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E095: Kristi Cornwell
1.4k Plays4 years ago
Kristi Cornwell’s brother, Richard, understands dedication. When the Georgia Bureau of Investigation received a tip, he would search every square inch looking for clues about his sister’s disappearance. Now that Kristi’s remains have been found, he is dedicated to bringing her murderer to justice.
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Transcript
Inspiration to Start Podcasting
00:00:00
Speaker
Sleuthhounds, 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?
00:00:18
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.
00:00:36
Speaker
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. 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?
00:00:59
Speaker
Fulfill that dream of yours and start today. If you use our Coffee & Cases referral code, 709-643, linked on Facebook and in our show notes.
Exploring Personal Safety Measures
00:01:09
Speaker
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. 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.
00:01:31
Speaker
Growing up, I had friends whose parents sent them to a local Taekwondo studio to learn self-defense, just in case anyone tried to abduct them, so they could at least perform enough moves to get away.
00:01:45
Speaker
My dad had given me, over the years, a flashlight with a taser at the end, pepper spray, and a key chain that looks like a cat, but which you can stick your middle and ring fingers through the eyes to instantly make a spiked fist, with which to harm anyone who might try to hurt me.
00:02:04
Speaker
On college campuses nationwide, there are often call boxes installed every few yards from which an emergency call can immediately be made. Also often equipped with a button that immediately produces both a strobing light and sirens to cause any would-be attacker to flee. All of these actions reveal what we already know. There's vulnerability in being and walking alone, especially at night.
00:02:33
Speaker
and especially for women.
Introducing the Case of Christy Cornwell
00:02:36
Speaker
But sometimes all the training and preparation in the world, as we will see in the case this week, still isn't enough to keep us safe. This is the story of Christy Cornwell.
00:03:25
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.
00:03:34
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.
00:03:50
Speaker
Coffee and cases podcast and to follow us on Instagram at coffee cases podcast and on tick-tock 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
00:04:14
Speaker
Maggie, this week's case was a listener suggestion. We like those. We like those a lot. Yes, we love those. And it was one that going into it, I didn't know anything about. Yeah, I've never heard of Christy Cornwell. Yeah, so again, our purpose on the show is to cover the lesser known cases.
Background on Christy Cornwell
00:04:36
Speaker
So the fact that these cases come in and we get these suggestions and they're ones that we have no inkling about,
00:04:43
Speaker
I mean, those are the ones that we get excited to cover. So Maggie, you can imagine my surprise when I realized, and this is gonna sound weird, but the case I'm covering this week is going to sound eerily similar to both your last case on Lucinda Strange and my last case on Angie Hammond.
00:05:11
Speaker
Y'all, we don't plan these similarities. They just happen, which is crazy to me. Yes, and especially that it's so similar to both of those. So let's see if you can pick up on the similarities and you will very quickly into the description of the crime. Okay, I'm ready. But before we get into the case, Maggie, I wanted to tell you a little bit about Christy Cornwell.
00:05:34
Speaker
So Christy was currently taking classes at Dalton State College in medical laboratory technology, which sounds over my head. Yeah, I don't do bodily fluids and I feel like medical laboratory technology deals with bodily fluids. Yeah, yeah.
The Abduction of Christy Cornwell
00:05:54
Speaker
I know my mom works in a hospital lab and yeah, she does like all of the cultures and all of that stuff. And yeah, I'm with you. I'd rather grade my papers and maybe get a paper cut every once in a while.
00:06:11
Speaker
According to an August 15th, 2009 article in the Arlington Cardinal, Christy alternated between an apartment in Dalton, Georgia, remember that's where she's attending college, and staying along with her 15-year-old son with her parents at their home on rural Jones Creek Road in Blairsville, Georgia. So was Christy, like how old was she? So she was 38. Oh, okay.
00:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, and there's a reason why I mentioned in the show's intro that sometimes all the training and preparation for a crime doesn't mean that you're out of harm's way.
