Transcript
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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.
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Listener discretion is advised.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski .
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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
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I'm Ali.
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And I'm Eli.
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Welcome back everyone.
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Just wanted to take a quick minute here at the top.
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At the time of recording, we're quickly approaching Thanksgiving, so we are going to take a break
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next week and take the week of Thanksgiving off.
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We have some family coming into town, so we'll be doing lots.
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So we're going to take next week off, so I hope you enjoy time with your friends and
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family if you're celebrating here in the United States, or even abroad if you're celebrating
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with a good family meal next Thursday.
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I just have to add that that is the first scheduled break Ali has put into place for
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this podcast.
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And we are going on our third year of doing this podcast, so I'm just kind of in shock
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because I didn't know that she was going to say that in opening this episode.
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But with that, let's get into episode 110.
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Let's do it.
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So just as a bit of a content warning at the top, this case does involve mentions of sexual
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assault.
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Today, we are talking about the murders of Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist, which took
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place in 1990 in Missoula, Montana.
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But first, a little bit about Bertha and Nancy.
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Bertha Scott was 85 years old in 1990.
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She was born March 19th, 1904, and was raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
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She had married Charles Scott in 1924, but he passed away in 1963.
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She loved gardening, traveling, flowers, house plants, needlepoint, and painting.
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She moved to Missoula, Montana in 1988 to be closer to her daughter.
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She lived at the Riverside Health Care Center, and she suffered from Alzheimer's.
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Nancy Zelma Lagerquist was 87 years old in 1990.
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She was born in Hamilton, Montana on December 13th, 1902.
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She graduated from high school and she went on to work as an executive secretary.
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Nancy had lived most of her life in Missoula.
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She had never married and had moved into Riverside two years earlier in December of 1988.
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She didn't have any close family.
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She lived in a private room, and she could not walk and needed to be pushed in a wheelchair
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to get around.
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And now, a timeline of events.
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On May 2nd, 1990, Bertha is found dead in her room.
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At first, her death appears to be of natural causes, and it's reported as such.
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There was some discoloration around her neck, but her death certificate is signed by a medical
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doctor attesting to natural causes.
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A Riverside administrator, Neil Ostiles, says, quote, nothing seemed out of place in her
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room at all, end quote.
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Bertha was found still in her bed with her restraints in place.
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It appears that during the early 1990s, they would restrain Alzheimer's patients, and
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this is something that is not recommended to do today.
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However, in the Riverside Center, they did notice that a window was left open in the
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physical therapy room, and this was unusual.
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On July 1st, 1990, it's been almost two months to the day since Bertha was found dead in
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her bed.
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There were five people working the night shift that evening of July 1st.
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Workers at the nursing home were doing routine checks of all of the residents.
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They do them every hour, and at the 3.30 a.m. check, all was normal at the facility.
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There were alarms on all the doors that led to the outside, and all of the alarms were
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functioning, but none of them would go off that night.
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At the 4.30 a.m. check, Nancy was missing from her room.
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Immediately, the staff began to sweep the facility.
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She could not move on her own, so someone must have picked her up to move her.
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The window screen in Nancy's room had been cut.
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At 4.41 a.m., the center calls the police to report Nancy missing.
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Police begin searching the nursing home grounds.
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They also call the fire department to bring a boat to help them search the Clark Fork River
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that flows behind the nursing home.
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Nancy's window faced the river.
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At around 6.30 a.m., police find Nancy's body in the river.
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Her body had gotten caught in some willows about 100 feet downstream.
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She was still in her sleeping clothes, but the diaper that she needed to wear was missing.
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Years later, Detective Bob Reed, who will work the case, says, quote,
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It was fairly gruesome.
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It appeared to be ritualistic.
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It wasn't the usual sort of case.
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It depends on how Freudian you want to get, with the river and all, but certainly there
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were things that were done that weren't necessary to cause her death.
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End quote.
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Nancy's death was horrific.
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She had been sexually assaulted with an object, and during the course of the assault, the
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object pierced both her abdomen and chest.
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Police begin processing the scene.
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They're unable to find the murder weapon that was used in Nancy's assault.
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Also missing is her diaper.
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Police try to locate it, but are unable to find it.
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They think it was tossed in the river.
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They ask the public that if they find a discarded adult diaper to please call them.
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Please take the sheets from her room as evidence as well.
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Police begin to question the workers and residents of the nursing home.
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Other residents had talked about seeing a man lurking around the nursing home at night,
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but the staff had never seen him, and they weren't sure if he actually existed.
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Detective Bob Reed says, quote,
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The problem is the staff was dealing with folks who, because of their conditions, might
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not be the most reliable witnesses.
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End quote.
