Final Reflections and Future Investigations

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It'll be like a solid ninety five the day this episode comes out. But yeah, by the time this comes out, it'll be the actual season that you're hoping. Y, I think. I like I biked to the studio today It's a gorgeous episode. So beautiful. Okay, just making sure you're okay Which under the five rings? He Hello Patrick H Heines, but check back in August when I'm fucking over. I know. It's like me you know We had Daisy's birthday party this weekend and all the parents were like, sorry we haven't seen you in two months. We haven't been able to get off the couch. And I don't want to hear a single one of you like team you who don't even come to me about how hot it is in the summer. I would for that. know I know I know. I know I'm the king of like it's one hundred ten and humid and I'm so happy Well, enjoy it. I wanted to congratulate you on something. What? Congratulations to you. I was heav sobbing at my computer at seven thirty this morning watching this. No problem this is So welcome to the bonus episodes. This is the series Naming the deead. It is, I think probably my favorite series that we cover. It started to play the next episode when this one ended. I'm like, no, I can't I've got other work to do. We're doing the next episode. Are we Eventually. Okay It is so I love the series so much. This is season one, episode three, The Body in the Sand. It's on Hulu. I don't know if there's more of this series coming. I is excellent. It's all about these amazing women, they're all women so far, at least, who are finding like dead bodies and giving them their names back through genetic genealogy. The DNA Dpe projects specifically is working on these cases. It's incredible. Their website is amazing. like they have updates on the case. Yeah The show is I cry every time we cover it. Ie too, but this one especially got me. I was like head down See that come in and check on me. I know. L, what's happening? It's crazy this is where Jane Doe was located Very, very desolate You could clandestinely get in here, drop a body off, and then leave. Nobody would ever know Someone walking their dog came across human remains. The body was found in the Arizona desert, near Apache Junction, thirty miles east of Phoenix There are still questions as to how she ended up away from her home. This was a young girl She had her whole life ahead of her. I just want her family to know that She hasn't been forgotten So we're in a place called Apache Junction, Arizona. It's thirty miles east of Phoenix. We learned that a Jane Doe was found in this area. They're saying that she was about sixteen to seventeen when she was found And then in two thousand eight, the Jane Doe had been sitting there for seventeen years. Enter Stephanie Bourgeaot. She's a crime scene technician. She's the one who's like, I am determined to find the identity of this girl. Great job with the pronunciation of the last name. I was like, but Stephanie, how do we say this? Bjaot, Did't she say it herself? Did she? She must have. I was too busy because I watch it on half my screen and then notes are on the other half All the notes are all like the type is very small. So I'm like leaned all the way. so I probably missed her saying it. Well, she's awesome. She is. She is showing us. this episode starts, We dive right in. She's showing us everything that Jane Doe had on her when she was found in nineteen ninety two. This is a bus token Valid for one student fair is what it says on the back This other item is a gold nugget ring. It's just a gold band There has to be family out there that wants to know where their daughter, their sister is So Stephanie's like, okay, this is a young girl. I want to identify who she is, but also contacts her family who must be devastated Yeah. notot knowing what happened to her. Literally like, there's got toa be a family out there wondering where this little girl is. So Stephanie ex Zooms Jane Doe's body. Yes, whichich is as we know, very hard to do. Yeah. So she gets Stephanie gets the DNA so she can start her research and there's nothing. They do a facial reconstruction and when we finally, like obviously this always ends with us finding out who the victim is, the facial reconstruction and the picture of the victim are like identical. It's really amazing. It One of the best I've ever seen in because sometimes you're like, that doesn't look anything like the person But this one, they nailed it. And so we learned that Jane Doe is between sixteen and eighteen years old between five, eleven and five one and she has brown hair. and that's kind of all we know right now. Yeah, and they plaster the face on billboards all over the Phoenix area and they get no luck with that either Eventually she was reburied now it's just unidentified That's when I saw the magazine article with the DNA D project doing genetic testing I just felt We need to try and do this. But her gravezone says unidentified, which is just like we can't let that stand. It's funny. I said I was gonna I almost said this to you before we started, I'm like, I'm gonna save this until we start. I know that like over the last couple years, you've been thinking like, what can you do? Like what how I want to work for them. I really saw you I could see you with your hair in a messy top knot tootally at the computer because all of these women get up at four in the morning because they have to check and see if any more matches have been put in the database, because that's how they like solve these things And I was like, I could one hundred percent see you doing this. I think I'd be really good at it. No question. I think about it every time we cover this. I think about it randomly, it'll pop in and be like, I should I want I don't know where to start, but maybe I'll just email them. Well I want to do this. Genetic genealogy is like doing a puzzle. F people that we've talked to who have done it and just seen in these documentaries, it can be incredibly frustrating because somebody says at one point, you can spend a hundred hours on one of these cases and get nothing. Yeah. In terms of like you can like trace a family line all the way back, but like it doesn't