Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
E074: Michael Dunahee image

E074: Michael Dunahee

E74 · Coffee and Cases Podcast
Avatar
1.3k Plays5 years ago

In today’s case, our mother went against her gut feeling; she defied that mother’s intuition and every day of her life regrets that decision. She holds blame and guilt for a choice she made in good faith, a choice she says led to the disappearance of her son. 


If you would like to start your OWN podcast on Buzzsprout, please consider using our promo code so you can earn a $20 gift card after your second month on a paid plan:     https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=709643



Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CoffeeAndCases)
Recommended
Transcript

Starting a Podcast with Buzzsprout

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,
00:00:19
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.
00:00:37
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? Fulfill that dream of yours and start today.
00:01:02
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. 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.

Exploring Gut Feelings and Intuition

00:01:33
Speaker
The feeling I'm getting ready to talk about is one we're all familiar with. It's responsible for creating that tingling feeling on the back of your neck and makes those goosebumps come up on your arms and makes your stomach turn. It's often called the sixth sense or your gut feeling. Did the woman you just met creep you out just a little? Is it you or is something off about that van that has circled your neighborhood?
00:01:56
Speaker
All of those things you can't explain logically, but you just know aren't right, that's intuition or a gut feeling. Some people may laugh at the idea of following your gut. I think for some it's much easier to trust logic, but there's actually scientific evidence to support this quote-unquote gut feeling. According to Healthline, quote, gut feelings can evoke a range of sensations. Some unlike the physical feelings associated with anxiety. Other
00:02:24
Speaker
More positive sensations might seem to confirm your choice. Some people describe gut feelings as a small internal voice, but you'll often, quote, hear your gut feeling talking to you in other ways. These feelings tend to come on suddenly, though they aren't always strong or overwhelming. You might experience them as a faint whisper or the sensation of uneasiness, but they can also feel so strong you can't imagine it ignoring them.
00:02:48
Speaker
If it seems like your brain is encouraging you to take notice of those feelings, well, you're not far from the mark. According to this website, signs of a gut feeling include a flash of clarity, tension or tightness in your body, goosebumps, stomach butterflies, nausea, a sinking sensation in the pit of your stomach, sweaty palms or feet, thoughts that keep running to a specific person or situation, and a feeling of peace, safety, or happiness.
00:03:16
Speaker
Despite the fact that we have all got this intuition embedded in us, we often find ourselves ignoring it. Again, citing logical explanations over butterflies in our stomach. We push back that little voice in our head, we ignore that nagging feeling in our gut as silliness. But sometimes that silliness holds merit.
00:03:35
Speaker
Healthline says research links these flashes of intuition to certain brain processes, such as evaluating and decoding emotional or other nonverbal cues. As you go about your day, your brain collects and processes sensory data from your environment. You're perfectly aware of some of this information. Your brain carries out these processes automatically to help you prepare for any situation that might come up.
00:03:57
Speaker
And since these processes run in the background, you may not always realize what you're observing or what it means, but it prepares you to act on intuition.

Introduction to Michael Dennehy's Case

00:04:06
Speaker
In today's case, our mother went against her gut feeling. She defied that mother's intuition, and every day of her life she regrets that decision. She holds blame and guilt for a choice she made in good faith, a choice she said led to the disappearance of her son. This is the story of Michael Dennehy.
00:04:37
Speaker
So.
00:04:57
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. 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.
00:05:18
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, 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 and the public consciousness helping to keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:05:46
Speaker
So Sleuthhounds, I don't know how the weather has been in your neck of the woods, but here in Kentucky, the last few days have been textbooks, springtime weather. Awesome. Yes, it's been so amazing. The sun's been shining. There's been a light breeze in the air. There's really hardly any clouds. It's just been like typical spring weather. It's that type of weather that begs you to go outside. It entices you to read on the porch, take a walk, plant some flowers, and just enjoy the beauty of mother nature.
00:06:14
Speaker
I mean, I'm not, we've talked about this, an outside person, but even I have been drawn outside this week. Yeah, I'll sit and read a book, drink my coffee. Yeah, have the window open. Yeah, it's been great. And so this weather was very much similar to the scene of today's crime that we're going to be discussing.