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However, one of the staff members did see a man in the parking lot around 4 a.m., just
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a half hour before they realized that Nancy was missing.
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On July 3rd, it's been two days since Nancy's murder.
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Police do not have any strong suspects in Nancy's murder.
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They are interested in talking to a man seen in the parking lot of the Missoula Athletic
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Club, which in 1990 sat right next door to Riverside Care Facility.
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This man was seen around 4 a.m.
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I have a strong suspicion that this is the same man that workers said they saw the night
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of Nancy's murder, but police never officially say that there are two people.
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So there's either two people, a man was seen in their parking lot and then in the parking
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lot next door, or this was the same guy, the same instance.
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When they mention this man in the future, it's always that he was seen in the parking
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lot next door, not at Riverside's parking lot.
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The man was white, 30 to 40 years old and weighed about 180 to 200 pounds.
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He has a light brown hair, collar length hair that was cut above the ears.
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He also had a mustache and brown rimmed glasses.
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He was wearing a white and brown striped t-shirt.
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It was not tucked in, but the tail of the shirt was longer than the front of the shirt.
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He wore tan button fly shorts and white top type tennis shoes and white socks.
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Police stress that they just want to talk to this man and see if he saw or heard anything.
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The center's administrator, Neil Ostile says, quote, I think everybody thinks that this
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was an isolated thing.
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It's just bizarre.
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It's something so unexpected that I don't know how to interpret what happened.
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It's one of those things that happened that you never planned for.
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There's nothing that anybody could have done.
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We take every precaution that any nursing home in the United States would have.
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End quote.
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The next day, July 4th, police say that they have no suspects at this time, but they are
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looking into a few people.
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Police believe that Nancy was abducted between 3.30 and 4.30 a.m. and then murdered.
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Police are still looking for the man that was seen near the nursing home.
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Quote, we're not saying he did it.
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We just want him to tell us what he knows.
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End quote.
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Police say that they are beginning to run forensic tests on evidence that they do have,
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but they stress that the evidence is not earthshaking and that they still need more information
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to solve this case.
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On Friday, July 6th, it's been five days since Nancy's murder, and all of the leads
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that police have pursued over the last few days resulted in nothing.
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All the leads fizzled out.
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Nancy's body is ultimately cremated.
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According to her close friend, she didn't want any service.
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Instead, they do hold a prayer service in her honor.
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About a week later, on July 13th, police say that they do have several people of interest
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in Nancy's death, but not enough evidence to bring charges to any one of them.
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Captain Pete Lawrenson says, quote, it's still very much a mystery.
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We're looking at several different people from different angles.
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End quote.
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They do suspect at least one employee, but he's ultimately eliminated.
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By August, police are desperate for a break in the case.
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They had previously asked nursing home staff if there were any other unusual deaths.
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That's when a nurse mentions that Bertha Scott had discoloration around her neck and
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they found a window open that should have been closed the day they found her dead.
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On August 16th, six weeks after Nancy's murder, Bertha's body is exhumed and taken to a state
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crime lab in Missoula for an autopsy to determine if her death was violent in nature.
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However, police are initially doubtful that Bertha's death is related.
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Quote, what we are trying to do is establish that there was no foul play in the death of
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Bertha Scott.
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End quote.
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However, if they do determine that foul play is involved, the two deaths will be linked
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together.
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Bertha's body is taken straight to the crime lab for an autopsy.
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The autopsy shows that Bertha's death had been a murder and they reclassify her death
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as a homicide.
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She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
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The bruising under her neck showed signs of soft strangulation, meaning that there were
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no ligature marks.
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But police stopped short of saying exactly how they believe she was strangled.
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Captain Pete Lawrenson says, quote, we think we know how it happened, but that's something
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only we know and he knows.
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End quote.
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Police are able to recover DNA from Bertha's body.
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They have it sent off for forensic testing.
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With the second murder confirmed, staff at the nursing home are on edge.
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Administrator Neil Ostiles says, quote, we are all just flabbergasted.
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I think we are feeling just like everybody else.
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What the hell is going on?
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End quote.
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On Monday, August 20th, staff at Riverside called police in a panic.
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They found a window that looked tampered with.
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The week before, they had found a window with the screen removed.
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Captain Pete Lawrenson says, quote, everybody out there has access to the windows, so we
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don't know if someone there might have left one open or something.
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They're understandably concerned about anything that seems out of place there.
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End quote.
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On August 21st, 1990, a $5,000 reward is offered for any information leading to the arrest
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of Bertha and Nancy's murderer.
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On April 30th, 1991, so it's been almost a year since Bertha was murdered, and about
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nine months since Nancy was murdered.
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Police have waited for months for the DNA test and comparison to the blood of suspects
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to come back.