00:06:49
Speaker
And I said that because in order to pursue that education for her new career, in 2002, she had quit her previous job as a probation officer. So Chrissy is tough. She is, yeah. At that job, she had a degree in criminal justice, which is why she took that job as a probation officer. But Maggie, she not only took firearms classes, but she worked at a prison and she taught
00:07:17
Speaker
Self-defense class. Oh, wow. So she's like knowledgeable. Yeah. So when I say preparation and training, I mean preparation and training.
00:07:28
Speaker
So, when the 38-year-old, 5'5", 150-pound brunette had sported her white T-shirt and tan shorts for her daily walk that she took for exercise on August 11th, 2009, down that rural road, most would have thought, like, this woman of all people would be fine. Yeah, she's not gonna be messed with. Right, she would be able to handle herself.
00:07:56
Speaker
But this time, they would be wrong. Okay, and I do see the similarities, so we're on a walk again. Yes. So you've already caught on to the connection with a Lucinda Strange case, Maggie. Christy was out alone for an evening walk when the crime occurred.
00:08:14
Speaker
A walk that, though it was on a secluded road, Christy had made plenty of times before. So again, much like Lucinda, Christy knew the area so well that she didn't hesitate setting out walking that night a little after 9pm. Okay, so it's like after dark.
00:08:36
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. And that's what I was going to say. So this is August. It's August in Georgia. So I know here in Kentucky, usually in August, it stays light until about
00:08:50
Speaker
nine o'clock. So I can imagine that the sun was setting, but I can also imagine why she might wait until that time of day. I'm sure it was hot. Yes, I bet that Georgia sun can be scorching. Yeah, no doubt. Probably the day was just beginning to cool down. As she was walking, Christy placed a phone call to her boyfriend, who was in Atlanta at the time about two hours away.
00:09:19
Speaker
As she was speaking with her boyfriend, Douglas Davis, she told him that she thought a vehicle was following her. That sounds spookily similar to Angie Hammond. Yeah. Because remember she was talking on a payphone. On the payphone. Yep, to her boyfriend and said, hey, there's this suspicious car.
00:09:44
Speaker
Christy Cornwell, similar thing. She's talking on her cell phone though to her boyfriend who isn't just seven blocks away. He's two hours away. But she's saying, there's this vehicle that kind of looks like it's following me. It's taking up most of the road. Oh, wow. Yeah, so Christy told her boyfriend, and remember, this is a rural road and Christy's familiar with it. This is where her parents live. This is where she grew up. So she tells her boyfriend Douglas, I'm just gonna move out of the vehicle's way.
00:10:14
Speaker
But just after she spoke those words, Douglas heard a scuffle over the phone, heard Christy yell, don't take me. Oh my God. And then the phone went silent. Wow. So we talked with Angie Hammond case Maggie about number one, how frightening that would be being on the phone.
00:10:36
Speaker
But with Angie Hammond's boyfriend, he was only seven blocks away. So there was at least like some hope that he could get there in time that he could save Angie. But for Christie's boyfriend, he's two hours away. And what do you do? Do you like call?
00:10:51
Speaker
The local police department, sheriff's office, what would you do in that instance? Well, that's what Douglas did. He is instantly panicked and he feels hopeless because he can't help. He's too far away. He immediately phoned the Union County Sheriff's Office and he called them about 9-20, so literally minutes after the abduction took place.
00:11:13
Speaker
And he let them know what just happened, like what he heard over the phone, the general vicinity of where she was, you know, just near her parents' home. When police arrived, they could tell where the scene had occurred because there were signs of a struggle. I wonder how long it took them to get there.
00:11:32
Speaker
Well, I didn't read how long it took them
Investigation Challenges and Witness Accounts
00:11:36
Speaker
to arrive, but I do know that obviously the abductor and Christy were gone by the time that they did.
00:11:45
Speaker
And of course, they, so when Chrissy spoke to Douglas on the phone, she just said that there was a vehicle, hers kind of happened so fast that she said, you know, there's this vehicle, it looks like it's following me, he's taking up most of the road. But then it was like, immediately when she just says like, oh, I'm gonna move over so he can pass, that's when the abduction happened. So there wasn't the description of like what the vehicle looked like.
