Cold and Missing: Sharon Bald Eagle

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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 and is intended for a mature

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audience.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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Views and opinions expressed in cold and missing are those of the hosts.

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Views and opinions expressed in cold and missing are those of the hosts.

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Casper, Wyoming. Wyoming, wow. And Sharon in 1984, she is 12 years old, but today

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she would be 50. No! This is about a kid? Yeah. And just as a trigger warning off

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the top, there is sexual assault mentioned in this case, and I'll give

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another warning whenever I get closer to the moments where it's discussed, but I

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just want to give you a heads up now in case maybe you're not in the space to

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listen to that today, which is fine. Thank you for that, Allie. We love

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boundaries and keeping ourselves comfortable and safe. Yeah, like it's a

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podcast. You don't need to upset yourself with a podcast. It puts the podcast down.

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So Sharon Bald Eagle, she is 12 years old in 1984, and she's 5'3", 110 pounds,

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and she has black hair and dark brown eyes. And she is described as being

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bright, talented, musical, independent, and tough for her age. It's reported that she

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routinely beat up boys that were in her grade. She loved to break dance, and her

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family lives on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation near Eagle Butte in

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South Dakota. Tuesday, September 18th, 1984, Sharon is attending the Brainerd

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Indian School and plans to run away with a friend from the nearby Hot Springs

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High School in South Dakota. Sharon is running away to Idaho where her brother

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is and where she had lived previously with a family as part of the Indian

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placement program through the Mormon Church. So what this is, if our listeners

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are not familiar, the Indian placement program, when it was reported, it was

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talked about like a foster family. What would happen is the Church of Latter-day

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Saints Mormons, they offered a program where if they baptized Native American

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children, they would be allowed to stay with a Mormon family during the school

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year, and instead of attending what was called Indian schools, Indian boarding

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schools, they could attend a public school with their Mormon family and then

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return to their, you know, their true family in the summertime. Sharon had

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previously participated in this program the year before, and she thought that she

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was going to continue on into the school year and go back to Idaho to be with her

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Mormon family out there. They're called the Dexter's, but Sharon is kicked out of

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the program super unexpectedly and on very short notice. So four days before

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she was set to return to Idaho, she's kicked out of this program, and this

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comes as a shock to her foster family, the Dexter's as well. They were

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anticipating her coming and were surprised when she didn't show up with

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everybody else. And the reasoning for this is they said that Sharon had been

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kicked out because of her attitude. Oh, you would have been kicked out in two

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seconds? Two seconds. Missy Sue. Yeah, it was reported that she fought with her

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foster siblings, but her foster family was like, that was all ironed out pretty

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quickly. It was just at the beginning, and we wanted her back. We loved her. We were

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expecting her. So that happens really unexpectedly. So then Sharon has to go to

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the Brainerd Indian School, which is near Hot Springs, South Dakota. So if our

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listeners aren't familiar with Indian schools, they were part of the US and

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Canada's colonization and forced assimilation of indigenous families

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through their children. So they would force children to go to these schools

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where they were not allowed to speak their native language. They were not

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allowed to participate in ceremonies or practice their religions that they would

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have on their reservations or with their tribes. That's not right. No, it's

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horrible. And a lot of- Yeah, it's like fucking colonizers. Yeah, and a lot of

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culture was lost. A lot of language was lost. You know, like indigenous

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speakers, there's generational gaps where nobody knows the language, and

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they're trying to re-educate and reintroduce the language so that way

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it's not lost whenever older folks die. So that's the Indian placement program

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and Indian schools very quickly in a nutshell. That Tuesday, September 18th,

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Sharon boards a bus for a basketball game in Hot Springs where she'll meet up

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with her friend who is 15 years old. And her friend is not named because she's a

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minor, so I will be referring to her throughout this as the 15-year-old or

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the companion. And Sharon is carrying a red bag with her, and it should be noted

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that Sharon has never run away before, but it just seems like she genuinely

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wants to get out of here and go be with her brother in Idaho with this family

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and go to public school. So Sharon and her 15-year-old friend run away from the

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basketball game and they start hitchhiking out of South Dakota. So on

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Wednesday, September 19th, 1984, the girls are hitchhiking through Wyoming, so they've

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made it into Wyoming at this point, and they are picked up by Royal Russell Long,

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a 49-year-old trucker who also owned a go-kart track in nearby Casper, Wyoming.

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Again, this is just a trigger warning that I'm going to talk about some

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upsetting things, including sexual assault, for the next couple minutes. Press

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pause if you want to or skip on through. So the girls are picked up by Long, and

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he takes the girls to his home in Evansville, Wyoming, and he feeds them.