result in any answers for your case But like there's a part of that. you're talking about it on life, but it isn't that great? We can like hyper fooccus on one thing until Yes. But here's my question to you, solving these cases requires like everybody to submit their DNA to these to these online databases. So Jennifer Randolph, who is in all of these episodes, she's the director of cases.. She has said because a lot of these cases are people of color and a lot of people of color are like, I'm not doing this. and for totally understandable reasons But she has also said like that's not what we do for the DNA Dough project. Yeah. becausecause they've definitely put calls out and we'll cover this in the next episode of this series that we do. like asking people of color, specifically black people, like we want to help you find your people, especially with slavery. like there a lot like we need a lot of help there. Yeah. So she has explained why it's This is a safe place for people to submit their DNA. the DNA Dpe project specifically. But I hear the hesitation and the fear like I get it Girl, Batch is a new sponsor. So Fem, Batch is a Wisconsin based hemp and wellness brand founded by chemical engineers, people who actually understand formulations, not just marketing. 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We the recreational bummies And so Stephanie, our technician here, she learns about the DNA Dough project in like a magazine article. Yeah. like, oh, oh o this is who I need to contact. Well because I'm shocked that cases like this aren't like profiled all the time. because not only like do they often have an ending with like an ending Yeah, but like it's doing the good work. It's like they're interesting stories, like the stories of these cases being like I wasm surprised they're not on magazines every week. I can't believe this isn't one of those series that has twelve seasons and episodes. I know season. I know. Why is there only? I mean, we're doing every last episode of this, Do you know what the answer to that might be? It might just be that there aren't a lot of solved cases. Becauseuse like when we see how the lengths to which these women have to go to solve these and like the participation from the public that is required, there just might they might not get a lot of solves. But you know what though the stories on the episodes and we'll talk about it and help. That's a great idea.s Yeah Like yeah, who cares like at least like let's get it. let's get several steps into the process and like leave it to the public and leave it to the podcaster. or do it. We will save the day. try. But Jennifer, who is in all of these episodes, she's the director of cases for the DNA Do proroject, she says at the DNA Dope proroject, we believe that every person deserves to be laid to rest with their name and have the dignity of their identity We are the last resort for the toughest cases we'll do everything we can to help them We are the last resort for the toughest cases and we will do everything we can to help them. And these people are mostly volunteers volunteers. Yeah. So she tells us about the DNA results in this case. So our Jane Doe is Hispanic on her mother's side and German and African American on her father's side. And she says that is an unusual and challenging mix to work with. Yeah An African American named Patrick Smith. Yes. Patrick shares enough it's so weird to do an episode with your own name and. It's bizarre. Yeah. But this guy Patrick shares enough DNA with the Jane Doe that he could be her uncle. Right. Meaning that this guy Patrick's sibling would be this Jane Doe's parents. Right. So let's go to North Carolina because Patrick is here with us. Yeah, and he's outside Now, I don't know about this. He says he's outside doing yard work. like an unmarked police car is just like sparked in front of his house R to a black man in North Carolina. Yeah. and like says to the guy arere you Patrick Smith? I have a lady in Arizona who's been looking for you. That could go a million directions. And I'm sure Patrick was like, I'morry. What? Yeah. What does she want? So but it's Stephanie our crime scene technician. And Patrick calls Stephanie and Stephanie's like, Hey How are you? I have a really important question for you. Do you have a brother Now this makes Patrick super emotional. I was adopted I had no idea My birth family So this was a shock a niece who's deceased And I've got a brother. that I never knew. And he had no idea he had a brother. And now Stephanie is calling him and telling him that he does. And not only do you have a brother, but you have a niece who's dead. Right. All of this is a shock to P. And we don't have any answers and can you help us? Yeah. The twists and turns in this story are so fascinating. And it makes Stephanie emotional too, because this is a lead and she goes, it's just it's just been such a long time. Yeah, yeah. And like Stephanie is literally sobbing as she's saying this And like, you know, they're gonna to tell us, we meet Karen. She brings us all down to earth real quick. Right's like everyone can like be in their feelings, however. Yeah. She says adoptions are the worst nightmare of a genetic genealogist. Right A genealogist, by the way, is an incredibly hard word to spell Very annoying. It doesn't make any sense. It's a No I in the first part of that word. Make it makeakes sense. Yeah, it's the word G in Gi. and then we go straight to A. I know. I was like, well I kept getting the red line that I was spelling it wrong. And I was like, this can't onnce again, I had to like zoom in and I'd like lean into my computer to like the lower third of this person and find the word. It's a hard word. Yeah It's just It's a great thing. Yes, hard work Tough to spell, you know, I'm gonna to spelling in the first place. No, you're not spe you know Yeah,'re being honest here, dont. Well, absolutely true. spepelling is for the birds. You know what I mean know what I mean spell check. I know. And I get the red line in my nose all the time and I'm like, it's close enough. I'll know's for you. Exactly. I'm like I can sound that out. So Karen's here, but also Harmony is here. She's another volunteer I immediately volunteered