0:00

What's up, you guys? I'm Andrea. And I'm

0:03

Hailey. And you're listening

0:05

to Inhuman, a True Crime Podcast.

0:08

Hello, hello, welcome

0:10

back. Welcome back,

0:13

everybody. Happy

0:31

Thursday? Yes, we're back on

0:33

Thursday's schedule for me. Yes,

0:36

I thought that yesterday

0:38

was Wednesday because I

0:41

went to watch the Love is Blind

0:43

reunion. And I like

0:45

went on to Netflix and it was like

0:47

new episodes Wednesdays. And I was like, isn't

0:50

today Wednesday? Nope, it was Tuesday. So

0:53

if you don't follow Hailey and I on Instagram,

0:56

we are both huge Love is Blind

0:59

people, especially this season. I think this

1:01

is like the first season that you've

1:03

actually watched the entirety of it, right?

1:05

Yeah, it is. And I am like,

1:08

full, committed to finding out what

1:10

happened. Like there are a lot of their

1:12

TikToks keep popping up. Like, honestly, my

1:14

TikTok for you page right now is

1:17

where is Kate Middleton and

1:19

Love is Blind, like TikToks.

1:22

What is going on with Kate Middleton? I was

1:24

like, out of the loop. And then

1:26

all of a sudden, it just out of nowhere

1:29

just flooded everything. And I'm like, I know I

1:31

missed something. Is she okay? I

1:33

know I have like, so many

1:35

rabbit hole conspiracies about it. And

1:38

I don't know. I don't know what

1:40

I think. But yeah, it's it's been

1:44

very odd. Yeah. And I really want

1:46

to one day cover Princess Diana on

1:48

the podcast. That

1:51

Wow, that's a that's a big one.

1:53

That's because you can go

1:55

so many directions with that. Like with all the conspiracies.

1:57

That's why I said one day. Yeah. Exactly.

2:01

All right. One day. Yeah. Okay.

2:05

Well, let's go ahead and jump into

2:07

today's case. We can probably talk about

2:09

whatever for 20 minutes, but you're

2:11

not here for that. So we'll spare you any

2:14

more. Yeah. And

2:18

today I'm going to be covering a

2:21

unsolved disappearance case because of

2:24

course I am, but

2:26

this is the case of Allie

2:28

Lowitzer. I don't

2:30

think I know this. I don't think I've ever

2:32

even heard the name. Yeah. I don't think I

2:34

had either. Um, and like the

2:37

details of her case, it's, it's pretty

2:40

much, there's nothing, there's nothing to go

2:42

on. There's no leads. There's no, you

2:45

know, smoking gun, you

2:47

know, nothing. So it's,

2:49

it's obviously a case. All cases

2:51

deserve to be shared. And it's one that I

2:53

wanted to share with you guys, because I

2:56

think that it doesn't get a lot of

2:58

coverage and she is still obviously missing. Her

3:00

family is still very anxious and

3:02

you know, wants answers and I just wanted

3:04

to get her story out there. So that's

3:07

what I'm going to be doing today. On

3:10

April 26, 2010,

3:12

Alexandria Lowitzer also fondly referred to

3:14

as Allie texted her mother right

3:16

after she stepped off her school

3:18

bus. Allie was

3:21

letting her mother know that she intended

3:23

to walk to Burger Barn, which was

3:25

the restaurant where she worked to collect

3:27

her paycheck and hopefully pick up an

3:29

extra shift. How old is she? Did

3:31

you say she is 16?

3:33

No, not yet. Okay. Sorry. Jump in

3:36

the gun. But that's okay. No, that's

3:38

okay. That's okay. And

3:40

she was like really excited about her job at Burger Barn.

3:42

Like as soon as she turned 16, she was like, I

3:44

want to get a job. Like I want to make money.

3:46

You know, a lot of

3:48

us were like that. Independent.

3:52

Allie also did not have the

3:54

key to her house, Which is unclear why.

3:56

I Think she typically had a key because her mother was a kid. And she

3:58

was like, I'm not going to do this. There were to and

4:00

she would get off the bus you know by

4:03

herself of for whatever reason the say she did

4:05

not habits or her mother a shirt her that

4:07

she'd have. Her older brother leave the door. Unlocked

4:10

for alley. Okay. Students.

4:12

On the school bus with Alley observed

4:14

her heading in the direction of the

4:16

restaurant. Despite the close proximity

4:19

a burger barn to her house

4:21

which was less than half a

4:23

mile away, Ali had never walked.

4:25

Their previously students on the school

4:27

versus alley observed her heading in

4:29

the direction of the restaurant. Despite

4:31

the close proximity a burger barn

4:33

to her house which was less

4:35

less than half a mile away,

4:38

Ali had never walked their previously,

4:40

so typically her grandmother would take

4:42

her to work when she needed

4:44

to. Have to go cause or

4:46

my you know worked. Pretty. Late.

4:48

Ah, I'm sorry. Grandmother would. Give.

4:51

Her a ride. Okay, so she wasn't

4:53

like normally walking to work, but this

4:55

day she did. Correct. and she was

4:57

just gonna go get her paycheck and try

4:59

to pick up a chef like there's. No

5:02

guarantee. but you know she's gonna shoot or

5:04

shot. Okay, got it.

5:07

Nevertheless, Alley mysteriously sale

5:09

to reach Burger Barn. never returning

5:11

home later that evening, and there

5:13

has been no trace of Alley

5:15

since that day. She just

5:18

say earnest yeah. Yep!

5:21

Between. Walking from getting off

5:23

the bus to. Work.

