Up and Vanished - Insight: Kristal

Episode Date: October 13, 2018

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19 plus to wager. O-N only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to any operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. I've thought a lot of things but what you just said

for me you hit it making people fall in love with Crystal once they learn her story. Just looking at the pictures of Tara Grinstead, you know, looking at her, it's like, wow, what a beautiful person. And then you read her bio and, you know, to read the stuff about her. And I didn't think of it this way, which really excites me in a sense because Crystal was just a dynamic person. Yes, she had problems and this and that and the other,

but she was a beautiful, loving, you're obviously aware of, with a beautiful daughter. You know, I mean, oh, wow. I really like the idea about bringing her story forward and people falling in love with her. I think that's what's going to really get people. Boy, I can see this. Wow. Well, I think you're the team to do it, you know, Meredith and everybody else.

So I just really look forward to what you're doing. Up and Vanish presents a bonus episode series. This is Insight. Thank you. This is Amy, Rodney's daughter, and essentially Crystal's sister. Crystal, over a decade ago, dated my brother at the time. And they had a fairly long relationship. I mean, a couple years, I think. And then they broke it off. But my parents sort of took her in as another child, basically.

She was just in our life ever since. Here's Mikey, Crystal's best friend from college back in Gunnison. She got A's in college. Always A's. And she partied. Me, I would take notes, sit in our dorm for hours, just studying and studying and studying. I'd get B's, you know.

She would just not even do homework and she would get straight A's. She was very, very smart. You know, she used to not even do homework and she would get straight A's. You know, she was very, very smart. You know, she used to teach some classes at Western State, some tarot classes and, like, spiritual classes at our old school. She taught some independent classes where people can get credit, which was kind of cool. If you're hearing some jingling noises, that's just Mikey playing with his keys. After she had her baby, she didn't, it was like pulling teeth that get her to go out, which I totally understand, because the crystal that evolved

after she had her kid, she blossomed into a very, like... Didn't really drink. She wasn't, uh... She was vegan, vegetarian, all this other stuff. And then she was getting so into it that she would give me a guilt trip for drinking and not eating meat, okay? I'm like, girl.

When I first met her, she had no piercings, blonde hair and flowers in her hair. And then it evolved to all these tattoos and like colored hair. And then it transitioned to this hippie style of her. She'd wear just like fabrics and like cloaks over her hair, just very like mountain town hippie girl. The last time I talked to her,

I was working on one of my deco stuff at the club and she called me and sounded different on the phone. She sounded really happy. It was kind of like a good, not like a goodbye, but just say I love you. Hi Mikey, how are you I'm like good I'm making an alien spacecraft Elvis is gonna come out of it on stage she's like you would and she just says you know I wanted to see how it's doing she's like I know I haven't talked to you for a little while because it was like a couple months and she just was saying I love you I'm like I love you too and I was like I'm gonna you too. And I was like, I'm going to call you right back.

I was like, I'll call you right back after I'm done with this project. I was scraping it all over my hands. But yeah, that was the last time I talked to her. She's the kind of person that would be misunderstood. To get a mental image of her, you can imagine a tattooed blonde girl, blonde, long dreadlocks, tattooed, lots of piercings, gauged out ears, very outgoing personality,

very sweet girl. But just on her looks alone, I think, you know, she had a hard time finding a job, of course, having a hard time fitting in, people taking her seriously, and I think she really wanted that, but if you got to know her, she was incredibly intelligent, really smart, super deep, really sensitive, very high morals, very high morals. Even though she liked to party when I met her, she was in no way a troublemaker. She just loved to laugh and have a good time. She did that a lot. love to laugh and have a good time. And she did that a lot. We had been together for a couple of years and we were at a pawn shop and she just picked up a guitar and started playing Stevie

Nicks. Blew me away. I had no idea she could even play a guitar. She never played during our first two years together. And all of a sudden she just picks up a guitar, starts playing some Stevie Nicks. first two years together and all of a sudden she just picks up a guitar starts playing some stevie nicks and i was like man you play guitar like i know she was always blowing me away like that she had like so many talents so many more talents i'm sure i didn't even get to see it yes that is kasha singing in the background she was kind of a nomad because she never had one house so she was always traveling right now. That's why she knows people in Denver. She knows people everywhere.

I met Crystal in 2006 in Gunnison. I had transferred my sophomore year of college there. And it was her second year. And she was one of the first people I had met. This is Jenny. You may remember her from a previous episode. and Lucas and Sunny and Derek Heston, you know, small mountain town, time stops. And it was kind of similar in Gunnison, very middle of nowhere town. It was a college town. She left to move to Denver, and I keep it the same.

Denver, me moving back from there, is a very small city. And it's a very, you know, you see a lot of the same people. There's a lot of Mohawks. It's really easy, you know, if you have issues with sobriety to get sucked in. And that had happened to her. And then when she got pregnant, she had totally reversed it. Eating organically and doing really great, happy with Elijah and couldn't wait to have this kid. And I couldn't wait to meet Akasha.