as soon as I heard about this case because I was, you know a troubled teen and I put myself in situations sometimes that weren't very safe I made it throughrough that but not everyone does She made it through and not everyone does. There's a sixteen year old girl with a bus pass and Harmy is just wondering, like what could have happened to her? And then Karen, the other genealogist is saying she has a teenage daughter. And she's like My kid is just getting to that age now where everything every one of these in my heart and brain relates to her. And Karen's just saying like I can't imagine her like going missing and like not knowing what happened to her. I just love them so much because they're like, we're fighting for these girls. Harmony's red lip looks amazing. It's so hard to pull off. We're gonna see later, she's wearing a t top. She is covered in tattoos. They're like so fucking cool And they give a shit and you know that really ca such a long way. Harmony later is gonna to tell us that she was up at four AM looking at the at the matches coming in. I'm Dayss going by on a sip of water sipped. I know. love it Take care of yourselfves, but keep doing the good work. I know, but like I know. Who needs water? I wonder he're this close. See, this is the thing. we're gonna lose you completely if you start this work. It's true. Chillian and you gott come. We gotta record an episode. I'm still emailing them, though. I. So Patrick, the Uncle is their best bet Everyone else connected to Jane Doe in the database shares less than one percent of their DNA with her. So the goal, as we know, is to build this massive family tree connecting all these people together. It looks so overwhelming to me. It's like trying to connect the dots. And this is where they tell us like wor tedious doesn't even begin to cover it. No. And it can be so frustrating because it's hundreds of hours. and when you don't get anywhere, you're like, well, where do I go from here? It's just It's like roadblock after roadblock after. Because you have to work your way all the way back through the generations to then work your way up You know what I mean? And sometimes you just got to wait Yeah. sometometimes the information isn't there you just have to wait until someone uploads their DNA. that's enough of a match for the case you're working on, which is why this takes years. And the thing about the genetic genealogy, it's not just doing the computer work. Like offtentimes you get names and now you've got to go to the public records office. R like c C you get a name, and you're like, Grabe, I got this person, but I need to find that person's spouse. Now I have to go find marriage records from the eighteen hundreds. Right, Which is why like and we'll talk about it in the next episode when someone is brought over on a slave ship. and they're not like identified by their name, it makes it next to impossible. Yes. But we get a new match. Anything above one percent be significant one point four percent, Anastasia will still be a distant cousin But she offers a brand new lead. A search of her name in public records shows she has Hispanic heritage And I'm like, we got one point four. I will take this win and we will run with it. We learn that this person, this person's name is Anastasia. This is the one point four percent match. and she could be like a distant cousin to our Jane Doe. On the mother's side On the mother's side whichich is why it's such a big deal because we have Patrick from the father' side So now like we're expanding our family tree, which is again, a major win after hundreds of hours. Yes So Anastasia lives in Tucson, Arizona, which is just a few hours from where Jane Doe was found. This is another win, like, hey, they're close, Maybe there's a lot of family here. Because the thing about it that I was just to go back to the beginning for a second is the likeness of of the facial rendering that they do looks so much like the real victim that it almost tells you that the family can't possibly live in Phoenix. because if they did, somebody would have seen these billboards. Yeah. It's because they might not know she exists might be so far back. If it's a distant cousin, you don't know. I know. I was thinking about this too. like many, many years ago, I was working on a podcast that never came to be about the Brian Schafer case. Yes. who went missing in if you guys don't know this case, it's I'm obsessed with that. he like literally in two thousand six walked into a bar in Columbus and never came out. And so we put up billboards all over Columbus and we reached out to his family to say, like, hey, just let you know we're doing this so that like if you are driving down the highway and you see a billboard of your brother, you don't drive off the road. Then I was thinking like with this Jame Doe's family, like how shocking that would be to be driving down the road and you see like you don't name me of course people in danger. How do you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's surreal and it's like Yeah, yeah, you just lose sight of your sight of time and space and the steering wheel and everything. Positive is a new sponsor. T tellell us everything. Yeah, so OPositive is a women's health company and they have a really big range of symptom targeting supplements that support women at every stage of their life. So we're talking like from your first period to well beyond your last period. They've got the best selling women's health products at Target and Amazon fan, we're talking Euro. 