5:25

which he said wasn't a far walk, Yeah, less

5:27

than half a mile. Wow.

5:31

Oh Oh. My. God. I.

5:33

Don't know. Ali

5:47

was born on February third, Nineteen

5:49

Ninety Four, to parents John Enjoy

5:52

An who also had an older

5:54

son May. The.

5:56

Children grew up and spring Texas

5:59

which is just North Houston. As

6:02

a child, Ali was bright

6:05

and imaginative, brimming with creativity,

6:08

She. Had a passion for reading and

6:10

art and especially loved crafting with her

6:12

mom. Oh. I love that

6:14

she loved crafting. May know I love

6:16

casting to elements of Isis actually allows

6:18

a kid my mom and I like

6:21

we did. we did kraut, we did

6:23

some serious grass him back in the

6:25

city but a semi. I'm like that.

6:27

I. Yeah, and I'd

6:29

rather that ninety mile. But. Now.

6:33

It's. Not always. I'm a little like a typical

6:35

when it comes to that's a lake or not

6:37

a typical what is it. I

6:39

have no clue what you're trying to

6:41

say. Like as like type A? That's

6:43

and I'm trying to. So type A

6:46

of amyloid I pay welcomes the crafting

6:48

sunlight. what are you doing I switching

6:50

and light off it's fine. Their kids

6:52

sitting still exists. Definitely. Going to be me

6:54

when seat in his older and trying to do

6:56

something. Because I'm already like it's so hard to

6:59

not. Be an actor child when they're

7:01

like. Not. Able to like that

7:03

the spoon in their mouth or something

7:05

like to just let them do it

7:07

is it's so hard by us it's

7:09

necessary. Absolutely. Beyond

7:12

academics to see. also found Joy singing

7:14

in her school choir as well as

7:16

being a girl scouts as she was

7:19

like heavily involved in girl scouts like

7:21

even I think at age sixteen. Wow.

7:25

And her early teens alley enjoy

7:28

playing softball and see played the

7:30

catcher position which is. A

7:32

tough ask position to play them

7:34

into. see her eyes play softball

7:37

and I never played catcher. birds

7:39

I had you know practice cats

7:41

are in no so yeah the

7:43

week ssssss seem scary like simple

7:45

as late as they like right

7:48

at you and nice Florida softball

7:50

like those pitchers guy will. Yeah.

7:54

And Two thousand and Eight alleys. parents separated

7:56

and she and her brother went to live

7:59

with their mother. Initially, alley

8:01

sell a lot of resentment towards her

8:03

father John after the divorce despite him

8:05

being actively involved in his children's lives.

8:07

So there's not a lot of details

8:10

surrounding there you know, her parents divorce

8:12

or why she felt the way she

8:14

fell. and honestly, like I didn't do

8:16

a lot of digging to try to

8:18

get answers because. That's. Such

8:20

a touch not important as his. yeah

8:23

but I didn't want to include a

8:25

cause I think that there was. ah.

8:28

You. Know like some tail and he

8:30

says he was yeah that she had

8:32

gone on and on. It

8:34

you know it's a it's an An

8:36

interesting a good place to be And

8:38

period is Lesley as a teenager and

8:41

it's got all these feelings and hormones

8:43

and emotions. Any and then you go

8:45

through that just. A

8:47

lot of a lot of feelings and emotions. Yeah.

8:51

The. Morning of April Twenty sixth was

8:53

a typical morning for alley she rush

8:55

rush off to make the school bus

8:57

on time which she thankfully dead. And

9:01

by all accounts, she had a normal

9:03

day at Spring High School where she

9:05

attended tenth grade. Ali

9:08

was very social by nature and

9:10

had a wild a wide circle

9:13

of friends through which she kept

9:15

in constant contact with through text

9:17

messaging. All of it.

9:21

Her monthly phone activity austen

9:23

tallied up to an impressive

9:26

three to four thousand tax.

9:28

On face off at us as. I

9:31

love you know how many types I send?

9:33

I know I was like thinking back as

9:35

Light. When. I was in high

9:37

school like cellphones were just. Like.

9:40

Not everyone had one, they were just

9:42

starting to become popular and so and

9:44

text messaging was like unheard of. You

9:46

know, for you to pay for it?

9:48

Yeah, was like thirty cents attacks or

9:50

something. crazy. So. Yeah, I

9:52

was do any of that. but yeah,

9:55

I'm curious how many text message on

9:57

text messages eisen now because that's like

9:59

yeah. A number one

10:01

form of communication. That and like

10:03

Instagram the is. Yeah, Honestly, it's

10:06

probably like. Thousands. And

10:08

thousands and thousands? Yeah, like I don't

10:10

know. like I text and your similar

10:12

to where you like send multiple. It's

10:15

not just like one long taxed yeah.

10:17

And. So that adds up like

10:20

those each count as wine. Yeah,

10:22

so. Yeah,

10:24

I'd be curious. Yeah, But in two thousand

10:26

and ten, that's pretty impressive. Three to four

10:29

thousand tac? Yeah, But his. yeah, Yeah,

10:31

that's that's. definitely like. You're.

10:34

Having some fun, taxing? exactly? And

10:37

there was one particular

10:40

classmate that alley. Shared.

10:43

Probably. More than her fair share

10:45

of text messages live. And that was a

10:47

boy by the name of Dj and they

10:49

sort of were dating talking whatever you want

10:52

to call it, you know, nothing too serious

10:54

from what I can tell, but there was

10:56

definitely a little romance brewing. Their. Okay,

11:00

After the school they ended up

11:02

a for alley boarded her school bus.