00:12:12
Speaker
So, you know, for this case, all we really know is where the abduction took place. So the police get there and they can tell where the struggle was because Christy's shoes are there, her eyeglasses are there, and a cell phone earpiece. So they broke her phone? Well, no, I'm thinking I took that to mean like- Oh, like Bluetooth. Yeah, like her, like an earbud.
00:12:40
Speaker
A sound that Douglas would struggle with getting out of his head. Christie's boyfriend told WMBF News and NBC affiliate that he had heard, quote, unmistakable sounds, end quote, of her being abducted. I know. Can you imagine hearing those sounds and then knowing that you can do nothing?
00:13:02
Speaker
I mean just like with the Angie Hammond case like you're so close to potentially saving her but yet so far away and just like this case like you can't do anything.
00:13:17
Speaker
even though you know what's happening. He did all he could by calling the police and he had been right. Christy was gone. She had been abducted. While Christy was not able to save herself, she was able to give her boyfriend a clue though, because by yelling, don't take me, it gave the police the information that Christy's disappearance was not a willing act and that whoever took her was a stranger because she didn't say anyone's name, just an indication of the action.
00:13:47
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And that's something I really wouldn't have thought about, but I guess if it was someone you knew, you'd be like, Bill, don't take me or whatever. Right. Yeah, you would say someone's name if you recognize them.
00:14:00
Speaker
Immediately, law enforcement got busy because of Blairsville, Georgia's location, which is near the northernmost border of Georgia. It's only about a 30-minute drive from Tennessee in one direction and around a 30-minute drive to North Carolina in the other. This is like Appalachia, Georgia, Appalachian Georgia. Yeah, Northern Georgia.
00:14:25
Speaker
And so because of its proximity to the other states, law enforcement, the GBI, so the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI officials hunted for Christie across the tri-state area. So they looked in Northeast Georgia and into Tennessee and North Carolina. Well, that's really good. Yes. And within days, Maggie, they had a couple of clues.
00:14:49
Speaker
The first clues came from witnesses who reported to police two unknown and suspicious vehicles in the area.
00:14:57
Speaker
So thank goodness in some ways for this being in a rural area, because Maggie, you and I have talked before. Had this abduction taken place in a metropolitan area, one wouldn't be able to look at a vehicle and be like, that vehicle doesn't belong here. I don't know anybody with that vehicle, but we can do that in small towns. Yeah, we can say, yeah, we've never seen that car before on our road or whatever. Right. Heck, we could probably even be like, that doesn't sound like his truck. Like we know it sounds too.
00:15:26
Speaker
So these witnesses noted that one of the suspicious vehicles was a white suburban sized SUV, and the other was a tan or gold Nissan compact vehicle. So even though Christie didn't give a description of the vehicle, we at least have witnesses coming forward saying, well, there were these two that I've never really seen around here before.
00:15:46
Speaker
The second clue came two days into the search on Thursday, August 13, 2009. A long highway 325, which is known locally as Nautily Dam Road,
00:15:59
Speaker
and it ran between Dean Gap Road and Pat Colwell Road. That's a lot of words. That was a tongue twister. A mouthful. Yeah, but along Highway 325, which was only about three and a half miles north of where Christy had been abducted, a man was mowing his lawn when he noticed something in his yard. So he pulls his lawn mower over like, what the heck is this? And it was a cell phone.
00:16:26
Speaker
Wow. And again, thank goodness people, if you find something in your yard like this, please turn it into police.
00:16:35
Speaker
because that cell phone, once it was turned in, turned out to be Christy Cornwell's cell phone. I feel like it would just end up on Facebook Marketplace these days. I know, and that is so sad. Mm-hmm. Turn it in, peeps. Authorities believe that the perpetrator likely tossed Christy's phone out the window as he was driving away from the area.
00:16:58
Speaker
But that thought was positive for former FBI profiler, Clint Van Zandt, who told Ann Curry of the Today Show in an interview with her published by Today.com on August 17th, 2009, quote, if it's a kidnapping, you may have that assailant grab the cell phone out of her hand and throw it out the window. Then we've got fingerprints and perhaps DNA to work with, end quote.
