Who Killed Jennifer Judd? - Ep.9: Misty’s Dad Speaks - Who Took Misty Copsey?

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

The Webby Award-winning series returns with a special update, almost a year after cold case investigator Sarah Cailean published her eight-episode investigation into the 1992 disappearance of Misty Copsey. Several major developments call Sarah back to Puyallup, Washington: a new detective is breathing fresh life into what has become a very active investigation. A previously silent witness has agreed to speak to the police. And someone that Sarah has long hoped to hear from is finally ready to tell his story: Misty’s father, Buck Copsey. Plus, a mysterious tip that has haunted Sarah since the beginning may finally have an answer.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

32 years, that's how long it's been since 14-year-old Misty Copsie disappeared while attending the Washington State Fair. It's the biggest case in Puyallel. The 14-year-old just disappears, never seen it again. That's a serious case. I figured when I got home, she'd be there, thinking she's in trouble. And when I opened the door and no one was there, my heart just dropped. I just knew. This is my family that we're talking about, not just like a TV story or something like that.

This is real. She didn't run away. Something had happened to her. There's a number of people that were at work in this area during that time frame that could have done this. And the biggest challenge with this case is that we don't have Misty. Did he give her a ride? We do not know. Did he tell the cops, I drove up to an area that is not that far from where these genes were discovered? Yes, he did.

Ruben Schmidt doesn't remember what happened that night. Bullshit. He did it. No doubt in my mind. mind. I swear she said he was all dirty. He was like covered in dirt and it was late and then he went to sleep or something. So she's like, I think that girl's here on the property somewhere. There's pretty much no idea in my mind that she's still alive out there somewhere. If we could bring her home and lay her to rest, that would mean the absolute world to me. From ID and Arc Media, I'm Sarah Kalin.

And this is a special episode update of Who Took Misty Copsie? It's been about a year since we published our eight-episode series investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old Misty Copsie. And it's been almost 34 years since Misty vanished into thin air after going to the Washington State Fair with her best friend one September night in 1992. For months, law enforcement treated Misty as just another teen runaway. They dragged their feet and even publicly dismissed the notion that Misty might have met with foul play. By the time I learned of Misty's case in 2019, the trail had long gone cold. The question of what happened to Misty still haunts her loved ones, friends, cousins, and her half-brother

Colton, who was born after Misty's disappearance. It haunted her mother, Diana, for decades, up until Diana's death in 2020. I couldn't understand how we knew so little about what happened that night in 1992, so I booked myself a flight to Puellup, Washington, to see what I could learn on the ground. Once there, I discovered a sea of potential predators in Misty's orbit, including a notorious serial killer and several convicted sexual predators, any one of whom might be responsible for Misty's disappearance.

But what I found in the process of identifying new witnesses and information was that there were glaring and significant discrepancies that all point me toward just one person. Ruben Schmidt. Rubin was an acquaintance of Misty's, 18 years old, four years her senior. It has been reported that in the months after Misty's disappearance, Rubin's story changed repeatedly.

His behavior around coworkers and even his statements to the police went from kind of strange to downright bizarre. He even made casual comments to his boss about knowing where Misty was buried, but then took them back. But one thing was never in doubt. Ruben was one of the last people known to have spoken to Misty when she called him looking for a ride home from the fair, just before she vanished.

After that call, according to what Rubin told the police, he had blacked out and somehow ended up on his grandmother's farm the next day with no memory of the night before. I have shared all of my findings with the Puyallup Police Department. This is now a very active case, more so than it's been in many years, which means that I can't share everything that's been happening behind the scenes. But our podcast sparked some big developments, and I know that many of you are deeply invested. in Misty's story, so I want to share as much as I can about recent updates, starting with the fact that there's a new detective assigned to Misty's case.

I am Detective Jordan Wicks, the Piaop Police Department, and I am the lead investigator on the Misty Copsie case. Meet Jordan Wicks, the complete badass female detective who is breathing new life into this investigation. Detective Wix was raised in nearby Tacoma and grew up going to the Washington State Fair, the very place where Misty disappeared. It's a story that everybody's heard growing up around here, so I had been generally aware of it, I think, probably since I was a kid.

Years later, when it came time to think about a career, Detective Wicks decided on law enforcement. There's not a better way to see all of human nature and learn from people's experiences than law enforcement. And the hope was that if I did my job well, that I could help some people along the way too. Detective Wicks joined Puyallup PD in 2015 as a patrol officer before eventually being promoted to detective in 2021.

