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linkedin.com/Spoken. That's linkedin.com/Spoken. Terms and

0:29

conditions apply. On

0:38

the morning of May fifteenth, two thousand and

0:40

one. Will. Be Harvard reported

0:42

or two year old son Wesley

0:44

Deal Morgan missing. According

0:46

to her cow. Was. We have

0:48

been playing outside on the front porch while

0:50

she went inside to prepare some food. When.

0:53

She returned as five minutes later. Wesley.

0:56

Was gone. Authorities immediately launched

0:58

a widespread search. Initially believe Wesley

1:00

might have wandered into the woods.

1:03

However, As these pass without any sign

1:05

of the toddler, Authorities begin to

1:07

theorize that he had been sold in

1:09

the legal adoption, kidnapped or even murdered.

1:12

Despite. A thorough investigation, No trace

1:14

of Wesley has ever been discovered.

1:17

It's. Been more than twenty two years since

1:19

Wesley when missing and investigators are still

1:21

searching for him. everyone

1:53

will back to detective perspective my

1:55

name is derek lowe vassar i'm

1:57

a former police detective and license

1:59

private investigator and each week I'll

2:01

be covering an unsolved case and story

2:03

format. I'll then give you my perspective

2:05

on the investigation and provide contact information

2:07

for the individuals or organizations connected to

2:09

the case so that if you have

2:11

any tips you can contact them directly

2:13

and maybe you can help solve the

2:15

case. If you're someone who's interested

2:17

in true crime specifically unsolved cases which is what

2:19

we do here and you would like

2:22

to hear my opinion on those investigations

2:24

please consider subscribing if you're watching on

2:26

YouTube or if you're listening on Apple

2:28

Podcasts or Spotify or whatever platform you

2:30

use. Okay I'm not going to take

2:32

a lot of time here we're going

2:34

to get right into this one Wesley Dale Morgan.

2:36

This case is over 22

2:39

years old and I'm covering

2:41

this one because although there may not

2:44

be a ton that can be done

2:46

now from from our perspective it's

2:49

important to keep these cases in the

2:51

circulation of the media if you will and

2:54

I don't think it takes a lot to connect this one.

2:57

Some of you have commented in the past about

2:59

how I wear this bracelet every week for those

3:01

of you who that don't know I

3:04

have two daughters Tenly and Peyton they're 11

3:06

and eight years old they both just had

3:08

their birthdays recently and Tenly made

3:11

this for me a while back as

3:13

a way of her knowing that I'm thinking about her

3:15

while I'm doing whatever media stuff I'm doing.

3:18

I originally funny story and I'll make it

3:20

super quick. She wanted to

3:22

make me a bracelet I had an old one from her

3:24

that broke and so I said to

3:26

her hey listen a lot of the stuff that I do is

3:29

sad sad stuff and so make it something that's

3:31

you know you can see it but it's not

3:33

going to stand out. This was

3:36

her this is where her interpretation of

3:38

that for those who are listening on audio

3:40

it's a rainbow colored bracelet so yeah she

3:42

just completely disregarded that request and said nope

3:44

I want to be able to see it

3:47

I like colors here you go

3:49

daddy and obviously you know

3:51

she's going to get what she wants because I am a girl dad all

3:53

the way through. So to

3:55

bring it back to Wesley my

3:58

biggest fear my biggest nightmare is

4:00

having something happen to one of

4:02

my children. I think that's

4:05

the biggest fear for most parents. So

4:07

when I hear these stories, it's

4:09

impossible not to relate it to

4:11

your own life and kind of triggers your own

4:14

fears that unfortunately you have

4:16

every once in a while that creep up into

4:18

your brain and you wake up in that cold

4:20

sweat and you are so blessed

4:22

that it's not true, that it's not real.

