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Missing for Christmas

Missing for Christmas

Released Wednesday, 28th December 2022
Good episode? Give it some love!
Missing for Christmas

Missing for Christmas

Missing for Christmas

Missing for Christmas

Wednesday, 28th December 2022
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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0:00

Okay. The kids are already asking

0:02

what's for dinner, but breaking news, empty

0:04

fridge. That's okay. I'll Instacart.

0:07

Add some organic asparagus and some farm

0:09

fresh chicken. Easy. Wait, is the

0:11

oldest vegetarian this week or was it gluten

0:13

free? Gluten free pasta? Cover it

0:15

either way. Card it. And finally, some

0:17

vegetarian gluten free olives for my well

0:19

earned cocktail. When your family shopping

0:21

list has more footnotes than groceries, the

0:24

world is your cart. Visit instacart

0:26

dot com or download the app and get free

0:28

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subject to availability, additional terms apply.

0:41

It was just total straight

0:44

radio silence from Beth, from

0:47

early morning December twenty second on,

0:50

except for one person, Her fiancee,

0:52

who claims that he talked her by phone and

0:54

saw her face to face. Other

0:57

than that, nobody that

0:59

really brought a great amount

1:01

of concern to us. You

1:03

start to become incredibly concerned

1:06

that something horrible has happened.

1:15

It's December twenty second just a

1:17

few days before Christmas in Des Moines,

1:19

Iowa. Ten year old Shonda,

1:21

and her three year old brother Jonathan are

1:24

giddy with excitement about the upcoming holiday.

1:27

Their mother, thirty one year old Beth

1:29

Ann Ricketts, loves to celebrate

1:31

Christmas and always tries to make it

1:33

special for the family. She would never

1:35

miss such an important day. But

1:37

three days later when Christmas finally

1:39

arrives, Bethan has vanished,

1:42

and her children are desperate for her

1:44

to return. I'm

1:53

Steve French, and this is unsolved

1:56

mysteries. Missing for

1:58

Christmas.

2:08

December twenty second nineteen ninety

2:10

seven is a cold and quiet morning

2:12

at the Des Moines Iowa home of Beth Anne Rickett

2:15

and her two children, Shonda and Jonathan.

2:18

Shonda knows her mother was in home because

2:20

she saw her leave earlier, so she's

2:22

surprised when at about ten AM,

2:24

her mother's boyfriend, Bill, comes

2:26

into the

2:26

house. I'm

2:30

making a bowl of frosted flakes. I'm sitting there.

2:32

Eating it and

2:35

all of a sudden the door

2:36

opens, so it's Bill. And

2:39

he's like, hey, I need you and Jonathan to

2:41

get ready. We're going to Gina's house

2:43

because, you know, my mom slipped on the ice and I gotta

2:45

take her to the hospital. And I was

2:47

like, What?

2:50

And he comes over to me and he's like, get

2:52

this stuff ready now.

2:55

And

2:56

I just remember being like, Oh my god.

2:58

I'm really scared. Okay. I

3:01

go and I wake up my brother and

3:03

get him dressed. And Bill is

3:05

frantic. He's up and down the stairs. I've been downstairs. I've

3:07

been downstairs outside backboard back and forth.

3:10

And he's like hurry up. Hurry up.

3:12

I'm just like, I'm hurrying.

3:15

Shonda and Jonathan are terrified as

3:17

they climb into Bill's car. Their mother

3:19

has never allowed them to ride with anyone

3:21

but

3:21

her. And the two children have never

3:23

been alone with Bill. I

3:26

just remember looking at my brother and

3:29

my little brother is just Do you're in the head light

3:31

sitting in the back seat just like, what

3:33

is going on? You could tell he

3:35

was just so scared. He was stiff.

3:37

And I'm

3:38

like, okay. He's scared. Scared. I'm

3:40

scared. This is abnormal. Shonda's

3:46

relieved to find out that Bill is taking

3:48

them to the home of Paul and Gina Christian.

3:50

Gina is Beth's closest friend

3:53

and the family spent a lot of time together.