Detective or investigations was always the goal. And Misty's case was definitely on her radar. I was interested in the case really as soon as I got into detectives. The lead detective at the time, I was already talking about retirement in the next several years, and I'd say I unofficially started helping on the case and talking with him about it,

knowing that somebody was going to have to take over. I think it officially got assigned to me July of 2025. Right around the time that we published our podcast. But I'd been working in the background on it for quite a while before that. With the case file officially in her hands, Detective Wicks faced the same conundrum

as so many investigators before her. Where to begin with such an immense, thorny cold case. I took a long time to step back early on in this case and make a decision about how I wanted to handle it and how I want to take ownership over it. And while I might be learning from what's happened in the case and reviewing all that information, I want it all to be my perspective

and I want it to be centered on the investigation and the evidence itself. And, you know, you start to find things that you thought were true that may not be or just, you know, rumors that go around, whether it's within the lore of the PD or out in the public. So that was something I had to get over pretty quickly was, you know, I need to step back and block out all of that noise of anything that's been known before. I really respect this approach. This is the exact same way I always start an investigation, almost as if it's never been looked at before. And in Misty's case, it feels,

especially critical. As tempting as it is to pick up where those before you left off, if an investigator simply follows the same playbook as their predecessors, they're not likely to turn up anything new. It's easy to get tunnel vision or misread flags if you build on assumptions.

There have been so many opinions, so many theories, so much investigation done, that I really need to trust but verify all the work. I don't want to take anything for granted that, you know, oh, we decided that lead's not viable, or we decided this is nothing in the case, because it might be. I don't know what was happening decades ago in this investigation, so it is a lot of work to go back and not only review everything, but then double check and make sure there's not more to be done on things that have already been checked off.

People's memories change or, you know, sometimes people are in a better position to talk when they weren't before. It's true. Even decades after a crime, you can never rule out. the possibility that a witness could come forward with new information. Frustrating as it is, there are all kinds of reasons why someone may stay silent, even when they might know something of relevance to a case. And there are all kinds of reasons why they might finally decide to come forward. And in October 2025, I got a call from just such a witness. During my original investigation in 2025,

I'd uncovered a potential witness with information about the night Misty went missing who had never spoken with the police. This person had invaluable, deep background information that fueled my investigation. But they were terrified, I believe rightly so, of what could happen if their identity was uncovered.

It was far too risky for them to go on the record. They weren't even with, to talk to the police. Until now. After listening to the podcast, this witness calls me to say that they can't bear the idea that their silence might be yet another injustice

in Misty's case. Setting personal fears aside, they say that they're finally willing to meet with the police as long as I go with them. That alone is enough to get me back on a plane to Washington. But then,

less than 24 hours, after that call, I get another message. This time, from someone I had tried to reach during my investigation, who had never responded to my messages. Misty's father, Buck Copsie. Buck has been a mysterious figure in this story. He and Misty's mother, Diana, separated when Misty was just a baby. I had heard conflicting stories about his role in Misty's life, and he hasn't given an on-the-record interview in decades. But now he tells me he's ready to speak. He wants to speak.

A few days later, I'm driving down the now very familiar C-TAC strip, my first order of business meeting Misty's father. I'm hiding in the corner. I'm sorry. I'm Sarah. Nice to meet you. Buck and I meet at a coffee shop in Puyallup, across the street from the police station, in fact.

I recognize him from the few pictures I've seen, but honestly, I wouldn't even need pictures to know this man is Misty's dad. Misty is truly the spitting image. I sense that he's a bit apprehensive, but it's okay. I am, too. I'm proud of the way we told Misty's story, story, but I can't help feeling nervous in case we inadvertently got something wrong or said something

to make matters more painful for Buck. Did you listen to the podcast at all? I did. Oh, absolutely. So I still have your original message when you got hold of me. And then one of my friends said, hey, isn't it your daughter, mystery? I've been listening to this podcast. You really should listen to it. So I kind of hemmed and odd because, you know, you have this. escaping wound that starts to heal and then gets ripped open. Starts to heal and gets ripped up.

