True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 1:She Vanished One Block From Her Car - Body Found 80 Miles Away | Cori Daye Desmond

Episode Date: March 8, 2026

A normal night out turned into a haunting mystery. In this episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, we examine the chilling disappearance of 28-year-old South Bay bartender Cori Daye Desmond, who vanished just one block from her car after a night in Redondo Beach. With surveillance footage, shifting timelines, and unanswered questions, the case quickly became a desperate search for the truth. True Crime with Kimbyr takes a compassionate, deeply researched look at Cori’s life, her final known moments, and her family’s relentless fight for answers in a case that still leaves one terrifying question: how can someone disappear so close to safety? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was Valentine's Day in Redondo Beach, California. Couples were out celebrating, tables for two were fully booked, and the air buzzed with love songs, clinking glasses, and red roses passed between hands. And in the middle of all that was Corey Day Desmond. She was beautiful, bold, happy, and in the prime... Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars.

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No one knew it would be the last time they'd ever see her. Just after 2 a.m. as bars began to empty and streets quieted down, Corey walked out into the night alone to her parked car just one block away, but she never made it home. It's supposed to be the most romantic night of the year, but for Corey, there was no love story, just an unthinkable ending to a life with so much. much promise on a night meant for love. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. And if you have never been here before, I am Kimberlea.

It's nice to finally meet you. So let's get into today's case. I'm going to tell you this case is different in some ways from others I've shared because it happened right here where I live in Los Angeles and specifically the South Bay. And now I kind of know how a lot of you feel when you say a case hits close to home. For me, it has been all the familiar landmarks,

some of which I visited and took pictures and videos for this case, and I will be showcasing them to you in this video. I've done that in at least one other video before. I went to the locations where things in the cases occurred. If you're not into that type of thing, this may not be your type of video, but it's only gonna be a few.

And I think it adds to the context. So when I have the opportunity to do that and see things for myself, I take it. It doesn't happen all the time. So that's just an extra that you will experience in this video. But it also hit me so hard because of the realization that something like this can happen to anyone. And the fact that Corey's body was found before she was ever reported missing

is also different in this case. So the detectives were working backwards from the beginning. So that's where I'm going to start. With a 911 call that came in just after 2 p.m. on February 16th, a couple days after Valentine's Day in 2009. At 2.20 p.m., Sergeant Tony DeCiccio from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department was dispatched to a ravine off of a turnout on a steep mountainside, 5,000 feet above sea level in Running Springs, California. Now, this area is known for Snow Valley Mountain Resort, and it's the oldest in the area, and it offers year-round recreation. It's also known to have some of the best natural snowfall in Southern California.

Ever heard of Big Bear, that's where it is. But on that Monday afternoon, it wasn't snowing. It was raining, hard. Fog was clinging to the ridges like smoke, and the visibility was very poor along Highway 330, which twisted along the cliffs. A tourist had pulled off of the highway near Mile Marker 38, and he wasn't sightseeing.

He wasn't even stopping for a break. He needed to take off his tire chains since the weather had shifted dramatically. But when he stepped out of his vehicle and walked towards the gravel turnout, he noticed something very strange-looking. There was a group of what looked like black trash bags that were sitting near the edge of the ravine, and part of them was torn open.

Like something inside had shifted, putting weight at the bottom, and it had kind of ripped through. And when he took a closer look, that's when he saw what it was. It was a human foot dangling out of the bottom towards the edge of the ravine. The tourist was in a panic. They were describing this to a 911 operator, and they were talking about what they thought they had seen. Within minutes, Sergeant DeCiccio was being directed to where the body was located.

He kneeled down. He pulled back a section of that torn garbage bag just enough for him to peer inside. And there beneath several layers of plastic was the body of a young woman. Now, he radioed for homicide detectives to meet him at the scene. And as he's waiting, he's looking around.

Now, this turnout, wasn't very big. And there were no guardrails. It was isolated. And there were no signs of a struggle nearby. And what I mean is, you know, maybe shifted dirt or blood, none of that. However, it was raining.

And this area is prone to flooding. So this was an immediate concern. Evidence was already being washed away. And he noticed when he got there, he thought he saw a set of tire tracks. But then within minutes, they were barely visible. The ground was turning from dirt to thick, wet mud, before his eyes. Now usually a crime scene technician team will come out there

while the body is still in the location and it's found in so they can take a lot of pictures of this entire area. That's one of the most important steps in investigations like this one, documenting everything. Then when that's completed, sometimes the medical examiner comes out there before the body is transferred to the morgue and they take additional pictures of the body

and document environmental factors and the body's condition. But unfortunately, with the rapid pace, the weather was deteriorating, Sergeant DeCCO called for backup and for teams to come out there as soon as possible, but after snapping just a few photos of the trash bag hanging near the cliff, the rain was hammering down the pavement so hard, they thought it looked like it was bouncing.