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Many customers talk about how the improvement in vaginal health led to greater confidence as well as better sex and intimacy Take care of your health and head to O positive. com slash tCO or enter TCO at checkout for twenty five percent off your first purchase. That's OPO S IT IV dot com slash TCO for twenty five percent off So Stephanie is like, all right, I got to talk to Anastasia. So she heads over there and she meets with Anastasia and Debbie, which is another cousin in the family. Yes. they't have that much information like so On your side of the family, do you recall anybody having a partner or husband boyfriend that was African American I know that there's some on my mom's side, but I can't remember Exactly. Okay was married to or had kids with They think maybe someone had a child with a black man, but they can't one hundred percent be sure that it even happened, let alone who it was. Yeah. But Anastasia and Debbie are all in because they're gonna to do the thing that we really need, which is they're gonna go to their family and say, y'all gotta spit into this cup and like submit your DNA because we got to figure out. We've got like a dead relative that's been missing and these people are try to help. we gott to figure this out. And they're gonna try to help make the family tree by calling people see who knows who. And they're like really doing the work here. And mayaybe that's another reason why we don't have more episodes. becausecauseuse like how many families, even if they these cases get solved necessarily want cameras on all of it? Yeah. It's like a very sensitive thing. It is. and I think the show really takes care of all those things. Yeah. Yes, for sure. Time and time again, see these either or we don't see the conversations like in this episode later on, or they're handled with like such care as they need to. And the DNA adult project, they know what the hell they're doing. There's just another case I'm obsessed with. this the bag murders from the nineteen seventies in Nework. It was like six gay men separately found in trash bags in the Hudson River. They were like they were mutilated and put in these bags and it just kills me to like I was just thinking as while I was watching this episode, like great, let's get like, let's exume them and get their DNA and like put them in a database. Nobodybody knows where they are Nobody has any files on the case. This was nineteen seventy, New Yorkity. No files on any we don't even know their names. We don't have any of their names. We don't even know where they were buried probably on Heart Island in one of those mass graves or something. We'll never. Somebody said to me the other day, we're never going to know. And they just had to like say it to me. Like we're never gonna to know.'. And like it's the perfect storm of like is the nineteen seventies, they probably fled to Greenwich Village. their families are probably out there thinking that they're out that these men are out living like fabulous gay lives in New York. No, they're all dead They were brutally murdered. We'll never be able to give them theirames back. We'll never be able to tell their families what happened to them And it's heartbreaking because we have the technology now. Yeah. But like we need so much more I know learn in these episodes. I know We do need a lot of things to fall into place. Yeah. So let's go back with Uncle Patrick. He is going through all of his documents, trying to find information that can help. This story is because he tells us, he's looking at his adoption papers, his adoption proed on january sixteenth, nineteen fif six. And this is where we learn that he was born in a place called Darmstadt, Germany. Reord scratch. What? So Patrick learns that he was part of a post war project called they call it in this series the Brown Babies adoption schcheme. Yeah. I know it as the plan or project. I've never heard the word scheme attached to it, so I might be wrong Yeah But what happened is J imagine children scrubbing themselves raW to try and wash off the brown color. That was the reality for thousands of kids born to German women after World War two and then fathered by Back American soldiers to save them from the prejudice they faced in Germany. Seven thousand of these babies were sent to the United States throughout the fifties and sixties be adopted by bllack families In the fifties and sixties, these babies were born to German women who had them with black soiers, bllack American soldiers. and then they were thrown into like extreme racism in Germany. Y. And so to save them from this prejudice in Germany, seven thousand of these babies were sent to the United States to be adopted by black families. If you are blown away by this, I am blown away by this. Okay, look up Mabel Gramar. She's the black journalist who discovered that this was happening and spearheaded and ran this project. So this was a good thing, not a bad thing. This was a good thing. So they were just like instead of having them like they were't being adopted in orphanages because people were so racist and awful. So the birth mothers were giving them up for adoption. Because the mothers were like also dealing with the racism.. So I didn't know if we were dealing with a situation where the kids were being taken from their birth.ook up Mabel Grammar.. She's awesome. She's a black journalist who heard about this and was like, wait, what So she personally made five hundred adoptions happen. Wow. She and her husband, who was an Amy chief, adopted twelve of these babies. Oh my God, That's too many kids, Mabel. You' doing the good work, but I got one I can barely keep up. So she and her husband were like, oh, 'use they're black. And she was like this black journalist who was like no wait a second. And she would be sort of the go between Because a lot of just look her up. There's. I'm glad to hear that this was a positive thing and not like a terrifyingly awful bad thing. To be fair, did I do four hours of rearch on this today? No, But like look're too busy trying to do genetic genealogy all day. But like look at like her obituary was in the New York Times like she is known for because she saw something awful and she was like, how can I help these fucking babies who didn't do anything wrong? Of course. They started dealing with this awful racism for being mixed or being black or whatever So she reallyarhe spearheaded this brrown babies project, which is what they called it. So Uncle Patrick says that like growing up, he had no siblings. he felt very alone, felt very much like an outsider. and he says it was probably the same for my brother. Yeah. He's essentially saying like, it would' have been nice to have a brother. Exactly. And I'm sure his brother is feeling was feeling the same way, is feeling the same way. Yeah. So now we got to find Patrick's brother. Now we gott find Patrick's brother. Here's what we know He was born in Germany. Because just as a reminder, Patrick's brother is the father of ourr Jane Doe. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So he's born in Germany. So we know we're looking for an African American man who was probably born in Darmstadt And we also know that he would have had a child with a Hispanic woman probably in the Phoenix area So we're looking for this very specific couple, and we just have to figure out how to find them Later in life, he did have a child with a Hispanic woman most likely in the Phoenix area. Yeah. And this is when the DNA Do project is like, okay, this is when it gets really exciting because this is a very, very specific couple. And they say, we just have to figure out how to find them. But they know exactly what they're looking for. I'm like connecting the dots a little bit too because I was like, I'll be interesting to get the story as to why Patrick's DNA was in the system. Patrick DA was in the system because he was looking to see if he had any brother like any family because he was adopted. Right. You know. And he didn't know his birth family because it wasn't really about it was about getting these kids, these babies homes and other families. So it wasn't really about his birth family at the time in this project. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like, I mean, I know that this is the whole point of the episode, but it's so wild that he that they were able to find the uncle. I know. And then the uncle was adopted so like doesn't know his brother, who's the dad. Like it's a wild story. And it took years even to get here. Yes.. Yes. ye So we get another match and remember how they were like, Yeahah, anything above one is good. Yes. fifteen point two, everyone. fifteen point two. Doesn't feel like enough, but I'm screaming. But this match is one of the relatives on the mom's side, which again is great because we need this big family tree, so we need both sides. By the way, this is the match that Harmony found at four in the morning. I I just I felt so seen in that moment. Red lit the now. know. like they're both so awesome But this match could be like as close as a first cousin Yes, exactly. whichich means that her aunt is likely the doe's mother Which means this cousin's aunt could be our Jane Doe's mother. We're getting closer. You're losing it, but yes, I' getting clos. This is a good thing. Yeah Like I always get so emotional Butcher Box is back, famam, Butcher Box delivers over one hundred premium protein options straight to your door from grass fed beef to wild caught seafood. And it's all raised in sourced the right way. 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Standard cashouts take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. Expedited transfers available for a fee. Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service. Available in select states T terms and restrictions apply, visit earnin d. com for full details They go to social media to find the information on this person who would be the aunt. Yeah. And so they find her. Her name is Rachel. She married a black man named Benjamin, who guess what? Where was he born? Germany. Yes, exactly, exactly. So like this is going to be Patrick's brother. This is it. Yeah. And Arjane Doo's father. So Karen and Harmony meet up with Stephanie, the crime scene technician who like started this whole For the first time, by the way, they say after twenty thousand Zoom meetings, they finally get to meet in person. Can you stand up? I knowike in a pking lot. It's also emotion. Yeah. And so like the volunteers fill Stephanie in on everything. We're all crying. Yes. And when they put the photos of Patrick and Benjamin side by side. It's as though they're twins. I thought they, I was like, is that the other reveal? They look exactly alike. So there's no question. And also like it fucking breaks my heart that they separated them I don't know why. I mean, I guess if you were just trying to find good homes in this family only wanted one or whatever I like that they were just doing the best them out of this super racist situation to get them to life. What if the B brothers breaks my heart? I know. Stephanie cannot process any of this. Like every time they tell Stephanie anything, she's like, what? Beause you can tell that Sephan's been working on this for fifteen years or something. Lone. Yeah. And now she has this team of people behind her who are like, no, this is what we do Right. You know and like she's been in this by ourself for all these years. Yeah. must be amazing So Benjamin, the brother, he married Rachel and they they've been divorced since at least nineteen eighty five. They have four kids, two boys, two girls. In nineteen eighty five, we have Rachel filing some child support papers, which is how we got the birthdates for each of the kids So Michelle was born in ' seventy four and Melody was born in ' seventy seven.. That's very close because an estimate of Jane Doe's age from sixteen to eighteen So one of these two girls is Ar Jane Doe One of these daughters is our Jane Doe. Yeah. No question. Yeah. and you know, she's estimated again to be between sixteen and eighteen years old when she died. But it's also their birth years are too close. The daughters to know right away which one it is. Really could be. Exactly. And so Jane Doe was discovered in nineteen ninety two. so we're gonna look at public records to see if there are reports about Michelle or Mlody G missing or anything. If one of them sort ofappears from the public records after nineteen ninety two, then we'll know which one it is. And it's also interesting that like they w to get all of the information before reaching out to the family. They could just reach out to the family and ask Yeah, but they w to get all the info first. And they don't know what the family knows. They don't wan to drop this like tragic bomb on them becausecause they would essentially be calling the family to tell them that their missing person is dead. Right. And they don't know like how she went missing, what the dynamic was at home or what? Yeah. And also like Benjamin doesn't know he has a brother. there's like a lot happening. Right. They're gonna