I've heard this sentiment from so many families of cold case victims. Without knowing what happened to their loved ones, it's like that wound never fully closes over. Like they can't take off the protective bandages

they've wrapped around themselves. This is a big part of why many in their positions shy away from the media. Luckily, Buck decided to give the podcast a listen. And I'm like, okay, she sounds legit, so I'll get a hold of me. Buck and I talk a while longer, clearing up some questions each of us has and just getting comfortable with each other. Eventually, he agrees to meet back up the next day for a real interview, somewhere quieter.

When we do, he's quick to explain why he's been so hesitant to give interviews. views like this. I mean, I have been approached a number of times over the years by different people for different reasons, all wanting to, in my opinion, sensationalize Misty. Sensationalize Misty and sensationalize the conflict between Buck and Misty's mother, Diana. At the time that Misty disappeared, she was primarily living with Diana in Spanaway, a suburb about 11 miles from the fairgrounds. Buck lived up in the mountains about an hour away, and Misty would stay with him regularly.

It was Diana who called to tell Buck that Misty hadn't come home from the fair. According to Buck, in the early days following Misty's disappearance, a few press accounts seized on the fact that Buck and Diana didn't quite agree about whether something terrible had happened to her, or if she might have just run off to a friend's house. In the very beginning, he says, he believed that Misty would turn up in a few days. During that time, there were still reports coming in to Jollap PD. Hey, she has been seen over here or she's been seen down there. So all of those things kept in my brain were like, maybe.

Now, even that didn't mean he wasn't worried, that he wasn't out there searching for her. I made posters. I went to Yakima, spent the weekend that were there putting posters everywhere because somebody reported to Gallup, PD, she was seen in Yakima. A couple weeks later, she was reportedly seen in Portland.

How did I go again? Putting posters up. I'm on the streets walking. I mean, there were reports the girls who called in. Oh, yeah, she called me. Oh, yeah, I saw her at this concert. Oh, you know, all of those things

or wrong, obviously, but you go with what you're told, right? There are more reasons why Buck initially believed Misty might have just run away, things he shared with me off the record. They make a lot of sense, but he asked me not to share them for fear of further stoking that conflict between him and Diana. And he pointedly adds that he has no desire to say anything negative about Diana. We disagreed. There's reasons why we disagreed, and I told you those.

But that was early. That changed. But that's what the media wanted to focus on. That wasn't going to help find Misty. That wasn't going to do anything for anything other than sensationalism. And, I mean, you know, I'm aware that Diana's family has some real heartburn with me over the whole thing. frankly, their animosity towards me carries nothing compared to the guilt I feel about Misty anyway. Buck's long silence could easily have been mistaken for distance.

But the more he talks about Misty, the clearer it becomes that nothing could be further from the truth. She loved being outside. I think she probably got that from me. I don't know, because you walked out of her back door and you were in... forest land. And it's very easy to get lost out there. So I made sure that she understood how to not get lost. And she loved it. And we would go camping. We would go up to Mount Rainier, her and I and pitch a tent at Cooper Rock Campground and go hiking up on Mount Rainier. I've got pictures of her out of Miss. As Buck starts talking about his relationship with Misty,

it's like the floodgates open and the memories pour out. Took her to the circus, she got to ride an elephant. And that's where she got to ride lots of horses, and they had a pool, so she obviously got to go into the pool and have fun. She had a great heart. She was mischievous, just like any other kid, but there was no malice in her. She would do things for laughs, do things because it was funny,

but she was also very sensitive that if it actually hurt somebody, she would apologize. Yeah. Was she also a teenage girl who didn't want to do what she was supposed to do? Yeah. There's so much affection in the way Buck talks about his daughter. And he has brought a big stack of photos to our interview. Dozens of snapshots of Misty's childhood that I've never seen before. Misty as a baby.

Oh, there she was four months old. Really little dress. Misty with her head on Buck's shoulder, wearing matching dad and me running bibs. Did you guys do a run? Yeah, Dad and me run. Misty as a kid sitting on Santa's lap at the mall, as a teenage girl making faces at the camera. Towards the bottom of the pile, Buck points to a photo of Misty with a group of girls. So this was like one of the last, that was a slumber party at our house for her birthday.

For her 14th birthday? Oh, my gosh. Misty's 14th birthday, just six months before she disappeared. All right, I have one more thing I'm going to spring on you, but I didn't do it to spring it on you on purpose. It was very much serendipitous. So this morning, I woke up to a text from Colton.