00:17:24
Speaker
Very good point. Maybe we have some fingerprints. If he grabs it. While time would reveal that there weren't fingerprints or DNA on the phone, that would match with a perpetrator. So we don't get that. Did they maybe like figure out like where, like the route he took from the phone? Yes. Yes. That's exactly what the phone told the Maggie. So at least even though they didn't get fingerprints or DNA, it's like one step closer.
00:17:54
Speaker
to finding the perpetrator because it did tell them the route, and it was north, which would either take them to Tennessee, which is to the northwest, or North Carolina to the northeast. Okay, so we've got something. We have something. Within those few days, law enforcement had also ruled out Christie's boyfriend. Obviously, he was in Atlanta. Had ruled out her ex-husbands.
00:18:21
Speaker
And they had ruled out registered sex offenders in the area, which was over 150 individuals. Wow, they were busy then. Yes, they were extremely busy. And with so many people ruled out with witnesses coming forward with vehicle descriptions and with a clue as to the route, at least the Cornwell family could hold out hope that maybe more answers would quickly follow.
00:18:46
Speaker
After all, as Christie's brother Richard said in that same Today Show interview, quote, she's very well educated and well trained to deal with this situation. I don't think anyone would have a better set of tools than she does to get through this, end quote.
00:19:04
Speaker
So like all of that training that she had as a probation officer in self-defense, in firearms, it at least gave her family some sort of comfort that again, even though she had been abducted, if anyone could survive, it would be Christie.
00:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, and I feel like having really talked about that, like you want to hold on to that hope as long as possible. And so I'm sure they maybe even felt more encouraged than some of the other cases we've talked about because her training was so extensive.
Public Involvement and Investigation Leads
00:19:34
Speaker
Right. And at the same time, all of this was happening, Christie's mother gave two urgent messages.
00:19:42
Speaker
one to her daughter's abductor and one to Christy herself. To the abductor, Joanne Cornwell, Christy's mom, pleaded for them to quote, have mercy on her, to let her go, let her come back to us. She has a 15 year old son that desperately needs his mother. Let her go, end quote.
00:20:07
Speaker
and not capable of holding back tears at this point. Joanne Cornwell told Curry, quote, I would tell Christie that we're praying. And she's praying, I know. She's a woman of faith, and we are too, to hang in there. And her chance to be free will come. She will be able to get away, end quote. So do you talk about later on, do we know if she ever did have the chance to get away?
00:20:38
Speaker
You will find out. Okay. So Christie's case also received national attention. It was featured on America's Most Wanted.
00:20:50
Speaker
We're fans? Yes, we are fans. So when it was featured on that show, they also revealed sketches of the potential perpetrator from witnesses, those who had described the vehicles. So they gave a vehicle description and sketches, which led to even more tips pouring in.
00:21:11
Speaker
In fact, Maggie, another woman also came forward to say that on August 2nd, 2009, so only nine days before Christy's abduction, she had been walking along a rural road when a man had attempted to abduct her by hitting her with his silver Nissan Xterra with a brush guard on the front.
00:21:35
Speaker
Oh my God. What type of world do we live in today that we have to be scared to walk by ourselves on a road? It's just crazy to me. Yeah. And so in both of these cases, both this woman who was never named in any of the research
00:21:51
Speaker
And Christy, they're walking alone down a rural road. There's someone who's taking up the majority of the road, right? Because remember, Christy was like, I think this guy was following me. He's taken up all the road. In this case, whoever was driving this vehicle hit her with it with the brush guard on the front, which is like that metal cage kind of looking thing on the front of a vehicle.
00:22:16
Speaker
And remember, one of the two suspicious vehicles in Christy's case was a Nissan. Oh, for some reason hadn't put that together. Yep. And so in this case, the man was a white male with dark hair. And we know that because remember, this is a botched abduction. It doesn't actually happen. And he got out of his vehicle to abduct this woman.
00:22:44
Speaker
Just as another vehicle was approaching, because that other vehicle was approaching, this dark-headed white male got scared and jumped back into his Nissan Xterra and drove off.
