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E071: Erica Baker
1.6k Plays5 years ago
Erica was walking her family dog in a nearby park when she was hit by a van. Erica’s family has not seen her since that day and her body is still missing. And the suspects’ use of drugs, as well as their lies, has led to more wild goose chases than answers.
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Transcript
Starting a Podcast: Buzzsprout Experience
00:00:00
Speaker
Sleuth Hounds, have you ever considered creating your own podcast? Have you been inspired by listening to some of your favorites and thought? I'd love to try this out on my own. Whether it's a true crime podcast like ours, a motivational podcast, or maybe one filled with tips and strategies for those interested in the same activities you are,
00:00:20
Speaker
When Maggie and I first decided to start our podcast, we knew absolutely nothing about what podcasting would entail. But when we found that the platform Buzzsprout was one for which we didn't need any special equipment, just a computer microphone, some quiet space, and each other, we knew that this was the way to go. It is intuitive to use, fun to play around with, and so helpful in getting analytical data about our number of downloads to track trends and from where our listeners hail.
00:00:49
Speaker
Best yet, Buzzsprout is affordable, even by our teacher salary standards. Buzzsprout will get your podcasts listed on every major podcasting platform. So, what are you waiting for? Fulfill that dream of yours and start today.
00:01:06
Speaker
If you use our Coffee & Cases referral code, 709-643, linked on Facebook and in our show notes, not only will you help support our show, but you will receive a $20 Amazon gift card after your second month on a paid plan. It's that easy. Podcasting isn't hard when you have the right partners.
00:01:28
Speaker
Join over 100,000 podcasters already using Buzzsprout to get their message out to the world. Now it's time for the world to hear what you have to say.
Reflections on Dogs and Life Lessons
00:01:39
Speaker
We are all familiar with the saying, a dog is a man's best friend. And this week as I was scrolling through my Facebook memories, I saw that we adopted my dog nine years ago this week. And I think this is true of every pet lover, but you can't escape the dread that creeps into your mind when you think about your furry friend crossing into a different part of life before you.
00:02:01
Speaker
But for most of us, our dogs do go on before we do, and they just wait for us to join them. I recently saw a TikTok video that said dogs are the only living creatures that love their humans more than they love themselves. Dogs are sacrificing. We've all seen movies where a dog saves its person's life without even pausing. Maybe you've been in a situation where your dog stopped your house from being robbed or stopped you from being mugged on the street.
00:02:28
Speaker
I know with our girls, they can tell when I come home if I'm stressed or when I'm happy and excited or even when I'm sad. And it seems that they adjust their day around me. What did humans do to deserve such faithful and loving friends?
00:02:44
Speaker
One little boy, Shane, explained it best. You see, Sleuthounds, his dog hadn't been feeling well, so the family took their sweet pup to the vet. And sadly, the dog was diagnosed with cancer, a cancer no surgery could fix. His family decided to perform the euthanasia procedure for their old doggy in their home. I read online that the vet was quoted as saying, quote, Shane seems so calm.
00:03:10
Speaker
petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Beckler, the dog, slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Beckler's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat for a while after Beckler's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that dogs' lives are shorter than human lives.
00:03:33
Speaker
End quote and what shane said next would astound his parents and the vet And lead me to tell you his story today Shane said quote people are born so they can learn how to live a good life Like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right? Well dogs already know how to do that So they don't have to stay for as long as we do end quote
00:03:57
Speaker
But as you all know, not everyone learns how to be a good person and love everyone all the time. In fact, it seems fewer and fewer of these people exist. In fact, it seems most people are filled with hate, anger, and distrust. And for some, those emotions manifest into something more dangerous like murder, rape, and manipulation.
The Case of Erica Baker: An Introduction
00:04:17
Speaker
Sadly, the dog in our story today wasn't able to save his human when she was killed on their walk.
00:04:22
Speaker
She succumbed to those people mentioned above. The ones filled with anger and resentment. The ones prone to murder. This is the story of Erica Baker.