3:56

Bill called on the

3:59

morning of December twenty second,

4:01

and he was very frantic. And

4:04

loud. Isn't that supposed to come out there

4:06

today to cut your hair? And I'm like, yes, we're

4:08

gonna have our Christmas leader. And

4:10

he's like, I have a family emergency,

4:13

and can you take the kids? I'm

4:15

like, sure, bring the kids out to me. And

4:19

when they got there,

4:21

Lishanda pretty much rammed

4:23

me. She just grabbed me

4:25

and she was scared. And

4:28

I was asking what is going

4:30

on and the show that was

4:33

telling me that she was scared

4:35

something's not right. I

4:37

start balling. I just

4:39

can't stop crying, and I am just

4:41

losing my stuff. And she's just

4:43

like, hey, calm down. It's okay. You're safe

4:45

now. I calmed

4:47

them down, I fed them.

4:50

We just did, you know,

4:52

silly family stuff that we do.

4:56

Beth, who's a hairstylist, is

4:58

supposed to be Gina's house at six thirty

5:00

to cut Gina's hair, but dinner

5:03

time comes and

5:03

goes, and Beth never shows up

5:05

or calls. I

5:09

tried to call anybody and everybody that

5:11

I could think of, hey, have you heard from

5:13

pests? Oh, okay.

5:15

As the evening were on and it got

5:17

dark. And in Iowa,

5:19

it is so cold. So

5:21

then you've got cold dark,

5:24

scary, no word

5:27

which is completely

5:30

unlike Beth. I started

5:32

getting really, really worried, but

5:34

I tried not to let

5:36

the kids know how

5:38

worried I was because I was trying

5:40

to keep them

5:41

calm. Lashonda was already worried

5:43

enough. No

5:45

one knows Beth better than Gina.

5:47

They met in nineteen ninety two when

5:50

they were both living in Midwest

5:51

City, Oklahoma, and the two hit

5:53

it off immediately. She

5:56

was contagious. Always

5:58

bright bright bright bright smile, very

6:01

upbeat, very

6:03

funny, very smart. The

6:07

hugest heart, and she didn't

6:09

even know a stranger. Trust me.

6:11

And everybody loved her. She was one of those people

6:13

that, you know, she walked into a room

6:15

and she led up the room just

6:18

with her smile and her personality. She

6:20

was great. Methian

6:23

was an amazing mom.

6:25

Amazing. Her kids

6:27

were first. She

6:29

loved them unconditionally. They

6:32

were her first thought.

6:38

Beth married young and had Shonda

6:41

right away. That marriage

6:43

didn't work out, but then a few years

6:45

later, She made a long haul trucker

6:47

named Ken Rickett, and it was love

6:49

at first sight. They got married

6:51

and soon Jonathan was born. When

6:53

he was six months old, the family moved

6:55

to Des Moines where a new Firestone Tire

6:57

Plant was hiring workers, and both

6:59

Beth and Ken got jobs there. Beth's

7:01

best friend Gina followed a few months

7:03

later. For a short time, their life

7:05

in Iowa was good. But after a

7:07

few years, Beth and Ken's marriage fell

7:09

apart. Because of Ken's growing

7:11

addiction to drugs. Ken

7:15

had a temper, especially

7:17

when he was doing drugs. And

7:20

that was a problem for him. He

7:23

was trying to get clean. I will

7:25

say that, but it wasn't going well. But

7:28

She was always the optimist that,

7:31

okay, I'm gonna help him. You

7:33

know, she's everybody's cheerleader.

7:38

Even after they separated, Beth and

7:40

Ken still maintained a friendly relationship.

7:43

Ken regularly saw the kids

7:45

and they both continued to work at the Firestone

7:47

plan. And that's where Beth

7:49

meets Bill, who's fifteen years

7:51

her senior. It's a classic case

7:53

of opposites attract, Beth

7:55

is bubbly and vivacious, and

7:57

Bill is serious and reserved. As

7:59

they begin to

8:00

date, Shonda notices a change in

8:02

her mother's behavior. Bill

8:05

shows up in the

8:07

whole, like, demeanor changes

8:09

and, like, the whole atmosphere kinda changed.