00:22:59
Speaker
a blessing for that woman. Right. And that woman lived in Ranger, North Carolina, which was only 25 miles away from the spot where Christy Cornwell had been taken. So I'm assuming then we think this man or the potential abductor probably lives in North Carolina. Or again, because Blairsville is so close, it could honestly be anywhere in that tri-state area.
00:23:28
Speaker
Well, police who initially wondered whether this attack on Christy maybe could have been somebody related to her previous job, because remember she was a probation officer. So at first they're like, could this be somebody who was in the prison where she works, who's out now?
00:23:47
Speaker
You know what I mean? And he somehow tracked her down and is after her. That's what they initially were considering. But after this woman came forward, now they're like, no, this is so similar that there's probably a connection between these two women's cases. Yeah, I feel like there almost has to be. Mm-hmm.
00:24:07
Speaker
Sadly though, just as things were beginning to look positive. So, I mean, we've gotten clues come in. We have descriptions. We have people coming forward. After eight days of looking, the ground search was called off. Why?
00:24:26
Speaker
Well, from what I read, it was due to staffing issues, like they just didn't have enough people. Now, this was just the ground search. They did continue their investigation. Oh, okay. According to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation from August 11th, 2010, so one year to the day after Chrissy Cornwell's abduction, the GBI had, quote, conducted 1,226
00:24:54
Speaker
individual documented investigative acts as part of this continuing investigation. And that does not include the 11 days of active searching for Christie during August 2009 in Union County by both
00:25:10
Speaker
numerous local state and federal agencies. 776 tips were called into the tip line and investigated. The neighborhood canvassing involved conducting interviews at 450 houses in the area.
00:25:26
Speaker
and the GBI case file is now 38 volumes and continues to expand as additional information is developed and thoroughly investigated." So even though the ground search was called off, I don't want to make it sound like they just stopped looking. Yeah, because that's impressive. Yeah, that's extremely impressive.
00:25:45
Speaker
But the Cornwell family themselves were even more determined, I think, than law enforcement to do what they could to aid in the investigation also. In fact, they were so dedicated, the family.
00:25:59
Speaker
that Mike Ayers, who was in charge of the regional GBI office at the time, said in an interview to CBS News on January 4th, 2011 that, quote, the Cornwell family's devotion to finding Christie was unlike anything I've seen in more than 20 years as an investigator, end quote. Wow. So if we think the police were determined, the Cornwell family,
00:26:26
Speaker
Like they needed an award. It sounds like a Crystal Rogers family. Yeah. There are a lot of similarities. Yes. This is like dedication to finding answers and justice.
00:26:38
Speaker
The Cornwell family auctioned off their Lakefront vacation home to fund so many aspects of the search. The sale of that home paid for a $50,000 reward for information related to Christie's disappearance. It funded the mailing of 80,000 flyers with information all throughout the South. So like to Georgia, to Tennessee, and to North Carolina. And it paid for airplane flights over much of the search area to find additional clues.
00:27:09
Speaker
And to show that dedication even further, because the GBI didn't have the manpower necessary to continue the ground search with all those clues that were coming in, they would actually, Maggie, call Christie's brother, Richard. He quit his job as an engineer to focus strictly on finding his sister.
00:27:29
Speaker
I mean, that is awesome and sad at the same time. Awesome that, you know, there's that amount of dedication, which I'm sure, you know, all families I would hope would want to be that dedicated to finding them. But it's sad that he has to be put in that position. You know what I mean?
Suspicions Around Carringer
00:27:46
Speaker
Right.
00:27:47
Speaker
But he was so dedicated, Maggie, that the GBI would literally call him up. Like when any leads came in and they would be like, Richard, we have another one. Here's where it is. And he would go out, nights, weekends, it didn't matter, to search. And his process of searching, Maggie, was meticulous.
00:28:10
Speaker
So Richard was a licensed pilot, so he would rent helicopters to check out potential vehicles that match the description. He would fly to places to distribute flyers, but on foot he had a system.