00:05:07
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases, where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:05:16
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the case will take those tips to law enforcement so justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page.
00:05:32
Speaker
Coffee and cases podcast and to follow us on instagram at coffee cases podcast and on tiktok at coffee and cases podcast Because as these families know conversation helps to keep their missing family member in the public consciousness Helping to keep their memories alive. So sit back sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week
00:05:55
Speaker
So Alison, I feel like since we have started focusing on these lesser known cases, we are doing more and more children's cases. Which is super sad. It is really sad. I mean, I feel blessed that we can bring more awareness to these cases, but it makes me really sad that so many of them are children's cases.
00:06:22
Speaker
Right. And you would think, I mean, I think what makes me most sad about it is, you know, when you watch the news and you see horrible stuff on the news all the time, and you think like you're seeing the worst of it. And then, you know, when we're getting emails from people, or we're doing our research, and we realize that's not even the worst of it, because there's still so much bad out there. Yeah, it can be honestly, a little overwhelming.
00:06:47
Speaker
And like a little like I think it kind of takes a toll on me sometimes like how sad and how deep some of these cases can be Especially Allison and I are in the works with something different for the show And we have been doing some different things and last week We just had like a really heart-wrenching conversation that had me in tears So I mean, it's just been an emotional roller coaster over here in my world
00:07:16
Speaker
I know. I know. And what you just mentioned, Maggie, I know our Sleuth Hounds will be excited to hear it. Here in a couple weeks, we're going to have an episode that's in a little bit of a different format. But we think that you're going to enjoy it. And it's a story that needs to be told. So we're excited that we get to share it. Yeah. And hopefully, with today's story, maybe somebody will know something that will help.
00:07:44
Speaker
the Baker family because Erica has been missing for about like right at I think 22 years.
00:07:54
Speaker
wow so that family's been searching for a long time yes a long time and she was actually born on june 22nd in 1989 so she is one year older than me she had three brothers and although her parents were divorced like they divorced after she was born she maintained a really good relationship with both her parents but her primary residence was with her mom melissa baker
00:08:23
Speaker
And from what I could tell, they were a very close family from what I could tell online. However, on February 7th in 1999, she spent the majority of that day with her father, Greg, in their hometown of Kettering, Ohio. And I had never heard of Kettering, Ohio. Don't know where that is.
00:08:48
Speaker
So for some reason it sounds familiar to me and I don't know why. Well I thought that I had heard it before. I think we may have covered a case or talked about covering another case that took place in I don't know if it was Kettering Ohio but I think a Kettering or maybe I might just be thinking of like the Kettie family. Oh right. From California. Yeah.
00:09:12
Speaker
But I did Google it because I just wanted to see like, is this a big town? And it's not huge, but it's not small. Like it's way bigger than the towns we grew up in, Allison. It's populations around like 56,000 people. So not massive, but not where we came from. Right. The cool thing about Kettering is that it has over 20 parks that total 284 acres, which I thought was really cool.
00:09:39
Speaker
Yeah. And from the looks of it online, like those parks have a multitude of fun activities to do in the summer, but we are in February. So, so no fun activities out. Yes. Um, but Melissa Baker's home was actually super close by to one of those parks. And that's where our story today both ends and begins.
00:10:04
Speaker
Okay.
The Disappearance of Erica Baker
00:10:05
Speaker
So you see on that cold February day, Greg had just dropped a rather agitated and upset Erica off at his, at her mom's house, according to the Charlie project. And why was she agitated and upset? Okay. So she's nine at this time. So just like picture your little sleuth hound at this time. Yeah. So basically anything she's mad because Greg
00:10:31
Speaker
Forgot to get tickets to a father-daughter dance that Erica was dying to attend and so she's upset. She was probably a little bit heartbroken. I know. And that's what I thought too, which I mean, I don't know anything about father-daughter dances, but I'm assuming like they don't sell out. Yeah. They probably could have just, you know, showed up in the door.