She was sober. She looked so good. You could just tell, like, she was on the right path. But it was kind of worrisome for me to hear how much she was detaching. She never really expressed where her demons came from. I don't think she wanted to come off as weak. But we knew, you know, we knew. You know, we all knew each other's kinds of stories,

and we didn't judge each other. We had very similar lives in the sense that her mom was schizophrenic. My mom was schizophrenic. My parents were very well off. My dad built his own business. It became very successful. I was fortunate enough that my mom was able to get on some very good meds.

She stabilized. Crystal was not lucky. Her mom was institutionalized. Crystal was pretty much on her own for a long time. So she and I connected in that way, and we talked about that a lot. And, you know, that's how we formed our relationship. It was really hard for a kid to see their mom like that, you know, but she wasn't around it like I was around it

because her mom was institutionalized from it, and her mom was mean. Some people, it makes them mean other people like my mom she her visions were of god and you know she would speak to god and that kind of thing we connected that way and we developed kind of like a mother-daughter relationship experience basketball like never before with bet mgm an authorized gaming partner of the nba ready to shoot your shot we've made the BetMGM experience more immersive and fun for all types of basketball fans. Being on the sidelines is one thing. This season, experience basketball on the foul line,

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Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone else close to you, please contact ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. I knew she was from Gunnison. I met her exactly 10 years ago in Denver. You may remember Danielle from episode three. She was her exactly 10 years ago in Denver. You may remember Danielle from episode

three. She was a roommate of Crystal's in Denver when they were in their young 20s. Here she remembers some of the things Crystal told her about her early life. She told me she was also a ward of the state. And it was funny because we would literally be laughing about like her experience, like she said about having her birthday party in jail, she said in the most oddest situation of being in jail, she felt connected with and truly felt loved when they gave her a birthday party because I think from growing up it was a little bit more rough. The first thing that got me about Crystal was her laugh.

She did have that laughter, that very positive Buddha laughter. I'm telling you, that Buddha laughter, seriously, that's what it is. Giant belly laughter. I'm laughing because I can hear it in my damn head. It goes through me. I needed a roommate situation, and so I moved to downtown Denver. And I met her coincidentally, her and her boyfriend. They just bought apartments off of Colfax and Lafayette.

It was like this old Victorian apartment. We were paying like 800 bucks. It had like five bedrooms in it, and it was like Gothic style. It was pretty cool. It was huge. It was was massive it had wood floors they creaked they were they were old we we believed it was haunted we did have some interesting experiences there I think she was very rebellious she was a rebellious teenager which we that's what I think we all had in common. We had that rebellion in common. Crystal was all about the free lifestyle.

Like, never could stay in a place that one time. I don't think we ended up in that apartment too long. I even live in that apartment. She was still trying to find a place to live. Like, we would be at a place, and she's still looking for a place. Gypsy soul soul for sure. Crystal was working at the Hard Rock Cafe on the 16th Street Mall. We liked to observe it. We loved people watching, that's what it was. She's a Scorpio and Scorpios are incredibly intuitive. We'd walk down the streets.

That's kind of like a game we would play. We'd walk down the streets, and she would just stop somebody, and she would just read and just be like, this is what I feel about you. Their reaction would be like, that's kind of spot on. So yeah, she definitely opened up my world to that as well. But we were always into that we were always into going into that little world and i know during that time it was impactful she did it with me she did it with me what i'm trying to think of something in particular she said

the things that she said i couldn't interpret at my age but now I fully understand now. And yeah it was pretty spot-on. I always resonated with anything that Crystal said. I really did think she was very intuitive, very intuitive. One thing she said was I wasn't awake. I didn't know what she meant by that and she was right. She, because I wasn't awake. I didn't know what she meant by that, and she was right, because I wasn't awake during that time. I think she always knew what was going on in my head. Scorpios always go through births and transformations, and they go through, like, hardcore rebirths and transformations.

There is a beautiful darkness about a Scorpio too. I think she was a little tapped into some of that darkness a little bit, as well as some of that light. The last time I spoke to her, she said that she was trying to get in alignment, so she must have entered a period of darkness, So she must have entered a period of darkness, which can happen sometimes when you're so tapped into those realms. And I think she was. We met up for lunch.

That's probably the best I've ever seen her because she was ready to be a mother and she wanted to be a mother and she was dedicated to being a mom. It changed her life like that. Olivia changed mine. I know that. She seemed like a very happy pregnant woman. We were eating Thai food. We went out for Thai. I'm trying to describe her presence when she's happy and like you, I mean, it will make you instantly smile. It's just very joyous. When we would reconnect, we would always go back to what's it like being a mom? She was so ready and wanted to be a mom.

I mean, when she had her daughter and she's pregnant, I think that's the most happiest I ever saw her. she had her daughter and she's pregnant I think that's the most happiest I ever saw her yeah she was hitting me up all the time yeah more so Facebook because her number changed like constantly I have like seven different crystal numbers we've heard that yeah and she didn't have the best look at cell phones no no no she didn't. So we had lunch, and then she, like, resurfaced again, but that's when she, it was in those messages, she said she wasn't feeling in alignment, and then I think a couple months later, Crystal disappeared.