So water started to accumulate around the body, and it was even streaming down the side of the mountain. So that's when Sergeant DeCcio realized that within minutes, water could be rushing like a river, shifting the gravel, carrying away dirt and debris, and evidence. And the body could slide down this steep hillside.

And once over that edge, recovery would not only be dangerous and complicated, but possibly impossible. He knew they could not risk losing their victims, so he made a very difficult decision. Remove the body before any evidence had been collected. The sergeant didn't need anything special from the scene to know one thing, though. This wasn't where this person died. They were discarded here like trash, and that is really, really sad. It's what struck him right away, the callousness that this monster had to be able to be so hasty like they were, because in his mind, they could have pushed her over the edge.

And she may never have been found, but it looked like this person who brought her here didn't even have time for that. It's as though they pulled their car right up to that spot, tossed her out, and sped away. It was disgusting. It was very heartless. And this young woman was still unidentified. She was transported down the mountain to the San Bernardino County Coroner's Office. And as part of her team procedure, the coroner's office took her fingerprints and ran them through the state and national databases. And luckily, she had been fingerprinted as a child.

And within hours, there was a match. The unidentified Jane Doe was 28-year-old Corey Day Desmond of Torrance, California. But her body was 100 miles away from there when she was found on that cliff side. Confirmation through the Department of Motor Vehicles solidified what the prince had revealed. She was no longer unknown. She was someone's daughter, someone's friend, someone deeply loved. So how did she end up this way? Well, you know I'm going to go back in time to truly paint a picture of who Corey Day was. It's always bittersweet because you get to know her and then you realize you are getting to know her because she's no longer here. And that hits hard every single time I do a case for you.

time, I can't help to get emotional because you learn so much about these individuals. But before anyone could ever think of the words missing or murdered and associating them with her, Corey Day Desmond was just Corey. And from the very beginning, she defied expectations. Corey was born on March 18th of 1980, and she entered the world already fighting the odds. Doctors quickly discovered there was a hole in her diaphragm, a life-threatening condition that forced her tiny body into survival mode. She wasn't even supposed to make it through her first week, and her odds were only 20%.

That's what they told her parents. 20%, I can't even imagine. While most newborns were swaddled in warm blankets and rocked gently in nurseries, falling asleep to lelibis, Corey's first days were spent under the glare of fluorescent bulbs, surrounded by beeping monitors and machines that were breathing for her, and surgeons worked on her.

tiny little body. Family members held their breath every time the phone rang. It was a fight from the beginning. But Corey won, and that battle would become the first line in her story, and that fight, that spirit that she had that saved her life, it never left her. Because as she grew up, everyone that knew her said the same thing. Corey was tough. She was strong in a quiet but unshakable way. And that strength became part of her identity. She was unafraid. She was the person who met challenges head on, who didn't back down easily and who had this inner toughness. She not only stood up for herself, but for others. Some call it feisty, but she was the perfect contradiction. She was bubbly but bold, sweet but sharp, and she had this distinctive laugh that

would fill a room. And you could hear that before you knew that she was there, but you could tell she was there because it was unmistakable. And she had a stubborn streak that made her unforgettable. Corey was adorable. She had these big brown eyes that took over her entire face and the cutest smile. But her personality is what truly shined through as a baby.

You could tell, she was so much fun and so happy. Corey was raised by her mother, Debbie, and her father, Mark Desmond, along with three younger brothers, Blake, Matt, and Daniel. But she wasn't just close with her siblings. She adored her paternal grandmother, Beverly, and her cousins, Tommy, Troy, and Travis. All three of her three of her two,

of them were around her same age, but she was usually the only girl. And she had the typical Southern California girl upbringing, outings to the beach, being super tan year-round, and always being outdoors in the best weather, dressing up for Halloween, being silly and goofy for photos, and it was before digital cameras became a thing. You had only one shot to get the perfect picture. And there she was in so many that her parents took, even when she was sleeping like a little angel, or painting her face like a clown. These parents loved their little girl so much.

That was clear. And she was always surrounded by family. The holidays were full of smiles and vacations at theme parks, petting zoos, and music. And music was a big part of Corey's life. She had a natural gift and so did her father. So I think they had that in common, a beautiful voice. She would have everyone sit down in the room and she would put on the music and come out and do an entire dance routine.

She had an awesome sense of humor as well. I'm playing some videos for you, and I hope that you can just experience who Corey Day was. But as much as it looked like she had the perfect childhood, so many things that people may dream of, a tight-knit community of not only family but great friends growing up and getting a great education and living in paradise, not everything was perfect.

