she always found time to help Anna with her schoolwork. But Anna insisted, No, don't do it, Mom.

You're probably so exhausted. We can do it later. And Geraldine agreed this time because they were planning a family get together that evening in their house. So instead of studying, the mother and daughter decided, you know what, we're going to relax, turn on a TV, put in a movie, make some popcorn, cuddle up on the couch together. Sometimes you just need that downtime to connect and bond. And after the movie was over, Anna's extended family came to the house for dinner and all of her favorite cousins were there. Dene went out, she ordered some pizza for everyone. However, Anna didn't eat pizza. So Geraldine being who she was, always trying to make her happy, went out and grabbed Anna some Chinese food.

And it was a fun night for the kids. They were running around. They were having fun. And the adults were enjoying some wine and some drinks together. No one in Anna's family knew that that night would be the last night they ever spent with her. There was no warning. That evening, Anna and her cousins actually went on live stream on her YouTube channel. They titled the video Truth or Dare. I looked to try to see if I could find what her YouTube had on it, and in the About section I read, I love to sing, dance, swim, family, and friends.

If you're a hater, then please leave my account. Stay strong. That's what it said on her About section. It also said that she joined YouTube October 24th, 2016, two years prior to this. Her profile picture and her banner were both pictures of the sunset. Some of her previous live streams were titled, I'm So Sorry. Another one was with my best friends. And another was Tuesday morning. And she liked to do fashion and makeup

videos, makeup routines. She liked to sing, dance, like I already said. She was a typical teenager. The party ended that night and Anna was getting ready for bed around 10.30, which was a little later than usual. And she did have school the next morning. She also asked her mom, please, wake me up before you go to work. Geraldine actually got up very early and by that time Patric was actually retired. So he didn't generally wake up as early and neither did Anna because she liked to sleep in like most teenagers do, but she wanted to say goodbye to her mom and start her day a little earlier than usual. On the morning of Monday, May 14, 2018, Geraldine woke Anna up as she requested and Anna was tired as to be expected. Although she had so much fun with her family the night before,

it hired her out. But she did remember to remind her mom that she needed a note for school. She needed one of those passes that said I'm leaving early because that afternoon she had a counseling appointment. Geraldine writes the note. She gives her a kiss goodbye. She had to catch a train to Dublin for a meeting and Anna finished getting ready after that, put on her school uniform, ate breakfast, packed a few things and then left. Originally, Anna was supposed to eat lunch with her peers at school, as usual, then walk to her counseling session before making her way back home, but instead she left school and then she goes straight home, not eating at school, eating by herself. After that, she goes to her counseling session and then she walked back home, changed out of her

school uniform, ate a snack, and then tried to call her mom. But Geraldine was in the middle of that meeting and she couldn't answer. This was around 402 p.m. So she texted Anna back and said, hey, I will call you as soon as I can. Patric was outside. He was in the backyard. He was getting some sun. He was relaxing. It was around 455 p.m. when he hears the doorbell ring. So he goes to see who it was. He sees a young man around Anna's age waiting outside. So he opens the door and the boy asks for Anna. Patrice summons her to the door and Anna's taken by surprise. She was not expecting anyone, especially a boy. But they didn't exactly hang out. However, she seemed excited. Patricke watched as Anna stood in the doorway. She was kind of like whispering to the boy.

Typical teenage behavior. Then as the young man waited, Anna excitedly like ran up the stairs. She shouted to her dad that she was going to go out for a little bit. She grabbed her favorite black hoodie. She actually begged and begged her mom to buy this for her from China. It was black and then it had like white lettering down the sleeves. Before Anna left, Patric wanted to remind her you have studying to do. But Anna seemed to kind of brush it off. she was excited to be playing with a friend. And she told Patricke, well, I don't really know about that and I won't be gone long anyway. Anna ran out the door. It was only a matter of seconds before Patricie realized, wait a minute, I don't know where she's going.

So he ran outside as fast as he could and he catches a glimpse of Anna walking in the direction of a popular hangout, St. Catherine's Park. The boy is walking in front of her. He's wearing a little small backpack and Anna is following behind. That's the last thing he saw. Patricque wasn't worried. It wasn't typical for Anna to hang out with boys, but she was happy when she left. She was smiling when she was saying goodbye.