Events Leading to Michael's Disappearance

00:06:34
Speaker
so spring had sprung in victoria british columbia on march 24th 1991 so canada i know is maggie always does the canadian cases and canada loves maggie so i love canada so this works perfect combo yeah that's on my bucket list to go there one day
00:06:54
Speaker
And so the sun was shining and it was calling everyone to come enjoy the warmth and Crystal and Bruce Dennehy packed their four-year-old and their six-month-old into their family car and headed to Blanchard Park Elementary School.
00:07:07
Speaker
I mean, that's a lot to pack up to, kiddos. Yeah, especially when they're that tiny. I imagine it's a lot of things that have to go. And then, but probably hoping like run around, get your energy out. Yeah, exactly. The family arrived just before 1230 and Crystal, which I thought this was really cool. Like when I read this, I was like, you go Crystal. She actually played on like a two hand touch, like football league.
00:07:33
Speaker
I know I'm not I'm not coordinated and like I mean I kind of would picture like Bruce doing that but yeah that is awesome yeah and she actually had a game that day so she was there for the game Bruce was there to observe and
00:07:49
Speaker
keep tabs on the babies. Again, good for them. Yeah, so you go, Bruce. Breaking the traditional gender roles, so that's great. So, shortly after arriving, just as any small child would have, Michael could no longer ignore the pull of the playground. Like,
00:08:08
Speaker
it's enticing. Even as a 30-year-old, I'm like, oh, there's a slide, let's go. Swings, yeah. And so he quickly ran over to ask his mom as she was putting on her, like, shoes for this football game, if he could go and play. And despite the gut feeling that she felt that advised against it, she agreed to let him go and play. Okay.
00:08:29
Speaker
And she actually said in an interview with CBC, quote, I did up his hood because it was windy out that day and I let him go to the park and I told him to stay there and wait for daddy to come. I made sure he was looking at me and that he understood that he was allowed to go to the park by himself, but he had to stay and not leave with anybody else and wait for his dad to come. I recall having those tummy butterflies and I regret not following those, end quote.
00:08:56
Speaker
it is sad. Okay, so she's nearby, yes, but is allowing him to play by himself. Right, and I pictured this, which there's some pictures that we can post for you guys, but as I was researching it before I really looked at any pictures, like my elementary school like had
00:09:22
Speaker
a park that we played on, like a playground that we played on during recess, but in the afternoons it was like a public park. So people could come there and it had like a softball field and at one point it was like a football field. And so that's kind of what I pictured. Like similar layout to that. Yeah, like I pictured like her, the area wherever she was playing was like right beside where Michael would have been playing.
00:09:49
Speaker
And sadly, Sleuthhounds, in the time it took Crystal to finish putting her shoes on and for her husband, Bruce, to literally turn to check the score of