Her mother and father, unfortunately, did get a divorce, but she still stayed close with Debbie. There's one picture of them doing beautiful, Glamour shots and through her teens she still made a point to meet up and hang out with her mom and her mother had the most beautiful blue eyes in some pictures they actually looked purple she was the best of both of her parents but Debbie and Mark just drifted apart and those things do happen but it didn't stop Corey from living a full life Mark took on a lot of responsibility for his only baby girl and as a single dad it was unmistakable the sacrifices he made not just for Corey but all of his children he was

an ever-present father. And soon he remarried to Monica Margolis, who became Monica Desmond, and she was fully accepted into the family. It's not as though Corey's stepmother took the place of her mom, but she had a prominent place in Corey's life. And along with the new marriage came two younger little stepbrothers, Monica's children from a previous relationship. So if Corey was outnumbered before, it only got worse. But she loved being a big sister. Once Corey turned 18, though, she needed some independence. She had a deep bond with her grandmother Beverly, and she decided to move in with her once she was old enough to make that choice. Her grandma was more than just family. She was one of her best friends. She was her confidante, the one constant in her life

when things got complicated. Corey knew Grandma Bev would always be there. And growing up, Corey was smart. She was driven and grounded, but she was also a lot of fun. But she also knew when to be serious. And at North Torrance High School, Corey didn't just float through. She excelled. She pushed herself academically. She enrolled in honors courses and she earned really good grades. Teachers noticed her work ethic and her friends noticed her determination. And she wasn't afraid to work really hard. In fact, she leaned into that. That grit that she had as a baby showed up again and again, whether it was in the classroom, in life, or later in college. After high school, Corey went on to study at California State University of Long Beach,

majoring in criminal justice. She wanted to understand people. She wanted to know systems. She was fascinated by how things worked and why things went wrong. She wasn't someone who just wanted to coast through life. She wanted to make sense of it all. And as it does with most students, college broadened her world. It exposed her to new people, new ideas,

and new paths as she didn't know existed before. But after graduation, like so many people in their 20s, Corey found her self. in that hazy middle ground. What now? She was asking herself that question again and again. She had the degree. She had the intelligence,

but she was still figuring out what felt right for her. That's a lot of school. And if you know anything about Corey, I told you already, she liked to have fun. She actually called herself a party girl proudly. I am Corey. I'm 22, and I'm a student at Cal State Long Beach. I'm not a girly girl.

I'm a party girl. And that was not something she thought she needed to hide. And she didn't. She still had dreams of going back to college and possibly becoming a teacher, envisioning a classroom full of kids who needed someone patient and encouraging. Other days, she wanted to become an X-ray technician, something hands-on with real-world impact. And at another point, she even considered the military. She was drawn to the structure, the purpose, and the discipline.

But she didn't follow through on any of that. However, the fact that she considered so many paths told you, something about Corey. She was curious. She wasn't afraid to explore and try new things and see if they fit. Besides, she had time, or at least she thought she did. And she had that support system she needed, and she trusted herself enough to keep looking for the right path, not just taking one to make other people happy. And in the meantime, Corey worked. She answered newspaper classified. She walked into interviews that sometimes felt like dead ends. She bounced between opportunities like many people her age, but never with bitterness or dread.

She made everything she did fun, even the tough parts. If anything, she turned those awkward interviews into full-on stories. Her family said she would come home and she would reenact the weird questions or the strange vibes with a kind of comedic timing that left everyone laughing. Setbacks in her life didn't knock her down. They gave her material and that resilience and ability to find the positivity in frustrating moments was just so corey. It was a season of life filled with questions, hope, and confidence that whatever she chose, She would throw herself into it fully when she was ready.

But until then, she was putting the books away, and she was trading them in for the dance floor and a microphone. She loved karaoke. So much so her friends called her karaoke. She would often find herself at a bar in the South Bay. And for those of you that are not from California, you might not be familiar with the South Bay. It's a cluster of several towns that are close to the beaches.

I'm sure that some of you have vacationed here before. So we're talking Manhattan Beach. Hermosa, Redondo, Torrance, Palace Faradayes, which is absolutely gorgeous. And the South Bay is my home. It's where I put my little pin down on the map and absolutely fell in love with it. It's a mixture of very relaxed suburban atmosphere, but also fine dining, high-end places, lots to do outdoors, tons of parks, even ones that will literally make you feel like you are in an entire different state or even a different country altogether. It is paradise.