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Long offers the girls $100 for sex, but they refuse. He then beats them up and

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ties them up at gunpoint, and the 15-year-old is sexually assaulted. When

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Long is not paying attention, is distracted by something, there's

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different reports of what happens at this time, the 15-year-old manages to

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escape and gets out of his house and runs to a neighbor and gets help. So the

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15-year-old, she calls the police, but when she returns with the police, Long

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and Sharon are nowhere to be found, so they're gone. Damn, he took his moment

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like to move. To get out, yeah. It was fast, you know. Yeah, and I couldn't find exactly how long

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between this 15-year-old raising the flag and, you know, calling police and to when

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they arrived there. I don't know exactly how long it was. I don't know if it was

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minutes or longer, because this is Wyoming, so there's a lot of land between

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places, you know. End of the trigger warning, just so everyone's aware, but it'll

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pop back up again, so I'll warn you again. So no reports exactly on what happens

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that next day, Thursday. I assume a search is taking place, because they know

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that Sharon, a 12-year-old, is missing and with somebody who had them tied up in

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his home. So I assume a search is happening, but I couldn't find reports of

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that. On Friday, September 21st, the police search is concentrated on southeast

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Wyoming, and this, they'll stay there through Saturday, and they focus here

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because of a tip that Long's vehicle was seen, which is a 1980 or a 1981 brown

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Chevy pickup. He was seen near Pine Bluffs, but police searched this area.

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There's no trace. Nothing. On Saturday, so that weekend, September 22nd, Taylor

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Bald Eagle, that's Sharon's father, travels from Eagle Butte to Casper in

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order to appear in front of the media, and he says, quote, I want to know where

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my daughter is. She is my life, my reason for living. No. Why? Why do you put these

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things in here? I know you have to, and I'm just hearing it for the first time.

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Please continue, and thank you for all the hard work you do. Taylor also has a

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message for Long. He says, quote, from father to father, from man to man, I want you

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to know I hope you think about this and call me or contact me soon. And then

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Taylor goes on to say, quote, he's 49 years old. You don't experience that much

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living without having some feelings, something inside, end quote. All of his

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media attention works, though. A tip comes in, and the tip, allegedly, is from Long

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himself. And... Why allegedly? Well, originally, it said that he called, but

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then later it does seem like it's confirmed that he is calling the

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police at this time and giving them this tip. And he says that it's him when he

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calls, so he's not pretending to be somebody else. But a tip comes in saying,

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from Long, that he had put Sharon on a truck that was headed to Fort Worth, Texas.

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And the caller continued to say that he would turn himself in when authorities

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confirmed Sharon was safe. And it was noted that Sharon has an uncle in Fort

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Worth, and that's Taylor's brother. So that tip comes in, and then on Sunday,

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September 23rd, Taylor meets with the 15-year-old who is at a hospital in

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Casper, Wyoming. And she tells him that Sharon has not been assaulted. Okay. While

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she was there. Sure. Yeah. Monday, September 24th, late at night, Taylor gets a call

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from an assistant district attorney that they got a reliable source and believed

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Sharon to be alive and well, and that she was spotted in Casper, Wyoming. The next

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day, September 28th, this is Tuesday, we're coming up on a week that Sharon ran

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away. Police in Fort Worth have found no trace of Sharon, and Taylor, her father,

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keeps vigil by his phone saying, quote, that's the only thing I'm living and

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breathing for now. I'm spending all my time by this phone. I like can't think

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about this man. I know. Taylor Baldiegel is still alive and is pretty active in

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bringing awareness to her case. That's amazing that he's still here. He's got to

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be like in his 70s now. Maybe even 80s. Yeah. That sentence of like, this is what

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I'm like living and breathing for, like not even like I'm living and breathing

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for this person, but like I'm living and breathing in like hope that they're okay

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and that I will find them and like that sits in me very deeply. Yeah. So I like,

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so yeah, it's really heartbreaking. Yeah. So one week after Sharon has been

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abducted at this point, so this is Wednesday, September 26th, at 940 p.m.

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FBI agents arrest Long in Albuquerque, New Mexico as he was leaving a telephone

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booth outside of a convenience store. He did not resist arrest, but did have a

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nine-millimeter pistol on him and he was arrested for a warrant for unlawful

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flight to avoid prosecution. So that was what the FBI was arresting him on and

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why they got involved because he was crossing state lines. Sharon is not with

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him at this point and there's no sign of her. The search for Sharon continues

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quote everywhere. The assistant agent in charge said, Evansville, Wyoming

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investigator Stephen Myrum said nothing in Long's criminal history would suggest

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homicide, but evidence found in Long's home indicated that Sharon might have

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been injured and in need of medical attention and later it comes out that

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Sharon had had a nosebleed at his house. So there was some blood found in his

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home and it is believed that this is what Stephen Myrum is referring to. Okay.