00:10:56
Speaker
But they don't go. But eventually, Greg is able to calm Erica down before he sends her into Melissa's house. And we know that she arrived at home because of what happens next. So as I said, she's nine. And as you know, nine year old little girls like to think that they're super independent.
00:11:20
Speaker
think their adults are. Yes, so you can imagine Allison how excited she was that she was able to take her aunt's dog on a walk in the park that was near their home called the Indian Rifle Park. So okay I'm torn on this Maggie. Oh I know. Because I know it's 99 which is to me that's still recent even though obviously that's 22 years ago but
00:11:50
Speaker
I don't know, in a larger city like that, I might've still been too nervous to let my kid go alone. And I don't know if like, you know, this population of, what did you say, like 55,000 or something like that? If there are areas that are more like secluded and rural, so it would seem more safe? Well, I didn't look into like, you know, if they lived in like more of a rural area or if they were, you know, more in town.
00:12:20
Speaker
But I do know that it seems like this was like pretty regular for her. Okay. So I'm assuming that her mom felt confident enough to let her do this. Right. Like she's familiar with the park and you said they live close. So it could have literally been like taking your dog across the street. Yeah. Like maybe their house backed up to the park. I'm not sure honestly how close in proximity they were.
00:12:45
Speaker
But we know that she walks to the park and then walks the dog around the park, and she left her house between 3.30 and 4 p.m. Okay.
00:12:58
Speaker
So it's still light outside. Yes, but it's getting dark because it's February and it gets dark earlier. So I'll come back to that though. So while she's in the park, two people actually walk past her and they do notice that there's a little girl that we now know to be Erica sitting on a park bench with a little dog on a blue leash. So she's sitting and like she's still holding the leash and the dog is just like walking around her. And they note the time as just shortly after four.
00:13:29
Speaker
So there's no like interaction really with them. They just walk on leaving Erica on her bench alone with her faithful companion. So at this point, it's not that long after she's left her family. Yeah. At most, she's only been gone like 35 minutes or so. Okay. But something happens.
00:13:52
Speaker
after Erica was last seen sitting with her dog. So the couple sees something else. They actually see a little dog with a blue leash that is running toward them and the dog is really scared with no owner in sight. So the little dog they just saw with the little girl now is running towards them with no little girl.
00:14:15
Speaker
Yes, yes. And thinking that the dog like escaped its owner for they had long since forgotten that this little dog was the companion of a small child. Okay. They call animal controls, you know, hoping that the owner can be found.
00:14:34
Speaker
And as I said, they don't give a second thought to Erica, the girl that they had seen on the park bench. And they are actually the only witnesses to see Erica beyond her family on this day. So they probably maybe just remember seeing a girl, but because it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, probably didn't pay super close attention.
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, they said that it wasn't until like they saw it on the news that they put two and two together that they that was Erica that they had seen and that was her dog. Gotcha. Yes. When Erica isn't home when it's beginning to get dark her family starts to worry because like we said it's February so it's getting darker earlier.
00:15:22
Speaker
And at 5 30 p.m. it probably is dark in February and Erica still isn't home and her three brothers decide to go out and search for her. And I actually listened to a podcast episode called 19 99 what happened to Erica Baker and it had a lot of information on there. These people are specifically out of Ohio. So I don't know if they had like
00:15:51
Speaker
privy information that I couldn't find online. But some of what they said I could not find online. Maybe I didn't dig deep enough down into the hole. But it was really interesting. Their podcast was as well. So at this point, she's been gone like two hours now, which is far too long to just let the dog use the bathroom. Exactly.
00:16:17
Speaker
Yeah, when the brothers finally make it back home, they do see a familiar face, but not the one they were hoping for. Their family dog has been returned safe for the most part. The dog seemed, I know, and this was sad. This was again, according to that podcast episode, but the dog apparently had a bruise on its back and seemed to like be really terrified and scared. But it's a little dog. So why did somebody need to hurt it?