You can surf. You can ride your bike. down the Strand, which is a famous part of the South Bay and beyond. This is also where the aerospace industry is, like SpaceX, and all kinds of manufacturing companies for airlines and spacecraft. And I don't need to just tell you because I'm showing you this on the screen, but the weather is absolutely gorgeous year-round. And that is personally why I love California so much,

even though people say they hate this state and would never dream of living here. And there's definitely a nightlife scene throughout different towns in the South Bay, each with a different vibe. And as I told you, Corey grew up in Torrance, which is more inland, and she found her place to party and hang out with friends in Redondo Beach. And eventually, she figured, why not make some money at the same time? She'd get to hang out with friends, enjoy being social, mean new people, which she loved, and do karaoke.

But make tips being a bartender. It just made sense. She was a natural. And by the way, I know you know if you have been to a bar, there is such thing as the perfect personality to be a bartender. And Corey, she didn't just serve drinks. She put on a performance. She made patrons laugh. She made her coworkers feel like family. And her bosses could see her willingness to show up and help out. She knew how to work a room to keep things light, just how to tease someone enough to make a stranger feel like an old friend. And patrons remembered her.

Co-workers wanted to be on shift with her. She made the long nights feel like something more than just work. And one of her favorite gigs was at Backstreet Lounge, and I'm going to say this is a little play on words. Backstreet, not like the Backstreet boys, but BAC, like a lot of alcohol content, I presume. It is a dive bar, truth be told. But for a local like Corey, everyone she knew was always there. It had character. Even the sign above the bar says, enter a stranger, leave as friends. TVs would showcase sports. People crowded in waiting to play a game of pool or dart. and you couldn't beat the $4 fireball shots on Friday nights. And you know that I don't provide you so many details for no reason.

There's a point to this information, and we're going to get there. But I wanted to immerse you in the atmosphere that Corey was in. From Backstreet Lounge, Corey moved up in the bartending scene. She landed a really great job at a very popular, upscale bar and restaurant that used to be called Beaches in Manhattan Beach. It's right near the water, so that's obviously why it's called beaches, but it is so gorgeous. I used to work right across the street for three years.

So this was my stomping ground. I think that's why this case hit me so much harder. But at beaches, which is now called the Strand House and the Strand Bar, which is fitting because it is on the Strand, which is this part of the beach right here. Back in the early and mid-2000s, it was a mixture of a sports bar, fine dining, and a dance floor, all with a gorgeous view of the ocean.

I'm taking you there right now. The nightlife in Manhattan Beach is way different from the dive bars of Redondo Beach. It's more than just one step up. Instead of college frat boys, think corporate executives and celebrities mixing with the local college students, surfers, and tourists. The drinks are double the price and half the liquor. You're paying for the experience. And Corey knew how to make patrons feel like they were getting their money's worth. By making sure she was tending to them with professionalism, a pleasant personality, and of course, yummy drink.

Corey was beautiful too, so she fit right into this crowd, with her big amber-brown eyes and light golden-brown hair and lean but athletic physique. She had the look, and actually, like many people who grew up in California, she naturally got into modeling and acting as a kid. She did the whole head shots and getting an agent thing. And when the karaoke microphone came out, forget it.

Corey was on. Her go-to songs were black velvet, and these boots were made for walking. I loved hearing her name. this song, Picture by Cheryl Crowe, and she just owned each one of them. She said it herself. She was a party girl. And when Thanksgiving in the middle of a family gathering, Corey picked up a bottle of liquor.

She took a long sip. She grabbed a lighter and she blew a fireball across the room. And the people were stunned. But then they just burst out laughing. It was risky. It was wild. It was outrageous. But it was completely on brand for Corey.

She was truly having the time. of her life. She just didn't know that it was going to come to an end so soon. And that brings us back full circle. We're back in 2009. Corey is still living with her grandma Beverly and Torrance. She's working at beaches in Manhattan Beach. She's single. She's hanging out with her family and friends and just enjoying her life. It was simple. She wasn't doing anything dangerous or sketchy, especially when it came to Valentine's Day that year. Loving couples were squeezing into restaurants, holding hands over candlelit tables. Pink balloons floated outside storefronts.

Bartenders were slammed with champagne orders and clinking glasses. Meanwhile, Corey was working. That would have been a great night. You would make a lot of cash because, you know, typically Valentine's Day, we know there's going to be a lot of dates going on, especially at a restaurant like the one she worked at. People were going all out for love.

Expensive dinners, drinks flowing. Corey worked until 9.30 the night, and then she had plans of her own. own. No, not a Valentine's date. More of a Galentine's night out. She told her co-workers that she planned to meet up with a few of her girlfriends for drinking, dancing, and karaoke. A normal night in town. So how did she end up dead over 100 miles away? Over 40 hours after leaving her workplace. Maybe her family would have a clue. They were about to be notified about her death, which is just absolutely devastating. It's life altering. Your loved one was just there. They were happy.