4:25

But for some people, like the

4:28

people in this case, this

4:30

nightmare is their reality. And

4:32

I can't imagine how it feels to be in this

4:34

position, to go through something this

4:37

long and to have no answers. And

4:40

I've said it before on other cases, I

4:42

don't know how I would feel, but

4:44

as a parent, I

4:46

think I would, as

4:49

horrific as it could be, I would

4:51

want to know. I would want

4:53

to know for certain what happened, even if it

4:55

was the worst possible outcome. The

4:58

unknown, I think for many people, is the

5:00

biggest, the biggest nightmare, is

5:02

the worst case scenario. Because as

5:05

a parent, you're sitting out there and you

5:08

have this hope that maybe, just maybe they're

5:10

still out there somewhere and they're okay. But

5:12

then there's the other end of the spectrum and they

5:14

could be gone. So I think

5:16

at this point, having answers is most important

5:19

for these family members. And I think the

5:21

only way that we could potentially achieve

5:24

that is by making sure

5:26

everyone knows about their cases. And

5:28

maybe there's some pressure that's put back on

5:30

the agencies that are involved with these cases,

5:32

to maybe take a second look at it

5:34

and to maybe have some new people come

5:37

in and look at it. And

5:39

hopefully, they find something in

5:41

the initial reports that leads them down

5:43

a new path and hopefully

5:45

has some good results. So

5:48

with that all out of the way, let's get into

5:50

this week's case. Wesley Dale

5:52

Morgan was born on March 14th,

5:54

1999 to parents Ruby Havard

5:56

and Dewey Morgan. Now, unfortunately,

5:58

we don't know much about Wes... Wesley as a

6:00

person given that he disappeared when he was only

6:02

two years old. What we do

6:04

know is that Ruby gave birth to Wesley at the age

6:06

of 17 while Dewey was 24. Approximately

6:11

a year later, Ruby and Dewey parted

6:13

ways. Following their

6:15

separation, Ruby and Wesley moved in with

6:17

her new boyfriend, 36-year-old Bernal

6:19

Hilton Jr., and his 17-year-old son. Their

6:23

home was situated in the 2700 block

6:25

of Highway 63 just outside the

6:27

small town of Clinton, Louisiana. Nestled

6:30

in a rural area, the house was surrounded

6:32

by dense woods and was near a long,

6:34

winding creek. On March

6:37

14, 2001, Wesley turned two years old. Tragically,

6:41

this was the last birthday his family would celebrate

6:43

with him. Two months later, on

6:46

May 15, at 10.05

6:48

a.m., Ruby contacted the

6:50

Clinton Police Department to report Wesley

6:52

missing. When officers arrived,

6:55

Ruby recounted the events leading up to

6:57

the disappearance. She explained that

6:59

earlier that morning, she and Wesley had

7:01

been home alone playing with four puppies

7:03

on the front porch. At

7:05

around 9.45 a.m., Ruby

7:08

stepped inside the house briefly to prepare some

7:10

food. Upon returning just five

7:12

minutes later to check on Wesley, she

7:14

discovered that he was missing along with two

7:17

of the puppies. Ruby

7:19

mentioned that she had searched for 15 minutes

7:21

before contacting the police and noted

7:23

that she hadn't heard any vehicles during her time

7:25

inside the house. She then

7:27

provided the police with a detailed description of

7:30

Wesley. He was Caucasian,

7:32

three feet tall, weighing approximately 40

7:34

pounds, with blond hair and blue

7:36

eyes. He was last seen wearing blue

7:38

shorts with a green stripe on the leg and

7:41

a gray Mickey Mouse shirt with sandals. Police

7:44

searched around the house for Wesley but didn't

7:47

find anything. Now, they did locate

7:49

one of the missing puppies across Highway 63,

7:51

which as I said earlier is right near

7:53

Wesley's home. However, the police believe

7:55

this distance would have been too far for

7:57

the toddler to travel on his own. As

8:00

far as I can tell, the other missing puppy

8:02

was never found. Before we

8:04

continue on, let's take a quick break and

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the episode. Okay,

10:17

so we're back from the break. Police were

10:19

now concerned that Wesley had wandered off into

10:21

the dense woods that surrounded the house. They

10:24

sprung into action and initiated one

10:26

of the most intense searches in

10:28

Louisiana history. Some of

10:30

the officers set up roadblocks to interview drivers,

10:33

while others searched homes and questioned neighbors.

10:36

Clinton police further enlisted the aid

10:38

of other police departments, firefighters, inmates

10:40

and guards from two local prisons,

10:43

and volunteers to conduct ground searches.

10:46

The Associated Press reported the search

10:48

teams utilized bloodhounds, horses, four-wheel

10:51

drive vehicles, and helicopters in

10:53

their efforts. In addition

10:55

to searching the woods, firefighters drained a

10:57

sewage pond near Wesley's home and searched

10:59

a creek that lined a clearing by

11:01

the home as well. Additionally,

11:05

Sheriff Bunch from East Feliciana Parish personally

11:07

wadded through a pond on the opposite

11:09

side of the highway. Unfortunately,

11:12

there was no sign of Wesley in any of

11:14

these locations. As night fell,

11:17

many volunteers went home, while

11:19

some deputies stayed behind to continue

11:21

searching. The police informed the Associated

11:24

Press, quote, we'll have a crew

11:26

out on four-wheelers to go into the

11:28

woods, stop every 50 yards or so,

11:30

cut off their motors and holler and

11:32

listen. Now, I've never personally worked

11:34

a search of this magnitude. We

11:37

have had missing children in my

11:39

jurisdiction. Fortunately, for

11:42

the ones that I was involved in, we were

11:44

always able to find the child. They were

11:46

usually in close proximity. But I can

11:48

tell you, even for that, you know, those few minutes where

11:51

you don't know where this

11:53

child is, and this was

11:55

even before I had children, it's all

11:57

hands on deck and it's a sense of urgency.

