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.
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I'm Ali.
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And I'm Eli.
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So, I have something just slightly different for y'all this week.
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We are going to be doing a two-parter episode on the same case.
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I know we've kind of done this before, but a little bit of a new format.
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Well, I am very interested.
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I always enjoy when I'm listening to a podcast when there's an opportunity to go in depth
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on cases that usually have very little information about them.
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But sometimes when you do some more digging, you find quite a bit more.
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I'm looking forward to diving in and learning about this case.
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Yeah, and this was definitely one of those cases where there was actually a surprising
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amount of information, but this case has just never really been covered much in the media
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that I could find.
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Do you want to get us started on episode 86, part one?
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Yeah, let's do it.
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So just as a bit of a content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person.
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Today we are talking about the cold case of Regina Mae Armstrong.
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And this takes place in June of 1985 in Orlando, Florida.
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First, a little bit about Regina.
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Regina is six years old in 1985.
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She is living in Orlando, Florida with her parents and older sister.
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At this time in June, Regina had just finished kindergarten.
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She was an outdoorsy young girl.
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She liked spending time outside climbing trees and collecting different types of bugs.
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Even though she loved getting down in the dirt, she also loved getting dressed up and
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having tea parties.
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Her parents joked that she had a sophisticated palate.
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She was a foodie before we had the term.
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She would sit down for three course meals and eat everything and just be happy to be
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there.
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However, she was still excited to go to McDonald's or Long John Silver's whenever the opportunity
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presented itself.
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She was always snuggled up to her parents and her older sister would often complain
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that her sister was hugging and loving on her too much.
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Just an overall really loving girl.
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And now a timeline of events.
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On Tuesday, June 18th, 1985, Regina's parents, Bob and Donna, both worked full time.
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Regina's older sister, Christine, was nine years old in 1985 but already had a host of
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medical issues and spent her time in and out of the hospital as a young girl.
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With both parents working full time, Bob, Regina's dad, took Christine and Regina to
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their babysitter's house on Semarand Boulevard in southeast Orlando.
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The babysitter's apartment was just a few blocks from their house.
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When they got there, Regina hopped out of her dad's truck and said, quote, Daddy, I
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love you.
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I'll see you tonight.
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End quote.
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Regina is three foot six, about 45 pounds.
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She had a sunburned scab on her nose and she was wearing a blue and green flower dress.
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Bob drove to work, not knowing that this would be the last time he would see Regina.
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The morning was pretty uneventful.
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By the time the girls had lunch, they wanted to play outside, so they headed outdoors with
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the babysitter's younger brother to play.
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Regina is not wearing shoes.
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The kids were playing behind the apartment building in the parking lot when a man approached
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them around noon.
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The man is around six feet tall with a medium build and dark bushy hair.
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He was thought to be in his late 30s or early 40s, but later reports will put him between
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the ages of 20 and 40.
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He was wearing a brown, blue, and white plaid short sleeve shirt with silver snaps, faded
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blue jeans, and a gold watch.
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His upper lip was split and busted as if he had been in a fight recently, and he was missing
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two teeth on one side of his mouth.
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There's a possibility he had a tattoo on his left forearm.
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Christine would later recall, quote, he smelled oily, like he worked for a mechanic or on
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cars.
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He didn't seem like a normal guy, end quote.
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The man also reeked of alcohol.
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The man leaves and the kids continue to play outside.
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However, he returns around 3 p.m.
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This time, he offers Christine and the babysitter's younger brother $2 to stand guard outside
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of an apartment.
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The man said that it belonged to him and his wife.
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He then told Regina, quote, to come with me and pick up my grandchildren, end quote.
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He told Regina that she could play with them as they were her age and that he would bring
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her home in 30 minutes.
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Christine and the boy take the money and Regina went with the man.
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Christine last saw Regina walking east with the man away from the parking lot.
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However, after a few minutes, Christine starts to get worried.
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Just the week before her school, before the school year had ended, had put on a program
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about stranger danger and it dawned on her that something bad could have happened to
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her sister.
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Her and the babysitter's brother ran back to the apartment and explained what had happened.
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However, the babysitter doesn't spring into action.
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She instead locks the front door of the apartment and ignores Christine.
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Meanwhile, Regina is nowhere to be found.
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The babysitter simply thought that Christine was being dramatic.
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A little after four in the afternoon, Donna, Christine and Regina's mom, arrived at the
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babysitter's apartment to pick the girls up.
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Donna is greeted at the door by a hysterical Christine saying, quote, a man took my sister.
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He took her away, end quote.