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But nothing comes back conclusive.
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The only DNA profile that they are able to pull from the evidence was Bertha's.
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They were not able to isolate the killer's DNA.
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DNA testing was just not as sophisticated at this time.
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Police are baffled by this case and are begging anyone with information to come forward.
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Detective Bob Reed says, quote, I think it's clear from looking at the entire situation
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here.
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We are dealing with someone who used a great deal of caution.
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That a human being was removed from a building full of people indicates the level of care
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that was taken.
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There's usually something in the life history of the victim that will lead you in a fairly
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obvious direction.
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In this case, there wasn't.
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That was a bad sign.
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However, police are still determined to solve this case.
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Again, Detective Bob Reed says, quote, we had some initial suspicions, and some were
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significantly firmer than others.
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Some days I felt like I knew who did it.
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Most days I didn't.
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It's not like TV where the detectives knows who did it and they just have to prove it.
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In spite of how difficult it's been, I don't think that difficulty has softened anyone's
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resolve to stick with the case and work it as hard as we can.
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I don't have any practice giving up on a case, so I won't.
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End quote.
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However, that is the last real update that we have on Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist's
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murder.
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So if you know anything about the murder of Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist in 1990,
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please call the Missoula County Sheriff's Office at 406-258-3302.
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So that is the cold case of Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist.
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At the top, I think mostly what I want to say first or just talk about is I am at least
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happy to know that both Bertha and Nancy lived long fulfilled lives before the ending of
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their lives.
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The kind of unimaginable endings.
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I also think it's worth mentioning at the top.
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This one I think will be difficult for me to talk about, as I'm sure it was difficult
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for a lot of you to listen to.
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This is truly one of the most horrifying cases I've ever listened to or engaged in with true
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crime.
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I'm just so glad to know these women's names.
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I do have things to say, but just speaking on the cases as a whole, I'm at a loss for
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words.
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Yeah, these cases were really difficult for me to research.
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Usually I'm somebody who can kind of put the emotion aside and just dig into the facts
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and try to get the timeline, just stay really clinical with it all.
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This one really got to me.
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I had to take some breaks while researching and just kind of let my mind be somewhere
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else because it's horrific what happened to these women.
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It's really unfair that they were able to live such beautiful and wonderful lives and
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then it comes to this violent sudden stop.
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That's really unfair and horrifying.
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Something that I think is not necessarily interesting but worth mentioning is the difference
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between the two and that one was almost undiscovered to be a murder.
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That birth as death was initially ruled of natural causes.
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That there was such subtle unnoticeable disturbances that, and this was the 90s, granted that was
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a while ago now, but still recent-ish, that there had been leaps and bounds in forensics
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and detective work.
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Birth as death initially going unnoticed and being written as natural causes, signed off
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by a medical doctor that it was natural causes, is scary because here we have two deaths.
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That's a pattern and so it makes you really start to wonder, has this happened in other
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places in other nursing homes and it was just chalked up to old age or whatever ailments
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may be?
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Especially with Nancy's murder, it was much more obvious that she had come to a very violent
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end but the subtlety of birth as is quite scary to think about when you think about
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it on a larger scale.
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One of the first things that I wrote down, and this is dealing with Nancy's case, something
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that struck me as odd was that the screen was taken out.
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Nancy's window had been cut.
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The nursing home had called because they found windows with screen popped out after the murders
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but Nancy's window had been cut.
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That detail was particularly horrifying to me because I had the realization that it could
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have been popped out from the inside or cut out from the inside which puts the perpetrator
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of the crime within the building and you go into detail and cover that there was a possibility
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that it could have happened from the inside and that my thought process was tracking with
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that but that also adds another horrifying layer of how calculated this crime was and
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that possibly the perpetrator knew these people or knew of them.
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My question for you was do you think someone was able to get in and hid and waited?
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I do think that it is possible that somebody could have came in and just kind of observed
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but I also think that's something that they could have done from the outside as well to
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kind of see when are they doing the rounds, kind of get the schedule, the lay of the land
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and then make a move.
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Assuming that and police do assume that both of these murders were perpetrated by the same
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person it does seem like they were stalking the nursing home and figuring out which rooms
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they could get into, which windows were unlocked, you know the nighttime routine of the hourly
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bed check so it does seem like there was some stalking for sure.
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You know in another detail I'm remembering now is that other residents at the nursing
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home said they saw a man like lurking around so I think that could be the killer but the
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staff there you know just kind of wrote it off because you know these are people who
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might have dementia or you know might be talking about things that aren't necessarily in the
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room with them so they weren't sure they could believe them but the residents kept saying
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you know there's a man so yeah I think there was definitely watching, stalking, understanding
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what was happening here.