8:12

From like this happy, getting mood

8:14

to just very serious and

8:16

stoic. I just

8:18

found it so strange because my

8:20

mom loves to go out dancing. You

8:22

know, she loves going dancing.

8:25

So then now you're going from that

8:27

type of like being able to have that

8:29

freedom and go have fun and laugh and

8:31

dance and be with your friends too. We're

8:33

never leaving the house. You stay

8:35

home the entire time. He brings over

8:37

dinner. You know, don't even go out to eat and

8:39

you just sit here and watch movies at the

8:41

house.

8:43

I had told

8:45

her We've got to figure out what's going on with

8:47

this guy. Something is

8:49

not right. I mean, this isn't right. Why

8:51

is he not taking you out? Why is he not

8:54

introducing you to friends? I

8:56

mean, two years to why haven't you met

8:58

any family? Why haven't you

9:00

met anybody? She

9:02

was just kinda like under his

9:04

spell, you know, And eventually, their

9:07

personalities are gonna kinda clash.

9:11

After two years, Bill asks Beth

9:13

to marry him and they become engaged.

9:15

But by December nineteen ninety

9:17

seven, their relationship has become

9:19

strained and their issues come to

9:21

a head on December twenty first. The

9:23

night before Beth goes missing.

9:27

I just remember my brother and I were kind

9:30

of being annoying like siblings

9:32

do. I I sent to my room

9:34

and I stomped up the

9:36

stairs. And I told her I hated

9:38

her.

9:40

And I stayed in my room for the rest of the

9:43

night. You know, that's the

9:45

last conversation.

9:46

That I ever had with her. I

9:49

didn't mean it. I was just

9:50

a little punk kid, but

9:52

I can't believe I said that, you know.

9:55

The

9:56

next morning, you know, I wake up. And

9:59

I see my mom in the bathroom

10:01

getting ready. And

10:03

I wanted go tell her. I was sorry, you know, I wanted to

10:05

tell her I loved her and I wanted to go

10:07

talk to her and Bill would not let me talk to

10:09

her. He was like, no, you need to

10:11

go back bed, it's way too early for you

10:13

to give. It's five:thirty in the

10:14

morning, you need to go lay

10:16

down. He comes back

10:18

in the room with little alarm clock and he's

10:20

like, you can't get out of bed

10:22

until nine thirty. But

10:24

I was just so upset that he wouldn't even let

10:26

me tell her that I

10:28

was sorry or, like, I'd love her or any of

10:31

that. About

10:35

an hour later, Beth and Bill are in the

10:37

entry way preparing to leave for the

10:39

day when a defiant chonda

10:41

sneaks down the

10:42

stairs. I

10:45

am in the hallway listening

10:47

to their conversation. They're

10:49

about to go eat at Perkins, like

10:51

breakfast place. And I hear them kiss and

10:53

then they walk out and

10:55

they take separate cars.

10:58

So he pulls out of the driveway first,

11:00

and then she pulled out of the driveway. It

11:02

goes to the stop sign, and that's the last

11:04

time I ever saw her my

11:06

whole life.

11:09

It's later that morning that Bill

11:11

returns to Beth's home and takes

11:13

Shonda and Jonathan to Gena's house where

11:15

they wait all day and night for

11:17

Beth to show up. I

11:19

get everybody tucked in and

11:22

calmed down, and

11:25

I called the

11:25

police. And tried to report

11:28

Beth as missing.

11:29

I tried to explain to them she

11:32

would never leave her

11:34

children

11:35

ever. She would have at

11:37

least called me

11:39

and said she was running late

11:41

besides

11:41

out. She had already

11:44

planned all these things.

11:46

That giant, giant Christmas.

11:50

For her? No. No. She would have

11:52

never done that to children ever.

11:55

But the police won't hear

11:57

it because they said

11:59

that, you know, she's a grown doll.

12:01

We have to wait forty eight hours

12:03

before we can even think of

12:06

doing something like that.