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Donna springs into action and calls her husband to get over here and help search.
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Bob had just arrived at the family home, which was only a few blocks away.
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After hanging up with Donna, he calls the police to report Regina missing before heading
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over to the apartment to help search.
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Immediately, the police respond, but they're already at least 90 minutes behind Regina's
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abductor.
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Regina's sister and the other child are questioned that evening about the appearance of the man
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and a composite sketch is created.
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About 70 officers will search around the apartment until midnight.
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Officers will continue to search through the night for Regina, but by the next morning,
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on Wednesday, June 19th, police start going door to door looking for witnesses or if anyone
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had seen this man before.
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By the afternoon, about 20 officers on motorcycles stop people on the street to ask if they have
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seen the man before.
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They stop into local businesses around the apartment to see if anyone has seen him or
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recognize him.
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Regina's missing person flyers begin to appear all around Orlando almost overnight.
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On the flyer is Regina's picture and the composite sketch of the man.
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Local media begin to report on Regina's abduction and the composite sketch of the man is plastered
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all over the news.
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A nine-year-old girl, Elisa, was watching the news at her home in Cocoa Beach, which
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is only about an hour away from Orlando.
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She saw the sketch and instantly recognized the man as her and her younger sister had
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almost been victims of a kidnapping.
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In their case, Elisa and her younger sister, Erin, were sleeping in their bedroom Saturday
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night, about three days before Regina's kidnapped.
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When a man entered through their bedroom window and lifted Erin out of the window, Elisa woke
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up and saw what was happening and started screaming for her parents.
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The man was scared off and left Erin on the ground outside of her window while he sprinted
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away through their backyard.
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Both Elisa and Erin recognized the composite sketch as the man that entered their bedroom.
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Police from Orlando and Cocoa Beach compare the composite sketches in both of their cases
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and they're eerily similar.
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Police continue to go door to door looking for witnesses.
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Her family beg for her safe return.
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Her dad, Bob, says, quote, who's ever got my daughter?
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Please bring her home.
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Her mother and I miss her.
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We love her.
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We want her back safe.
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End quote.
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Bob says that Regina knows her address and phone number and quote, if she could, she
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would call.
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If she could hear or see me, I tell her, Gina, daddy's not mad at you.
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You haven't done anything wrong.
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Please please come home.
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End quote.
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Police also offers a $5,000 reward for the return of Regina.
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It's right about this time that police find a neighbor who had seen Regina and the man
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the day of the abduction.
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She tells police that at around 3 30 p.m. she saw Regina walking beside the man.
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It looks like they were headed towards Inglewood Park, which is about six blocks from the apartment
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complex.
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Police search every inch of the park, but nothing is found.
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Police find a few other witnesses.
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A convenience store clerk says that he saw the man walking by himself along Summerin
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Boulevard when he entered the store, bought something and left.
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In Regina's case, really all of the stops are pulled out in this search.
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They have officers going door to door, searching through the night, the motorcycle officers
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patrolling the streets, officers on horseback searching fields.
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Police even bring in sent dogs and helicopters.
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Every available officer is searching for Regina.
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However, by Friday, June 21st, Regina has been missing for three days.
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Police call off the official search.
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They have found no physical trace of Regina, but we're able to find several witnesses
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that saw the two walking together.
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The lead investigator in the case, Detective Mary Ann Waits says, quote, We want to believe
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that she is alive, and I believe we will find her.
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The biggest break, we believe, will come from the public, from someone who will spot Regina
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or the man who took her.
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They've got to move around to eat, sleep and travel.
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What we need now is for everyone to keep their eyes and ears open, and if they see anyone
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matching the description, to call us immediately.
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End quote.
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Regina's family remains hopeful that she'll come home, but they're getting desperate
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for information and have even thought about reaching out to psychics.
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Her dad says, quote, I know that doesn't work a lot, but at this point, we'll try
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anything.
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We've just talked about it, and I don't think we'll do anything for a few days at
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least.
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We don't want to jump the gun, but we don't want to wait too long.
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End quote.
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They've also thought about having Christine hypnotized to see if she can recall any more
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details about the kidnapper.
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The Orlando community is eager to help in the search for Regina.
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Community members come forward, volunteering to do anything.
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Answer tip lines, do paperwork, go out and search.
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Grocery stores drop off food.
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Local restaurants tell the family they can eat free of charge.
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Hotels offer to put up family coming in to help for the search for free.
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This is really one of the most beautiful examples of everyone doing what they can for Regina
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and her family.