They were full of life and they were part of yours and then they're just gone. Her grandmother Beverly was the first person contacted since Corey's current address and phone number were connected to that residence. It was after midnight when the knock came at the door. Corey's grandma answered and she was confused and trembling and the police were just standing outside and she called her son, Mark Desmond, Corey's father. And all she could get out, was, they're here. The police are here. And Mark knew it was about Corey. He said that he drove so fast, faster than he ever has in his life, and that a 10-minute drive turned into two minutes. And when he walked in the door, his world fell apart. They told him what they had found,

who they had found. Not only had his daughter lost her life, she had been murdered and left in the mountains in garbage bags. It was blunt. It was the truth. And it was equally heartbreaking and shocking. His mind was already racing. His stomach was in knots. He knew this wasn't just about a misunderstanding. This wasn't about Corey being out too late. This was something else entirely.

But who would do something like this? Everyone loved Corey. Who would want to hurt her? He had no answer. He knew he raised her to be kind, protective, and loyal. She had no enemies. She didn't even have any crazy exes or scorned lovers. That didn't change the fact that somebody out there decided to take her life. Her family was left reeling, still processing the fact that she was gone, while detectives

are left standing in the aftermath of a crime scene that's already been washed away, wondering where they should even start. I mean, look how far her home in torrents is to where she had been found and how different these two places were. The terrain changes so significantly, from the city to the mountains. She doesn't hang out in Big Bear or or have any reason to go that far that night. So it was clear.

She was taken all that way so she would never be found. So they need to work backwards. They asked Beverly the last time she saw her granddaughter. She explained that they were both busy with their own life and their own ways. And Beverly is usually asleep when Corey gets home from work. And still sometimes asleep when Corey gets up and leaves again. As they say, there were two ships passing in the night. But thinking back,

She distinctly remembered the night of Wednesday, February 11th, just a couple days before Valentine's Day. Beverly had thrown her grandson a birthday party. This is Corey's younger brother Blake, who had just turned 23. They gathered at her house that night for a casual little get-together. She said she remembered how tired Corey was. She had worked all day long. She came home, she took a shower, she put on a pair of pajamas,

and sat around and talked to everyone and then went to bed. Since then, Beverly couldn't recall if she saw her in passing coming in and out in the days leading up to her murder. At this point, they don't even have a real timeline. They don't know when Corey was last seen. They only know that she worked on Saturday until 9.30 p.m. at beaches in Manhattan Beach.

By this time in the investigation, one thing was clear. Corey had viciously fought back against her killer. The autopsy report was chilling. Corey had been strangled and suffocated. Her injuries were described is severe. Her face and neck were covered in bruises, which was consistent with somebody forcibly using their hands to cover her nose and mouth and then putting them on her neck and squeezing. She also had blunt force injuries to the back of her head. And when she was found,

her pants were unbuttoned and pulled down to her knees. And that raised immediate concern that she could have been targeted for a sexual motive. However, there was no male DNA present when the swabs were conducted. So there was no definite proof. And since the rain, the exposure, and the altitude had compromised everything, any forensic evidence that may have existed was destroyed. But the medical examiner was still confident about one thing.

Corey had fought back. She sustained a number of defensive wounds. It was estimated that Corey had been left in those mountains for somewhere between 12 and 36 hours before she was discovered. However, the cold, the damp weather conditions combined with the relentless rain made it impossible to pinpoint an exact time of death. Environmental exposure had slowed some of the natural processes while complicating a lot of the others, which left investigators with a wide window, and they needed to find out where Corey went after

she left work that night. They really didn't have them much to go on, and Corey's dad found that to be very frustrating. They couldn't tell him much, and Mark couldn't wait around. He was so close with his daughter. She was his only daughter. He knew the places that she usually went because sometimes he went with her to sing karaoke. He headed out to her previous place of business,

the Backstreet Lounge. Maybe one of her former coworkers would remember seeing her that night. And sure enough, the staff confirmed she was there on Valentine's night. She arrived around 11 o'clock, according to everyone who saw her. And Corey was herself.