12:09

What Gina doesn't know yet is that

12:11

on December twenty second, about eight

12:14

hours after Beth was last seen driving

12:16

away, The Des Moines Fire

12:18

Department responded to a report of a

12:20

House Fire at Beth's

12:21

home. This seemed

12:24

to be contained to the bedroom

12:26

that was Beth Ann's bedroom. Paul

12:29

Parasek is a sergeant with the Des Moines,

12:31

Iowa Police Department. The actual cause

12:33

and the source of the fire was never really to be

12:35

determined. It was undetermined origin.

12:38

When you look at the photographs, it's

12:40

very difficult to tell you can see that what was

12:42

burned burned

12:42

intensely, but it's difficult to

12:45

see from those photographs where it actually

12:47

started. The next morning

12:49

when a local TV station broadcast

12:51

a story about the fire at Beth's

12:53

home, Gina tries once

12:55

again to get law enforcement

12:56

involved. Our duplex

12:58

showed up on the neos, and that's when Gina was like,

13:00

you know what? I'm calling the cops.

13:03

She calls them and hey, their house was just on

13:05

the news burning down. So

13:07

can I go ahead and make a police report? Because

13:09

the mother has not contacted

13:10

us. A missing

13:13

person's case is finally opened,

13:15

and Beth's husband Ken is the first

13:17

person that police want to talk to. They

13:19

know he was at Beth's house the day of her disappearance

13:22

because firefighters discovered an angry

13:24

note he left hanging on her front

13:25

door. He was upset because no one was

13:28

home when he came by to take the kids to

13:30

a friend's birthday party. Once

13:32

we made contact with the

13:34

ex husband, It became pretty obvious to us that he

13:36

was not involved. He seemed very

13:38

genuine in his concern. His

13:40

behaviors didn't indicate to us

13:42

at all that he had any knowledge about

13:44

what it

13:44

happened. By midday on

13:46

Christmas Eve, Beth is still missing,

13:48

and Gina feels that not enough is

13:50

being done to find her. So she

13:52

calls local TV reporters and begs

13:54

them to spread the word about her friend's

13:56

disappearance and the mysterious fire.

14:00

That night, all

14:03

four TV stations in Des Moines,

14:05

Iowa had a

14:07

story on this missing mother

14:11

And after the first, you know,

14:13

the early edition of the news

14:14

hit, I get a call from

14:17

the detective. The detective

14:19

tells Gina that the Des Moines Police

14:21

Department has received an angry call

14:23

from Beth's fiance,

14:24

Bill. He's very upset that

14:27

been reported missing and

14:29

he said she's not missing. She's

14:31

very mad. She's called me.

14:33

She's called me a bunch of names. She cussed me

14:35

out. She doesn't know why we're doing

14:37

this tour. And the

14:39

detective who took that call at that time

14:41

actually canceled out the

14:42

case. And indicated that she was not missing.

14:45

Bill told the detective that Beth just

14:47

wanted to go away and be by

14:49

herself for a while to work some things

14:51

out. And he claimed to be in touch

14:53

with

14:53

her. They closed the case. They said,

14:56

oh, she's fine. I kept

14:58

trying to tell them no. She is

15:00

missing. This is not right and that's why I was so

15:02

frustrated because I did not feel like anybody was

15:04

listening to me. And I knew

15:06

for a fact something was terribly

15:08

wrong.

15:11

Officially one hour until your favorite

15:13

show premieres. Time to get some snacks

15:15

delivered through Instacart. Okay. Hey,

15:18

let's get some popcorn seltzer,

15:20

chocolate covered almonds, and oh,

15:22

wait, did they release the whole

15:24

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15:26

for the two part finale. When your

15:28

day should be ending, but a new season is

15:30

starting, the world is

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15:36

on your first

15:36

order. Offer valid for a limited time.

15:39

Minimum order ten dollars. Additional

15:41

term supply. Gina

15:44

is convinced that Beth has met with

15:47

foul play because she knows

15:49

things about Beth and Bill's relationship that

15:51

no one else

15:51

knows. If she had

15:54

this conversation with me, this long

15:56

conversation about

15:58

how she was scared of Bill.

16:00

One of the people at the

16:02

factory came and told

16:04

her that he was on probation.

16:07

She didn't know this at all. And when

16:09

she confronted him with it, come

16:12

to find out he had

16:14

been on federal probation for

16:16

trying to rob a bank.