gather all the information first so they can handle it with the care that needs to be. And it's amazing that they do it by going to Facebook Because everybody's information is just like right there. Yeah, but they're also looking, they're like going in person to look up records. They're tracking down high school yearbooks. Right, right, right. And that's the amazing thing too is like what I was saying before is a lot of this can't be done online because I think it's Karen who's saying that like she finds the high school because the high school is mentioned in a lot of the family's social media. so she assumes that most of the family went there She's trying to find the earbooks online. They don't have them online. She's gott to go to the school and look at the earbooks. And I was like, Shall I call my high school and make them scan all of the earbooks? justust to assist. So we don't have to have like harmony and Karen flying all over the country. That's true. You know.ust the pages with everyone's everyone's name.. I mean, we gott to do whatever we can. We are like crusaders for genetic genealogy at this point. That's a good idea to digitize. Highch school scan your earbooks, pututem online Everybody wants it. We all I contribute five bucks to that, you know So they are looking at yearbooks from nineteen ninety two and nineteen ninety three. Michelle is in the yearbooks, but Melody It's not yeah And there's also not a record of melody anywhere. There's no address or no like driver's license. All of the other three kids have public records, but melody does not. And she's also not in the divorce or custody papers either. Right. But I was very happy to see that this seems, I mean, the parents are divorced, but the family is intact. Yes. You know, like it seems like there was just like normal divorce parents. One kid lives with one, two kids live with the other And so I was like, we're gonna we're going to find them. Like this this is we're going this is going to work. We're going to do it. Yeah. So we're told our Jane Doe' Mlody. Yes. And they track down her family. Stephanie and another cop are in a cop car with Harmony and Karen. And Harmony and Karen who are like the genetic genealogists are not going on this death notice. Just the cops are going. 'cause it's really layered and the family might not want to speak to them And it's a formal thing. Yeah. I have full faith in Stephanie, but like it's kind of like it would It makes more sense for like one person to go in. Yeah, it's like an official notice of death. You're not gonna show up with cameras. No. So they go to Michelle's house, who Melody's sister, and she's not home, but her daughter answers. and then she calls her mom. and she's like, there's police here and they said they need to talk to you about your sister My sister. Yeah And Michelle's like my sister. I was just thinking about like all of the things that Michelle must have known in that moment. Right. Because and it's a moment of true confusion for her. And we don't see what Stephanie says to the family, which of course, I totally understand. Yeah. But we just cut back and suddenly like everyone's at the house and Harmony is called to the house becauseuse Stepanie's like the family wants to meet you. And' like, what, okay, great. So the conversation went as well as it could have all things considered. Yes. meanwhile, harmony is like parking lot and Karen is at the airport and everyone's still trying to keep Karen in the loop. So off they're going to the family's house. So now Stephanie and Harmony are filling in Karen on the details, which is where we get all the information because the conversation wasn't filmed, which we totally respect. Which is really amazing. L it is important to like just say again that the show really takes care of this family in this moment We sort of see the house as they're walking in from like a very safe distance. Yeah So Jane Doe is Melody Harrison. They say the family started crying about the gold ring because their mom gave it to Melody. They recogn Now, this body was found in like nineteen ninety three. Yeah. It's like whatever, you know, twenty twenty five, like they remember this ring Yeah. And so Melody had a boyfriend. They said that she ran away with her boyfriend and that they never heard from her again And they thought that she was like alive somewhere And we're just hoping that they hear from her, but they never did They thought she was alive. They didn't think that anything happened to her. They just thought like the fight was bad enough and she ran off with this guy and she went no contacts for whatever reason. Yeah. And there's also But like beautiful moment on the phone because Karen isn't here with us Karen goes melody melody. Her name is melody. Like she just wants to say it. and Harmony goes, her name is melody. And I just thought that like It was so telling about these women and how they approached this And probably all of the cases. This person, like they probably dream about this person. And like she was Jane Doe for so long and now that they know her name, they want to say it a million times. It's also like a wild moment too because Karen is like barding, but she's like,'re boarding group one and on group four. Like we've all had that tense moment at the airport of like, I can talk for like thirty more seconds. Yeah She'll miss the flight if she know It's just like her like herer name is Melody. Yeah. So Michelle is going to sit down and tell us about her sister, Melody, who was born in nineteen seventy seven and died in nineteen ninety two. The thing is like they were so close. Like Michelle is just saying like I remember the moments of like sitting in bed with her and just like laughing and like all of these years, Michelle has just like thought that her sister was out there and like not calling her Yeah. They were best friends who like happened to be sisters. Yeah And she says, she just brought Sunshine to dark places She was very outgoing And she loved to sing But she had a very serious eye to her. She wanted to be an attorney She was an excellent student and Everybody loved her Melody loved to sing and she was outgoing, but she also wanted to be a lawyer. Yeah. The day that Melody left