00:28:26
Speaker
whenever they would give him coordinates of areas, he would walk in straight lines across the entirety of the search area so he wouldn't miss a single inch. And he went out every weekend. Wow. Meticulous was a good word for that. Yes. And there seemed to be a break in the case in close to the one-year anniversary of Christy's abduction.
00:28:55
Speaker
In the summer of 2010, law enforcement received an anonymous letter concerning Christy. The letter, which was written in purple ink, remember that because that'll be important later, stated that it was from a woman who believed her grandson was responsible for the abduction.
00:29:16
Speaker
She stated in this letter, Maggie, that her grandson looked like the sketch relayed to authorities by the woman in Ranger, North Carolina. Remember the botched abduction? And in this letter, this woman said that her grandson owned a Nissan Xterra.
00:29:33
Speaker
She further detailed that her grandson was from Florida, so the Exterra had Florida tags, and that he visited her from August 1st through the 15th to do handyman work for her. And those dates would then encompass August 2nd, when the attempted abduction took place in Ranger, North Carolina, and August 11th, when Christy Cornwell disappeared.
00:29:59
Speaker
Well, I just think like, so Anthony and I have been on like, obviously a true crime kick right now. And like, I think this grandma is so amazing for coming forward, like coming forward with that information, because I would think as a family member, that would be hard to do.
00:30:21
Speaker
Yes. But I think it's amazing that she put that kind of bond and connection behind her for the sake of justice. And I could not agree with you more. And that's how I initially felt.
00:30:38
Speaker
Oh. I'll just leave it at that. Well, right now, she ended the letter by saying that her grandson wasn't at home the night that Christy disappeared and that when he came back the next morning, he had scratches on him. The problem is that the letter had been anonymous and law enforcement didn't know this woman's identity nor where to find her grandson. You should see my face right now.
00:31:05
Speaker
Yes, and so for the second time since this case began, Christy's mom Joanne Cornwell made a public plea, posted on the GBI's website, Cherokee, North Carolina Sheriff's Office webpage, and on YouTube, begging the grandmother to come forward. In that video, she said the following, quote,
00:31:26
Speaker
I know how hard it would be to implicate your own grandson in such a horrible crime. I'm a grandmother too. And I can certainly understand your love for your grandson and wanting to protect him. But I am asking you to put yourself in my shoes.
00:31:41
Speaker
a mother who gave birth to a previous baby girl 39 years ago. So I beg you, as the grandmother of Christie's possible abductor, to rid yourself of the guilt you must be feeling, knowing you may have the information that could lead us to Christie. Please come forward and end the nightmare our family is going through." End quote.
00:32:04
Speaker
And then she ended by saying, quote, I know that you're struggling and so concerned for your grandson, like I am for Christy. I know it's hard to eat, hard to sleep, just like it is for me. Our lives will forevermore be bound with this abduction of Christy. Whether your grandson had anything to do with it or not, you are concerned that he did.
00:32:30
Speaker
I ask you to come forward and give law enforcement the information they need and let them prove or disprove his innocence or guilt."
00:32:39
Speaker
But Maggie, no one ever came forward. So because this is my justification why I think no one came forward is because I feel like in writing this letter that cleared her guilty conscience, even though like it wasn't very beneficial, like she confessed to knowing this information, even though police couldn't follow up on it. So I think that may have cleared her conscience.
00:33:06
Speaker
Again, Maggie, I'm gonna dash your hopes here in just a minute. So this is the place where you and I, Maggie, normally delve into all of the theories, right? My favorite part. But in this case, there's only one. There is only one person of interest in Christie's case. So instead of hypothesizing,
00:33:34
Speaker
I'm going to tell you about this person of interest. Okay. James Scott Carringer. Three names. Three names and it's fitting in this case.
00:33:46
Speaker
He was a real estate appraiser. He specialized in the appraisals of residential property in North Georgia. And he worked along with his wife in a town called Young Harris, Georgia. His wife would later report that he would leave home for two or three days at a time and she wouldn't know where he went.
00:34:06
Speaker
Well, that's weird. I know. First of all, if Rodney's gone for like three hours and I don't know where he is, I'm like texting them. I'm in panic mode. When are you coming back? Exactly. Yeah. Kissy faces.