16:19

Gina is suspicious that Beth's

16:21

disappearance could be financially motivated

16:23

because Beth had recently come into

16:25

a large amount of money as the result of

16:27

a workplace injury

16:28

settlement. My mom

16:31

got at work and went to the doctor and the

16:33

doctor wrote a note and was like,

16:35

don't lift over ten pounds for right now and

16:37

let it heal and we'll check back on you and

16:39

then we'll let you know. She gives

16:41

the note to her supervisor.

16:43

And the supervisor was like, I don't know what to

16:45

tell you, we're short handed. You have to go here.

16:47

She goes in there. They're doing

16:49

their jobs and all of a sudden a

16:51

chain broke. The

16:53

tire fell off of the

16:55

assembly line and rolled on top of

16:57

her

16:57

body. The

16:59

financial settlement that Beth received gave her

17:01

enough money to upgrade her family's

17:03

lifestyle. She

17:05

was excited to just changed

17:08

our lives. And she was ready to

17:10

be like, okay, we're gonna have a really good life,

17:12

and we're actually gonna be able to do stuff, and we're gonna be

17:14

able to go on vacations. And

17:17

she was like, we're gonna find a place

17:19

to live. We're gonna find a

17:21

house. So she was just so excited

17:23

about being able to do

17:24

that.

17:24

I had never really seen my mom

17:27

like that. So I just

17:29

remember looking at her and being

17:30

like, oh, she's just really,

17:32

really happy person.

17:34

She had talked about trying

17:37

to take that money and

17:39

do a salon again.

17:41

She was so excited

17:44

about moving forward in

17:46

life and giving her kids

17:48

this giant Christmas that she hadn't

17:50

been able to do in years.

17:51

She was

17:53

Christmas shopping left and right,

17:55

buying all this stuff night everywhere she went downstairs

17:57

one day, and she said, you guys are

17:59

gonna love Christmas. You're gonna be

18:01

so happy. You're just gonna it's gonna

18:03

be

18:03

amazing. You're just gonna love Christmas. Bill,

18:08

however, had different plans for how

18:10

Beth should spend her settlement

18:11

money. He tried to get her

18:14

to get, like, a joint bank account

18:16

and he kept pushing and pushing, well,

18:18

if we're gonna be a team, you know, I

18:20

need to be on her new car and

18:23

she didn't feel comfortable with that. And

18:25

that's when he decided he was gonna

18:27

marry her and he loved

18:30

her Against her better

18:32

judgment, Beth agrees to put

18:34

Bill's name on her new car, but then

18:36

Beth discovers that besides her

18:38

fiance's arrest for bankruptcy, Bill

18:40

has another shocking skeleton hidden in his

18:43

closet. She

18:45

finds out he was married.

18:49

He

18:49

had an entire relationship

18:51

with someone else. He was

18:54

living a double life. She

18:56

was seriously, like, heartbroken over that. She was just like,

18:58

you know, I'm done with this. I don't wanna be with this

19:00

person anymore.

19:01

When she disappeared, she was in

19:04

the middle of trying to get rid of

19:06

it. And she told me if

19:08

anything happens to me, you

19:10

need to look at him real

19:12

close. You need to know, I don't trust

19:14

him. I'm scared of him.

19:18

Gina tells police about Beth's rocky

19:20

relationship with Bill.

19:22

Arguing that Beth is not fine despite

19:24

what Bill is saying. She tells them

19:26

about the settlement money that Beth kept in a

19:28

cash box in her bedroom. The

19:30

only room that caught fire the day she disappeared. And

19:33

why has no one seen Beth for days?

19:35

Why hasn't she contacted anyone,

19:38

especially her children? Police

19:40

finally agree that the circumstances

19:42

are suspicious and reopen Beth's

19:44

case as a possible

19:45

homicide, and they focus on

19:48

Bill. As a person of interest.

19:50

Once we ruled

19:51

out the ex husband, you start looking

19:53

at the fiance.

19:56

When you started looking at some of his behaviors that

19:58

really raised the red flag, the calling

20:00

in and saying that she contacted him and

20:02

she was mad about being a missing person.