11:04

She shouted her best friend Savannah

11:06

Sky. Quote. I love you!

11:08

See tomorrow? And. Morning

11:11

to Savannah I heard our i

11:13

know, ah Savannah said there's an

11:15

alley was shout goodbye to one

11:17

and one another every single day

11:19

before their school buses last and

11:22

in it was like their. Daily

11:24

tradition so that so

11:26

few. Oh that's

11:28

Press says. I know,

11:31

But little did Savannah know that that

11:33

would be her last interaction with her

11:35

best friend before. see Manis? Oh.

11:39

No. When Alleys

11:41

mother jail and came home that evening around

11:44

five thirty and Alley wasn't. There.

11:46

No. And media alarm bells rang.

11:50

So. An assumed alley had taken that extra

11:52

shifts at Burger Bar in that she had

11:54

been after. Fair. Their

11:56

lives in a say yeah you just assume

11:58

that. She picked up. Just because that's

12:00

what she was planning. a deal. right?

12:03

She quickly send a text the alley

12:06

asking her to call during her break.

12:09

But as the hours passed,

12:11

Jo. Ann. Began. Growing.

12:15

Concerned. Oh. We've

12:17

said this before. But thought

12:19

fear, just. Must.

12:21

Be the worse thing because it's just

12:24

a year later. Samples or you're trying

12:26

to think the best. Like oh, maybe

12:28

she decided to randomly go with friends

12:30

are like you're thinking of. Also a

12:33

busy out word. Yeah, but like. In

12:35

the back. Of. Your mind, you know, That

12:38

something's I pray and I just faster

12:40

like literally ancestors and or what. Like

12:43

what can you do You just have

12:45

to wait. Yeah, wait it out.

12:48

So. She decided to send another tax

12:50

city. Want to bother hurry see when

12:52

a car at work and like make

12:54

this big spectacle you know as he

12:56

clearly says is working way So she

12:59

said. You. Know hey to second

13:01

on Yale and then mentioned that she

13:03

was planning to pick her up. After.

13:06

Work in at the end of

13:08

the closing shift, right? Okay, by

13:10

a Pm. With. So no

13:12

response. Joanne decided to head to the

13:14

Burger Bar because she knew they'd be

13:16

closings causing San over they close around

13:18

nine for my it. I understand. So

13:20

I think it was closer to Nine

13:23

when she headed up there because by

13:25

the time she got their burger Barn

13:27

with Rt close and their lights are

13:29

on, the doors were locked. Oh.

13:31

Wow, so she probably figured that it was

13:33

kind of like you know they close but

13:35

then they have to like close up and

13:38

yeah, you know, turnout lights off and clean

13:40

up and all that. So she probably let

13:42

I close to. Nine. And then she must

13:44

have gotten their. Like. Right after

13:46

they finished doing all that. Right is typically

13:48

like I have a so worked you as.

13:51

If you've been here while you know, I work

13:53

at Six Life for many, many years and I

13:55

did all of the things I was marketing and.

13:58

I own my own but ram. Store

14:00

and typically the closing.

14:03

Procedure. Last you know,

14:05

at least. Half an hour you know

14:08

unless you're really fast or I'm they were and

14:10

admire. yeah there's tons of stuff to do so

14:12

the fact that it with Rt close i mean

14:14

that is kind of like we're to me but

14:16

maybe they just how slow night and they were

14:18

able to get out of there quickly. Great.

14:21

Lakes and if they were able

14:23

to start closing before. Nine. O'clock

14:25

wire. Weren't a lot of people there,

14:27

right? Yeah. So

14:30

naturally, This. Is then

14:32

the panic set in and joanne

14:35

as thinking where his alley. Yeah.

14:38

That's terrifying because it's like if

14:41

she wasn't normally walking home from

14:43

work. So that's not an assumption

14:45

that. Would. Even make sense that like

14:48

all, maybe she just walked home. And.

14:51

That you hadn't heard from her for hours

14:53

and. Hours so light. Yeah.

14:55

That's freaking terrifying. And the fact

14:57

that it's so close like as

14:59

see. Drove. There you would think

15:01

suit a passer she decided to all calm. For.

15:04

A It. So Joanne

15:06

promptly restarts other family members and

15:08

of course included alleys, father, jaw

15:11

and and together they read south,

15:13

the friends and even went as

15:15

far as visiting some of the

15:17

residences of her friends and search.

15:20

Of. Their daughter. Okay,

15:24

Joe. And drives first two days house

15:26

which was the boy that i mention

15:28

that alley was getting close live. And.

15:31

Discovered that alley hadn't also

15:33

not been responding to any of

15:36

Djs text messages okay, which

15:38

is obviously concerning. In general. But

15:40

then to know that see was

15:42

a huge texter and site that

15:44

many text messages in a man

15:46

that see talk to him in

15:48

particular a lie It that's like

15:50

even more concerning Mariah. So.

15:52

That you know that's exactly how jail and

15:54

sell this is super alarming to her. So

15:57

see, continue to drive to other locations and

15:59

search of. Valley, but

16:01

to no avail. Oh

16:16

my gosh. And it's like each location

16:18

you get to that you're not there.

16:20

And that worry crush now. Hope crush

16:22

like, I can't not imagine.