00:16:46
Speaker
Well, I think it may have just been because of what happens later on. Like I don't think it was necessarily purposeful. Oh no. I'm super, this is making me like sweat. I've got, I'm anxious. Yeah. This case like is different than like most of our like typical
00:17:09
Speaker
like quote unquote cold cases, because I guess technically this case has a resolution sort of, if that makes sense. I guess I'll see you in a minute.
00:17:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I'm like, how do you have a resolution sort of, but I'm sure I'll hear. So the community quickly rallies behind bringing Erica home. And I was actually really impressed by kind of how quickly things fell into place. So before midnight, they had more than three dozen volunteers already assembled looking through the surrounding wooded areas, like looking for Erica.
00:17:47
Speaker
That's really quick. That's awesome for that community that, you know, in just a few hours that they got all these people together to help. Yeah. I thought, I agree. Like I, you know, we know police usually are on the scene by this point, but to have people volunteering, looking for her, I thought I was impressed by, I was impressed by Kettering.
00:18:09
Speaker
We also have police dogs out sniffing for her scent. They soon put boats on every pond in a radius around her home, scanning the pond, dragging the bottom to see if anything turns up. Divers show up and they start diving down into the water to see if they can see a body or anything like that in this murky, muddy water.
00:18:34
Speaker
The next day, the pond near Erica's house was drained. We had more than 400 volunteers searching a four mile radius around Erica's home. They passed out dozens of flyers. We've gone from three dozen volunteers to 400 volunteers.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yes, and they said they passed out hundreds of flyers and hung them up around town. Police interviewed all the sex offenders in the area. And lastly, administered a polygraph test to both Greg and Melissa, so Erica's parents, and both of them passed. Okay, so right now, there's literally no lead. Yeah, I mean, the lead starts and ends with the little dog on the blue leash.
00:19:18
Speaker
That's like really it. But we will find out how maybe the dog got a bruise. Yes. Okay.
Investigation and Confessions
00:19:27
Speaker
So really nothing else comes of Erica's case until the following year when police suddenly announced that they have four suspects. Where did these come from?
00:19:38
Speaker
I couldn't really find like a lot of the research was like the same things just written by different sources type thing and I couldn't really find exactly like where they came from if it was like a call-in or if
00:19:56
Speaker
you know, they came around to this conclusion some other way. But they have four suspects that they are checking out. Well, good. I mean, multiple leads. And they are able to determine that Erica was actually hit by a vehicle the day that she went missing. Hence the dog. Yeah, so I think that has to do with the dog's bruise on its back.
00:20:22
Speaker
But so did someone like maybe the dog got away from her and she's running after it and then she gets hit and then she's hurt and they take her somewhere? Partly. And I'll come back to the dog in a second. Okay.
00:20:44
Speaker
But really, we'll just talk about all of it really. Okay. So according to the Charlie Project, the police do get a lead that Erica was struck by a van and killed the day of her disappearance and the occupants of the car panicked and disposed of her body. So it's not like maybe it was person A, maybe it was B, maybe C or D. It's all of these people were in this together.
00:21:07
Speaker
Oh, so they have four suspects, but it's not like four different. Yeah. Okay. So the tip names one person who in the tip is said to be the driver and that's disputed and we'll talk about it. But as Jan Franks and Jan is a drug addict and also that makes her a bad person, but she is addicted to drugs. She has a criminal record.
00:21:37
Speaker
I'm in another man who is kind of the focus of police investigation is Christian Gabriel, who in this tip was claimed to have been the passenger. Like I said, some reports claim that Gabriel's or Christian Gabriel's roommates were involved, but they deny that. Okay. So they would be suspects three and four. Yes.
00:22:04
Speaker
So in some articles I read, they are three and four. And then in some that I read, like they're ruled out when they can prove that they weren't involved. So there's different claims there. Okay.
00:22:19
Speaker
Later police learned that Jan may not have actually been driving at all. So I guess I could say that the police reason that this isn't what happened. They're not 100% sure, but this is what they think. Yeah, they are speculating. So police have a different idea of what happened the night Erica disappeared and they actually get a confession that backs up what they claim happened.