She wasn't upset. She wasn't acting off. if anything, she was right in her element. She was chatting with friends. She was laughing. She was flirting, drinking, and even stepped behind the bar to help serve a few drinks,

like she always did when she visited. This place was like her second home for years. She was relaxed and present and at ease. And patrons would assume she was on the clock, so she would make some extra cash under the table. She had a lot of fun, but not the entire time. At one point, there was a guy who started to get pretty nasty

at the bar. He was making inappropriate comments to women, and Corey put a stop to it. She and the man got into a verbal altercation. They exchanged some pretty harsh words. But Corey knew it was important that she'd protect this patron. He was eventually asked to leave the premises, and he did. Other than that, nothing else about that night stood out. The argument didn't escalate. The man was just drunk, and then he left. It's happened so many times before when someone has a little too much to drink. Corey was at the bar for another couple hours, and her friend said she left alone. Before that, as the night wound down and closing time approached, the music lowered, conversations thinned out, and patrons began drifting towards the exits in small groups, stepping out into the cool air after hours. And inside the crowded space, Corey helped the staff with their end-of-the-night routines, wiping down the countertops, stacking stools and counting registers, and finishing sidework before locking everything up.

Security cameras inside the bar actually showed Corey and she was laughing, she was relaxed and social, and there was even a shot of her stepping behind the bar and helping out her friends. Here she is on camera if you are watching. After this, it was Corey's turn to walk out into the night. It was normal. Corey knew this area and so do why. It's not some high crime, high risk location. It's usually really busy.

It's well lit. It's a mix of businesses, retail gas stations, restaurants, restaurants and bars with residential homes behind them on both sides of Artesia Boulevard. I'm taking you out there right now as I'm saying this. Now it's definitely not as upscale as where Corey worked in Manhattan Beach. There's definitely more of a police presence over there. But Corey was known to leave Backstreet Lounge, walked to her car, and go home, or maybe walk to another bar if she was still hanging out.

That's another thing. Corey's 1998 Blue-Gray Jeep Rangler was missing. It wasn't in the back street lounge parking lot, but the lot is small. Most people who went there usually used street parking and walked. So Corey's dad started driving up and down the street searching. It only took him one block to find his daughter's Jeep. It was parked in front of a townhouse off McKay Lane, and it wasn't parked haphazardly.

It was parallel parked neatly. It even had the wheels turned appropriately for parking on a slight incline. It was kind of impressive that her father, doing his own investigation, found his daughter's Jeep. But when crime scene technicians process the car, they moved methodically, hoping that it would tell them what the mountains could not. They examined the exterior,

they dusted for fingerprints, and they photographed every surface. Inside, they combed through the seats, the floorboards, the console, and the back storage trunk area, searching for fibers, hairs, or anything out of place that might point to a struggle

or someone having been inside the Jeep with her. But it turned out to be, eerily ordinary. There was no obvious sign of a fight, no clear evidence of violence, but Corey clearly hadn't made her way back to it after she left back street. So now there was a troubling possibility that crossed the investigator's minds. Had that guy who got into a verbal argument with her waited outside? Had they continued to argue and then things escalated into a physical altercation, they knew they had to find this guy and it turned out he was a local. He was familiar to staff, and he lived right across the street from Backstreet Lounge, and that piqued

investigators' interest even more. That proximity gave him an opportunity and being familiar with this area. He would have known the side streets, the lighting, the flow of foot traffic at closing time. And that argument, the timing, and the location combined with all the circumstances, detectives could not ignore it. Of course, it doesn't prove he's guilty, but it was enough to elevate him from a name on a witness list to a serious person of interest in Corey's murder. Detectives eventually tracked this man down, and they wanted to know, was it just a passing moment or was it something more? And when they brought him in for questioning, he didn't deny the confrontation at all. He said, yes. We exchanged words, but he brushed it off as a very minor,

just a typical bar disagreement. He did for a second and then just forgotten. He claimed it was nothing personal either, nothing that lingered. And nothing, he insisted. that could possibly ever lead to what happened to Corey. But detectives had no room for an assumption, not in a case this fragile. Not when the crime scene had already been erased by the rain. And leads were already thinning out. So they did what they had to do.

They administered a polygraph. They examined this man's car. They got search warrants. They went into his home room by room, drawer by drawer. They checked clothing, electronics, anything that might have the slightest clue or a thread of forensic evidence, a fiber, a trace, anything. But nothing connected him to Corey. No DNA, no fingerprints, no link to the mountain turnout

where her body had been found. And then they verified his alibi independently from sources that held up. The suspicion that once pointed in his direction eventually began to fade. Whatever happened between him and Corey that night, it didn't follow her out that door. With that lead cleared, detectives turned back to the timeline.

They knew she left Backstreet Lounge at 2 a.m. and never made it back to her car that was only a block away. So why? Soon they knew. They started with CCTV footage from inside the bar. I already showed you some of that from one of the cameras. But a second camera was mounted high in a corner near the back of the building and it covered the exit.