16:26

Despite their best efforts that

16:28

extended over several hours, both family

16:30

and friends were unable to determine

16:33

Ali's whereabouts. Subsequently

16:35

around 11 PM, Ali's parents

16:38

proceeded to involve local law

16:40

enforcement, intending to file

16:42

to formally file a

16:44

missing persons report. The

16:46

Harris County Sheriff's Department spoke with

16:48

Ali's parents and told them to

16:50

go home and wait for their daughter.

16:53

Oh, they

16:56

theorize Ali had likely ran away

16:58

and would return home the following

17:00

day. And when she did to

17:03

call them, are

17:05

you kidding me? No. Okay.

17:07

If you've never listened to this podcast

17:09

before, this is like probably

17:12

our biggest thing that

17:14

we get so fired up

17:16

about because, yeah, I mean, there's so many

17:18

reasons and I feel like I'm beating a

17:20

dead horse because I've said this on so

17:22

many episodes, but unique to this episode, it

17:25

still needs to be said. Why

17:27

are we assuming that

17:29

their runaways in the first place? Why not assume

17:31

that they're missing? And then if they do happen

17:33

to come home, great. We lost a couple hours

17:35

searching like, yeah, fine. And

17:38

then also when they're not

17:42

doing things that their families know

17:44

are normal, like texting and being

17:47

at work and things like that.

17:49

Like when there's no other indication

17:52

as to why they would be quote unquote

17:54

running away, why are we assuming it's a

17:56

runaway? She

18:00

is a child. Run away or not.

18:02

She is a child that needs to be found.

18:04

If she chose to run away, unfortunately she's under

18:06

18 and so she can't just choose to do

18:08

that. So why aren't we

18:10

looking for her? Right. So they need

18:13

to look for her. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

18:15

It's the most

18:17

frustrating thing in all of these

18:19

cases. And like when is this going to change? Because we're

18:23

still seeing it. I mean, I do feel like

18:26

some of the cases that get national

18:28

media attention have lately, like you don't

18:30

really hear that. But that's like just

18:32

the big cases. So of course there's

18:35

a lot of media attention. They're not

18:37

going to be doing

18:40

nothing. So I'm sure

18:42

it's happening way more than we realize

18:44

and that is so freaking frustrating. Yeah.

18:46

I agree. Like can you imagine your child

18:48

is missing and you know that they didn't

18:51

run away and the police just telling you

18:53

just go home and wait for her. She's

18:55

going to come back. Oh,

18:59

I would. They would have to

19:01

probably like contain me or dead. Like

19:05

I would not be taking that. I mean,

19:07

it's hard because you don't want to jeopardize

19:09

the integrity of an investigation

19:12

beginning. But it's also

19:14

like how do you get that

19:16

across to them? Like this is

19:18

not a runaway. This is not

19:20

this. This isn't what that is. And

19:22

there's only so much that you can

19:24

do as a citizen. Like you can

19:27

search, you can go knock on doors,

19:29

whatever. But there's only so much you

19:31

can do. You need law enforcement's help

19:33

because they have more resources and

19:35

the ability to like, you

19:38

know, question people or pull phone records or whatever

19:40

it might be. So

19:43

why? Just why? Why?

19:46

Why? Why? Why? Why? Yeah,

19:48

it's really frustrating. Really, really

19:50

frustrating. So

19:54

after the officer told her parents

19:57

then Joanne asked the officer,

19:59

well, What if she doesn't come home? To

20:02

which he responded, call us. So

20:07

call us when she comes home, call us when

20:09

she doesn't come home, but we're not

20:11

gonna do anything to assist you tonight. Right.