00:22:47
Speaker
OK, I'm following. According to the trolley project, Christian confessed to the crime to police. OK, so we have a confession, which is good. OK, yeah. He stated that he and Jan were in the vehicle together. And in one article I read, it's just
00:23:08
Speaker
Christian and Jan. In another article, it's those two plus the two roommates. So regardless of how many people are involved in this, we are 100% sure that Jan and Christian are both under the influence of drugs and alcohol that day on February 7th. So hence why they would freak out and all self-preservation.
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah, and that's not the only illegal thing that they were doing on January 7th back in 1999. They were also shoplifting, I believe, from a local Myers grocery store the day that Erica was killed.
00:23:52
Speaker
And they were in that store when they heard sirens going off and thinking that they had been reported to the authorities, they fled, they quickly ran to the van and sped away. And Christian told police that he was drunk and in the passenger seat and Jan was driving. So they could have, if they thought they were being followed, she might have not even been looking at the road or in front of her. Like she could have been looking behind her and then hit
00:24:22
Speaker
Erica or the dog. Yeah. And I think that that's what happened. I think that
00:24:31
Speaker
Maybe Erica was crossing the street and couldn't get out of the way of the van and they just weren't paying attention. Also, they're high and dry. So that also impairs vision. According to several sources, Christian said that they were driving along down Glengarry Drive near the Kettering Recreation Center when he heard a thud, felt a thud. Yeah.
00:24:58
Speaker
And that like quote unquote thud that he so heartlessly described was Erica. Oh my gosh. I know this story, like it was sad. It was sad for me to research. And according to the same report, Christian said that there was blood everywhere. Like the heat got out of the van. There's blood everywhere. This is the fact that I could not verify online.
00:25:25
Speaker
And it came from the podcast that I mentioned earlier, because I feel like if there was blood everywhere, we would hear the police say like a great deal of blood was found at the scene of the crime. You're right. Then yeah, it would have seemed obvious what had happened. Yeah. And like, there's nothing that I read said like,
00:25:48
Speaker
A great amount of blood was found, you know, like nothing like that was said. So apparently this group allegedly tried to resuscitate her, but to no avail. And instead of taking her to the local hospital, as I feel the vast majority of people would do. Yes. Christian says that the others threw her into the back of the van and drove to his apartment. Maggie.
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah, first of all, throwing her in the back. Oh, some of the way that like she's referred to by this man in interviews.
00:26:31
Speaker
is like, it's really sad. It's like almost to the point that like I would be talking about like, yeah, we have some clothes were taken to the Goodwill. I just threw them in the back of my court. Yeah, I mean, that's what makes it feel like a punch in the gut. And I'm telling you right now,
Family's Struggle and Legal Challenges
00:26:49
Speaker
you know, you want to say for a parent, there's nothing worse than losing a child, but losing a child and then to have somebody treat
00:26:59
Speaker
your child's body and the way that they're talking, that is worse. Yeah. I'll mention in a second, but like the family just has so many questions that are still unanswered. And that's the saddest part because I think the longer that they think about Erica's case and like Erica situation, the more scenarios they come up with in their mind. And I think that like,
00:27:29
Speaker
They're like, they just envision worse and worse scenarios that she had to go through because they don't, because they don't know. So why the heck did he take her back to his apartment? Okay. So, you know, I'm thinking, okay, we're not taking her to the hospital. Maybe we're going back to the apartment because we're like, okay, what do we do now? Oh, no. Okay.
00:27:54
Speaker
No, no, no. We're going back to the apartment so we can smoke, I'm assuming, crack cocaine. I don't really know. If you all thought our conversations about marijuana last episode were entertaining, I literally have no idea anything about crack. What even is crack? I don't know either. Do you smoke it? Yeah. Do you shoot it up?
00:28:19
Speaker
snorted. What does it look like? I don't know. I envision like when you get those like the like sea salt and you have to crack it. That's what I picture. Like wine like you see in movies or is that just is crack cocaine different than regular cocaine? I don't know.