Patric wasn't worried, like I said. And the park was close by. It was frequented by many children Anna's age. And when I say close by, for me, I don't feel like it is. I really don't. But generally speaking, when I looked into it, this was a place in close proximity to the school that they went to.

I'll kind of show you all of this on a map like I always do. It's one of my favorite things to show you every detail. But let me explain what St. Catherine's Park is like. There's lots to do there. It's a 200-acre park full of woodlands, beautiful, grassy areas. Many people walk their dogs there. There's a dog park, a running trail around the river. They hold farmers markets events there.

There's playgrounds, picnic areas. It's a great location for people of all kinds of hang out. However, it is like a 20-minute walk. That's why I said, I don't really feel like it's that close. But let me set this stage for you. This is Anna's neighborhood. a very nice, cute place, cute houses, sidewalks, residential. They would come out of this neighborhood and then turn left at the church.

Then they would continue walking down Captain's Hill on the sidewalk. Until they made their way to Main Street. Now here's more of a town square area. I even saw this sign there that said St. Patrick's Day Parade, Main Street, all welcome. I just happened to catch that and I thought it was interesting. There's a bank on the left, shops, restaurants, things like that. And then they would continue down Main Street until it turns into Mill Lane. Seems complicated already, but then you take a left at Cypress Springs,

and they'd only have to stay on this little road for a minute. You can see a fire station on the right-hand side on this corner and see this. It's the entrance to the street you take to St. Catharines. It's quite a long walk. Once you're on this small road, it's called the Black Ave, you can see it winds around. up to the park, but they still would have a ways to go. And there's no sidewalks on this road. It's quite small. Kind of scary looking, actually. There's even a sign that warns pedestrians about oncoming traffic. On some portions of the road, I did see a narrow sidewalk, but then they'd end.

So they'd be here and there, and then sometimes there wouldn't be anything but grass or hardly a shoulder on the road. Finally, you get to the end of this road, which was one of the entrances to the park. There's a sign that says the park close. at 6 p.m. that's when the gates would close on you and you wouldn't be able to drive in or out. Around 5.10 p.m. Geraldine is finally free from her meeting and she made her way to the train station. She had just ended a phone call with a friend so she was ready to call Anna back but no one answered and she would be home soon so she figured you know I'll see Anna want to get there and she didn't bother to leave a message. When she arrives however she doesn't find Anna

inside the house. However, she locates Patricke outside and she inquires about Anna's whereabouts. He informs her that she left with a boy. Geraldine is pretty surprised by that. Anna was always desperately trying to make friends all the time. So she thought it was very unusual for someone to come by and ask for her daughter, but not only that, especially a boy. And she definitely wants to know more, but Patric doesn't have any other details other than the fact that Anna said she wouldn't be too long. well by 530 Geraldine wants Anna home it made sense if Anna was at the park

it would be closing soon so she should be on her way back so she text Anna two words home now Anna is someone that always has her phone on her it's almost like glued to her hand constantly texting back within minutes maybe even seconds Geraldine

doesn't get a response and that worried her okay Anna's only been gone a half hour she's playing with a friend So maybe it would take her a little longer to respond. But this is a first for everything, for the boy, the fact that her daughter isn't answering, isn't texting back or calling right away. She tells Patricke that she's actually concerned.

Now this next text that she sends might sound a little drastic, considering Anna didn't do anything wrong per se, but Geraldine was paranoid about her daughter who had been bullied over the years, had ailments, impairments that made life harder for her, and had actually been harassed by boys just a month prior. She texts Anna with this. Answer me now or I'm calling the police. She wasn't really going to call the police.