12:00

and panic even in US

12:02

law enforcement officers that I

12:04

can't describe. Now there were cases

12:06

before me in my jurisdiction where the

12:08

child was not found. Michelle Norris, it's

12:11

a case I've covered multiple times

12:14

in different capacities, the

12:16

biggest being breaking homicide. It was

12:18

actually our season premiere of breaking

12:20

homicide and I will eventually cover

12:22

that case here as well because it would it

12:25

would fit the profile and I think you guys

12:27

should hear it for those of you who don't know the

12:29

story yet. But to bring this all back

12:32

to this case, it's pretty it's a

12:34

pretty big statement to say this is one of

12:36

the biggest searches in Louisiana history and

12:38

that just tells you the magnitude that was on

12:40

this. You're really up against it

12:42

in this situation. You have a two-year-old

12:44

out in the woods, you're obviously

12:47

worried about them hurting themselves or

12:49

an animal getting a hold of them.

12:51

There's so many different things that

12:54

are a danger to a two-year-old because they

12:56

really can't defend themselves. So

12:58

you want to find them as quick as possible. That's

13:01

best case scenario that they just wandered off. Worst

13:04

case scenario is that someone took them

13:06

and if that's the situation you want

13:09

to develop a perimeter that's wide enough

13:11

to compensate for the duration that

13:13

they've been missing. To kind

13:16

of make that even more simple, if

13:18

they've been missing 15 minutes, if someone's in a

13:20

car, how far could that suspect get with them

13:22

in that 15 minutes? You

13:25

want to try to figure out what that that

13:28

radius would be and almost double it. So

13:30

that way if someone

13:32

is trying to flee that immediate area, if

13:35

you have all paths of travel blocked

13:37

off, you're gonna intercept that

13:39

person before they're able to get away

13:42

permanently. Now unfortunately that didn't

13:44

happen here but there is obviously a lot more

13:46

to the story because we're not

13:48

taking into consideration that we're

13:51

going off the word of the last person to see

13:53

them. I'm not saying at this point

13:55

I don't believe her but again you're

13:57

going off that information and in

13:59

that moment there's no way to verify it.

14:01

You're going off their word and hoping they're

14:03

telling the truth. But there is

14:05

a possibility that you're searching for

14:07

someone who's not even there." Now

14:10

the search for Wesley continued the following day with

14:12

the search team still combing through the woods. This

14:15

exhaustive effort would stretch for about a

14:17

full week with searches putting in very

14:19

long hours in the process. With

14:22

everything already underway, Sheriff Bunch called in the

14:24

FBI to aid in the search for Wesley.

14:28

The FBI dedicated over four hours

14:30

to scouring the home and Burnell's

14:32

pickup truck for evidence. Authorities

14:34

also questioned Wesley's parents, Ruby and

14:36

Dewey, along with Ruby's boyfriend Burnell

14:38

and other family members as well.