00:28:44
Speaker
on your school computer though, Becky. Okay. We'll just speculate. Okay. That is so they just, they took her there because they were like, Oh, let's just, you know, get high again. Yeah. And while they are in this drug induced state, Christian claims they decided to dispose of her body at Huffman Dam Metro Park.
00:29:12
Speaker
Again, he claims that he stayed in the car, like he's in some reports said that when Erica was hit, he stayed in the car and other reports he said he got out. But in this case, he's saying when they go to dispose of her body, he stays in the car. I'm just not buying it.
00:29:32
Speaker
Well, he's not very reliable because Christian actually leads police on several wild goose chases for Erika's body, but nothing was ever discovered. Dogs never picked up on her scent at any of these locations, and investigators actually stated that they were not going to search again for her remains unless they found more evidence indicating where she actually was.
00:29:57
Speaker
This guy, the nerve to have done this to somebody's child and then to be like, I mean, I was somewhere, you know, like I think it was at this park and then nothing there. Yeah. He literally said they just laid her somewhere. Like she's just somewhere. I'm not really sure where, but she's out there somewhere.
00:30:22
Speaker
Yeah. Wow. Again, like that's how I would describe clothes I'm taking to donate. Yeah. Prosecutor said Christian wasn't telling the whole truth. They are not really buying his story. They do administer polygraph tests and his results come back inconclusive, which we know really means nothing. I know.
00:30:44
Speaker
But in this case, I'm, I'm buying the fact that he's guilty because I don't think that he's acting like a good human should. Well, they would agree. And they say Christian was the one actually driving the van when it hit Erica and that he buried her body. So they're putting him, they do. Prosecutors do believe that Jan was in the van with him.
00:31:12
Speaker
Apparently they were like boyfriend girlfriend. Okay. Which is weird in a minute because she also has a husband that they talk about. So not really sure what's going on there. But, um, like people that knew Christian said nobody else would drop his van. So like it basically had to be him dropping. Okay.
00:31:34
Speaker
So even though we can conclude that Jan was in the vehicle, police are never able to convict her of anything and she would actually overdose in 2001. And so we really don't know. Wow. We do know one thing though. What's that? And you're gonna be like, are you for real? Oh no. Gosh.
00:32:03
Speaker
And this one, this one, as a professional, this made me mad. So one thing that we do know is that Jan's lawyer, Beth Lewis, refused to tell police what, if anything, Jan had told her about Erica's case, and she cited attorney-client confidentiality. Does that not end when Erica passed away?
00:32:31
Speaker
So I'm not actually 100% sure like in the state of Kentucky, what it does, but I read that in Ohio, there's actually a law where a dead person spouse can waive that attorney client confidentiality for them. Like after they pass away. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
And Jan's husband actually signs that to authorize this confidentiality thing to be lifted. So he says to this lawyer, it's okay for you to tell whatever Jan told you happened. And the lawyer still not talking. So she actually is held in contempt of court and eventually jailed.
00:33:20
Speaker
because she will not say what Jan told her in regards to this case, which makes me say Jan knew something.
00:33:30
Speaker
That makes no sense to me. Yeah. Like who is this Beth Lewis, who is Jan to you? Like if that's just like my client and they're like, listen, you have to tell me this year you went to jail. I'd be like, okay, homegirl said this, this, and then this, I'm not going to protect her. Right. Okay. So I did just Google it.
00:33:52
Speaker
while we're talking. And it does say that attorney-client privilege does continue even after death, but it does say that it can be waived in certain circumstances.
00:34:07
Speaker
Yeah, and so this is one of them and she just ignores that. Wow. And I actually read in one article that it wasn't until I could be misquoting this article, but I think it said like until it went to the Supreme Court and they said like, you have to divulge the information that you know to authorities that she actually told police what she knew. So she did tell. Eventually. It could have been, I guess, maybe the state Supreme Court.