Police Investigation and Challenges

00:09:58
Speaker
the previous game and then turn his attention back to the playground, Michael had vanished. Oh my, I can't imagine that sinking feeling of panic to turn around and
00:10:15
Speaker
Your child's gone. Yeah, and like I think I've said this before one time I was babysitting my little cousin and she hid for me like inside yeah, and I can remember like that panic of oh my god like I have lost her and like I can remember Freaking out and of course Bruce was and so he checks the entire park You know maybe thinking like he's hiding behind a tree right you know it's probably not that big right so yeah, I
00:10:42
Speaker
And he quickly is able to check everything, but he did not spot Michael. So then he stops the game. That's exactly what I would have been like emergency. Yeah. And people do come and help more than 50 people actually start helping them look for Michael in that initial search. Um, and no one saw him or a trace of him. And the parents called 911 quickly.
00:11:05
Speaker
because by 1 p.m. police were already at the park. Okay so that's good that they acted quickly but then I'm thinking you know if they're showing up for a game and they're spectators that means that there are quite a few people there. Yeah. So it could literally be if he's abducted it could be anybody and you know nobody even notices.
00:11:28
Speaker
So there are, which we'll talk about here in a second, like there's very little evidence with this case because I think it happened so quickly. I just don't think people were like, it's not like they saw a four year old wandering by a self and you're like keeping an eye on him to make sure nothing happens to him. It's like he was just gone. And so there is a little bit of like eyewitness testimony and like some things that people thought that they saw. But again, like,
00:11:58
Speaker
I'll talk about that too. Like, there would have been reason for those people to be there.
00:12:02
Speaker
right like it's not weird that there are people at this playground because there's other things going on right but then also in my head and i know you'll probably get to us talking about this but like i think about my little sleuth hound and even at age four she was at least aware enough that if anybody who wasn't someone who she knew tried to even grab her hand or lead her somewhere i mean i feel like she would have
00:12:31
Speaker
caused a big scene, you know, like made a ruckus. And so the fact that it could happen so quickly and quietly, I was gonna say noiselessly, quietly, then I don't know if it's more likely to be someone who Michael would have known.
00:12:52
Speaker
So we'll talk about all of that in a minute. But according to Canada's missing child, Michael Dunahy by L. Hall, police were able to quickly decide that because Michael went missing so quickly that he was abducted by a stranger.
00:13:10
Speaker
They don't think he just walked off by himself. Again, he's only four, so where could he have gone that quickly? Like when you turn around, you're not gonna see him running off. So they do not look anywhere that I've read into Michael's inner circle, like his parents or people in his family. Police are adamant that this is someone that Michael did not know.
00:13:39
Speaker
I don't know what led them to really believe that, but that's what they are able to determine. And that's really honestly all that police get from the scene of the crime. There's no like fingerprints, there's no tire marks, there's no like. Well yeah, I mean if you're in a park, what is there to touch? Right, exactly. So authorities interviewed all known sex offenders, which was good in the area, and they interviewed several witnesses, but very little information was uncovered.
00:14:07
Speaker
Police had reports that a man in his late 40s or early 50s had been near the playground and that a brown van had also been spotted nearby. But to me, like I said, these things aren't really odd. Like it's not like Michael's family is the only family at the park or maybe there's like two families at the park and it's weird that there's a 50-year-old man
00:14:26
Speaker
walking around this playground, but there's like a game going on. So perhaps he was just accompanying like walking to see his daughter play in this game or was like going, maybe you had to walk through the playground to go to the bathroom or the concession stand. Like I feel like you can explain the presence of what you would consider like a random man. The same with the brown van. Like what's so creepy about this brown van? Like there's going to be plenty of vehicles. Was it like,
00:14:55
Speaker
circling and kept like going back and forth, or was it just parked somewhere? And this makes me think too, I guess there are certain vehicles, vans especially. Oh yeah, but does it have windows? Right, but nobody's ever like, there was a suspicious white Camry on the block, you know? Like it's always the van. So like I said to me, I can justify why that man would be in the park. I can justify why there was a brown van nearby. Right.
00:15:24
Speaker
But maybe that's just it. Like maybe we are trying to follow the logical explanation of things and ignoring like the intuition that we might have about those things. I mean you and I talk about it almost every episode we end up saying you know people who rationalize. Yeah. And when we should have because we don't want to come off as
00:15:50
Speaker
I don't know, overreacting or whatever it is. Or like scatter brain kind of like you just jump to conclusions. Right. But sometimes I feel like that's the most logical thing to do is to follow that gut feeling and that kind of jump to those conclusions.
00:16:12
Speaker
So you talked about like why Michael may have been so trusting of strangers and why this would happen so quickly and so quietly. Well from what I've read, Victoria, British Columbia was a really tight-knit place and Michael's disappearance really like uprooted like the foundation of this area.
00:16:33
Speaker
like several articles that i read the hall article that i cited earlier she has a long section at the end about she remembers i'm assuming you're a she sorry if you're a he but um they like they remember when michael went missing
00:16:48