That's Misty's half-brother, Colton Smith. Colton is Diana's son from a later relationship. He and Buck have never spoken, but the two men share an undeniable bond through Misty. He asked if I would read you a message. Would you be okay with that? Yeah. Buck, I was happy to hear that you had reached out to Sarah to tell your truth.

I generally hope the opportunity to speak as well as Reminists will be both therapeutic and healing for you. Please know that when it comes to the loss of Misty, it is not lost on me that you are also a victim. You and my mom were both robbed of a daughter, and I am so beyond sorry. Misty was robbed of a bright future and so much love. I really wish that I could have grown up with her in my life. Please be kind to yourself, and if you harbor any regrets or feel you made any mistakes, understand that they make us human.

All my regards, Colton. It's very heartfelt. It's a little hard to hear, but Buck said that's very heartfelt. What you can't hear in Buck's answer are the tears welling up in his eyes. Colton's offer of kindness across something of a divide is hitting both of us. He's a really, really lovely young man. He has contacted me once before, but my brain is sometimes not in a good place. I'd beat myself up over this for years and years and years.

I've gone to years of counseling. I still have nightmares. I had nightmares last night. But I greatly appreciate that. I wasn't expected. But I'm sure that at some point in the future we'll talk. Yeah. I talked with my son,

I was the other half-brother, who, when Misty lived with us, he was born and for the first year and a half of life. She was a mothering him around the house and helping him learn to walk and talk and do all those things. And I told him that I was coming to see him. And I said, I'm not sure how do you feel? And he just looked at me.

He said, I still think about him. I pray for her every day. Meeting Buck has filled in so many details about Misty's life for me. I'm grateful that he's finally willing to open up again about his daughter's story. But Buck and I aren't just sitting down to talk about the past. We're sitting down in a place that might hold the key to finally answering the question that's haunted this case for more than 30 years.

When Buck and I left the coffee shop after our first meeting, he'd gone across the street to the Puyallup Police Department to introduce himself to Jordan Wicks, the new detective assigned to his daughter's case. During my interview with Buck the next day, I ask how he feels about this new leadership on the case. I'm extremely happy. To my knowledge, the first female who has actually had a chance to look at the case,

not disparaging any male detectives or anything, but we look at things differently. What is glaringly obvious to me is maybe not, to you. What is glaringly obvious to you? I don't even see. So, yeah, I'm stoked. I'm, I'm cautiously excited. And I say cautiously because it's been 30 years. I have this gaping wound still. And it scabs over and then it gets ripped off. And then it scabs over. Then it gets ripped off. I'm hoping that this time it gets ripped on. maybe it can actually heal.

I'm hoping we can start working towards that right now, because Buck and I aren't talking just anywhere today. We are at the former Schmidt family farm. One of the details of the night Misty went missing, one that even Ruben Schmidt himself does not deny, is that at some point after Misty called him for a ride, Rubin ended up here. According to reports, when, why, and exactly how he got here

seems to change every time he tells the story. But I've come to believe that this property and the forest around it are pivotal to understanding what happened to Misty. During my investigation, I'd received numerous, credible tips from independent sources all saying the same thing, that they believed Rubin was responsible for Misty's disappearance and that her body may be somewhere on or near this land. Three separate tips specifically mentioned the old mine shafts

that pepper the surrounding area. Luckily, the current owners of the property are incredibly kind and generous and have basically given me carte blanche to do whatever searches might be needed to potentially. potentially find Misty, an offer I've already taken them up on. During my investigation in 2025, I came out here with forensic anthropologist Marion Davidson, who specializes in locating clandestine graves. We spent several days hunting around for mines and potential burial sites. We didn't find the mines. Without the resources of a police department, we could only cover so much ground. But

We generated strong leads. Marion wrote up a detailed report, had it peer-reviewed, and gave it to me to submit to Puyallup PD. A few months later, I reached out to a local organization called Ghost Towns and Mines of Washington, a group that explores mines all over the state. I wanted to bring in someone who really knows this terrain. Specifically, a guy named Tim Nias, the head of the organization.

I asked him to meet me out here today. When I'd mentioned to Buck at the coffee shop that I'd be coming back to the property, he surprised me. He asked if he could join. So that is why we're here, sitting together at what was once the Schmidt family farm waiting for Tim to arrive.