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah, probably that sounds more correct than like Supreme Court Supreme Court. Yeah. The big RB Ruth Bader Ginsburg RBG. Yeah. But I guess, you know, I keep thinking how sad this must be for Erica's parents.
00:35:02
Speaker
And first it's sad to lose your child. And then it's even worse to have your child's body treated the way it was and talked about the way it was. It's even more sad to have the people who know what happened to her lead police on wild goose chases. So like when you think that there can be closure, there's not.
00:35:21
Speaker
And then it's even more sad to know that someone out there had information about Erica from this Jan girl and won't divulge it, even though she can. Right. And even so, even though she finally did come forward and say like, whatever she knew, we actually do not know.
00:35:50
Speaker
what she told police because that's never been made public. Have they ever found her body? Okay, well, we're going to get to that. Okay. So after all of these different stories circulate as to what happened to Erica, police finally agree on the following. Erica was walking the dog at approximately 4pm.
00:36:12
Speaker
They know this because when they ask Greg, because he knows she's walking a dog, he was like, yeah, like we got out of the van. I'm obviously paraphrasing, but basically like we got out of the van and we saw a dog. Or like maybe he even said, I saw her walking the dog or something like that.
00:36:33
Speaker
we know that Christian hit her, he made the choice not to get her help and instead buried her body in a park. And police say that they believe he knows exactly where her body is located. And like I said earlier, I do think that because her case has been like not really unsolved, but like none of the loose ends have been tied up. I do think Erica's family
00:37:04
Speaker
like visions of what happened to her grow worse and worse. Um, because one of their fears is that Erica may not have actually been dead when she was put into the back of the van and either died in the van, which I could see like really happening or that she was buried alive. Oh my gosh. I just pray that one of those scenarios is not the case.
00:37:29
Speaker
Yes, I would just hope that she did not have to suffer and feel pain. Because, you know, as you all know, I have a list of irrational fears, one of which is being buried alive. And like, I'll just be sitting on the couch watching TV and I'm like, okay, if someone buried you alive, how would you get out?
00:37:49
Speaker
Like, and I'm like trying to figure out how I would get out the workings of my brain. You know, I did hear, did I tell you about this? That that phrase, like, you know, you're a dead ringer for somebody. Did I tell you where that comes from? Or I heard? Okay, well, this is just going to feed into your irrational fear. But when they would bury people, there was literally like a bell in the box, like in the coffin.
00:38:15
Speaker
So if you were accidentally buried and you were still alive, you could like ring it.
00:38:22
Speaker
Oh, okay. Well, so you're talking a warm system. When I die, I need to tell Anthony to put, put a bell. There's your solution. See, now you don't have to work. You know what? I just helped you out. Now you don't have to worry about it anymore. Exactly. So a little side story. The college that I attended is supposed to be haunted. I may have told you this. And, um, apparently
00:38:50
Speaker
like a lawyer in town, I believe his wife, they thought was dead and she ended up not being dead and they buried her alive. And then they end up figuring out that she had some type of illness that just slows your breathing and your heart rate. This was obviously like in like 1800 something or even earlier maybe, but they figured out she has like some disease that just slows your breathing and your heart rate. This is making you think of the fall of the house of Usher.
00:39:19
Speaker
Well, they dig her out, they dig her up, and there are claw marks on the inside. Oh my gosh. Okay, now I'm gonna have nightmares. Thanks, Maggie. You're welcome. So, but I am gonna pray, yes, that little Erica did not suffer at all. I mean, the impact, I guess, you know, was,
00:39:49
Speaker
enough that she didn't feel pain.
00:39:53
Speaker
Yes, and her family does get a little bit of closure. Just three days before the statute of limitations expires on the charges against Christian Gabriel, he was actually indicted for tampering of evidence and gross abuse of a corpse in connection with Erica's case. And actually I read that the grand jury had the option of indicting him on a range of offenses such as aggravated murder and vehicular homicide.