She just told Anna that because she wanted her to understand how serious it was for her to get in touch with their parents and fast. Still no response. Geraldine decides to actually retrace Anna's steps. She's thinking maybe I'll see her on her way back. So she walks all the way to San Diego. Catherine's. She does see families in the park, kids, people walking their dogs, but she doesn't see Anna. With no luck, she goes back home. She eats some food with her husband and she gets in her car

after that and decides to go to different parts of the town looking for her daughter. This is very out of character for Anna. She was in constant contact with her constantly texting, always telling her where she was. Recall how much Anna was used to walking. Well, she would literally walk for hours, a couple hours at a time. So Geraldine thought she could be anywhere by now, anywhere. Geraldine returns home again, and her and Patricke, they go on Facebook. They're looking for connections, school connections, friends, parents, someone, a family of this boy, they were not sure who he was. So they were hoping that they would get in touch with someone who did, but they didn't have any luck with that either. And it's getting late. And the

these parents are worried. They don't know what to do. However, they have a friend that lives nearby that's a retired detective. His name is John Cribbon. So they drive over because they're desperate for advice and John tells him, go to Garda. Report your daughter missing. She had been gone for over four hours. It's 9 p.m. at this point and she's a minor. So they frantically make their way over to Leakesliff Garda station explaining that their 14 year old daughter is not responding to their text, their calls, and she's not that way. Even if she was mad, she would text back with something like, I'm mad. I'm not talking to you.

But at the very least, she would let you know that she's okay. So this was not normal. Thing is, and you've heard this before, Garda gets a number of these calls. Children that haven't made it home on time, and they usually return within a few hours. But they do still gather all the information from Anna's parents and find out that Anna's passports are in the house. And the last time she was seen was by her father, who saw her leave with a young boy around 5 p.m. Their first order of business is to locate the boy. He was the last known person to be seen with Anna.

Patric explains what the boy looked like and he adds something. He says when they were walking, it was more like Anna was following him. They weren't like side by side talking. And Geraldine makes it clear that she's even more worried. She said no one calls for Anna. She explained Anna didn't have a lot of friends, especially a boy. boyfriend, she was a loner. It didn't take long for Garda to find out who the young boy was that came to Anna's house. Garda Connor Muldoon was able to obtain an address for the boy.

He pays him a visit that evening. And it was definitely surprising for the boy and his family to see Garda at their door. His parents asked what is going on? And the officer explained, Anna had not come home that night and their son was seen with her at 5 p.m. at Anna's house. Now because we are dealing with minors in this story, the law in Ireland is strict in regard to minors and their identity being provided and revealed when it comes to anything legal in nature. And therefore, they're going to refer to him as boy B. And we will do the same. Boy B, who is only 13, tells Garta he was the one who came to the door to ask for Anna to hang out. That they did go to the park, but around 540, they made their separate ways back home. and Boy B told Garda that he thought Anna left and she would be back at her house by now.

That's terrifying. Garda officially opens a missing person's case for Anna Cragal and they begin to look for CCTV footage around the neighborhood and the park. Geraldine and Patrique give Garda pictures of Anna, including one of her wearing that unique black hoodie with the white letters going down the sleeves, the one that she was wearing when she left the house. Her parents must have been out of their minds with worry. The very next day, they're walking the neighborhood with a bunch of their friends, their family. It has been overnight now. They're asking everyone, have you seen Anna? Luckily, Garda is actually able to locate footage from the area.

And around 501 p.m., Anna can be seen on camera walking behind Boy B towards St. Catherine's Park. And then at 514, footage shows Anna and Boy B at the BMX track. And they seem to be leaving the park because they're near a different entrance or exit. area, but then only 15 minutes later is when Anna's mom text her home now with no reply. So what happened after the BMX track? Where did the pair go? Did they go back home? Seems like he did, but where was Anna? Boy B said it was closer to 540 when they left, but this was being captured at 514. So where did they go as they're seemingly headed towards one of the exits? Garter was able to locate a witness who said they saw who they thought to be Anna and Boy B at the BMX track and they were having

fun. They were skipping and walking and talking and just hanging out. They were walking south from the BMX track on Black Ave and you can kind of see the top of the BMX track right here over these hedges. This is where they would have come out from and they would have gone towards the Black Ave and continued south. There is a closer exit out of the park at the end of the Black Ave here. Garter thinks They need to go back and speak with Boy B. They want more information about exactly where he saw Anna go after they left the park because at 549 p.m., a camera near the BMX track picks up Boy B again, all by himself walking towards the Ranger Hut. Now, if you look on this map, that's north, not south. So why did they leave? But only Boy B return and go back through the park. This time, Sergeant John Dune, he goes to Boy B's home, and he wants to ask him if he has any more information. And luckily, Boy B does have more information. He explains that there was another friend with them that they met up with later on. He's also a minor, so we can't use his real name. We're

going to refer to him as Boy A. He's also 13, like Boy B. So what they want to know is why was Boy B walking out of the park with Anna? To understand that part, we have to go back to before he even came to the door that evening. It's a familiar story. Anna has a crush on Boy A. Boy B is Boy A's best friend. Boy A wanted to meet up with Anna, but he didn't want to go talk to her himself, so he sends his buddy Boy B to go to her house. Boy B explains that he went and picked up Anna. They go to the park.