Buck had another surprise for me. He showed up this morning with a set of rain gear, for me, just in case I needed it out in the field. I almost couldn't keep it together in that moment. It's just such a dad move, a quiet, practical act of care, and a reminder of exactly the kind of father Buck was

and how deeply misunderstood he's been. Now, as we sit here in the current owner's farmhouse on the property, I ask Buck how he's feeling. We are about a five-minute walk from these minds that are, potentially relevant based on various tips. How are you feeling about being out here? I want to know. I want to know.

Period. Am I excited about being at her? No. Am I anxious about being in here? Obviously, yes. Does that matter? No. I want to know what happened to my daughter.

Period. And if that happens to be finding her, well, then we found her. and I understand that there's a lot of ground to cover. Literally a lot of ground. Dozens and dozens of acres of steep and rocky forested hills. And there is no time like the present to get started. Detective Jordan Wicks had also asked if she could join us today,

and of course I'd said yes. Actually, what I said was, uh, it's your case. Of course you can. Soon, we hear Tim Nias pull up outside. Tim, this is Detective Hyatt. Hi, hi. Hi, nice to meet you.

I explained to Tim where we are with the investigation, including that we've been out here once before with a forensic anthropologist. This is her report, and I'm sure it'll make more sense to you than it does to me. There's like Cal Topo stuff in there and everything like that. Then, Tim explains his unique area of expertise. We go all over.

over Washington and search out historic mines and explore and top to bottom and been doing it for 10 years mines and I've done almost 300 in Washington. When forensic anthropologist Marion Davidson and I came out here last year, we were looking for big tunnel-like mines, mines with openings big enough for teams of people to walk through. based on Marion's initial research, that seemed like the most common type in the area. But upon further investigation, she found that there could be five mine access points

of two different types on or near the Schmidt property. Thankfully, Tim knows this terrain like the back of his hand. He explains to us which of these mines are the most likely to contain human remains. and many of them do not have big openings, he tells us. They're more like narrow, vertical air shafts, big enough for a person, living or not, to fit in, but not much bigger than that. They're also the most challenging and dangerous to search.

This actually aligns better with what I heard from one anonymous source during my investigation about a warning the Schmidt children received that, quote, the kids were never allowed to play there because they were open shafts covered with vegetation, end quote. With all this in mind, we put on our boots and head out into the woods.

In typical Pacific Northwest fashion, it's raining. Hard. I don't need Tim to tell me that these are not exactly optimal search conditions. But Tim's a pro, and even with the rain, he's able to make sense of the landscape right away. This is the railroad grade and that prospect town I was talking about would be down this and just up on the hillside. The goal today is for Tim to help Detective Wicks get the lay of the land for any future searches she may undertake.

The two of them compare notes, pulling out various maps and looking at Marian Davidson's report. That seems closer than one of the maps. Gotcha. I mean, she looks like she covered a lot of them. I'm showing around that part over there. Say it with 95% sure there's not a shaft over here, though. I mean, at least any of this area that we're in. So, a lot of these shafts are off the beaten path.

I mean... Not supposed to be where people are? Yeah, and normally... Oh, I gotcha, yeah. You just, they're not like on a hiking trail where you're like on a road of somebody, you know, they're going to be hidden, you know? Normally. But if our maps are to be believed, and if the tips we've received are sound,

it seems like there should be a mine entrance right under our noses. God, we should almost be on top of it. Which, paradoxically, could explain why it's proving so hard to find. Being so close to the road, that's the only other thing that makes me wonder is that if it was this accessible even to the road, then, I mean, if these were open at one time, I can't imagine they just went, oh, yeah, that's fine, it's just leaving open, you know? Right, right, right. I mean, I think that makes it more likely they would have came in here instead of to do something about this.

Let's do something about this, meaning at some point someone may have filled in or otherwise closed up any minds that used to be in this area. The area we're searching is just too close to the road to be safe. Detective Wicks takes note of this. A good four hours later, it's almost completely dark and we are all very cold and sopping wet. So we head back inside. Tim shows us an overhead map of what the entrance to one of these air shaft-type mines would look like if it were opened back up.