20:15

Oh, that's so frustrating. As

20:18

you can imagine, this devastated her

20:20

parents. They knew Allie was

20:22

not a runaway. They knew

20:25

that their daughter was responsible. Not only

20:27

that, but Allie didn't take any money

20:29

with her. She didn't take her phone

20:32

charger. She didn't take her makeup, which

20:34

was a big deal for

20:36

her. She had no personal belongings with her

20:38

when she left the house. So

20:41

if she was running away,

20:43

you would think she would at least, at

20:45

the very least, take in money and her

20:47

phone charger. Yeah, that makes

20:50

literally zero sense. And

20:53

just the fact that her boyfriend

20:56

or the guy that she had been chatting with a lot, didn't,

21:01

wasn't missing. Maybe if he was

21:03

missing, okay, maybe they decided to

21:06

go on a date somewhere. Yeah,

21:09

but the fact that he also

21:11

hadn't heard from her, the

21:13

person who talks to her the most, again,

21:19

there's just no indication that she actually ran

21:21

away. So why are we assuming that? Yeah,

21:24

I hate that. You know what

21:26

you get when you assume. In

21:30

an interview with the Center for Missing

21:32

and Exploited Children in 2020, Joanne stated,

21:34

quote, "'It's very atypical of her

21:36

to not be "'where she said she was

21:38

going to be.'" So

21:40

again, her parents know

21:43

her. Yeah. She's not

21:45

where she said she was going to be. And

21:47

again, even if she

21:50

purposefully ran away, she

21:52

is a child. She unfortunately

21:55

does not have the autonomy. legally

22:00

to be able to just leave so

22:03

why are we not looking for

22:05

her? Yeah and you know when

22:08

in these cases when these these

22:10

children these teens they decide they

22:13

decide to leave to run

22:16

away you're putting

22:18

them in a greater danger because

22:20

of the trafficking because of the

22:22

abductions because of all these horrible

22:24

things that are actively happening all

22:27

over the world but specifically

22:29

in this country that could

22:31

happen in that in that first

22:34

24 hours that you're not looking for

22:36

that child so

22:38

why are we not just putting

22:40

forth a small amount of resources

22:43

to prevent that to prevent a

22:45

bad situation from getting worse it

22:48

just doesn't make sense. If

22:50

she does return the next

22:53

day like you think she's going to

22:56

then okay you wasted what? Couple hours

22:58

like yeah I know

23:01

there needs to be more funding for police

23:04

there needs to be more I

23:07

could go into a whole thing and I'm not going to

23:10

but there just needs to be more period

23:12

that that it leads me

23:15

to do yes yes about people

23:17

who are missing yes very much

23:19

so especially children

23:21

but as a whole yeah

23:25

so they did

23:28

not just go home and wait

23:30

idly by yeah they continued to

23:32

search for her they her family

23:34

her friends and

23:36

by the following afternoon with still

23:39

no sign of their daughter her

23:42

parents took the advice of a friend that

23:44

they had met through the Girl Scouts who

23:47

recommend they contact the Laura

23:49

Recovery Center so according

23:52

to their website the Laura

23:55

Recovery Center is a non-profit

23:57

organization that works to prevent

23:59

kidnappings and. The abductions and

24:01

to recover victims of such

24:03

events. Their center

24:05

has organized numerous community lead

24:07

searches for abducted children. All

24:09

over the country. Her. This

24:12

amazing. So. The center

24:14

took a significantly different approach

24:16

to alleys case than the

24:18

berries. And. Without delay,

24:20

they establish a centralized

24:22

command center. Affectively coordinated

24:25

multiple search teams and mobilize

24:27

numerous volunteers to comb through

24:29

the Senate. Wow, That's incredible.

24:32

I know, The.

24:34

Relentless efforts of the Lara

24:36

Recovery Center span across to

24:38

continuous weeks during which they

24:40

diligently carried out awareness alerts,

24:43

Distributed. Flyers and conducted

24:45

thorough search operations.

24:48

Hundreds of dedicated searchers,

24:51

rescue teams, Search.

24:53

Dogs A Cd operators.

24:56

Boat. Cruise and community

24:58

volunteers scoured the densely

25:00

wooded areas. Traverse.

25:02

The Creeks and meticulously inspected

25:05

the properties in the vicinity.

25:07

Wow. So. They were

25:10

like pulling out all the sauce, doing

25:12

everything they could write. They were doing

25:14

Why? It. In my

25:16

opinion, police should be doing, but

25:18

it sounds like they had more

25:20

resources than. The. Police might have

25:22

had you know how to. That's true

25:24

at I'm glad that the Son of

25:27

Organizations exists because the have such a

25:29

problem is. You. Know law

25:31

enforcement always taken these cases seriously are

25:33

not having the are only forces to

25:35

do so. That's. What I was

25:37

gonna say we said this before but

25:39

like it's not necessarily the police's fall,

25:42

it's probably just protocol as they have

25:44

been a little more pleased that they

25:46

can't do anything about and like would

25:48

probably get in trouble if they put.

25:51

Resources toward something that they're out unquote.

25:53

not supposed to. So it's like I've

25:55

You know, there's only so much they

25:57

can do, sir. Where the problem. lies like

25:59

it goes all the way, you know, to state

26:02

government, federal government, there's,

26:05

I could just get into it, but I'm not. Yeah,

26:08

yeah. But what should be

26:10

happening is that these types of organizations should

26:12

be working with police. Unfortunately,

26:14

that doesn't always happen. But at least there

26:17

are organizations like this and incredible people

26:19

who do this to

26:21

help people who need need that

26:23

help. Right. As

26:27

John and Joanne frantically continued searching for Ali,

26:30

they repeatedly called her phone desperate to reach

26:32

her. After hours

26:34

with no answer, John recall or

26:36

Joanne, excuse me, recalled the GPS

26:39

feature provided by their phone carrier

26:41

that could potentially track the location

26:43

of Ali's phone. Unfortunately,

26:46

their hopes were crushed when they

26:49

discovered that Ali's phone lost service

26:51

around the time she exited her

26:53

neighborhood. Lost service as

26:55

in got turned off or? Well,

26:58

there's no way to know that

27:00

for sure. They said that it

27:02

either lost service, ran out of

27:04

battery or had been deliberately powered

27:07

down making it untraceable. Okay. And

27:10

the fact that it like would

27:12

have just like lost service feels

27:14

weird unless it was like a

27:16

known dead zone or something, which

27:19

it doesn't seem like it is. So that

27:21

makes me think it was like powered down

27:23

or something like that. Right.

27:25

Which is like kind of scary because we

27:27

I mean, we already know she went missing

27:29

in that half mile. But if it was

27:32

like that soon after she left her neighborhood

27:34

that she was whatever happened

27:36

to her, abducted, taken whatever, or even

27:41

like hit by a car like like

27:44

a hit and run or situation or not

27:46

like hit and run. Like, I mean, anything

27:48

literally anything I was gonna say that earlier

27:51

too, like what if she got hurt? Like

27:53

what if she tripped and fell and like

27:55

fell down a hill and was hurt somewhere

27:57

like That's why you can't

27:59

just. Seems you the runway has anything

28:01

like I have had a specially if

28:03

she was walking like even if it

28:05

was on a popular street or something.

28:07

If she likes tripped and fell and

28:09

hurt herself or bumped her head or

28:12

something like that she could be hurt

28:14

to. yeah absolutely I mean any a

28:16

kit literally to the anything. Know.