14:42

Later that night, a helicopter operated

14:44

by the Louisiana National Guard conducted

14:46

an aerial search of the vicinity

14:49

around Wesley's home using thermal imaging

14:51

equipment. Now despite their best efforts,

14:53

no trace of Wesley was found. On

14:57

May 17th, two days had passed since

14:59

Wesley went missing and the police announced

15:01

that the investigation had been escalated to

15:03

a criminal level. They now

15:06

suspected Wesley had either been kidnapped or

15:08

killed. Unfortunately, Louisiana did not

15:11

have an Amber Alert system in place

15:13

at the time, so they

15:15

were unable to notify the public about

15:17

Wesley's possible abduction. On that

15:19

same day, the FBI administered

15:22

polygraph tests to Ruby, Burnell,

15:24

and Burnell's 17-year-old son. According

15:27

to Sheriff Bunch, both Ruby and

15:29

Burnell failed their tests, with Burnell's

15:31

results specifically described as quote, off

15:34

the charts. After taking

15:36

the polygraph, Burnell told the

15:38

Associated Press quote, Ruby had

15:40

been taking this hard. They've been treating

15:42

us like murderers. They're looking at

15:44

the wrong people, but like they

15:46

said, they're doing their job. The

15:49

next day, May 18th, the ground

15:51

search continued, with teams focusing

15:53

on scouring driveways, culverts, and

15:55

bridges. There was still no sign

15:57

of Wesley anywhere. Now get

15:59

this. on that same day, Bernal

16:02

was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree

16:04

murder in an unrelated case. Police

16:07

revealed to the media that during their

16:09

investigation into Wesley's disappearance, they

16:11

uncovered details about an altercation involving

16:13

Ruby and Bernal's ex-partner. The

16:16

dispute stemmed from Bernal's involvement in a shooting

16:18

incident with a man named John back in

16:20

1998. According

16:23

to John's account, he was walking along a

16:25

road around 11 p.m. on Halloween night in

16:27

1998, when a man in a

16:30

white truck abruptly stopped, brandished a

16:32

pistol, and shot him without warning. Fortunately,

16:35

John survived the ordeal, but

16:37

the shooter's identity remained unknown

16:39

until police were investigating Wesley's

16:41

disappearance. Around three hours

16:43

after Bernal was arrested for attempted murder, two

16:46

FBI agents brought Ruby in for further

16:48

questioning. She was later released,

16:50

and a deputy was assigned to monitor her

16:52

home around the clock, with another

16:55

deputy tasked to follow Ruby whenever she

16:57

left the house. This

16:59

routine continued for weeks. On

17:01

May 21, Sheriff Bunch told the

17:03

Associated Press that investigators were still

17:06

trying to unravel the stories Ruby

17:08

and Bernal had provided regarding Wesley's

17:10

disappearance. Bunch said, quote, "...as

17:13

deep in my heart as I can believe, that

17:15

baby never left that house walking. He

17:17

was carried out of there." Bunch

17:19

mentioned that Wesley was possibly involved in

17:22

an illegal adoption arrangement. Now,

17:25

illegal adoption arrangements, you know, you

17:27

can have situations where parents

17:31

who, let's be honest, don't

17:33

care about their kids and are in

17:35

a financial bind, may

17:37

sell their kids to

17:39

some individuals who wouldn't get approved

17:41

for an adoption otherwise for an

17:44

agreed upon amount of money. Obviously,

17:47

this is unethical and illegal, so

17:49

it shouldn't happen, but it

17:52

does from time to time. There's been

17:54

other cases where illegal adoption has been

17:56

brought up. I believe Summer Wells was

17:58

another case that was... we covered in

18:01

the past where there are some people

18:03

that believe that might also be the

18:05

case in that investigation as well. As

18:08

far as how common it is, I never dealt with

18:10

it in my career. That doesn't

18:12

say a ton because I think this is something that

18:14

would probably happen in the more

18:16

rural areas, but it can happen anywhere.

18:19

And considering what we've discussed so far,

18:21

it's definitely not something that I would

18:23

rule out and I can see where

18:25

Sheriff Bunch and his team are coming

18:27

from, absolutely, especially with what we know

18:29

about this case so far. Now

18:32

around the time that Bunch came out with these

18:34

statements, the ground search for Wesley was called off.

18:37

They had scoured every inch of property within

18:39

a 5-mile radius of Wesley's home, but

18:41

found zero sign of him. The

18:44

police later reported that Ruby showed no

18:46

concern when the search efforts stopped. A

18:48

few days later, Ruby agreed to undergo

18:50

a second round of questioning by the

18:53

FBI regarding Wesley's disappearance. Now

18:55

judging by what I'm about to tell you, I think

18:57

it's safe to say that the interview did not go

18:59

well. After the

19:01

interview was over, investigators expressed frustration

19:03

after repeatedly questioning Ruby and Burnell

19:06

without obtaining any answers. They

19:08

urged Wesley's relatives to come forward and

19:10

cooperate with authorities. Sheriff

19:13

Bunch said, quote, we often get to

19:15

a point that Ruby won't talk to us and

19:17

won't talk to anybody, but somewhere

19:19

down the line, she's got to put

19:21

her trust in somebody and that person

19:23

could help us. On

19:25

June 5th, Sheriff Bunch told the Enterprise

19:27

Journal that Ruby and Burnell were suspects

19:29

in Wesley's disappearance. He said

19:31

bluntly, quote, they know where that boy's

19:33

at. The next day, it

19:35

came to light that after Burnell went to jail

19:38

for attempted murder, Ruby started seeing

19:40

a man in Zachary, Louisiana. There

19:42

were some reports of sightings of Wesley

19:44

at this man's residence, which prompted a

19:46

police search. Now unfortunately, Wesley

19:48

wasn't found there and the man couldn't

19:51

offer any valuable information during the questioning.

19:54

During this development, progress in the investigation

19:57

slowed down significantly, with minimal updates in

19:59

the media. According to

20:01

the police, as time passed, Ruby didn't

20:03

ask for updates in the case either.

20:06

As for Bernal, he entered into a

20:08

plea deal for the attempted murder charge. Ultimately,

20:11

he pleaded no contest to aggravated battery

20:13

and was sentenced to 10 years in

20:15

prison. In May of 2003, it

20:18

had been two years since Wesley went missing.

20:21

Around this time, forensic laboratory students

20:23

at Louisiana State University created

20:26

an age-progress photo of what Wesley might look

20:28

like at four years old. Sheriff

20:30

Bunch later reported that his office received some

20:32

calls after people saw the picture, but

20:35

no one had the leads investigators were searching for.

20:38

Sheriff Bunch shared with the Associated

20:40

Press that he believed Wesley was

20:42

still alive and possibly living in

20:44

Mississippi. He said Ruby, who

20:46

had since moved to Jackson, Louisiana, remained

20:49

their primary suspect. Additionally,

20:51

Bunch disclosed some new details,

20:53

possibly hinting at a motive.