They meet up with Boy A. And then afterward, Boy B goes home. So the story changed a little bit, right? But we are dealing with children. So Sergeant Dune takes Boy B to the park and wants to know exact locations. Like, where did you enter? where did you meet up with boy A, and where did you both leave after that before heading back home? Boy B shows him all of the locations and the sergeant takes notes.

Now they have enough information to go public with Anna's description. They need the public's help. By Tuesday evening on the 15th, they began putting up missing persons posters as well as articles online and all over local TV media. It described Anna as 14 years old, 5-8 in height, with black shoulder-length hair, salof-skin, and a small build. Last scene wearing a black hoodie with white writing on the sleeves, black bottoms and black running shoes.

Now it's back to the CCTV footage. They're looking for the other boy this time. Boy B said they met up with someone else, the one that Anna had a crush on. And it doesn't take them long to spot him. At 457 p.m. in the courtyard lane area of St. Catherine's Park, they see a boy wearing a backpack entering the park area.

This information is crucial because they only have two witnesses, these boys. The next time they see Boy A on camera is at 603 at the same location he came in. And at that point, he seemed to be leaving the park. So he was there about an hour. Now they make plans to speak with Boy A to gather more information about what he saw. Meanwhile, in the next couple days, there are a lot of tips coming in. People are calling in tips saying that they saw Anna at all kinds of different places.

She was 25 minutes away from the St. Catherine's Park. Someone else said they saw her at the airport. boarding a flight in Dublin Airport, but then they get a pretty promising lead. It's from a mother, and she says that she knows Anna from her daughter. And her daughter said that she saw Anna on May 15th in the morning on their street in their neighborhood with a boy

who didn't attend school that day. So could Anna had been hiding out somewhere with this young boy? Teenagers do all kinds of unpredictable things. So Garda goes up to this house. They end up doing a search of this other boy's house, this unnamed boy. And it turns out there's no connection with Anna's disappearance. So I want to take you back to Sergeant Dune because he's the one that was with boy B at the park. And while they're searching, they decide to go to the railway as well as the entire park every inch.

And it's huge. Recall he was about to make his way to Boy A's house. Well, while Dune's walking through the park, a man stops him. He's with another young boy. And he says, listen, I heard about Anna's disappearance. You should check the local sewage treatment area because my son hangs out there with kids that age. That's good information. That's an area of the park. It's actually on the Black Ave. You pass it when you're coming to the park entrance.

And it looks like a dangerous place. There's a lot of signs that say do not enter, but you know how teenagers are sometimes. They like a thrill. Look, there's even a sign here that says no trespassing. But you can actually walk through St. Catherine's Park on Google Maps, and you know I did. I walked the entire thing.

And while I was going towards the water treatment area, I saw this bridge. There's a lot of places you can get lost in here. There's streams, rivers, swampy-looking grass areas. Anything could happen without many people seeing it. I also found an area like this where the path ends. And there's just a bunch of graffiti-covered walls and places to hide. It's off the beaten path.

Kind of a scary place that the sun goes down. And by the afternoon of the 15th, Sergeant Dune makes contact with the family of Boy A. And at this point, there's a surprising revelation. The man and the boy who Sergeant June passed in the park, the one that told him, oh, you should check out the water treatment plant. That was in fact, Boy A and his father. He informs them of the details that are known about Little Anna's disappearance and instructs Boy A and B to go back with him to the park again with Boy A's father following them. Now this time, Boy B is going in a slightly different direction past the BMX track. Both boys are leading Sergeant Dune and Boy A's dad, right?