20:04

She didn't get a hold of us, and

20:07

it just got even worse as

20:09

it went on. Over a

20:11

period of six or seven days,

20:13

And this is after this, she has gone missing.

20:16

He reports to us that he saw

20:18

her. He said that he had physical

20:20

contact with her either were he couldn't remember if it was

20:22

December thirtieth or December 31st,

20:25

and that she was kinda gathering

20:27

her thoughts, trying to figure out what she was going

20:29

to do, And he said that he was not

20:31

surprised to see that Beth was gone for

20:33

days, but he was only surprised that she didn't take

20:35

the kids with her. But he

20:37

offered us no guidance

20:39

suggestion or help and where we could

20:41

go and confirm that she was

20:43

okay. And he could offer up no

20:45

explanation as to why she wouldn't contact

20:47

anyone. And why he was the only person who had seen

20:48

her. Also, another

20:51

red flag. In early January,

20:53

he had taken both

20:56

his car and the car that

20:58

Beth Ann was last seen driving and

21:00

taking them to a car dealership traded both of them

21:02

in and got a new

21:02

car. There's a couple of questions

21:05

that come to your mind right away. Why did you

21:07

trade in both your cars? And

21:09

if Beth is okay and she's moving

21:10

around, how is she getting around? Within

21:14

a few days, Police find Beth's

21:17

car at the dealership that bought it from

21:18

Bill. We impounded it. We

21:21

examined it for evidence. that

21:23

time, the car had been detailed and

21:25

prepped for sale, so it had

21:27

been shampooed and vacuumed and

21:29

polished. There was nothing of

21:32

any significant evidentiary value.

21:34

Police

21:35

have many questions for Bill

21:37

and they invite him down to the station

21:39

for a formal interview. There

21:42

was one point where he said that he

21:44

was gonna come in and he didn't show

21:46

up. There was some follow-up done with

21:48

his probation officer who also indicated

21:50

to us that the fiance had no

21:52

intention of showing up. And then that's

21:54

when we lose contact with him.

21:56

As time went on

21:59

and new cases come in

22:01

and he slips, you know, from

22:03

the limelight here in Des Moines, he

22:05

was able to avoid ever going

22:07

face to face with us. That looks

22:09

like the behavior of someone who's trying

22:11

to hide something. As does a fire in

22:13

a home.

22:16

Despite all the suspicious circumstances,

22:19

there's not enough evidence to file

22:21

charges against

22:22

bill. And there are only theories about

22:24

why he might have wanted to harm path.

22:27

Motive is one thing that is often

22:29

very difficult to identify There's a

22:31

couple different theories here. One was

22:33

that it was about the

22:35

money. Another theory is that Beth had

22:37

become savvy to the fact that there were

22:39

other women in his life That is a potential

22:41

motive also to silence

22:42

her. With Beth still missing,

22:45

reluctantly Gina and Paul turned

22:47

Shonda and Jonathan over to

22:49

Ken Rickett on Christmas day.

22:51

Then because he was unable to care for the

22:53

kids, they were sent to live with other

22:55

members of Ken's

22:55

family, which added more misery

22:58

to an already tragic situation. The

23:00

people that we ended

23:02

up having to be with down here in

23:04

Oklahoma, you know, would make cruel

23:07

remarks, like, your mom's not

23:10

missing. She drove to a lake and stabbed

23:12

herself to get away from you,

23:14

like, you know, just awful awful

23:16

things. And so for the

23:18

longest time, I was

23:19

just, like, and

23:19

saw my fault. I

23:22

drove my mom away and it

23:24

was yeah.

23:26

I thought she was still

23:29

alive for a long time. I

23:31

really thought she

23:33

was just taking a break and

23:36

she'd just drive down the driveway one

23:38

day and come get us and

23:40

I wouldn't even be mad at her. I'd forgive her

23:43

and move on.

23:45

And I would just be happy that she's

23:47

back. And I think I held

23:49

up that hope for about five years

23:51

after her

23:51

disappearance. I think after the

23:54

fifth year, I was just done.