20:56

Wesley had gone missing shortly after Ruby

20:58

won a custody dispute with his father,

21:00

Dewey. Furthermore, Wesley was

21:03

reported missing one day before Ruby was

21:05

scheduled to appear in court. She

21:08

was facing charges stemming from the altercation with

21:10

Bernal's former girlfriend, the one that led to

21:12

the police finding out that Bernal had shot

21:15

John. March 14, 2005

21:18

would have been Wesley's sixth birthday. His

21:21

parental aunt Mary shared with 9 News

21:23

that she prays one day Wesley will

21:25

come home. She said, I

21:28

feel like he's still alive and I hope wherever he

21:30

is, they're taking care of him, they're not

21:32

mistreating him or abusing him. Sheriff

21:35

Bunch revealed that he still thinks about and

21:37

prays for Wesley. He said, In

21:40

my mind, I still think that little feller

21:42

is alive somewhere. I got a feeling

21:44

in my heart that Ruby knows where that baby's at,

21:47

just the way she responded to the situation and

21:49

the way she handled it. In

21:52

January of 2008, authorities investigating

21:54

Wesley's case believed they had a significant

21:56

breakthrough when Ruby was charged in Jackson,

21:58

Louisiana with a 10-year-old. attempting to

22:00

sell her unborn baby for $2,000. Now

22:04

according to investigators, Ruby had become

22:06

pregnant the previous year but decided

22:08

not to keep the baby. Instead,

22:11

she arranged to meet with the couple interested

22:13

in adoption. Despite the

22:16

couple's desire to adopt, they couldn't afford

22:18

the legal process so Ruby proposed a deal.

22:21

They would pay her $2,000 and she

22:23

would give the baby to them directly. They

22:26

formalized the agreement by meeting with a notary

22:28

and signing all the documents. However,

22:30

after giving birth, Ruby developed the bond

22:33

with the baby and refused to transfer

22:35

custody to the adoptive parents. This

22:38

led to anger and frustration from the couple,

22:40

prompting them to report Ruby to the authorities.

22:43

Consequently, she was arrested and charged with

22:45

attempting to sell her baby. After

22:48

Ruby was arrested, her court appointed

22:50

attorney, Rhonda Covington, argued that

22:52

the $2,000 payment was not

22:55

for the baby but rather intended to

22:57

cover medical expenses. She

22:59

explained that prosecutors targeted Ruby under the

23:01

assumption that she was involved in her

23:03

son's disappearance, possibly through an

23:05

illegal adoption. Covington

23:08

dismissed the accusation as absurd stating, quote,

23:10

she was a teenager with a fifth

23:12

grade education when Wesley disappeared, yet she

23:14

was supposed to outsmart the sheriff's office

23:16

and the FBI. Though

23:19

upon further investigation, authorities confirmed that

23:22

the funds were indeed used for

23:24

medical purposes. Although the

23:26

arrangement was still illegal, authorities lacked the

23:28

substantial evidence to prosecute Ruby for attempting

23:31

to sell her baby and the charges

23:33

were dropped. Over

23:35

the next few years, there were minimal

23:37

updates except for the National Center for

23:39

Missing and Exploited Children released in an

23:41

age-progress photo of Wesley at ages 9

23:44

and 12. In

23:46

2012, Richard Sobers, a retired Baton

23:48

Rouge police officer, grew concerned about the

23:50

lack of progress in Wesley's case. He

23:53

reached out to offer assistance in the investigation

23:56

but his offers were reportedly ignored. Feeling

23:59

compelled to take action, Sobers

24:01

started his own unofficial investigation.

24:04

He produced flyers, posters, pens,

24:06

and wristbands featuring Wesley's most

24:08

recent age-progress photograph and

24:10

passed them out everywhere. Now, according

24:13

to Sobers, he also planned a vigil

24:15

to keep Wesley's case in the public

24:17

eye. However, he encountered resistance from some

24:19

of Wesley's relatives who threatened a lawsuit

24:21

if Sobers didn't stop looking into the

24:23

cold case. Sobers

24:25

told Bayou Justice, quote, Wesley's aunt

24:28

called me regularly for a time and

24:30

has recently reached out to express her

24:32

gratitude for my efforts, but

24:34

back when I planned the vigil she asked me

24:36

to stop before someone got hurt. Sobers

24:39

was undeterred and kept spreading awareness

24:41

for Wesley's case. By

24:43

May of 2014, 13

24:46

years had passed since Wesley disappeared. The

24:48

East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Department announced

24:51

that they had revisited the case with the

24:53

FBI a month earlier to ensure they were

24:55

covering all their bases. Wesley's

24:58

paternal aunt Mary spoke to WBRZ and

25:00

shared that the family still holds hope

25:02

and continues to pray for Wesley's safe

25:05

return. She emphasized that he

25:07

would now be 15 years old, just three

25:09

years shy of adulthood. She

25:11

said, quote, if he sees this, we

25:13

want him to know that we love him dearly and

25:16

never gave up on him. The

25:18

following month, the National Center for

25:20

Missing and Exploited Children released an updated

25:23

age progression photo to depict what Wesley

25:25

might look like at 15 years old.

25:28

By December of 2015, retired Officer Sobers was still

25:32

trying to gain awareness for Wesley's case. He

25:35

told the Associated Press that in his opinion,

25:37

Wesley's relatives and parish county officials

25:40

hadn't done enough to pursue leads.

25:42

He didn't understand why people weren't looking for him.

25:45

The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Department

25:47

fought back against this statement, explaining

25:50

that the case remained an active investigation.