So Sergeant Dune sees the boys kind of look at each other, exchange a little bit of a glance, which to him indicated that they were kind of disputing which way to go next. And because of this, Sergeant Dune makes a decision to stop the search. He wants to bring both in them back to the station with their parents, of course, to do a formal interview. In separate rooms, more like an interrogation. This would put pressure on them to tell the truth. They're young. They're scared. They're confused. And all the officers want to know is when they saw Anna last.

They aren't in trouble, but it's imperative to understand what happened. What happened after the boys left Anna alone? At the Garda station, Boy B was consistent in what he already informed them about. He didn't know what happened to Anna. He wasn't even aware that anything was wrong until Garda showed up at his door. What gets interesting is what happens when they interview Boy A. He explained that Boy B was his best friend. He walked to Boy A's house after school, but Boy A was busy with chores, so he told him, hey, let's go meet at the park later. Boy A says when he got there, he was surprised to see that Boy A brought Anna. He told Garda that he did know her, but not that well.

Then he said, quote, at one stage, Anna said to me, I have something to ask you. I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me, end quote. Boy A said. he was surprised that it came out of nowhere. He said, I kind of knew she liked me because she kind of asked me out before. And then he explains to Garda that he was caught off guard. He didn't want to be mean, but he wasn't interested in having a girlfriend. So he said to Anna, quote, I'm sorry, but I'm not interested. And she didn't answer. He said that she said nothing and she walked off and she looked annoyed and sad at the same time. Boy A explained that,

boy B walked off as well. And Boy A said at this time he made his way out of the park alone, on his way home, and that's when something happened. Two strange men confronted him. They were following him. And one of them grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to the ground. And then both men began to kick him. And that's scary. The guarda wanted to know, who were these people? What were they wearing? Why were they doing this? How did you get them to stop? And he told them that finally he was able to get away from them. And while they were like down there kicking him and hurting him, he was able to kick one of them in the head.

And both of the men ran off. So he shows Garda his injuries. He had some marks on his arm, his leg, cut on his face. And this was important because these men could be responsible for abducting Anna. They needed a full description. So they brought Boy A to their headquarters out in Dublin. And they did a composite sketch. They created a profile of these men who attacked Boy A.

At this point, the search takes a turn. They now believe Anna could have been harmed or even killed, perhaps by these men. And perhaps these men saw the boys were with Anna and they wanted to keep them from talking. So they also collect all the boys' clothing, shoes, backpacks, etc. And Garda calls even more teams in. Inspector Mark O'Neill of the Lucan Guarda station was now the lead detective. And they brought in special teams. They had a dive team to search all those bodies of water, including River Lafee, as well as the civil defense team, which is kind of equivalent to emergency rescue services here in the United States.

60 members were brought in to help, as well as Guard a Crime and Security branch. They looked over all the cell phone data and they tried to find out Anna's GPS locations. On May 16, two days after Anna had gone missing, the search was in full force. Anna's disappearance had became a major news story throughout Ireland, and that photo of her in a hoodie, that became synonymous with her case. That was the picture spread around to help identify Anna and to alert anyone who may have seen her to call the authorities. Well, a tip comes in. The next evening on May 16th, a witness says they saw a boy climbing into a field on the Lucan side of St. Catherine's Park at 508. p.m. on May 14th. And as they put it, he was making a beeline for an area called the Glenwood House.

Now recall the CCTV footage of Anna and Boy B talking and walking at 514. Well, they were walking in the same direction. Out of the park to a road that leads to Glenwood House. So what's Glenwood House? And why would teenagers, if they were going there, why would they be going there? Let me show you. This is the BMX track. And here's the field right. near Glenwood House. St. Catharines actually has several entrances and one of them is close to this place. After passing the Ranger Hut and a parking lot, you can take a path through the woods and come out in the neighborhood in front of Glenwood House. At the time in 2018, the Glenwood House was a dilapidated country manor. It used to be a two-story mansion. It was situated on

105 acres of farmland and it was built back in the 1800s. This home was once considered an elegant luxurious estate but that was then now it was the perfect place for teens to run a muck as they say paint the walls with graffiti make out with each other kind of like a lover's lane but it has been destroyed over the years a section of the roof collapsed there had been a number of fires set by delinquents there was debris trash needles bottles just the premises was just nasty and it draws in teens and other vagrants from all over the area. Many residents from this community wanted it to be torn down years ago, but it's a protected structure.