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As investigators continue to work the case, police start to believe that the Cocoa Beach
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attempted kidnapping is not related.
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Detective Waits says, quote, there are some significant differences.
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We can't completely eliminate the possibility that the two suspects are the same, but based
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on what I know right now, it doesn't appear so.
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We are still looking into it.
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End quote.
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Over the next week, police begin to work the leads that they developed during their initial
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search, and they continue to man a 24-hour tip line.
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As police slowly work their way through the leads, they keep coming up empty.
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No Regina, no man with a busted lip.
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As police approach a week that Regina has been missing, they use 130 Navy cadets to
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search an 18-mile square radius for any trace of Regina.
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Originally, police only searched a 6- to 8-mile square radius.
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But with the additional manpower, the searchers will search a larger area and all the abandoned
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buildings, woods, swamps, canals, creeks, and any other secluded area they happen upon.
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Her family remains firm that she is alive.
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Her dad says, quote, we believe she is alive, and until someone shows us differently, we'll
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never believe otherwise.
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We're not going to give up.
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We'll find our daughter, if it takes the rest of our lives.
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Deep down in our hearts, we believe she's coming home.
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End quote.
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The family spend each day of the search at the command center, waiting for any leads
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about Regina.
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But the search concludes with no trace of her.
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The search did unearth other skeletal remains of a young man who was later ID'd as William
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Legg.
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At this point, the search for Regina is the largest in Orlando's history.
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Despite the search for Regina turning up nothing, there are several people who called in reporting
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to see the man and Regina all over Orlando.
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One story that keeps popping up again and again are witnesses calling in to say that
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they see a girl resembling Regina in the company of two men, one of which resembles the composite
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sketch.
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The trio is seen in a beige or brown vehicle, a mid to late 1970s car, possibly an Oldsmobile
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Delta 88.
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A housekeeper in a small roadside motel calls police saying that two men checked into a
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room with a young child.
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One of the men resembled the composite sketch and the little girl looked like Regina.
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When police arrive, they check the room, but no one is inside.
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What they do find is a copy of Regina's missing person flyer torn into little pieces.
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On June 25th, there is another possible sighting of the man.
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Regina has been missing for a week when a man fitting the description of the suspect
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walked into a Popeyes restaurant at around 10 p.m.
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He asked the person behind the counter if they could open a can of ravioli.
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The workers at the restaurant recognize the man from the composite sketch.
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An assistant manager heads to the back to call police while the cashier tried to keep
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him busy.
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While the manager was still on the phone, the man turned around and left.
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However, outside the restaurant, two teen boys see the man leave the Popeyes and follow
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him to a brown car.
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The man gets in the car and heads north on Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando.
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The teens did not get a license plate.
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Lieutenant Steve Harrelson says, quote, They followed him because he left hurriedly and
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they could tell there was some kind of commotion about him.
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Basically, they just walked behind him in the parking lot until he got into his car.
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The description they gave was about the same as what the Popeyes worker did.
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End quote.
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Regina's parents are very hopeful that this is a good sign.
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Ravioli was one of her favorite foods.
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On June 27th, police come forward with all the possible sightings of Regina and the man
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over the last week.
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After this press conference, however, the reported sightings of Regina and the man will
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slow down and eventually stop over the next few weeks.
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So that is where we are going to leave part one of the timeline.
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Next week, we'll get into covering part two with a few additional details about the search,
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how and where her body was found and how she's eventually identified as Regina and where
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the case stands as of 2024.
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If you know anything about the abduction and murder of Regina Mae Armstrong in June of
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1985, please call Crime Line at 1-800-423-8477.
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And the sources for the timeline today come from Florida Today, the Orlando Sentinel,
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the Miami Herald, and News Press.
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So that is part one of the Regina Mae Armstrong cold case.
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So this is just really her abduction.
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I had to like kind of table in my mind knowing that this was a cold case because it was just
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tugging at my heartstrings the whole time.
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But there are a few things I just wanted to say about Regina because one, she sounded
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incredible.
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She sounded like my nieces, our nieces.
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And that happens a lot, you know, when you bring up cases with kids, but particularly
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her taste for food.
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My nieces love when my dad grills up steak.
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A similar spirit and while it made me so happy to know that, you know, a soul like that existed,
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it was equally as heartbreaking to know that she isn't here in the way that she should
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be.
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Absolutely.
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This case is so heartbreaking.
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Yeah.
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What made me so happy to know that she had this joy and love for food was that I imagine
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she had to do some growing up even at the young age of six because it can be quite traumatizing
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to be the sibling of a sibling who is sick all the time.