Probably looks up like this. Wow, that's small. Yeah. It's probably, I mean, it looks small in the photo, but it's probably like, I mean, a person could, you wouldn't want to fall in that. I mean, it's not huge, but it's, you know, it's problematic. It definitely would be problematic to fall down one of those mines.

and I'm sure that's exactly why Grandma Schmidt warned the kids to stay away all those years. I think we're all processing what this means for the possibility of locating Misty's remains if she was indeed brought here that night. What if the shafts are closed over? And if they're not, what would a search actually look like logistically? It's a lot to sit with. and for now I've done what I need to do on the ground here in Washington, so I head home back to Philadelphia.

Any future searches are now in the very capable hands of Detective Jordan Wicks and her team at the Puyallup PD. I'm definitely still an outsider in this investigation. I'm not officially helping Puyallup PD from the inside, but I have a solid relationship with Detective Wix. It feels like a trusting. open line of communication. A little while after getting home from Washington,

I give her a call to check in. I guess the first thing is, where are we right now? What's the status right now? Very active. I am carrying a full caseload as well, so not all 10 hours of my day. I get to go to this, unfortunately. But I've certainly got a checklist of the do's that I'm following up on.

I've got threads that I'm pulling. One of the threads? The information from my anonymous witness who has finally come forward. While I was in Washington, Detective Wicks and I had a lengthy meeting with this individual going over every detail of what they know. It was a highly productive and encouraging conversation. I can't say much more than that for now, but Detective Wicks speaks to why a witness coming forward,

even at this late stage, can change everything. When you have somebody that's wanting to come forward, sometimes it can have that ripple effect of other people coming out and wanting to talk. Or it just opens up avenues that we didn't see before, you know, you don't know what you don't know. You can run down a theory as much as you want, but if you don't have that new information, you can only go so far. So it is a really big deal. In addition to the anonymous witness, Jordan also got to meet Buck for the first time during my trip to Washington. What was that like for you getting to meet him is sort of the, you know, the first time you're getting to meet a parent in this case with Diana having passed before you took over? Yeah, you know, Buck came by the PD and it was a little out of the blue, honestly.

I was sitting in my office and our front desk reached out and said, hey, there's a man named Buck here that wants to talk. You know, my initial reaction was being pretty nervous. I know how I feel about the case and everything, but there's a lot of history for him. And so I did feel, I think, initially quite a bit of pressure. But I found that he's very gracious and ultimately just a loving father who wants to see this thing through. And so I got to sit down with Buck and got to look through photos with him. And, you know, as much as the case meant to me before, that really added just that much more motivation and resolve for the case. I mentioned something that Buck brought up, that he's happy there's a female detective.

on the case for the first time. The work that's been done on the case by some male detectives, I've seen some really phenomenal work happen on this case. It's not to say that I'm the only one that could do it, but I do have a certain perspective, I think, as a mom, I have a daughter, and I think there is some emotional weight to it, and I feel the case, you know, so there may be something to that. I can almost hear Jordan blushing at all this.

She is very modest, not one to center herself in the investigation. And I get that. Her focus is on getting answers for Misty's family and for everyone who has held on to this case for more than 30 years. And on that day, out at the former Schmidt family farm, one of those people was right there beside us, Misty's dad. It was really powerful to have him out there with us. He was stomping through the brush with us and just as active.

as any of us. But at the end of the day, you know, you want to go out there and you want to show him something and you want to go find that piece of evidence or find something where you didn't expect it to be. And so I think I was a bit somber walking away from him that day and continue to be. But, you know, one of the last conversations we had that day was, it was about the plan to come back and keep at it and that there was more work to be done. And, you know, it's, it's tricky terrain out there for sure. tricky terrain is putting it mildly. I'll tell you when we got out there,

you really can't appreciate the difficulty of the terrain or kind of the layout of that area until you're walking through it. So that brought a lot to the forefront for me as far as the work to be done there. Really what I maybe didn't expect and that you don't quite get from maps is the incline, really, of all the hillsides there.