28:19

So. You. Know they

28:22

cannot. Hit a dead end with

28:24

that aspect of it, but they were able

28:26

to obtain a copy of Alleys phone records

28:28

and see all the calls and text as

28:30

she had sent and received and the days

28:32

leading up to her despair as as well

28:34

as the. Day. Of her disappearance up into

28:37

the point that it. Last

28:39

quote: unquote. Last service for

28:41

her. Unfortunately, Joanne was

28:43

not able to acquire the

28:45

contents of those text messages.

28:48

For. Know, we don't really know. You

28:50

know who she was in communication with. Our

28:52

what was being said exactly Maria.

29:07

So. While Joanne was doing that

29:09

jaw and her father made his

29:11

way to the school, bus companies

29:14

all says to put in a

29:16

formal Were class to inspect the

29:18

video surveillance footage from the bus

29:20

that day. Oh, that Sat Mar.

29:22

I didn't even think about that.

29:24

Yeah, And with that, he was

29:27

able to definitively confirm that Ali

29:29

was on the bus during the

29:31

entire duration of the. Trip to

29:33

and from school. so. They.

29:36

Was confirmed. You know she got off the bus.

29:38

plus I was eyewitnesses a saw her on the

29:40

bus saw her heading in the direction the burger

29:42

barn. so. They had email confirmation

29:44

that she was on the bus and then

29:46

got off the bus to go to the

29:48

Burger Barn. And. Got off at

29:50

bus stop that. She was likely

29:53

to get off at a right right. on

29:56

may third which is just a few

29:58

days after alley disappeared John and Joanne

30:00

went to the Harris County Sheriff's office to

30:03

report all the evidence that they had gathered.

30:06

The police finally agreed

30:08

to open an investigation

30:10

into Allie's disappearance. They

30:14

also agreed to modify their

30:16

records from runaway

30:19

to the more urgent

30:22

endangered runaway. Okay,

30:25

but why are we still assuming she's a

30:27

runaway? Exactly. The

30:30

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

30:32

defines an endangered runaway as a child

30:34

under the age of 18 who

30:37

is missing on his or her

30:39

own accord and

30:41

whose whereabouts are unknown to

30:44

their parent or legal guardian. But

30:47

what evidence do we have that she's run

30:49

away and left on her own accord? Well,

30:53

there is a small detail,

30:56

which we'll get into in a minute,

30:58

that would lead

31:00

them to think that she ran away. And

31:04

I understand why they believe this

31:06

after they did start their

31:08

investigation. But

31:10

basically they went to Allie's home, gathered

31:15

some of her belongings, and those

31:18

belongings were some of her journals.

31:21

And in the journal, Allie had expressed

31:23

thoughts of running away. But

31:25

Joanne explained to police that those

31:28

entries that detailed those thoughts

31:30

were old. Okay.

31:34

And emphasized that she no longer felt

31:36

that way, but police were pretty convinced

31:38

that this was likely still her state

31:40

of mind at the time of her

31:42

disappearance. Because as

31:44

I mentioned earlier in the episode,

31:46

she was having not the best

31:48

time with her father. She was

31:50

frustrated with him. Even though

31:52

he didn't live with her and he was very active in

31:55

her life. I don't know, I just

31:57

feel like all kids kind of have those feelings, especially when

31:59

they're just like. going through a

32:01

difficult time or struggling with a

32:03

difficult situation or

32:05

circumstances. Like you said earlier,

32:08

they want to be grown. Yeah, there's a

32:10

lot of hormones and emotions going on when

32:12

you're a teenager and then going through something

32:15

else can escalate

32:17

all of that. So, I mean,

32:19

that makes a lot of sense and I get why, like

32:22

you said, I understand why. And

32:25

at least now she's endangered runaway.

32:27

So like there's a little more

32:29

urgency, but there's also a

32:32

lot of things that indicate she did not run

32:34

away. Like the fact that none of her belongings

32:36

were with her. Yeah, yeah. So,

32:40

you know, despite that change

32:42

in their police records, Joanne

32:45

was not able to contain her

32:48

frustration. And she felt that that

32:50

was a superficial modification that would

32:52

not significantly impact Ali's case, which,

32:56

I mean, understandable. I think she has

32:58

a valid point. Like you said, there

33:00

is a little bit more urgency because

33:02

they consider her endangered, but

33:04

at the same time,

33:07

they're still saying she ran away. So

33:09

they're not going to put forth as

33:11

much resources as they would, you know,

33:13

say a five-year-old that had

33:15

gone missing. Right. Or

33:18

like if she was classified as like

33:20

abducted or something like that. Over

33:23

the years, Ali's family has

33:26

sought help from a dedicated

33:28

private investigator named Amber Kamik,

33:30

whose theory suggests that Ali

33:33

may have been abducted, concealed,

33:35

and possibly trafficked. Oh

33:37

my God. Then this

33:40

information has been actively shared

33:42

with law enforcement who claim

33:44

they have remained committed to

33:46

pursuing any leads that surface.

33:49

Deputy Investigator Craig Thomas from the

33:52

Harris County Sheriff's Office has emphasized

33:54

their unwavering dedication to search for

33:56

Ali, saying, we're going

33:58

to chase down the clues. to see

34:01

if we can resolve it. If it's not her,

34:03

let's move on to the next one. Let's

34:05

go back through the case and try to

34:07

find something that somebody might have missed. Okay.

34:12

Well, at least they seem to be like dedicated to

34:14

the investigation. Yeah.

34:17

And they've had other private

34:20

investigators work on the case as well, like

34:22

her family. This

34:25

Amber woman, this investigator,

34:27

Amber, private investigator, Amber,

34:30

whatever you want to call them, they go

34:32

by PI, their first name, I think. I

34:34

don't know. Yeah. She's just like

34:36

the most recent one. And I think she

34:38

has done a lot to help Ali's

34:41

case, probably more so than some of

34:43

the other ones earlier in the investigation.