That camera showed Corey leaving shortly after closing time. The timestamp read 220 a.m. She stepped out the back door by herself. They watched the footage longer to see if anyone followed her, but they didn't. Corey walked out of view, disappeared into the darkness, beyond the camera's view, and that was it. This was a built-up area, as I explained. So the next thing investigators did was they got footage from nearby businesses, and they were hoping for a glimpse of anything, and they actually saw her. The smoke shop right next door caught her walking on the sidewalk.

And again, she's alone. She's walking in the direction where she would have parked. And then a bank's ATM camera picked her up again, still walking, still headed down Artesia Boulevard. But she passed the street. Her Jeep was parked on. So did she forget where she parked? Because she just missed McKay Lane altogether and she kept walking. This bank was one block away from where she parked.

So where was she going? They knew she had been drinking that night. So they wondered, was she just confused? and she kept going in the wrong direction, or was it something else? Did something or someone draw her attention in that direction? It was 226, and that was the last time they saw her on any cameras.

They looked, and it's like the trail just ended right there on Artesia Boulevard right after Vale Avenue. So whatever happened to Corey De Desmond happened in those next few unseen minutes that are not captured on camera, a block away from her Jeep. To think about that is what makes this case so mysterious, but equally terrifying

because they're trying to determine where Corey might have gone after that final sighting on that ATM. It's like it happened in a flash, and there's just nothing to go on. But afterward, a call comes in from one of her close friends, Brittany Carrafa. Something had been bothering her.

A detail that caught her attention when she heard that Corey had been walking past, the parking lot across from Vale Avenue on Artija that night. Brittany believed Corey was coming to see her where she worked because the bar Brittany was at was just past that area where she was last seen. It was on the same side as the street as Backstreet Lounge and right across from the bank, whose ATM captured Corey last.

Her bar was called Bogies. Brittany said there were no concrete plan. It wasn't anything official. There was no confirmed meetup time or anything like that. But Corey had to be. had mentioned possibly stopping by Bogies after leaving Backshree lounge that night. So Brittany was like, look into it, see if she came in, asked the staff if they saw her. Brittany had unfortunately already clocked out before 2 a.m.

So she could not provide them with any more information. It was the only lead they had, so they pursued it. And what they found out was shocking. Because according to the bars manager, Corey had shown up at Bogies just minutes after passing that bank ATM. The door was locked since it was already after last call. Basically, the bar was closed. Now, there were still staff and some patrons wrapping up inside, but they had a strict policy.

After last call, the doors had to remain closed. No one was permitted inside. Corey knocked on the door. She asked if she could just please use the restroom really fast. But the staff member told her, no. No one was allowed back inside. It was standard procedure, so they turned Corey away. Now, when Brittany heard this, she unraveled.

She felt so guilty. She kept replaying the timing over and over again in her head if she just stayed a few more minutes longer, or if Corey had arrived a few minutes earlier. If the timing had shifted even by 60 seconds, maybe Corey would still be alive. But instead, she walked back into the night, still all alone and vulnerable.

Now, that staff member, at Bogies told investigators that Corey did not appear in any distress, and they get a lot of people knocking and asking to use the restroom, and unfortunately, rules were rules. They didn't personally know Corey or realize that she was trying to meet up with a staff member. They just didn't have that information, and it wouldn't have changed anything anyway. Corey didn't beg for help. She wasn't upset. She just said, okay, thanks.

And the staff member closed the door. They didn't even see which way she went, or if anyone was out there with her. with her. They certainly didn't hear a scream or any type of disturbance when she walked away. It was completely ordinary, like something that happens on any other night of the week. It only stands out because of what we know happened to Corey after this. It's sad to think that she could have been safe if they let her inside the bar that night, especially when you know everything that happens later on. This part does haunt me. But it was an innocent action taken to by an employee that had no way of knowing

that someone with killer intent would cross paths with poor Corey soon afterward. And I say soon afterward because there was never another spotting of Corey on any CCTV footage anywhere outside these businesses on Artesia Boulevard. She never made it back to her car a block away. They were looking at an extremely narrow window of time. We're talking minutes to seconds after that door shut.

door shut. So let's look at this area again. Bogies is here. This is where her car was parked, and this is where she came from over at Backstreet Lounge. If we focus on just where Bogies was, since that's the last sighting, almost all the businesses in this area are already closed by 2 a.m. Bogies is on the corner of Artija and Slosson Lane, and as I explained, right behind all of these retail establishments are homes and apartments. So investigators decide to conduct a neighborhood canvas. Unfortunately, back in 2009, people didn't have ring cameras and anything like that, like security cameras on their homes like they do now. It wasn't as prevalent as it is. So they didn't have the convenience of going door to door and asking people to turn over footage. Instead,

they're asking the typical questions. Where were you in the early morning hours of Sunday, February 15th? If you were home, do you remember seeing anything out of the ordinary or hearing anything suspicious and have you seen this woman and they would show them a picture of Corey Day Desmond. So to put this into context, this is not an easy job because there are literally hundreds of homes in this area. If I zoom out overhead on Google Maps, you can get perspective on this. Here is Bogie's Bar and look at all of these homes in every direction. They were boots on the ground as they say, working around the clock, going door to door, question. resident after resident, but it led nowhere.