It really is more of a steep kind of gulcher valley. there was a lot of, you could tell areas where there had been landslides over the years and maybe close things off. Some entry points maybe are well up the hillside that's almost straight up and down, really. Entry points, meaning potential entry points to the mines that have become such a central piece of the investigation. I ask about her takeaways from meeting our resident mine expert, Tim Nias. I think his knowledge of what would have been accessible at the time. was the biggest thing in understanding how the mines in the area work and really narrow in on where we should be looking. He knew, you know, this is where they would have built a platform

to have a hoist on. Those sorts of things were really, really helpful. And so I'm going to follow up with him, seeing if there's any more off-gassing vents that they had or any other access points we should be looking at. So it really was a very beneficial day for the case, ultimately. Tim's expertise changed the picture significantly, not just for for me, but for the investigation going forward. I asked Jordan how it feels to be the one carrying all of this. There's certainly some overwhelm, and, you know, there's a certain gravity to the case that's always at the forefront, but I'm hopeful about the work that can be done on it,

and I'd love to solve it. I'd love to find Misty, so I do feel good about the case, and as much as it is overwhelming, I wouldn't want anybody else to have it. I'm happy to have it. you know, what I will say about that day with Tim is it felt so par for the course of this case that in some ways there were more questions than answers that came up. But in some ways, I'm grateful for that because I think that, you know, as long as there are more questions to be asked, then you know a case isn't done. As an investigator, I couldn't agree more.

As long as there are questions left to be answered, then our job isn't done. And there's one unanswered question that's lurked at the edges of this case since the very beginning, one that I may finally be closer to answering. Up until this point, the last confirmed sighting of Misty was by a local bus driver. The driver said that around 9.20 p.m. on the night Misty disappeared, a girl matching her description, approached him near the fairgrounds, asking about the next bus to span away. where Misty lived. He told her there were no more buses to span away that night,

and the girl walked off. But there was another reported citing after that, one that has been talked about a lot but never confirmed. About four months after Misty's disappearance, in January of 1993, her mom goes on a talk show to bring publicity to the case. We're talking about the unsolved case. of Misty Copsie.

During the show, a woman calls in with some information. Hi. Hi. My name's Tammy. The woman never gives a last name, but she claims that around 10 p.m.

on the night Misty disappeared, she saw a girl matching Misty's description outside of a 7-Eleven on Meridian Avenue near the fairgrounds, about half a mile from the bus stop, seemingly walking toward the highway. She just looked at. totally distressed.

You know, like she was in trouble. She looked like she was crying. This had the potential to be a critical piece of information, a clue to where Misty was headed that night and why. But the woman hung up and no one ever got her information. The police weren't able to verify her identity

or the tip. Fast forward, about 33 years. It's September of 2025. One morning, I wake up to a DM on Instagram from a woman claiming to be the mysterious Tammy. She says that she has information she wants to share and she hopes it might be helpful. As we speak, Tammy provides a number of personal details about her identity and offers to give me anything I might need to verify her story. I'm not including her last name for privacy reasons

unrelated to this case. She tells me that she was a teenager herself in 1992 and was working at the fair the night Misty disappeared. That night, she saw a tall girl with blonde hair outside the fair at the row of gates and then later saw the girl again, walking in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven on Meridian. The girl looked upset, so it caught her attention.

Then a few days later, Tammy saw a missing person poster for Misty, and she felt sure that the girl she had seen that night was Misty. Tammy immediately told her parents what she'd seen, but they told her to stay out of it. It's hard to know why, exactly. As I've said before, people choose to stay silent about these types of sightings for all kinds of reasons. Fear of retribution, not wanting to get involved with law enforcement, feeling like it's bad form to poke around in other people's business. Whatever her parents' reasoning for not wanting to get involved, Tammy obeyed their wishes. At first.

But when Tammy saw Diana on that talk show a few months later, she decided to call in. She was convinced that she might have information that could help police determine what had happened to Misty. But in the middle of the call, what are you? of her parents walked in. She got scared and hung up. She couldn't work up the courage to defy them again. The fact is, even if this really is the mysterious Tammy, and even if her story is true, whether the girl she saw was actually misty is still a question mark. I witness sightings like these are not always reliable. In fact, in my experience, eyewitnesses are. Eyewitnesses are are actually more likely than not to be unreliable.