Speaker
and they talk about in the like the bottom of that article like how it affected their family and so there were several articles that i read that the people writing them would be like i remember when this happened i remember like hearing this on the news this is what my family thought of this this is how it affected like my community
00:17:07
Speaker
So Michael's disappearance really did change Victoria, British Columbia. And actually in one article that I read called A Loss of Innocence, The Disappearance of Victoria, British Columbia's Michael Dunhey, they actually compare his disappearance to the death of John F. Kennedy here in the United States. Jeez. I know.
00:17:27
Speaker
that's big yeah because they say that everybody that was alive during that time knows where they were when they found out that a small boy had been kidnapped off a playground wow so this is like unheard of yeah so i think that maybe the community was just so close that he wouldn't have been scared of a stranger coming up and talking to him at the park right
00:17:50
Speaker
A month after Michael's disappearance, police actually staged a recreation of that day at the elementary school. I don't know if that's kind of common. This was really the first in all of the episodes that we've covered that I really remember reading about. Recreating the scene? Yes. Yeah. But they did it in a hope that by having the community walk through the movements of that day, that someone might remember something that they would have otherwise
00:18:19
Speaker
like just passed off as like nothing out of the ordinary or like maybe a subconscious memory like that kind of thing or even like if you think about it if they're recreating it and they're saying okay where were you standing because obviously you know that mom and dad are gonna remember exactly yeah where they were standing when they you know discovered
00:18:39
Speaker
And then, you know, you look around and you could say even, okay, am I closer to, say, a road that would have been a quick exit. Or like the parking lot. Right. So maybe you would even at least have a clearer idea of like which direction if somebody took him they likely went. You know, because if it's like super open over here then they probably didn't go that way because then you would have turned back around and
00:19:05
Speaker
Right, exactly. I've seen them. Right. And it's hard too because you know the dad obviously you know it was a quick turnaround to look at the scoreboard but like when you're doing something like that you're not gauging like okay I'm spending five seconds versus like 20 you know so that does make it a little bit harder but I think that's super interesting. Yeah I didn't think about like the time that the dad would have considered like a short amount of time because I know like
00:19:34
Speaker
I'll be on TikTok and I think it's 30 seconds and it's like an hour later. I'll say, okay, you get one more minute and like I watch. So I guess we don't really have a very good perception of time that it takes for us to do things. But they even went so far in this recreation that they included using a brown van. So the same van that had been spotted by a child on the day of Michael's disappearance.
00:20:01
Speaker
And in an interview with CBC, now retired detective Fred Mills said, quote, we did put a lot of resources into the Brown van tip. In fact, we did locate a Brown van, a number of Brown vans, and we eliminated the owners and drivers through interviews. The Brown van was a big thing for a while until we could discount it, end quote.
00:20:22
Speaker
So nothing really came from the reenactment. There were no like substantial recollections of things that they saw, people saw that day and didn't report to police. Like nothing like groundbreaking came about.
00:20:37
Speaker
And at one point, Allison, there were 15 detectives working on this case. That's a lot. Well, I guess that just speaks to how unique it was that something like this happened, like those articles. I think that people were personally invested in Michael.
00:20:55
Speaker
Um, actually I read somewhere and I think I'll talk about it later on that they actually were sorting tips by hand like they were like writing them down as people would call in and then sorting them by hand. So I'm sure it did take like an army to do all of that.
00:21:11
Speaker
I mean, the early stages of the investigation, police said that they would receive around 50 possible sightings daily of Michael. So imagine trying to decipher and shift through all those. How could you determine where to send people out? Because if you're getting that many, there's no way you have. Well, even if you have 15, you're going three to four different places each person every day. And how long does it take the person that sees
00:21:39
Speaker
things that they see Michael to call police and then for police to go out like so much time passes and sadly like these like possible sightings happen a lot for this family and I say sadly because each time they're like yeah can this be it and then it never is
00:22:01
Speaker
So like I said, police were receiving like 50 tips a day. They've received thousands of tips, hundreds of possible sightings from all over, including even in New York, New Jersey, and all over Vancouver Island. But we always end up where we started with a missing Michael. So all that never leads really to any answers. According to remembering Michael Dennehy, there was one very promising sighting of Michael in Chase, British Columbia.
00:22:29
Speaker
So in 2006, like the residents of this town were 100% convinced that this man that was living in their town was Michael. Like police received several calls saying like, this is him, this is him, this is him.
00:22:46
Speaker
So they actually contact this man, and they're like, hey, we need to do a DNA test, just to make sure. Which I feel like you would remember. Maybe not, because sports kind of young, so maybe you wouldn't remember that. I don't really have many memories from age four. And if I do, it's like super spotty things that I probably just assume happened at age four, because of things that happened all my life. But they do a DNA test on him, and it's not Michael. So again, the family is just let down.