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It can be very scary.
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It can be isolating.
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And you might have to, you know, just understand things way sooner than a child should have
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to understand.
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So again, equally as heartbreaking, it still, it brought me joy to know that she enjoyed
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like the finer things in life at such a young age.
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Absolutely.
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I thought that detail was really fun about her being a foodie and sitting down to three
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course meals, just like this little six year old at the table ready to experience fine
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dining is just a really funny image.
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And I think that really captures her spirit when you see her pictures.
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Like you can tell she was like a funny little lady.
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Yeah, totally.
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I do have some questions if it's okay to move on.
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My first question to you was, do you think it was someone she knew?
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I don't think that Regina had met him or really seen him before based off of Christine.
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Since she was just a little bit older, nine years older, or not nine years, but she was
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nine years old.
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I think that if she had met this man before, she would be able to recognize him and like
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explain who he was to her parents.
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So I kind of based it off of Christine not knowing who the man was beyond his description.
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But if that man had been watching the kids and kind of seeing the schedule as the summer
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vacation started, I think that could be a possibility where maybe he was watching, learning
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a schedule, learning a routine when the kids are outside, that sort of thing.
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I think that is in the realm of possibilities.
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Totally.
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I mean, just horrific predator behavior.
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And I also just want to like echo here, and I'm sure you've heard it on other podcasts
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before involving true crime, but adults do not need help from children.
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Not at all.
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It's never needed.
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It's never necessary.
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So the babysitter, I'm sure she probably lives with a lot of guilt, but like, man, am I just
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furious, especially because the information is brand new to me.
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But for the life of me, I do not understand that reaction.
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And that made me wonder a bunch of things.
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What's your take on her reaction?
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Yeah, the babysitter is definitely an important player in the timeline.
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So the babysitter is relatively young.
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She's 21 years old.
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I was like, I was thinking, I thought, I thought she was like 14.
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I'm even more angry and I feel less bad about how angry I am, because that's not that is
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not a correct reaction.
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If three children leave and two come back, five minutes pass, you should be booking it.
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And I know it was the 80s, but like, they're not your kids.
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I don't know.
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Totally.
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No, I agree with you 100%.
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It's really hard to wrap your head around the fact that she closes and locks the door,
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according to newspaper, she closes the front door, locks it.
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And I just don't understand how you explain that away to yourself for the next hour and
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a half until the mom gets there.
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You know, I don't know how you explain that to yourself that two kids came back, but one
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isn't here and the front door is locked.
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So even if she was to wander up, she couldn't get in, she would have to stand there and
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knock at the door.
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And these apartments are ones that you can see the door from the outside, almost like
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a motel setup.
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So that is really disappointing that the babysitter did not respond faster.
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I believe she is cleared of involvement according to the newspaper reports.
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And even Regina's parents don't put a lot of blame on her for not calling police right
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away.
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They say in the week following that they're not mad at the babysitter.
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But as somebody researching and learning about it, it is hard to understand that reaction
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and why she responded that way.
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And if this would have turned out different, had she been quicker?
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Yeah, I mean, the kids came back relatively soon.
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If you had immediately walked outside, she had a shot and missed it big time.
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And that raises a lot of questions in my mind.
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Like, why would you lock the door?
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It is such an odd response to not immediately hop into action.
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Yeah, I think that based off of the neighborhood sightings that police were able to find, you
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know, in their door to door canvassing, I do think that had she called police right away,
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that there is a possibility they could have found they could have found her because police
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saw them and or not police saw them, but witnesses saw them walking along a route, it seems like.
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And police respond immediately and heavily.
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So had that response come quicker, I think that there is a chance that they could have
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intercepted them.
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My question about the the sighting at 3.30 p.m. I wrote that down as I was listening
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to you, but I don't remember what it refers to.
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I think the neighbor said that she saw her at 3.30, possibly with this this man.
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But what was the window of time they were outside playing like was 3.30 significantly
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later? That's that's what I couldn't remember.
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00:23:54,000 --> 00:24:01,240
So they're outside playing, it seems like from around noon till 3.
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The man first approaches the kids around noon, according to initial reporting, and then he
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comes back around three.
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And that's when he offers the money to Christine and the young boy.
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And he takes Regina with him.
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So 3.30 would have been, I would say, probably within 15 minutes of her being abducted.
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I'm sorry, I keep coming back.
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It's just heartbreaking because she was out there.
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Something else I wrote down was it seemed like she was right at the at like the authorities
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fingertips the entire time.
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And that's extra, you know, just a punch in the gut because she was right there.