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I'm obviously as I'm sure with you and our listeners now very interested in the parking
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lot man.
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Like who was that?
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Were there exterior cameras?
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Was there a license plate?
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I mean there is such a vivid description of him but never figure out who that person is.
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Yeah as far as I know nobody saw him you know get in or out of a car or you know make or
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model or anything like that.
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You know they mentioned they saw a man in the nursing home parking lot and then over
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the course of the next few days a man is seen in the parking lot next door of the Missoula
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Athletic Club which was just right next door to the nursing home.
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I do think that they're the same person you know it just kind of got clarified in the
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reporting but it is a very detailed description and yet you know there's no suspect sketch
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that I could find or that was ever circulated.
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It's not mentioned in any of the reporting and it really is kind of you know that could
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be anybody.
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It describes a lot of people.
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It's frustrating to have a really clear description of somebody but not no face, no identifying
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features, no make, model of car, nothing else to tie to them to even narrow it down a little.
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I think something that we can say is a certainty in this case in these cases is that it was
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planned.
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You know law enforcement even said like the person who did this was cautious and calculated.
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It's just so ugly.
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It's just so ugly.
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It's unimaginable.
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My brain actively tries to force out how someone could plan to do this because I simply don't
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want to think about it.
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Police definitely think this was planned and I think that goes into you know how they were
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able to slip in and slip out without anybody seeing them is how planned it was.
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But police do seem to think that the victims themselves were more random.
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Like it doesn't seem like these women were targeted for specific reasons but more they
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were targeted because maybe that was the room where the man had the easiest access.
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Something I'm grateful for even though I think it's very sad when this has to happen, I am
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glad that Bertha's body was exhumed and that they just that they had the thoughts at the
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time to take a second look because even though they mostly pulled her DNA profile there was
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other DNA there whether it's something that popped up in a system which it seems like
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it didn't there's still the possibility of evidence being there and a suspect profile
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coming from that in the future.
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I'm very glad that they did that and found out the details of what actually happened
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to her.
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Everything that they did was course corrected in those actions and I'm just so happy that
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they have all of that information and evidence now even though it is not playing out and
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revealing anything to us in the moment I am hopeful that it will reveal something in the
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future.
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Yeah, in 1990 DNA evidence was really in its infancy.
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When I was reading reports on this they really go in and explain what DNA is and how it could
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be used to pinpoint somebody.
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It was very much just kind of entering investigations.
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They were able to pull DNA off of Bertha's body and when they ran their initial DNA testing
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they were only able to isolate her DNA.
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Unfortunately from my understanding of DNA testing once you test like a swab for instance
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it's destroyed after the testing they can't go back and retest that same swab.
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So what I hope is in this case is that they still have some things that need to be tested
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with more sensitive and sophisticated equipment.
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We know they have Nancy's sheets and contact DNA is that wasn't even a thing in 1990 and
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today it's something that we have.
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So all those I really think that there's opportunity to retest some of the evidence in this case
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and possibly pull a DNA profile of the suspect.
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One thing I want to mention to our listeners, you know I searched really hard to try to
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find pictures of Bertha and Nancy you know going back through the newspaper archives,
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the obituaries, Google searches, internet searches all of that and I just couldn't find
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a printed or published photo of either woman.
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So unfortunately we don't have pictures of these women to show you but we will have a
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picture like kind of an aerial view of Riverside Care Facility.
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So you can kind of see the layout and the river that runs right behind it.
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We'll also have some pictures that were in newspapers of just the investigation happening
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there so that will be on our Instagram at Cold and Missing you can find us there and
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if you're not following us please follow us there.
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We've had a lot of new followers recently so thanks for joining us over there but like
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I've mentioned before and I'll say it again if we ever have any updates you know if we
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have to postpone an episode because something unexpected pops up it'll all be there.
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Also thank you to everyone who has taken time to rate and review our podcast it's so helpful
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in getting other people to find the podcast, listen to the podcast so thank you for advocating
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for all of the stories that we cover here because sharing, rating, reviewing that all
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helps these stories get out there.
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And if you are looking for other episodes maybe you're new here and you're sad we're
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going to be taking the next week off and you're looking for some more episodes you can go
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to coldandmissing.com and it has all of our back catalog on there as well as transcripts
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so if you or someone you love is hard of hearing you can follow along there.
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And again if you know anything about the murder of Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist in 1990
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just call the Missoula County Sheriff's Office at 406-258-3302.
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But that is all I have for you this week thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing
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we'll be off next week.
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I'm your host Allie and I'm your co-host Eli.
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Have a good couple of weeks and stay safe y'all.
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Stay safe y'all.