25:53

They emphasized regular coordination with the

25:55

FBI, stating, quote, we've

25:57

never stopped investigating the case. some

26:00

months we have more leads than others, it's never

26:02

been put on the shelf to sit there, we

26:04

work on this case year round." Sheriff

26:08

Bunce said he remained convinced Wesley was

26:10

alive, possibly in Mississippi, and that his

26:12

mother sold him. In response,

26:14

Ruby's attorney, Rhonda Covington, told the

26:17

media Rudy played no part in

26:19

her son's disappearance. She

26:21

said, quote, there was a theory that the police

26:23

had come up with that maybe Ruby had sold

26:25

the child, but there was never, ever a

26:28

shred of evidence to that, and there was

26:30

no reason for her to do that. She

26:32

added, quote, what happened was a tragedy.

26:35

It was a huge tragedy, and it's

26:37

just compounded by constantly crucifying the parents.

26:41

So this is subjective. Some

26:43

of you may agree with this attorney, even

26:45

if you think Ruby's guilty, some of you

26:47

may not. Personally, I always

26:50

look at, by

26:52

saying this publicly, what does

26:54

it do for the case? How

26:57

does it help it? And

26:59

the short answer is, I don't think it does. I

27:02

think that Sheriff Bunce is more doing this for

27:04

himself as a way of letting

27:06

Ruby know that he knows what happened.

27:08

Even though he can't prove it, he

27:10

knows what she did, and she's going to have to pay

27:12

for it in this life or the next. Now

27:15

as far as the investigation's concerned, on

27:17

a more practical level, I

27:19

don't think calling this person out is going to

27:21

make her come forward. I don't think you saying

27:23

publicly, this is what occurred, she did it, that

27:25

she's going to go, you know what, you're right,

27:28

you've been saying it so many times, yeah,

27:31

I did it, I confess. It's not going to

27:33

work that way. So I don't think it

27:35

necessarily helps the case and probably

27:37

is not needed to be said by Sheriff

27:39

Bunce. But I will also

27:41

say, Rhonda Covington coming in, she

27:44

has no way of knowing what happened that day. She

27:47

wasn't involved when it happened, she wasn't there, as

27:49

was anybody else not there. So she

27:52

doesn't know what happened, she wasn't there, neither

27:54

was anybody else. Only Ruby

27:57

really knows what happened that day. So

27:59

I appreciate her lawyer. coming out and defending her,

28:01

but at the same time, if

28:03

we found out tomorrow that Ruby did in

28:05

fact have some involvement with this case, her

28:08

lawyer, Rhonda, would be the first one out

28:10

there saying, well, from what she told me,

28:12

she was innocent. How was I supposed to

28:14

know? And that's the point I'm

28:16

trying to make here. Do I necessarily agree

28:19

with what Sheriff Bunch is saying? No,

28:21

that doesn't really help the case. But

28:24

I don't necessarily agree with what Rhonda Covington

28:26

is saying either, although she's not in charge

28:28

in the investigation, she's just doing her job

28:30

and defending her client. Either

28:33

way, it really doesn't help anyone. And

28:36

in no way, shape or form does it help what

28:38

really is important here. And that's finding

28:40

Wesley. In April

28:42

of 2016, the FBI reopened Wesley's

28:44

case and deployed their child abduction

28:46

rapid deployment team. Officials

28:49

didn't disclose the exact reason for revisiting the

28:51

case, but cited advancements in

28:53

technology related to missing children's cases

28:55

as a contributing factor. The

28:58

FBI announced their plan to spend the next few

29:00

weeks totally immersed in the case, reviewing

29:02

all files, conducting follow up

29:04

interviews and searching specific areas.

29:07

Additionally, the agency planned to utilize

29:09

other resources such as 21 electronic

29:11

billboards, which would feature a $10,000

29:14

reward for information leading to

29:16

Wesley. To help

29:19

in these efforts, the National Center for

29:21

Missing and Exploited Children released another age-progress

29:23

photo, this time of Wesley at 17

29:25

years old. The

29:27

FBI said, quote, Hopefully we'll be

29:30

able to turn over a new leaf and

29:32

somebody will have new information for us. Ruby's

29:35

attorney told the advocate that Ruby was excited

29:37

about the renewed effort to locate her son.

29:41

Covington said, quote, She's got her hopes up.

29:43

We think this is probably the best hope we have of

29:45

finding him. Hopefully there

29:47

will be a result this time and not another

29:50

disappointment. Ruby's

29:52

paternal aunt Mary told NBC that she

29:54

too was hopeful for this new development,

29:57

stating quote, This could be the thing that

29:59

brings about the answers. Wesley would

30:01

be 17 now, just a year from being

30:03

a grown man. Mary further

30:05

expressed that this had been a huge struggle

30:07

for Wesley's father, Dewey, not knowing

30:09

if his child was okay. She

30:11

said, quote, some people said his

30:13

mother may have given him away or something, but

30:15

we really can't say. It's

30:17

all rumors and speculation. NBC

30:20

reported that there were tensions between the two

30:22

sides of Wesley's family. Mary

30:24

said that despite this, everyone shares the

30:26

same goal, bringing Wesley home.