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Yeah, of course she had a nosebleed. She was attacked. Yeah. Like the day after

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he's caught there's no news on Sharon and Long pleads the fifth every time

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he's asked about it. He continues to plead the fifth which is his right to

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remain silent and the Natrona County DA said quote we have no information where

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she might be and then Taylor her father says quote Long hasn't said anything.

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That makes a person apprehensive, but you have to have faith. I hope she's alive

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somewhere. That's all I have to hang on to end quote. The next day this is a

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direct quote from the FBI here quote obviously we're looking hard but so far

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zilch end quote. I would hate for that man to be like I don't know like if we

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had a baby you know I would hate for this man to be in charge of my McDonald's

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order. You know what I mean like we went to get we went to get your we went to

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get your happy meal zilch obviously we're looking but so far zilch. My god. I

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was gonna say like oh we went to grab your baby from the nursery zilch. I think

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I don't know it seems like it should be illegal for the word zilch to be used in

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a criminal investigation like you should be arrested if you use that word while

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you investigate it straight to jail. Jail. You? Jail. Jail. Still no news in Texas and

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this is a quote from Taylor again quote the bad part of it is he must have got

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her to talk because he found out I have a brother at Fort Worth. I want to think

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he might have her somewhere in custody with other people maybe tied up or

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something because in order for him to have that information from her he must

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have had some communication with her end quote. So Taylor's really holding on to

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the idea that Long said he put her on a truck going to Fort Worth and this quote

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makes me believe that maybe there was something about like sending her to a

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relative down there because Taylor seems very convinced that like that

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information Fort Worth came from Sharon and like that's why she was being sent

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there based off of this quote. So then we roll into October this is October 1st

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Taylor hears from a well-respected medicine woman in New York that Sharon

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is in the company of another girl he said quote she said Sharon is in a

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10-story building but doesn't know where she said she's not a captive and is

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planning to continue to run and run here being like Sharon is trying to escape

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okay and on October 1st Long is returned from New Mexico to Wyoming and charged

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with first-degree sexual assaults in Wyoming. Okay fuck her. Yes and then the

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next day he appears in court where he has six new charges so three counts of

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kidnapping two counts aggravated kidnapping for the purpose of committing

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sexual assaults one count for the purpose of holding a hostage so to count

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for both Sharon and the 15 year old girl but then also account for Sharon being

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held hostage kind of at this point. Triple them up. Triple them up. One count of

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attempted sexual assaults one count of assault with a deadly weapon and then

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one count of delivery of marijuana and then this is also he also did a delivery

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of marijuana while he was assaulting people and holding them hostage. Well

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apparently delivery of marijuana he just had it in his home when police searched

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it. It's not mine. That's all that's my brother's. Okay and this I wasn't gonna

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include this because it was so like but it's a long worked as a police

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informant at one time where he was told to buy drugs like work as like a drug

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dealer like that thing you know what I'm talking about like an informant sure

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undercover yeah street whatever. Isn't it crazy that like police forces will be

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like this civilian can be an informant. Yes here's government money to go buy

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drugs. That's bananas. Which is what they did they gave him money to go buy drugs.

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But they also do it for other stuff too. They'll like send like young people to be

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like yeah just like see how much you can get well why are you yeah like what I'm

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not a professional sir. So these additional charges come from the 15

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year olds testimony and cooperating evidence long corroborating yeah I

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can't say that word oh it's okay honey wait say it for me

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corroborating co-op oh my speech impediment that I had as a kid was ours

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no it also sounds like cooperating so you're saying cora but you're you're

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saying you're like starting to say cooperating because I can't say

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corroborating yeah so I have to say like another word that's close by but I can't

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do it that's okay you have hot girl brain you don't need to know how to say

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it but you said corroborating evidence it's fine long continues to plead the

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fifth so the judge is like asking him questions in court because he also has

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two prior convictions for escaping while in jail so the judges like asking him

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questions and he just continues to plead the fact plead the fact plead the fact

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plead the fact he is not talking and his lawyer maintains that Sharon was put on

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a truck and Taylor says quote his story of putting her on a truck really does

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seem more likely than anything I'm positive she's going to be home and