00:34:21
Speaker
So yeah, she said she wouldn't have any idea where he went. And Carringer did have a criminal history. He was sentenced to probation in 2000 in Clay County, North Carolina for making threatening phone calls and for a misdemeanor assault.
00:34:39
Speaker
But his crimes got worse, Maggie. He was wanted for the April 4th, 2010 attempted abduction of a 10 year old girl from her church's Easter egg hunt in Montgomery, Alabama. No, no. Like for some reason, that image of this little 10 year old girl on an Easter egg hunt at church. Yeah. Someone attempting to abduct her.
00:35:06
Speaker
the anger I feel. Yeah and Anthony and I watched a documentary not long ago about a girl who was at church with her mom and went to the bathroom and her mom stayed like in the fellowship hall and she was abducted out of the hallway of her church. Oh my gosh. I cannot even imagine. I know. And then it gets even worse Maggie because two days later
00:35:32
Speaker
He kidnapped and raped his 19-year-old relative. So authorities issued a warrant for his arrest.
00:35:42
Speaker
But when they located him, they actually approached Carringer. He was in his, in a black Nissan Xterra outside of a mellow mushroom restaurant. I do love mellow mushroom. I know. So I'm trying not to put like bad vibes on mellow mushroom because of this guy being outside of it. But he barricaded himself in his Nissan Xterra and he took his own life with a gun he had in his vehicle.
00:36:07
Speaker
When he took his own life, that was when investigators learned that Carringer actually had three different masonic steroids. He had this black one, and he had silver ones. And that's when law enforcement started to make connections. The attempted abduction of a 10-year-old
00:36:30
Speaker
Witnesses reported a silver Nissan Xterra in the area. The botched abduction of the woman in North Carolina, silver Nissan Xterra. The belief about the vehicle in Christy Cornwell's case, silver Nissan Xterra. So then they're like, hmm, and he abducted and raped
00:36:53
Speaker
a relative and he attempted to abduct this little girl. We know of that and here's a description of his vehicle that matches the description in these other cases and he's from the area. And Maggie, do you remember how with the attempted abduction in North Carolina, the woman reported that the vehicle had the brush guard on the front?
00:37:15
Speaker
a brush guard had been removed from the front of one of Carringer's exterra, and it was removed right after Christy Cornwell had gone missing. So I'm wondering if his rationale behind that was maybe the other lady's DNA could have been on that?
00:37:35
Speaker
I think that's what police wondered. Like was it removed because it had something to do with Christy Cornwell's abduction, right? And it was removed like an attempt as a coverup. So those questions prompted the GBI to announce that they had, quote, uncovered information that led them to pursue the possibility of Carringer's involvement in Christy's disappearance, end quote. Unfortunately,
00:38:02
Speaker
When his vehicles were impounded, no clues were found that could solidly link Carringer to Christy's abduction. They did find something though. I swear to God, if you tell me that they found a purple pen that matched the pen from the grandma letter, I will die. Let me go ahead and tell Anthony to like start pricing some caskets then. God, for real?
00:38:31
Speaker
Yep. When authorities searched Karinger's home, they found something that would link him even more to Christie's abduction. They found several, several purple ink pens and Maggie, the letter from the grandma.
Discovery of Christy's Remains and Ongoing Investigation
00:38:45
Speaker
And now I'm using air quotes around grandma.
00:38:48
Speaker
because they were written in purple ink. So now authorities actually believe that that letter was fake, that Carringer himself wrote it in an attempt to throw authorities off track.
00:39:04
Speaker
I know ruin so many theories. That's why when you were like, Oh, this poor grandma. And I was like, well, let's wait. Grandma with air quotes. I know. The final and most recent connection between Carringer and Christy Cornwell came when in late 2010. So we're talking a little about, let's see, like,
00:39:31
Speaker
15 months or so after Christy Cornwall was abducted, authorities requested Carringer's phone records. And they received information that James Scott Carringer was in the area of Blairsville, Georgia on the night that Christy was abducted.