home, they Melody and Michelle had a fight about Melody's boyfriend. Yeah. And we don't know anything about him, but something happened and like he was causing some drama in the family like his existence. The family didn't like didn't like this guy. And I don't know how old he was, but sixteen, like Yeah a lot of strife here about this relationship And we get this moment with Michelle where she's like sitting doing her like two camera interview and she's talking about meelody. And she just like stops. and she's like, I'm sorry, I'm like still processing this. Yeah. Like this must have all happened very fast. L Here's information about your missing sister. Would you like to sit down and talk about her? Probably happened like within a day or two. Yeah. And you know, I would think that Michelle probably had to go through her own mourning process. Oh God. My sister's out there and choosing to not speak to me because the fight was so bad. So that that is what she's been living with for God knows how long. And probably we're putting a lot on Michelle here, but probably also thinking like maybe she's too embarrassed to call us now. mayaybe she thinks we don't want to talk to her And maybe you one day Yeah Maybe the cops are saying, like your ster's looking for you, the tragic version. Well, and that's the other thing too. like there was so much in that moment where she goes, my sister sister. Because she knows she's gonna to get an answer. Yeah. Whatever the answer is and she's probably running around in her head five hundred ways. Yeah. She's about to find out Fabletics is back. I'm obsessed with Fabletics. 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So if you're a healthcare provider or you have someone in your life who is, they're running a really good offer right now, new VIPs can get a scrub set for just fifteen bucks. It really is a one stop shop famam. You can get everyday sets, you can get your comfy pieces and even scrubs all in one place, which is pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. So famam, shop now at fabletics dot com slash tCO to get seventy to eighty percent of everything when you sign up as a new VIP. Take a quick style quiz and be sure to select TCO when prompted to unlock this offer. This is a limited time offer famam, so don't wait. Again, that's Fabletics d. com slash TCO for seventy to eighty percent off everything as a new VIP Like they get in this fight about Melody's boyfriend. It got super heated. Melody took a walk and she just never came back. And everyone is out looking for Melody. They are Except for the authorities. Well, of course, because they file a missing personons report. But I don't think much effort was really put in to them, she was just a person of color She's just an angry teen. She just probably ran away But they didn't know who she was. And we're like telling them like she's not one to wander off. And of course, her family' like, no, you don't know her. We do. And so like, you know, Michelle is saying that we cared. we were out there searching day and night, we're searching the woods, we're searching the cities. like we never stopped looking for her. They said for years. Yeah. For years. and they always thought that maybe she was scared to reconnect or that maybe one day she would. I mean, these are the things that you just like wake up thinking about in the middle of the night. L does she hate us or is she afraid that we hate her You know what I mean? Like it sort of seems to me, and I think maybe Michelle even says it at one point. like the idea of Melody being dead never really crossed their minds. Yeah. They never really allowed that as an option. Because it was just a fight and she stormed out or whatever. you know, they were just like, fine, fine. door slamming like she left. If the boyfriend was so awful, it was like, maybe they're still together and he's brainwashed her and made her believe that we're terrible and she's better without us. And you know what That means they never heard from the boyfriend again either. I've got my only issue with this series, which isn't really an issue is like we never really investigate what happened to the person. Well, the case is still open. Yeah now that there's a bunch of eyes on it. apparently. Beuse it's like how long after she ran away was did she die? Yeah, You know? Like we don't know. Was it days? Did the boyfriend skip town too? Right Like we gott to find that boy We should there should be like the sister series, which is like finding out what actually happened in these cases. Yeah. It's so crazy. It crazy. But Michelle, she talks about going to Melody's grave and she says this like heartbreaking and sweet thing. I always had this vision of us drinking coffee together And so I might bring her some coffee. and just sit there and just really chat with her I just figured we'd catch up over coffee and she is sort of like as she's saying it out loud, she's kind of realizing like, well Can I do that now? Yeah in my own way to heal or grieve or whatever. And the answer is yes. Yeah, of course. You can do I mean, my God whatever want. And they're gonna go see her in the place where she's been buried all of these years. And she's bringing her son inw Oh God, I'm gonna sob. She's bring her son in law and her daughter with her. And we see them at the grave and godamn this show playing this beautiful fucking song that I think Michelle brought to play. Yes, she did. and like literally we see again, at a respectful distance. Yes, we see Michelle like lay down on the grave sobbing. And this awesome son in law because like as they're approaching the grave, there's a bird chirps and the son in law says she's singing for you I That was the moment that I like laid down on my computer and was like,, you've sobbing. Yeah. And the song is perfect. the song is autiful Michelle bght the coffee. And Michelle bght the coee. She the whole thing when he's like she's saying to you,id you hear that? And I was like, this is the best show on television. It's so good. And like the son in laws sobbing everyveryone is sobbing. You know, And it's not because not because I'm like reveling in this tragedy, but because like, do you see what can happen? Yeah, because there's