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24:32

Almost twenty five years later,

24:34

Beth's disappearance remains an

24:36

open investigation, and detectives are

24:38

still hopeful they can bring this case

24:40

to a

24:41

close. At

24:43

this point,

24:43

we don't believe that she's alive.

24:45

What we

24:47

wanna do is put

24:49

the effort in to see what we can do to find best

24:52

fighting. I

24:52

was just speaking to our cadaver dog folks

24:55

that helped us out on another case

24:58

and I learned that their dogs can smell bones that are three hundred

25:00

years

25:00

old. So we've got a lot of

25:03

resources that are available to us once

25:05

we figure out where we wanna start

25:06

looking. We also want to go and we want to

25:09

find people who were there then,

25:11

people who knew Beth then, who think

25:13

they maybe have some

25:15

information or they might know something or maybe

25:17

they saw something or maybe they've thought about

25:19

this for years and didn't think it was

25:20

something, we want them to reach out

25:23

to us. For Shonda

25:27

and Jonathan losing their mother during

25:29

what was always the happiest time of the

25:31

year for the family, has had a lifelong

25:34

impact on their Christmas holidays. I

25:39

hated Christmas. I

25:41

hated it so much.

25:42

But I had to get over

25:44

that because I have a

25:47

baby. So I just

25:49

kinda take page out of my mom's book

25:51

and I played Christmas as special as I

25:53

possibly can and, you know,

25:55

my little kid actually loves Christmas.

25:57

He freaking loves

25:59

Christmas. He's

26:02

restored Christmas.

26:04

Yeah. My little

26:04

boy has restored Christmas. Every

26:09

December twenty second, I

26:12

will buy a big white kindle every year,

26:15

and I light it

26:18

every year. Because I'm never gonna

26:20

give up looking for her even

26:22

if it's just to put

26:24

her to rest. I just wanna

26:26

find her so we can get

26:28

some kind of closure because come

26:31

December, it will be twenty five years

26:33

ago that she

26:34

disappeared. And somebody

26:36

knows something. Last

26:41

week at church, they were talking

26:43

about forgiveness.

26:45

And I

26:45

cried the whole sermon.

26:47

No one

26:49

will ever understand. What

26:52

it's like to

26:53

pray over the person that killed your

26:56

peer. You pray over

26:58

their protection so that what day?

27:00

You can sit in a courtroom,

27:02

see justice

27:03

served. So you

27:06

have to pray

27:06

for them to be safe

27:09

so that you can someday sit

27:12

there and hear

27:14

justice for your parent

27:16

that

27:16

was taken from you. Because

27:21

that's what needs to happen. And

27:23

it's

27:23

not fair. When I start

27:25

fair. I did that. But

27:28

it's time to get justice from

27:30

what they've done

27:31

so that

27:32

we could have peace.

27:35

So that we can move on.

27:43

Beth and

27:47

Rickets disappeared

27:50

in Des Moines, Iowa onto December

27:52

twenty second nineteen ninety seven. If you

27:54

have any information about this case,

27:57

please contact the crimestoppers of

27:59

Central Iowa. At

28:01

515223

28:03

fourteen hundred. Leave a tip on

28:05

their website, WWW dot

28:07

crime stoppers of central iowa dot

28:10

com or submit a tip at

28:12

unsolved dot com. Next,

28:15

on unsolved mysteries. Imagination is

28:18

one thing, but you can't

28:20

imagine things moving in the air

28:22

across the room. You can't

28:24

imagine things being broken

28:26

right in front of you. It's one thing

28:29

to say imagination if it's

28:31

just one person, but when

28:33

you have forty, fifty, sixty

28:35

people who all have had

28:37

experiences. It's hard to say

28:39

imagination at that point. Unsold

28:41

mysteries is a production of Cosgrove Miro

28:43

productions and Cadence Thirteen, an

28:45

odyssey company. It is executive produced

28:47

by Terry Dunn Miro and Chris Corcoran.

28:51

Produced by Christine Lennig, Courtney

28:53

Annis, and Bill Schultz. The story

28:55

producer for this episode was Ann Toller,

28:57

and it was edited by Robert Wise.

28:59

From Cadence thirteen, editing, mixing, and mastering

29:01

by Chris Basil and Andy

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