And meanwhile, Corey's friends and family were still in shock. Most people will go their entire lives without someone they know being murdered. And on a quiet Wednesday night, February 18th, just two days after Corey had been found, the sidewalk outside of Backstree lounge, the last place Corey had been seen alive by her friends, was flooded with candlelight. About a hundred people gathered outside the bar in Redondo Beach, each one holding a flight, one holding a flickering flame and each one struggling to find the right words. Friends, family, former coworkers, and even complete strangers stood shoulder to shoulder,

bound by the same unbearable truth that Corey was gone. And no one could understand why. How could this happen? Bubba Jacobson, a close friend of Corey, said, we're all here together to support each other and try to make some sense out of this senseless killing. His voice cracked with the the kind of pain that can only come from total disbelief and sadness. He went on to say, there are monsters out there who prey on women and the public. I have a lot of anger. And many people were angry.

The crowd agreed they were nodding in silence at those words. What else could they say? This wasn't a tragic accident. This was a deliberate act of violence. Corey's father, Mark, had spent the day being pulled in two directions. One, by the raw private grief of a father who lost his child. and the other by the public, the urgency to speak, to be visible, to demand justice. By the time the vigil began, Mark had already spent hours speaking with the media.

But when he stood in front of that crowd, surrounded by the same people who loved his daughter, it became too real. He said it's like a nightmare. His voice was breaking, and he continued by adding, this is pretty overwhelming, and it just shows how much my daughter was loved. He paused. He glanced up at the sky where the candles seemed to flicker in time with the wind. And he said, Corey's up there watching this. And she's probably singing. And that's exactly what they could imagine her doing, turning heartbreak into something bold and something unforgettable like she was. As people mourned, they also remembered her for who she was. Mark said she was a college graduate. She was beautiful. She was my life. She will be missed by a lot of people.

Mark spoke openly about Corey's search for directions saying that she had many interests, but no career path that held her interest very long. And there was that eerie irony. She had earned her bachelor's degree, as I told you, in criminal justice. But she never quite felt at home in the world of law enforcement, according to her father, because she was uncomfortable shooting a gun and lost interest. Now, recently, Corey had completed classes to become a substitute teacher, a new direction that she was exploring with genuine curiosity.

but her passion didn't stop there. Mark said, Corey absolutely loved to cook as well and considered going into culinary school to become a chef. He smiled, even though he was grieving, because he remembered something that made the crowd laugh.

He said, Corey was constantly eating and he told her, you should be fat, but she wasn't. It was gentle humor. It was personal. It wasn't a joke. It was Mark remembering his daughter the way that she was.

And he explained the deeper truth behind that. I told you about Corey's surgery she underwent as a newborn, the operation to repair the hole in her diaphragm. It saved her life. But ever since, she could only eat very small portions. But she made up for it in frequency. Her father called it a voracious appetite. Standing by his side was Thomas Desmond, Corey's older cousin.

And he recalled the last time he saw Corey, just a week before her murder. Corey had been at his house prepping for a bar attending contest and his wife helped her get ready. They chose her outfit together. They did her makeup, giving her the kind of sisterly support that Corey always quietly longed for. Thomas told the crowd, she was always smiling, laughing, and always eating. And she told his wife that she needed a big sister to help her do her makeup and do her hair, to just do girl things because she never had that growing up. Remember, she was the only girl. And there was just no way of knowing that.

that that would be their last conversation with her. It spoke volumes. She was a woman still discovering herself, still exploring the little joys in life, still becoming who she could have been. It made the reality so much harder to bear. And in the next few weeks, while investigators were chasing camera footage

and timelines and shaky witness statements, Corey's father was out there building his own case, not with a badge and not with formal training or anything like that, but with the power of grief and the love he had for his only daughter. That demanded him to move and not stay still because being still meant he had to accept that Corey was gone. He had to keep his mind busy. And detectives were so impressed by Mark's passion and his intensity. How deeply he embedded himself in this case. But for Mark, this was not a case that he was just digging into.

It was his daughter. It was heartbreaking. But it gave him a purpose. It gave him somewhere to go, somewhere to spend his time. And when your world is turned upside down and you can't bring your daughter back, you search for the next best thing. Answers.