34:45

Yeah. But aside from her theory that

34:48

Ali was likely trafficked, there

34:50

have been a couple of other theories

34:52

that arose that offered an explanation as

34:55

to what happened to Ali. Okay. So

34:57

there was a

35:02

serial killer theory. Oh, where

35:06

according to an eyewitness, Ali

35:08

or someone resembling Ali

35:11

had been seen talking to a man in

35:13

a white truck. So

35:15

that vehicle description matched the vehicle

35:17

of a man named Brandon Laverne,

35:21

who two years after Ali disappeared,

35:23

pled guilty to killing two

35:25

college students, Mickey Schunich

35:28

and Lisa Pate in

35:30

Lafayette, Louisiana. So

35:33

they had this eyewitness account that it was

35:37

possibly Ali talking

35:39

to this quote

35:41

unquote serial killer, which they do believe

35:44

that he has more victims aside from

35:46

these two college students. Okay. But police

35:49

investigated this lead, and they eventually were

35:51

able to clear Laverne of any involvement.

35:53

So that kind of went nowhere. And

35:56

then they were back to square one. All

35:58

right. There was also another

36:01

theory that arose, and this was

36:04

from what I gathered, witnessed

36:06

testimony from friends of

36:09

Allie's, who suggested that

36:11

Allie had met an older man that

36:13

lived in Florida, and

36:15

that she had either willingly or unwillingly

36:18

left with him, but this

36:20

theory has not been substantiated by

36:22

law enforcement. Okay. But-

36:25

And I feel like- There's not- I was

36:27

just gonna say, if that was

36:30

the case, there would be more evident, like

36:32

digital evidence of that, especially knowing how much

36:34

she like texted and used her phone and

36:37

stuff. Like- Right. There

36:39

would be other evidence to like substantiate that.

36:41

Right, and that is the big thing. I

36:43

think that that's why they were not able

36:45

to confirm this theory,

36:47

because well, first of all, Allie's family, they

36:50

did not have a home computer, so

36:52

her only form of communication

36:55

was through text messaging. Right.

36:59

And from what they were able to gather,

37:01

there was nothing of significance that arose to

37:03

lead them to think that she had been

37:05

talking to an older man. Now,

37:08

obviously, when she goes to her friend's houses,

37:10

when she goes to school, like she could

37:13

technically talk to anybody through

37:15

instant messenger or whatever

37:17

social media was around back then, because I know I used to

37:19

do that when I was a kid, like

37:21

go to my friend's house and talk on

37:24

aim- Yeah. For three in the morning. But

37:27

would there be enough time for her

37:31

when she was in those? But she

37:33

would also, I feel like, have evidence

37:36

through her phone. Like I feel like she would

37:39

have had communication with this person outside of just,

37:42

if it was that serious, that she was planning to meet them.

37:44

Yeah, I think you're right. Allie's

37:47

father, John, conveyed that they are

37:49

still Allie's biggest advocates, stating in

37:51

an interview, there's not a day

37:53

that goes by that I don't think about her.

37:56

I'm thinking, have we done everything we can

37:58

do? What are the next steps? steps, what

38:01

can we do next? That

38:04

breaks my heart. I know. It's awful.

38:08

In 2018, Allie's parents advocated to

38:10

have the state set aside the

38:12

anniversary of Allie's disappearance as the

38:14

official date to honor and remember

38:16

her. The observance is

38:19

held on her birthday, February 3rd. In

38:23

January of 2023, Allie's mother made the

38:25

very difficult decision to finally deactivate her

38:31

phone line, a service for which

38:34

she had been paying $60 a month for for the past

38:36

13 years.

38:38

Oh my gosh. I

38:41

know that is just like so heartbreaking. Yeah.

38:45

Joanne felt like it was the last little piece

38:47

of her daughter that she had left. Even

38:51

though she knew full and well that if Allie

38:53

still had her phone, she would have called home

38:55

by now. To

38:57

help cope with her own

38:59

tragedy, Joanne now helps other

39:01

families looking for loved ones

39:03

volunteering for organization like Texas

39:06

Center for the Missing and

39:08

the Texas EquiSearch. Wow.

39:11

That takes so much strength

39:14

to do that. Like, I

39:16

know. I know that it

39:18

probably, like you said, like helps her cope

39:20

and like helps her feel like she's doing

39:22

something when she can't do anything in her

39:25

own daughter's missing case. But like that

39:27

also takes a lot of strength

39:30

because I'm sure one, seeing

39:32

other families be upset and

39:34

suffering that like that

39:36

brings up a lot of trauma. And

39:38

then also seeing families being reunited. That's

39:41

got to be really difficult. I know. Wow.

39:45

Joanne seems like an amazing person. We

39:47

always say like it is so amazing

39:49

when Families

39:51

can take such an awful, horrific

39:54

tragedy and turn it into something

39:56

good because I know like not

39:58

everyone is built that. Every

40:00

why and that's okay. like you're

40:02

allowed you even more in, in

40:04

and process and your own way.

40:06

Like there's no right or wrong.

40:08

But it's always so amazing to

40:10

me to see that because it

40:12

shows number One how truly selfless

40:14

you are as a person and

40:16

how you can set aside your

40:18

own feelings of. You. Know

40:20

tragedy and and trauma and. Be.