30:29

She said, quote, for a little boy

30:31

to just vanish like that is terrifying. Whatever

30:34

happened, it's sad. Perhaps

30:36

he's out there not even knowing who he is and that

30:38

we are out here searching for him. In

30:41

May of 2018, Wesley had been missing for 17 years.

30:46

To honor Wesley, retired officer

30:48

Richard Sobers hosted an event where

30:50

17 butterflies were released at the Clinton

30:52

courthouse, one butterfly, for

30:55

every year Wesley had been gone.

30:57

Sobers told WAFB, quote, what

31:00

keeps me going is because I know someone

31:02

knows something, several people, and I'm

31:04

hopeful that one day their conscience may get

31:06

the best of them and they'll come

31:09

forward or either submit some information

31:11

anonymously. That same year,

31:13

Sobers used his own money to rent

31:15

a physical billboard to feature Wesley's case

31:17

and the FBI's $10,000 reward. Unfortunately,

31:22

there haven't been any major updates in the case

31:24

since then. And more than

31:26

22 years later, Wesley

31:28

is still missing. All

31:32

right, let's dive right

31:34

into this perspective because it's going to be straightforward. There's

31:37

that old saying, if it walks like a duck, quacks

31:39

like a duck, it's a duck. Most

31:42

of the time that's true. However,

31:44

we can all acknowledge that some situations

31:47

result in innocent people

31:50

going to prison for crimes they didn't commit,

31:52

even though some of the factors in the

31:55

case would suggest they were involved.

31:58

When you look at this case, you have a case that's not

32:00

a crime. have to just use some common sense. It doesn't take

32:02

a detective to kind of put pieces

32:04

together in this one, although I will acknowledge

32:07

just because the puzzle looks right it

32:09

could still be a little off. First

32:12

of all, anyone who has children out there, I know I mentioned

32:14

mine at the top of the show, if you

32:17

have a two-year-old or you had a two-year-old at

32:19

some point, they're not able to

32:21

walk that fast, they're not running anywhere. So

32:23

if this was truly five minutes like Ruby

32:26

had said, Wesley wouldn't have

32:28

gotten very far, if off the

32:30

porch at all. He might have gotten injured

32:33

just walking 10 feet.

32:35

Again, they're just barely walking

32:38

around at this point, they're not going to be going

32:40

down rough terrain. So if this

32:42

was exactly how it looked on the surface

32:44

where he's on the porch with these four

32:46

puppies for only five minutes and

32:48

she didn't look at him at all in between, if

32:51

she came outside maybe, worst

32:54

case scenario, 50 yards

32:56

maybe, and that's if he

32:58

immediately walked off the porch as soon as

33:00

she went inside, which you would think wouldn't

33:02

be the case. So 50 yards

33:05

maybe, I'll even give you a hundred yards, still

33:08

within an eyesight of her and you

33:11

know you would if she walked around for 15 minutes

33:13

she would have been able to most

33:15

likely find him. Also, just

33:18

to put it out on a more moral ethical level

33:21

as a dad myself, what

33:23

are you doing leaving your

33:25

two-year-old baby on the

33:27

porch alone for any amount of

33:29

time? That's just common sense and

33:32

if Ruby's not involved, I'm sure

33:34

that's something that weighs on her and to be

33:37

just honest about it, it should because

33:39

if that's truly what happened this was avoidable

33:42

and I'm here to tell all of you guys I don't care what

33:44

your backgrounds are or what your beliefs

33:46

are, you can't leave your

33:48

two-year-olds alone at all,

33:50

never mind outside where there's

33:52

a road and there's woods and there's a lot of things that

33:54

could hurt or even kill them. As

33:57

far as the puppies, in

33:59

my opinion, I think it's a decoy. I think

34:01

it's a diversion. Maybe either puppies

34:03

were there. Maybe one was put across the road.

34:05

Maybe the other one was left

34:08

with Wesley as a parting

34:10

gift. If you're asking

34:12

me, based on what we know and

34:14

we went over the facts tonight from you know from

34:16

what has been disclosed and we don't have everything, there

34:19

was a child custody dispute going on. I

34:22

don't know what Ruby's financial situation was but

34:24

I'm assuming it wasn't great. And

34:27

if she was facing potential charges the next

34:29

day and she had just fought

34:31

this battle to get Wesley, maybe

34:33

the idea that the

34:35

child could go back to Dewey if

34:38

she were found guilty was something

34:40

she was not willing to accept. Couple

34:43

that with an opportunity

34:45

to financially benefit from it

34:47

and maybe the people where

34:49

Wesley you know where

34:51

he was going and who he was going to be with, maybe

34:54

they were good people or at least Ruby

34:56

thought so. To me, just

34:59

on what we know and I'm so

35:01

cautious about saying this because there's a

35:03

real potential here that Ruby is a

35:05

victim just like everybody else. There's

35:08

a strong possibility that she knows what happened and

35:10

that she was involved. You think

35:12

about the area, you think about the highway. She

35:14

herself said there was no vehicle in the area.