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quote so October 18 so this is one month since Sharon has been missing again this

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is her father quote I am willing not to press charges if the whereabouts of my

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daughter is revealed I believe long knows where she is at he's playing his

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waiting game he's being pampered by his rights and quote and Taylor really has

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an issue and I think a lot of people will that he can continue to plead the

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fifth and then that means investigators can't ask him any more questions about

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where Sharon is the next day October 19th Albert Johnson from Glendale Wyoming

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wrote a letter to a newspaper claiming he saw Sharon on September 20th so this

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would have been the day after she was abducted he saw her around 8 p.m. at a

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Glendale truck stop sitting in a truck and a man matching longs description was

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seen walking into the truck stop and this is kind of the first clue that we

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get for Sharon of her whereabouts after she goes missing besides this clue that

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long gives of he put her on a truck to go to Fort Worth Texas and then October

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21st the search comes to a halt for the winter it's pretty rugged terrain and

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there's a lot of snow already by October 21st so they really stopped searching in

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the wilderness for Sharon at this point on November 8th long pleads not guilty to

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all charges I didn't assault this girl even though even though she escaped from

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my home he says not guilty November 16th the police say that they are completely

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out of leads and that Texas is a dead end there was no sign that Sharon was

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ever there and then we roll into the new year 1985 on January 3rd long defense

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attorney request a change of venue but this is ultimately denied but the judge

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will drop the marijuana charge so that's no longer he puffed past it he puffed

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past the marijuana charge

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fuck I know and then January 23rd 1985 long changes his plea to guilty to avoid

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the death penalty and a sentence to two life sentences plus six to eight years

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which I love when they give somebody to life sentences and then they're like

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plus 10 years I'm like okay like here's three big scoops here's a couple jimmies

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on top yeah just to make sure yeah it's like just in case your ghost wants to be

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back your ghost is still in jail sorry

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ghost jail

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so long pleads the fifth while being questioned by the judge again ultimately

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he pleads guilty to two counts of kidnapping for the purpose of taking

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indecent liberties with a minor and one count of aggravated assaults and then the

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police said quote we have no leads at all

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obviously the next step is to wait and see they really love obviously

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obviously obviously the next step is to wait and see we are checking out any and

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every lead we can we all hope she is still alive somewhere if she is why

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hasn't she called you can speculate a hundred reasons on that

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and quote and I'm like do your fucking job

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speculate obviously the next step is wait and see I think there's some other

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things you could do and they say that new charges can still be added to him

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in regards to Sharon if and when they find out things

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ok so on February 4th 1985 long breaks his silence and has an interview with a

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newspaper so again here's a trigger warning I'm going to talk about sexual

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assault here so this is what long claims happen this is his side of the story and

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this is going to piss you off I'm just warning you now so he claims that he

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picks the girls up and they said they were 18 and 19 and quote they looked the

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part and quote no you can tell when someone is 12 yeah you can tell when

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someone is 12 and also you're 49 so 18 and 19 is still a little young a little

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young the girls accepted his offer for a ride to his home to eat bathe and wash

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their clothes he then claims he offered the older girl $25 for sex and she

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agreed after she demanded $200 and threatened him since she was underage

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and he thought the accusations would hurt his go-kart business quote oh so

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sad I know his go-kart business

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oh fuck owning a go-kart business would be dope like we should open one come to

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A&E's go-karts yeah go-karts drive to thrive this guy get fucked get fucked

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he says quote I talked with them I tried to reason with them I told them this is

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not how you do business I should have given them the money unquote so he was

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I hate him then long quote scuffles he calls it a scuffle with them and ties

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the girls up but claims no one was seriously hurt just like casually tying

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up two teenagers in your home but nobody was seriously hurt like he's really

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trying to like downplay it as much as he can he's like we got in a scuffle and

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then I tied them up no big deal nobody was hurt he then says he took a nap and

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when he woke up he found the 15 year old had escaped he took a nap in the middle

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of his hostage situation yeah I'm like I am a man of rest I'm tired from my

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thievery of people yeah he's like and what I'm just like so you have two

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people tied up in your house and you're like I'm gonna go take a nap what what

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no you didn't you're a liar no you don't so after he realizes that the 15 year

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old girl is gone he says quote I carried the other one to my truck I stopped once

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for gas and drove to Cheyenne over the back roads she was a hot potato I just

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wanted her out of my hands end quote he finds a trucker headed for Dallas he

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says it's Dallas not Fort Worth so this is the first time that that detail has

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changed and he hands Sharon off long then drives to Denver to think for a