Theories and Suspects in Michael's Abduction

00:23:17
Speaker
Obviously, there are not very many theories in this case. Like we think it was a stranger that abducted him from the park and that's really it. There is one like interesting like it's not even like a theory just one like really interesting like piece of information that makes you kind of say that's really like coincidental and really odd. Okay. And when I read it I was like this is weird. So
00:23:47
Speaker
This involves a man named Vernon Sights. That was really hard for my Eastern Kentucky accent to say. And he's now deceased, but he's from Milwaukee. Okay. So northern U.S., right? Wisconsin. Yeah. And he, according to the true crime files, in January of 2009,
00:24:11
Speaker
they find a missing persons poster of Michael inside Vernon's home. Okay. Which may not be weird, okay no it's weird. Right. Like I don't like I don't know like how things really work but like I would not see people in Milwaukee putting up posters of a missing British Columbian kid. Yeah and let's see you were like born there and then moved to Milwaukee. Yeah.
00:24:38
Speaker
or something, you know what I mean? Because if it was like so unique or different or whatever. Yeah, it's just weird to me. But if there's no relation, that is super weird. And it's like up in his home? I don't know if it's like hanging in his home, but they find it in his home. Like he's kept it. And he's kept it for a while because it's happened in 1991 and it's 2009.
00:25:03
Speaker
Okay, so he's had this 20 years old. Yeah, and like to me that would be. Wait, when did you say it happened? I'm not good with math. Okay, I was like, did I say that right? Yeah, almost 20 years. Yeah, Anthony and I were talking about that today because he was talking about like
00:25:26
Speaker
we were talking about weird things that like people from Kentucky say or that like you pronounce differently and like certain geographical areas or whatever and he was like we just have to really make sure that
00:25:39
Speaker
our kids speak properly when they're out in public. And he was like, like, they can't say, I can't even remember what he said now. And I was like, yeah, but sometimes you say that. Like he'll say, like Anthony says that word. And he was like, well, I know, but like, I'm trying to stop. And I was like, you're welcome. It's because I've corrected you on it. That's you have quit saying it. And he was like, I'll start correcting your math. And I said, well, I have to, can only use math if it goes past my 10 fingers, I can't do it. So criticize away.
00:26:07
Speaker
So anyways, back to back to Vernon. So he actually is dead of natural causes when police are like going through his apartment and what prompt police to go through his apartment is apparently before dying he had confessed to his psychiatrist that he had killed two children in 1958 which I know 58 to 91 that's a big difference but like I feel like if you've killed two
00:26:35
Speaker
Yeah. That time frame, I feel like probably really wouldn't matter to you. You know what I'm wondering though? So if he's, if he has died, and again I don't do math, but if he has died in 2009, and he's 62. He was super young in 1958. That's what I'm thinking. So maybe he had his years
00:27:01
Speaker
How old would he have been? We need to pause because I have to do the math. I know. So if we do the math then, he would have been 11 when he killed two children. So I'm wondering if when he's admitting to it, he might have committed the crime, but he just had his years way off.
00:27:25
Speaker
I'm gonna have to go back and check this source now, make sure that I typed it correctly. But I'm 100% sure, I won't say 100, like 99% sure it was 1958. But like you said, I don't think you murder people when you're 11. I don't think so. I don't know, I would hope not. Yeah, so maybe like you said, he just got his dates confused.
00:27:49
Speaker
Okay so we did some math and then we double checked my date of 1958 and that's what several sources said that so I was correct. So we are going to assume that Vernon had his dates wrong because I would hope you would not murder two people when you're 11.
00:28:07
Speaker
And if he is 11, I doubt that he would have said like two children because he's a child. Yeah, okay. So we're going to assume he has the dates wrong, but that makes me even more inclined to believe he could be involved. Yeah, it really does. So he has told his psychiatrist that he has killed two children. Local authorities come to his house to search his home and they find lots of disturbing things. So
00:28:35
Speaker
Not only do they find this missing person's poster of Michael, which is odd because it's not like they were neighbors, right? They also find child pornography, books on cannibalism. First of all, who buys a book? Who writes a book and publishes a book? Where does one find a book on cannibalism? Can I go to Barnes and Noble and just buy a book on how to be a cannibal? And what do you say other than they eat people?
00:29:07
Speaker
That's so weird. But they find that. And then they find tons of files on unsolved missing children's cases in the US. Files? Yeah. Which means research. Yeah. But they can't question him about it because he's dead.
00:29:27
Speaker
According to the article New Link and Cold Case of Victoria missing boys since 1991, not only was Michael's missing persons poster found in this home, but there was also like a copy of a map of somewhere that was not in Milwaukee and
00:29:49
Speaker
Vernon, almost called a Victoria, had titled it Millstream Park and what's weird about that is that northwest of Victoria there's a Millstream Road that leads to several parks. I know.
00:30:06
Speaker
Wow. So while Vernon did confess to killing two children, he never mentioned anything involving the Canadian boy to his psychiatrist, according to the Milwaukee police. But I mean, children is very vague. Yes. So. And we know that clearly the dates are wrong. Right.
00:30:25
Speaker
Local investigators are attempting to trace his movements in the late 80s and early 90s to determine whether maybe he did travel to Canada, specifically the British Columbia area in that time. But I did not read anywhere where they. Did he own a brown van?
00:30:42
Speaker
Oh my God, I don't know, I didn't read that. That might be something interesting if records, surely they would have looked that up. Yeah, I'm sure they would have done that, but I didn't read anywhere where their results were found, or were released, I mean.
00:30:59
Speaker
And really, that's all we have, Allison. Michael's family is left with their grief and their brokenness. Even his little sister, Caitlin, if you remember, she was six months old at the time of his disappearance, feels the loss of Michael. And she told one source, she said, quote, my mother says he was really good with me. I just have to hold on to that. And I think that's so sad. Like all the memories they could have had together stolen.