40:23

There for a people who you. Know what they're

40:25

going through, You. Gain those shoes

40:27

so as to so amazed they are.

40:30

On I honestly don't know. If

40:33

I could do that and I never want

40:35

to know, I know I never want to

40:37

know either. Never I write, I don't know

40:39

if I have that strength. Yeah, You.

40:42

Never know. I mean. That.

40:44

As trauma brings out some some

40:46

weird things in your brain. So

40:48

yeah, that's true. You never know.

40:51

At the time of her disappearance,

40:53

Alley was sixteen years old. Today

40:56

she will be Thirty Thirty She

40:58

Would Be thirty. Oh My. God.

41:00

The and are still so young.

41:03

So so. Yeong Pies. Oh.

41:06

That's. Is. I don't

41:08

know why about like really? Obviously like

41:10

I knew how to in a in

41:12

by. Yeah, that's a Slayer really hit

41:14

me. He. An. Alley

41:17

as a white female with brown

41:19

hair and blue eyes. like for

41:21

right blue eyes like beautiful beautiful

41:24

eyes. I'm gonna look up a picture of her.

41:26

Yeah. Her hair was died dark

41:28

red at the time of her disappearance. Alleys

41:31

ears and nose or Pearce and

41:33

she was wearing print pete braces

41:35

on her top and lower. Teeth.

41:38

My gosh, she's gorgeous.

41:40

I now said like the like email looking at

41:42

you. Are earlier lawyer I. Slap Bang

41:45

is unlike the only eyeliner and I was

41:47

like I used to address. just like that

41:49

like out a probably been your friends I

41:51

know I've been. Twenty. Ten, I

41:53

was not succeed. But

41:56

I've like, I've seen pictures of you when you were

41:58

in high school and life isn't solely the same. She's

42:00

gorgeous. I know. She had

42:02

a faint chicken pox scar between

42:04

her eyes.

42:10

When she disappeared, she was wearing

42:13

a white t-shirt or spaghetti strap

42:15

top, a gray hooded

42:17

zip up sweatshirt, black and

42:19

white checkered skinny jeans and black

42:21

sneakers. She

42:24

was carrying her cell phone, which was

42:26

a blue LG slide

42:29

phone and

42:31

a multicolored checkered backpack with dark

42:34

colored straps. If

42:36

anyone has information about Ali Lowitzer,

42:38

please call the Harris County Sheriff's

42:40

Office at 713-221-6000 or you can

42:42

call the National Center for Missing

42:44

and Exploited Children at

42:50

1-800-THE-LOST. There

42:53

is a $25,000 reward for any information leading to Ali's return and

42:55

I will list all of

43:03

this in our show notes down below. But

43:09

that is all I have for you guys today. Thank

43:11

you so much for listening. Please

43:13

share Ali's

43:16

information. Let's

43:18

get her case out there and let's

43:21

hopefully bring her home because her parents

43:23

deserve justice.

43:26

They deserve to know what happened to their daughter. Yeah,

43:29

they deserve answers. I

43:32

definitely believe that she

43:34

was taken by somebody. I don't believe that she

43:37

left on her own accord. She

43:41

could still be alive somewhere and

43:43

you just never know. Absolutely.

43:47

So yeah, share her picture and

43:49

the information about her because you

43:51

never know. We've seen tons and tons of

43:54

cold cases being solved and

43:56

even some where people

43:58

have disappeared and been

44:00

found. So you never know. It happens.

44:02

Like don't ever

44:05

second guess whether your loved one can be

44:07

brought home because we've seen cases

44:09

20 years, 40 years. I

44:11

mean, it can

44:14

happen. And it's like, I don't want to, you know,

44:16

obviously we always want to hold on hope and we

44:18

don't want to give people false hope, but I do

44:21

think just a glimmer of hope

44:24

can bring your loved one home. Yeah.

44:26

And you never know like what

44:29

happened and what the outcome

44:31

could be, but whether or not it's

44:34

a good or like not

44:36

so good outcome, her

44:39

family still deserves to know what happened. Yeah, they

44:41

deserve to know. Yeah. That reminds me of, um,

44:43

I'm listening to media pressure, which

44:46

is the, which amazing podcast.

44:49

Yeah, definitely. If you, if you haven't

44:51

listened to it, highly recommend,

44:53

uh, Sarah tourney who her

44:56

sister, Alyssa was missing and she

44:59

has a podcast voices for justice, which

45:01

is another amazing one. But she created

45:03

this podcast called media pressure. And the

45:06

first season is all about Maura Murray

45:08

and Maura sister Julie is the one

45:10

doing it. And it is like amazing,

45:12

amazing. Even if you know Maura Murray's

45:15

case, you don't know. There's so much.

45:17

Yeah, there's so many details that I

45:19

was like, what, what, what? Yeah. Yeah.

45:22

And it's really well done. And Julie is

45:24

an incredible person. So highly recommend listening to

45:26

that podcast. Yeah. But you

45:29

know, just listening to like that

45:31

case and like listening to all the details

45:34

and stuff, um, it, you know,

45:36

you just never know what you might've

45:38

not heard, what you might've missed and,

45:41

you know, and it's similar where it's like,

45:43

they just vanished into thin air and where,

45:46

where did they go? And so

45:48

I'm glad that you shared Ali's case because

45:50

I'd never heard it. And you know, it's

45:52

another one that deserves to get just as

45:55

much attention as any other one. So absolutely.

45:57

But Thank you guys so much for listening. And

46:00

will have a brain a kiss for you

46:02

I as next week and until then. Keep

46:05

a human Fi guys.