But there's something very particular about this sighting that I've thought a lot about, something that's kept me up at night, wondering on more than one occasion, which is this. How this citing relates to the theory that Ruben Schmidt picked up Misty that night. This all fell into place for me one day

during my first trip to Washington last year. My producer and I are driving around with Misty's brother Colton, retracing Misty's steps from the night of the fair. We drive from the fairground entrance gates where Diana dropped off Misty and her best friend Trina earlier that afternoon to the pay phones where Misty called Rubin asking for a ride. I confirmed this key moment, the phone call to Rubin, with Trina when I spoke with her during my investigation in 2025. We continue tracing the girl's steps, driving past the bus stop where Trina and Misty parted ways, where Trina left to walk home while Misty waited for the bus. The bus stop that has always been considered the last known sighting of Misty

when she asked a driver about the next bus to span away. As we drive, Colton brings up Tammy's sighting. I mean, it's never been confirmed, but she said that, she had seen her or thought she had seen her out front of the 7-Eleven. I have a couple problems with that sighting, and one of them is that I think it was at like 10 o'clock at night. Yeah, yeah. And it kind of feels like if she came out at 8.40 for an hour and a half waiting for somebody,

I mean, I guess it's possible. With that citing, too, I've always thought it was weird, because if, I mean, if you're going to call in once to help and say that you've seen that, Why would you never call to confirm that information? Right. All this time, I felt like it just doesn't add up. Why would Misty still be hanging around the fairgrounds so long after first calling Rubin for a ride, a full 40 minutes after talking to the bus driver?

But then we start driving towards Spanaway, where both Misty and Rubin lived, to trace the route that Rubin would have taken if he'd, did pick her up. Or Rubin and his uncle, as some sources have said that Rubin and an uncle went to pick her up. Colton is directing us to the highway towards Spanaway when we pass the 7-Eleven in question. So I think this 7-Eleven is the one it wants. Yeah, because it would have been off already. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, and I mean, it does, there is some logic to it actually. Suddenly, it clicks.

If Misty had tried Rubin earlier in the evening with no luck, then tried the bus and found out she was truly out of options, what if she had called Rubin again? Trina told me that when she left Misty at the bus stop, she'd given Misty the $10 she had in her pocket. So we know that Misty would have had money to make more phone calls. Plus, according to local journalists, Sean Robinson's reporting, Rubin's roommate at the time initially said that this is exactly what happened,

that Misty called Rubin and eventually he and his uncle had gone to pick her up. So what if that's true? What if Rubin had gone to get her? Then Misty walking to or near this 7-Eleven for an easy pickup would make complete sense. Yeah, because it would have led to the freeway too. Right, that's what I'm saying. It would have been right there. They could have just hopped off.

My producer jumps in to clarify. You're saying that makes sense, potentially, that that's where Rubin said, like, I'll pick you up at the 7-Eleven on Meridian. Yeah. Yeah, I couldn't even see that. I've never thought about that. Because it's right off the road that he would have been coming from. Yeah, and thinking back to the 90s, when you didn't have a cell phone text and say,

here's where I am, they would have had to pick a location that they both knew. Yeah. 7-Eleven, and they would have basically gone. this rude. I've never thought about that. That makes a lot of sense. Even a general just, hey, start heading this direction, we'll find you.

Even if it came down to that. Never thought about that. This is why this sighting is so significant, if true. It's one more piece of the puzzle pointing me to Rubin, or Ruben and an uncle having picked

Misty up that night. And now, I may finally have the mysterious Tammy to put it all together. I have, of course, passed along this woman's information and all other leads to Detective Wicks. I believe that under her guidance, the investigation will make real headway, and soon, I think. But even beyond its investigative value, this tip reminds me why it's so important to keep these cases in the public eye. It's why I've made the choice to investigate many of my cases through podcasts like this one.

Of course, there is always some information I can't share, but pulling back the curtain on an actual investigation can lead to legitimate investigative developments like this one. It can inspire key witnesses to finally come forward. I believe that continued attention on Misty's case will keep these tips coming. I remain in regular communication with Colton and with Buck. I think we're all holding on to that phrase,

cautiously optimistic for dear life. I can't overstate how unbelievably hard it is to close cold cases like this. But I also believe that right now, with a dedicated new detective in charge of the investigation, and all this momentum and attention on me, Misty, we have the best chance in years of solving this case. The wheels are turning, and I promise to keep you updated whenever I can. Who Took Misty Copsie is produced by Arc Media for ID.

The network executive producer is Meredith Russell. This series is hosted and written by me, Sarah Kalen. Our producer is Tessa Ryan. Our associate producer is Claire Franjola. Executive producers are Zachary Herman, Doreen Razam, and me. Co-producer is Lindsay Agee. Score is by Travis Bacon. Sound editing and mixing is by Dean White.

Assistant editor is Chris Maui. Audio engineering and editorial feedback provided by Josh Wilcox at Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Forensic research and fact-checking provided by Jennifer Leahy.