Family's Involvement and Advocacy

00:31:23
Speaker
All of his family has become super active in Canada's different organizations within Canada that deal with missing children. In fact, according to that Elle Hall article, Michael's mother, Crystal, has since become an activist for missing children and is the president of Child Find British Columbia. And she's also helped implement the Amber Alert system in British Columbia, which is Go Crystal.
00:31:49
Speaker
which we also covered that case. So now she's actually said that the amber alert system has spread to most parts of Canada so it's more widely used which I think is great.
00:32:02
Speaker
And she says that, which is sad, and this is the same thing Amber's mom said, that if the Amber Alert technology were available at the time of Michael's disappearance, Crystal is 100% certain that we could have had a different outcome. Because like I said, they were sorting all those tips by hand. They were writing them and sorting them by hand. So there was like no real system to help spread the word. It was just the technology wasn't there in the early 90s.
00:32:32
Speaker
According to True Crime Files, I think Allison that this will break your heart even more. So on top of losing their son, the Dunnhies have had to endure additional pain and disappointment over the years. So not only have we had like dozens of sightings, a couple promising ones that fell through, people have also been like super horrible and like
00:32:55
Speaker
who would do this I have no idea but have left like family voice messages stating that Michael was killed by a satanic cult another person called and demanded a $10,000 ransom for Michael's return and then never called back I swear those people should be punished
00:33:13
Speaker
There needs to be a law about that, if there might be, but I have, oh my gosh, that makes me so angry. And like, I don't know who would think that's like appropriate or funny to do. Yeah, no, like you said, there needs to be something in place to punish people that do that.
00:33:34
Speaker
Crystal still keeps a room for Michael and her family home. She's still holding on to the fact that Michael is safe and will one day come back to her. She said in an interview, quote, giving my permission to let him go play in the park by himself. I should have made him wait. That's the hardest part to deal with. End quote. So many times in life we're left questioning the decisions we make.
00:33:56
Speaker
Did we do the right thing moving cities? Did we miss an opportunity passing up that job offer? Life is full of what-ifs. But what life shouldn't be filled with are the what-ifs like this. We've said it so many times. No one should have to rebuild their lives after losing a child. Crystal, my hope is that one day you can forgive yourself. My hope is that one day you're able to see that you did the very best you could for your child and that you did nothing wrong.
00:34:21
Speaker
Someone out there did do something wrong, though, and we're dedicated to finding answers for you. We know that someone saw something that day that can change this case. Someone's living with the guilt of knowing where Michael is. And it's our hope that they will come forward and help bring Michael home.
00:34:36
Speaker
Quote, his memories are still embedded in our lives and in our hearts, Crystal said. We know someone is out there who knows what happened. We need to find closure so we can move forward. End quote.

Michael's Description and Public Appeal

00:34:47
Speaker
At the time of his disappearance, Michael was wearing a blue hooded jacket with red lining and red cuffs.
00:34:53
Speaker
a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt, multi-colored rugby pants, and blue sneakers. Michael has blonde hair and blue eyes. We'll place an age progression sketch on our Facebook page. If you have any information on the disappearance of Michael Dunnehy, please call authorities at 1-800-222-8477.
00:35:15
Speaker
Again, please like and join us on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and to see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Instagram at Coffee Cases podcast and on TikTok at Coffee and Cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to Coffee and Cases podcast at gmail.com.
00:35:36
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.