00:40:19
Speaker
But they declined to do so. They also declined to indict another suspect that I'm going to leave unnamed because he was never charged with anything. Was this one of the roommates? I think so, yes. I mean, I want to be mad at the jury, but I mean, if there's no evidence, then there's no evidence. Right, no evidence and no conviction, yeah.
00:40:44
Speaker
Christian did plead not guilty to the charges and he actually maintains his innocence in Erica's disappearance. He stated his confession was completely untrue and he only made it up because he was being pressured by the police.
00:41:01
Speaker
Well, I mean we've talked about false confessions before. That's true. They do happen. I don't know. I just want her family to have closure and that's why I'm wanting him to be guilty so then they can have closure.
00:41:17
Speaker
Right. And he, so he does go to jail and he serves his time and he's released in 2011. Um, so that's why, why I said this like really isn't like, I guess our typical cold case story because we know what happened to her. We know she was hit by a car. We know that it was this guy and that he's gone to jail. I guess the cold case part of this story is that there's still no body. So after all this time,
00:41:47
Speaker
Now he could have been so high that he doesn't remember, but I will say this as much as I want closure for this family, the more I think about it.
00:42:00
Speaker
Jan's attorney, whatever, she had to have had some information that was bad on Jan. Or else she wouldn't have taken it to that extreme. Because if Jan had told her she wasn't involved, then she would have just said she wasn't involved. You know what I mean? And the fact that in terms of evidence, there's not enough
00:42:29
Speaker
to indict Christian for those steeper offenses tells me that they didn't have as much on him. And the fact that, you know, that's in 2004 and he's released in 2011, I mean, that's, you know, six, seven years.
00:42:50
Speaker
That's not, and I know it's on lesser charges, but I'm wondering if that information that they finally got from that lawyer basically implicated Jan. And because she's deceased, there's no prosecution of her.
00:43:11
Speaker
And I was wondering too, like when I was reading this, like this isn't a typical case where like he, as far as we know, as far as the evidence points that like he purposefully killed her. Like, I guess this is more of like an accident.
00:43:35
Speaker
That's hard because I feel like his choices after the accident are purpose. Yes. And so that was, that was my question. So like, I guess if say you're in a car accident and like you're hit and you die, like the person that killed you, they're not charged with like murder. Like most of the people we talk about would be charged with murder, correct?
00:43:58
Speaker
Right. I think, I think that's why it's like the vehicular homicide. Okay. And then I'm assuming because the body was moved, that was the gross abuse of a corpse and the evidence tampering. Right.
00:44:17
Speaker
So maybe that does, I do kind of agree with you. Maybe that the information that Beth Lewis told him like kind of pitched Jan as a more bad guy and Christian was just kind of involved. Just there. Right.
00:44:35
Speaker
Erica's family has broken the silence regarding her case. Her brother told a new station in Ohio, quote, he's a coward. He needs to step up. You want to pretend like he's a man, but he needs to be a man and do the right thing. End quote. Erica has been missing for 22 years and we're no close to finding where she is than when we started in 1999. Her family still holds onto hope that one day they will know how Erica died.
00:45:05
Speaker
and be able to properly bury her. My heart breaks for them.
Listeners' Role in Cold Cases
00:45:09
Speaker
Erica's mom told the interviewers, quote, I'm not going to see her walk down the aisle. I'm not going to hold her children. Just please, just for Erica's sake, tell us where she's at. End quote.
00:45:22
Speaker
In the intro, I talked about passing into a phase of life without your fur best friend and how devastating it is to watch something so pure and so full of love simply no longer exist. Imagine the pain Erica's family is experiencing. Erica is more precious than any animal could ever be. She was more pure. She was full of love and full of life. And she never got the chance to live.
00:45:48
Speaker
While this isn't our typical cold case since someone has been convicted, Erica's body is still missing and we need to do what we can to bring her home. If you have any information regarding this case or where Erica's remains may be located, you can call the Kettering Police Department at 937-296-2555.
00:46:13
Speaker
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00:46:35
Speaker
Please tell your friends about our podcast so that more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to write our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon. Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.