35:16

Didn't hear anyone approach the house or walk on

35:18

the porch. It's highly

35:20

unlikely that Wesley

35:23

was abducted in that short period of time

35:25

in that specific area. It is

35:28

possible that he wandered off but

35:30

based on how many individuals

35:32

and resources were devoted

35:34

to searching that area,

35:37

if he had wandered off and

35:39

been hurt or was hiding more

35:42

than likely he would have been

35:44

found and he wasn't which

35:47

suggests that he was no longer in that

35:49

area. And then finally, although

35:52

it's up for debate and it's been highly

35:54

disputed, there is a

35:56

couple out there that states

36:00

claims that they made an

36:02

agreement to buy Ruby's

36:04

unborn child and that

36:06

there was going to be this adoption and that they signed

36:08

all this paperwork. That

36:11

right there is suggestive that

36:13

it's not beyond the realm of possibility

36:16

for Ruby to do something like this. Now

36:19

I will say this, there could be a

36:21

scenario where Ruby may know

36:23

what happened but maybe she wasn't the

36:25

primary offender. Maybe it's

36:27

a situation where Bernal was involved

36:30

and although Ruby could have been

36:32

reluctant, it was something that was done

36:34

between the two of them. Now

36:36

Bernal may have not actually been there physically

36:38

that day but he could have contributed

36:41

to the whole situation and

36:43

been a factor in what

36:45

occurred especially when we

36:47

consider his criminal background. But

36:50

again overall based on what we know

36:52

about the incident itself and

36:54

the players involved, it just

36:57

seems unfortunately and I hope that I'm wrong,

37:00

very unlikely that Ruby

37:03

or Bernal or a combination of

37:05

the two were not involved in

37:08

Wesley's disappearance. Now

37:10

here's the silver lining in all of this. If

37:13

this is true then

37:15

that would suggest that

37:19

maybe Wesley is still alive right now and

37:21

maybe he is out there somewhere and

37:24

as his Aunt Mary said, he

37:26

might not even know who he actually is or

37:28

that anybody is looking for him. Now

37:31

obviously that's still a terrible situation on

37:33

the surface but I

37:36

would love to know that he's alive. I

37:38

would love to know that he's okay and

37:41

for all we know he's maybe living a better

37:43

life than he would have lived if

37:46

he were still with Ruby and Bernal.

37:48

Now just to play devil's advocate to make

37:51

sure I'm covering all my bases, if Ruby

37:53

had left the child outside longer than

37:55

she's been telling us over the years maybe because of a

37:57

guilty conscience and the optics and the way it would look.

38:00

look, it would bring more scrutiny. It

38:02

does open a window, a larger window where

38:04

someone could have grabbed Wesley and a puppy

38:07

and taken off. And

38:09

although that window would have

38:12

still been relatively small, we

38:15

already know that it is possible. Ask

38:18

John Walsh. Ask him about his

38:20

son, Adam. He was taken

38:22

from a supermarket and only took a few

38:24

moments and he was killed, unfortunately. So we

38:27

do have case studies to prove that as unlikely

38:29

as it is, a small

38:31

window of opportunity is all that the

38:33

offender really needs. So yes,

38:36

I'm leaning more toward the

38:39

family involvement. However,

38:41

based on what we know, there

38:44

is a silver lining here where

38:46

it's more suggestive unless something happened

38:49

to Wesley and that's why he's

38:51

no longer around and that's why he was never

38:53

found. There is a strong possibility

38:55

that he's still out there. He's okay

38:58

and he's living a relatively normal

39:00

life. But ultimately, we want answers,

39:02

not only for Ruby, not only

39:04

for Dewey, but for everyone

39:06

in that community. And like

39:08

I said, we have the age progress photos. So

39:11

anybody out there, he could be anywhere in the

39:13

country at this point if he's still with us.

39:15

And if that is the case, although it's still

39:17

tragic in its own right, we

39:19

can fill him in on

39:21

what transpired. We still may never know,

39:23

even if we find Wesley alive, we

39:25

still may never know what actually happened

39:27

to him. Obviously, to some

39:30

degree, he's not going to remember that specific

39:32

day. And depending on how

39:34

things were framed, he may

39:37

have no knowledge of what

39:39

happened or who was involved. Now if

39:41

we locate the people who raised him, that

39:44

may shed more light on

39:46

what actually transpired on May

39:48

15, 2001. But either way, it's

39:50

going to take all of us, this

39:52

entire community to potentially locate him. We

39:54

know that the photos of him and

39:56

what he may potentially look like today

39:59

are out there. there. So just to recap

40:01

this case, so you have all the information as

40:03

you're leaving this episode, two year old Wesley Dale

40:05

Morgan was last seen on May 15th, 2001 in

40:07

the 2700 block

40:11

of Highway 63 outside of

40:13

Clinton, Louisiana. At the time he was

40:15

three feet tall, 40 pounds with

40:18

blonde hair and blue eyes. He was

40:20

last seen wearing blue shorts with a green stripe

40:22

on the leg, a gray Mickey

40:24

Mouse shirt and sandals. If

40:27

you have any information, please call Crime

40:29

Stoppers at 225-344-7867. That's going to

40:31

do it for me tonight guys. Everyone stay

40:37

safe out there and I'll see you next week.