I don't remember who posted it, but I saw her picture, and I was like, what? And I called the police to ask what information they had. And he was like, when you knew Crystal, was she using drugs? When we had lunch, she was glowing. She seemed like she had a direction. And then when I talked to the cops, they made it sound like she's just like this drug-addicted woman now that just took off. They said she had an apartment, and they investigated the apartment, and it didn't look like it.

It wasn't ransacked. But the cops told me they basically just made it sound like she left her daughter and took off. And it didn't sound right to me. It sounded a bit off. They treated her like she was a bum. My gut told me that's exactly gut reaction. She was just partying and just left her kid. And that's the typical. That's Colorado. It's more little cowboy attitude out here, so it's a little judgmental.

I feel like she's brought you guys here, I really do. Just not having any answers, like what you're doing is you're providing a lot of healing yourself. Crystal, she called me Adge or AJ, but she'd call me Adge all the time. AJ ran together. I also spoke to Danielle and Crystal's friend, AJ. They were all on the same crew of friends in Denver. AJ is the one who got that strange friend request from Crystal after Crystal had already gone missing. When I met her, I was probably about 23, 24. We were all in our early 20s. We all, you know, peers, tattooed, kind of

alternative. And I think that's just what really drew us all together. How would you describe Crystal? Free spirit she was just always into spirituality and into healing people and into positive energy and positive things light she'd always talk about the light and she was always just right there. Yeah we all we all were there for each other you know we're each other's backbone and each other's strength and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. Her smile, her laugh, her voice. You could seriously hear her laugh a mile away and exactly know who it was. it is contagious. Absolutely

contagious. She was friends with everybody. She loved everybody. Even strangers. She was friends with everybody. There wasn't anyone that she wouldn't give the shirt off her back to. Super enlightening all the time. I always call her Crystal Clear. That was my thing. I'm calling her because every time she talked, everything was Claire's crystal. You could see through anything. She made so much sense about everything. Go talk to Crystal Claire, she'll help you. Yeah, she's very smart.

And yeah, she just, she's great. Five and a half, six years ago, that was probably the last time I saw her. I actually got to hang out with her in the same room. Just happy like she always was. She was super happy. I just knew that if she's missing, something bad happened

because she's too strong of a person to run from anything. You know, she's not strong of a person to run from anything. You know, she's not just going to go up and disappear unless like there was something that was really bothering her and she wanted to go for a weekend. Disappeared that long, especially without talking to someone even a week or a month. That's, that's unlike her. I sat down with the Irvins, Rodney, Debbie, and their daughter Amy. I wanted to hear a little bit more about Kasha and Crystal's relationship. If Crystal had still been around, I could see Kasha would have been one of those given a lot of freedom and room to roam.

But, you know, she was well-loved, and Kasha knew. You can tell when somebody knows they're loved. You know, it's hard not to give your kids, as they're getting old enough to eat, little treats and, oh have some M&Ms and you know, want to give them those sugary things. Crystal was very adamant. She did not eat meat. Kasha wasn't allowed to have meat to this day. Well, she's a little bit spoiled now, but it was fruits and vegetables and a lot of noodles. She'll take a bowl of blueberries over a lollipop any day. She just won't even eat it. It's like not of interest to her. She eats so healthy and doesn't think anything of it. The first Easter when she was wasn't an infant so maybe a year and a half I wanted to give her an

Easter basket. They were staying with us at that time I said is it okay if I put something in there? She could have a few M&Ms and that's it. You know I could not load it up with chocolate bunnies and all the little junk that you always load kids up with on Easter. She got to have a few, and that was it. So she was very health conscious when it came to her. Very. The quality of what Kasha ate, and it wasn't just any fruits and vegetables.

It was organic fruits and vegetables, and only certain juices and stuff like that. Kasha never refused. Like you know with some of our nieces and nephews it's like meh, meh, meh. Kasha it's like I'll try that, I'll try this, I'll try this, I'll try everything. She'll try a little bit of everything which perhaps is just unique to being a child but I think her mom instilled in her to enjoy good foods and so she was a lot more curious to try different good foods, as opposed to our other nieces and nephews who don't even want like a quesadilla.

She's gonna carry on Crystal's legacy. I mean, from the very beginning, her family just wants to find her. They suspect she's dead. If she was alive there'd be a lot of questions but they'd be overjoyed. We didn't try to solve this case. We tried to introduce our viewers, people in Colorado, to who Crystal was. She's this person with a daughter and people who love her just because she lives out in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean finding her isn't important we just wanted people to care about her

enough to care about finding her people on social media are cowards they sit behind their keyboard and they can type up nasty mean things that they would never say to someone's face. They're just trolls. Us in the media, we see it all the time. It doesn't matter what you do. There are trolls out there trying to disparage some of the greatest people out there. It's just part of the new anonymous game of social media. But I don't know whether they're real.

Are they being serious or are they just haters? Crystal may not have made all the best choices in life, but I challenge anybody to say that they've made all the best choices in life. That doesn't mean that she didn't love her daughter. That doesn't mean that she didn't love her daughter. That doesn't mean that she didn't want to improve her life. It's really unfair to disparage somebody who is very likely the victim of a homicide. Thank you.