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You said that the possible suspect stopped at a convenience store on that day, correct?
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00:24:54,600 --> 00:25:02,920
Yes, it's unclear if that was before the abduction kind of between that noon encounter and the
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3pm abduction.
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But he was alone.
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We're not sure what he bought.
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But he was alone when he entered the convenience store.
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00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,080
That was exactly what my question was going to be.
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I know you spoke on it briefly and I couldn't I couldn't have said it better.
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But the community's response was really incredible here, down to the young folks at the Popeyes.
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Him coming in and asking to open a can of ravioli.
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You know, I've worked in service before where people have needed something extra from the
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kitchen or kitchen staff to help feed their baby.
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00:25:41,060 --> 00:25:43,280
It's not something that's like unheard of.
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But a can of raviolis is very odd.
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00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:52,280
And I'm glad that the community had papered, you know, his composite sketch as much as
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they did because those kids saw it and said something.
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00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:01,160
Not only the workers at Popeyes, but then the young boys outside who continued to follow
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him.
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That was just incredible to me.
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Like hell yeah, I don't know who you are.
396
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,720
But like, thank you for doing that.
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00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:15,600
Yeah, it's not quite clear if the two boys that followed him in the parking lot understood
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that he was the suspect if they were conscious of that.
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00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:25,480
But it seems like police they just kind of like saw this guy kind of get in get out like
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kind of causing a commotion as it were.
401
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,440
So they just like followed him for a while, which is really interesting.
402
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,680
But some newspaper reports say that they chased him because they did recognize him.
403
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,040
So yeah, but that's all community response.
404
00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:43,440
Everyone put up flyers, businesses offered to print them, pay for them, whatever was
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needed to get them everywhere in Orlando.
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Yeah, just an incredible response.
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00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:52,960
And you know, Orlando is a pretty big place.
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It's very busy.
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It's a it's a tourist area of the nation.
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So the fact that this like smaller knit community there really stuck together and showed up
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00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,440
for this family was was beautiful.
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00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:16,400
Yeah, I mean, I guess that brings us up to like right where you left us off.
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I'm very eager to hear more.
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00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:23,680
I'm so glad that you brought her name to the front of our minds.
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00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:30,520
I imagine our listeners, especially as we've been growing in numbers, month by month will
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00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:36,300
do some googling and I really hope you do because this case deserves as much attention
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00:27:36,300 --> 00:27:38,440
as as any other case out there.
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00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,720
I think it's completely solvable.
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00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:47,080
I think it happened recent enough that there are still people alive who have information.
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00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:48,560
Maybe someone knows something.
421
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:53,920
Yeah, thank you so much for sharing Regina's story.
422
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:56,840
It's heartbreaking, but I'm so glad to know it now.
423
00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:02,300
Again, if you know anything about the abduction and murder of Regina Mae Armstrong in June
424
00:28:02,300 --> 00:28:09,800
of 1985, please call Crime Line at 1-800-423-8477.
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00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:15,900
And we will be bringing you part two next week where we get into the discovery of Regina.
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00:28:15,900 --> 00:28:20,360
If you're anything like me, which you probably are if you're listening to this podcast, I'm
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00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:23,920
sure you will be digging into your own research this week.
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00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:30,600
But there's a lot of articles that are behind paywalls, but I do have access to them.
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00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:36,420
So I will be bringing you all that information next week and we'll get into part two.
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00:28:36,420 --> 00:28:41,920
In the meantime, we'll have pictures of Regina and the suspects on our Instagram, which you
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00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,320
can check us out at Cold and Missing.
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00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:49,960
Like Eli said, I do think this case is completely solvable and I think part of it is because
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00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,360
of the composite sketch.
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00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:56,180
I think somebody can recognize this person and put a name to who he is.
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00:28:56,180 --> 00:29:03,500
So check it out on our Instagram or our website ColdandMissing.com where we also have transcripts.
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00:29:03,500 --> 00:29:07,700
So if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can follow along that way.
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00:29:07,700 --> 00:29:12,220
And if you have a minute, if you can rate and review us, give us a written review in
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00:29:12,220 --> 00:29:14,300
Apple podcasts, that would be so great.
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00:29:14,300 --> 00:29:17,860
We appreciate every single one so much.
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00:29:17,860 --> 00:29:19,900
But that is all I have.
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Please tune in next week for part two of the Regina Mae Armstrong case.
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00:29:24,740 --> 00:29:27,240
Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.
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I'm your host, Allie.
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And I'm your cohost, Eli.
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Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
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Stay safe, y'all.