beauty in this too. As sad as it is, the family hasn't answered. There's some kind of closure here You know? Yeah like these amazing women who've been working so hard on this also have an answer. And Michelle is here to say not just in this case in the midst of all this grief There really is some good that is coming out of this situation When I told my father about Uncle Pat He was like, I got a brother atrick gets to meet his brother Benjamin. you completely forgot about this other part of the story that like Uncle Patrick and Benjamin are now gonna be reconnected. Wh they didn't know the other one existed. So Michelle's like in the middle of all of this, like the healing and the trauma, like these two men get to learn about each other and meet each other. Yeah and we see Benjamin Dad for the first time and Melody's Dad. Melody's he's not doing well. Michelle tells us he's had several strokes I was I wasn't clear. She says, we don't like to bring melody up a lot because he could get sick at any moment. Did they tell him that they found her or are they telling him that they'd found his brother and he gets to reconnect with his brother? I'm not one hundred percent. I wasn't clear on if Benjamin understood what was going on here if they were intentionally not telling him about melody as to not upset him because Benjamin the dad not in good health has missed his daughter every minute of his life since she left. Yeah And then when he sits down for the documentary, he said, I never had a brother. I would all by myself. And then Patrick says, you know, why did Melody have to die in order for me to meet my family? And it seems like Patrick and Benjamin have had kind of lonely lives. Yeah. I think they felt like they were missing something, but they couldn't get their finger on it and they didn't know what it was. And they were right the whole time.. kn I feel like maybe they didn't know but they knew that something was out there that they couldn't connect with. and now here we are. Right. And then clearly Patrick went searching, which is why he put his DNA in the database in the first place. R. And Patrick goes, hi Benjamin and Benjamin goes, how you do? And and Patrick goes, I'm fine now Show That it goes. I grab. All to Try when I'm alone I you no. No It's a heck of' a feeling Patrick goes, I cry when I'm alone and Benjamin goes, Well, you're not alone now. Patrick goes, I know it's a heck of a feeling. ten thousand seasons of the shot. Why do we have all bullshit? I know K Asashy and Sony another thing Hulu. I know for this. I know. I know. And the thing is like Patrick has come to Benjamin because Benjamin, you know, he's had a lot of strokes and he his mobility isn't great But he stands up. they are identical tw you have to convince me they are not identical tw. I know. They don't say what the age is like how old they are, but they could be if they told me they were twins, I would not be shocked. It's also just amazing to watching these men processing, finding their brothers in real and all of the emotion connected to that because They're both very emotional, but in their own ways, they're both kind of quiet. L it's, you know, they're just standing there staring at each other. And there is the air of what got them here, which is melody. Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of years left now that they found each other. Yeah. you know. And everyone is also so grateful to Stephanie and theado project for because this was a tough case for them and they never gave up and yes. that's not lost on anybody here ending and the family is, you know we're told continuing to heal, they take a photo and someone's like, sayay cheese and Patrick goes. I wantan to say cheese? Limburger. Limburgerese Limberry cheese is good 's like Lburger really good.. Yeah, it's so funny because it's the German cheese. Yeah, I have never had Limburger. either. I've never heard of Limburger but like it was a cute joke that they immediately and it's like, this is going to be a really lovely reunion for them to come together and like have each other finally. Yeah, it like ends with Michelle, who's like still processing everything and she just like drops these like bombs of wisdom. She's like Family is everything. That's all you have at the end of the day. You need to learn to grieve with hope, she said. Like holy shit And so as we're ending, we learn that the police investigation into Melody's death continues, which is great. I didn't find any information on it today, unfortunately. Yeah. Maybe when this comes out in a couple of months, there will be something fingers crossed. I don't know. Yeah. But the family has reburied Melody alongside her relatives, and it ends with this like gorgeous photo of her saying in memory of Melody Harrison in nineteen seventy seven and nineteen ninety two. And this is when you realize like she really does look like that facial reconstruction Side by side, like the facial reconstruction is like a picture of a picture. We've come a long way.. Remember people would do like clay busts and they like anything? Absolutely why. Those were insane. We've really like the stuff that can be done here. I know. Really, evenven if you're not interested in doing it, like you have to acknowledge that it's cool that it exists. Absolutely incredible. Crazy. our season t of right now right now Oh my Godd, girl, we did naming the dead, the body in the sand. How many episodes is this? It's only like six or eight. We're doing all of them. Yeah. But like I don't know. it's the same with like the other great show on Hulu with the terrible name, Web of Dath. Oh, the Robin Roberts one. No, that's murder has two faces. Well also that that only many episodes threeree episodes haven't heard anything about a second season.t know about Web of Death C that was when that Fabruff was off. Yeah Yeah. Ab like people kind of very similar to like just like boots on the ground, like getting shit done. Yeah Hulu. Get it together whou. Not like, thanks for these three great series ten thousand more. ten thousand more seons. Starting tomorrow. You need to go, I'm telling you they would green light season nine if you would go do it now. I would do it. Oh my go. You shouldnt do it. Call her