00:39:53
Speaker
his cell phone pinged a cell tower in Union County around 1130 p.m. on August 11th. So now the GBI had a new area that needed to be searched. And again, they knew due to staffing issues like it would be at least a few more weeks, maybe another month before they could get to that search area. So who did they call and give the location of this two square mile area to that needed to be searched? Christie's brother Richard.
00:40:23
Speaker
Oh, did he found anything? He did. On New Year's Day 2011, while others were sleeping in after a long night out partying, Richard was walking his straight lines, looking for any possible clue. And after hours and hours of searching, he found something.
00:40:45
Speaker
Just south of the North Carolina border, about 75 yards from Moccasin Creek Road, Richard found a partially covered, burned skeleton. Oh, no. The skeletal remains were so charred that they couldn't determine cause of death. But a state forensic pathologist was able to use dental records, though, to identify the remains as Christy Cornwell. Oh, wow.
00:41:15
Speaker
I know, and again, here's her brother finding it. Additionally, they believe that her remains had been in that location since she was killed. That's where they think she died. And according to an article by Marcus Garner for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, other evidence was found near the body, but investigators have never released what those items were.
00:41:42
Speaker
So the problem, Maggie, and the reason why this is still an open case,
00:41:49
Speaker
is exactly what GBI director Vernon Keenan told NBC News on January 3rd, 2011 that remains true today. Quote, we have no direct evidence that Carringer is the murderer of Christy Cornwell. He remains our prime suspect based on a series of circumstances that point to him. Because we have no direct evidence,
00:42:15
Speaker
this will remain an active and open investigation," end quote. So basically, how could we close this case? Well, and that's what I was thinking. Obviously, he's right. The evidence they have currently sadly is circumstantial. There were the purple ink pens,
00:42:34
Speaker
He owned a silver Nissan exterior which was seen in all of these other places. I mean like I wonder if it would be like super scientific and see if the ink on the letter matched like forensically the ink on the pen. I mean it could but then it would probably only match like the type of pen. Okay Maggie and I are pen aficionados. Yes.
00:42:57
Speaker
So obviously a flare ink pen would write differently than a G2 ink pen. But what I was going to say is they might be able to say what brand of pen it is, but I don't know if they would be able to. Like the exact pen. Right. So in my mind, though, just because we don't have direct evidence yet doesn't mean we can never get it. So we know that Chrissy's body was burned. So that means someone could have seen a fire.
00:43:26
Speaker
Carringer could have told someone about the crime. Maybe somebody knows, I didn't read anything about it. If there was accelerant, maybe we know that he bought accelerant of some sort. Like gas station surveillance or something? Yeah. I feel like clues can still come in that would lead to justice.
00:43:47
Speaker
And maybe even somebody knows what those other items were at the crime scene. Oh yeah, and that could finally implicate him or whoever as the perpetrator. Yeah, I mean those ideas are my hope.
00:44:05
Speaker
Reporter Marcus Garner also had the opportunity to speak with Christie's preacher, Reverend Rennie Ryder, at the church where she had been baptized four years earlier and where she'd been active until her abduction. He poignantly said of her family, quote, it was just a little country family. There's tremendous brokenness here, end quote.
00:44:28
Speaker
And he called the finding of Christie's remains a, quote, renewing of all the grieving, end quote. And the family did grieve. In fact, I think, Sleuth Hounds, that's part of what draws us to these stories each week. We can feel their pain. We long for closure right with them because we are all well versed in the language of grief in our own way.
00:44:57
Speaker
but we also know the endurance of the human spirit. Joanne Cornwell, in an interview with Emily Friedman and Sarah Netter of ABC News, after the identification of the remains, had this to say, quote, we didn't want it to end this way, but that's the way it is. And we can bring her home now. I know in my heart she's in heaven and we'll see her again. So that's what's going to make me able to go on, end quote.
00:45:28
Speaker
What also helps the Cornwell family continue is knowing that good people like you will continue to share her daughter's story and to press for answers. Let's not commiserate with the grief of others, but also stand in solidarity with them in the hope that maybe, just maybe, tomorrow can bring answers.
00:45:54
Speaker
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00:46:16
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.