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couple of days and when he drives back to Wyoming he learns about the manhunt

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against him so once he finds out about the manhunt he heads to Amarillo Texas

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to look for Sharon at truck stops quote my thinking was that I needed to remain

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free until she showed up and the whole thing calmed down end quote so that is

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what he says happened so that's the end of the trigger warning for our listeners

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out there on May 30th the district attorney Scott Evans believes that

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Sharon is dead and is looking to file murder charges without a body this guy

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royal Russell long he sucks and just to give a little tangent about this guy so

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after he's arrested he becomes the lead suspect in another investigation in

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Oklahoma into the disappearance of two 13 year olds from the Oklahoma State Fair

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in 1981 their names are Charlotte Kinsey and Cinda pallet and charges are

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ultimately brought against him in this case in Oklahoma these girls they go

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missing at the state fair I just read briefly about their story they called

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their parents and said that a man offered them a job to unload stuffed

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animals from a semi truck so he drives the two girls and two boys to a truck

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stop kicks the boys out and then drives off with the two girls and charges are

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brought against him but ultimately they're dropped for not enough evidence

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but he is the main suspect in this case and it's believed that he had started

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attacking people 30 years prior in 1955 and he's also suspected for the

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disappearance of Deborah Meyer and Carlene Brown so this guy sucks so on

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the heels of like this Oklahoma case and I think if he had been indicted on those

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charges they would have gone forward with the murder charges of Sharon but

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since ultimately the charges in Oklahoma was dropped they never bring the murder

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00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:10,320
charges against him for Sharon in Wyoming in June of 1985 the search resumes in

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rugged terrain along the county lines and the search lasts for about one week

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and this is based off of all of the leads that they've had but ultimately

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00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:25,160
nothing turns up no clues are found on June 12th the police say quote every bit

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of evidence we've obtained at this point indicates she's dead end quote but her

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father Taylor believes that she is alive and in 2020 he believes that she's

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alive November 3rd 1993 long dies of a heart attack behind bars in prison

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farewell good riddance and then there's really no leads for Sharon after this

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because the person who most likely knows has died June of 2019 and into 2020 a

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skull is found near a power plant and a podcast actually begins to say that this

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is possibly Sharon and I believe they say that somebody within the police

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00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,400
department tells them this or confirms that there's a good likelihood that

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00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,280
it's Sharon but the police are like this person is a volunteer and they would

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00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:20,400
know nothing about that I don't know why but so the media picks up the story that

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00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:26,600
this is possibly Sharon but it is a prehistoric skeletons that had just been

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00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:33,600
very well preserved so not Sharon in the media Taylor says that you know the skull

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00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:38,200
couldn't be Sharon because she's still alive somewhere and he's believes that

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00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:45,000
and really advocates for her return but that this whole experience was painful

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like having her name be brought up in the media and people saying that they

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00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:54,760
were so sorry like giving him condolences and assuming that he would be

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00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,360
mourning once these were remains were found and he said like that was really

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00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:03,640
painful like that misplaced morning and like people just stopping him and like

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00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:10,200
that constant reminder of what he is missing but that's ultimately it's for

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00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:15,920
Sharon bald eagle that's all we know like I said long died behind bars so he

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00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:24,160
really knew what happened to her and I don't I don't know if she was put on a

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00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:29,000
truck somewhere else or if he killed her before that she was she would have this

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00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:34,400
girl was very very smart I think she would have like been able to contact her

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family I yeah I would agree with you I think that royal Russell long ultimately

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caused her death I really just want Taylor bald eagle to have closure in

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00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:52,400
this like he deserves it so much if you know anything about Sharon's

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disappearance or her whereabouts today again she'd be 50 years old please call

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00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:05,920
the Fall River County police and their number is 605-745-4444

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00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:12,840
and the sources for today's podcast come from the West River Eagle the Charlie

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00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:18,880
Projects oil City News Rapid City Journal the Bismarck Tribune the Jackson Hole

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00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:25,500
guide Argus leader the billing Gazette the daily Oklahoma in Casper Star

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00:33:25,500 --> 00:33:32,440
Tribune and the Lincoln Journal Star that's the story of Sharon bald eagle is

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00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:39,680
her case like actively spoken about currently well the last updates really

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00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:46,960
were 2020-2021 when those remains were found and there have been bulk stories

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00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:51,360
over the years because there's a lot of missing indigenous women specifically in

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00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:57,280
Wyoming there's a lot of missing indigenous women that whole highway

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00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:04,000
that's called the highway of tears right it runs a big span of where there's a

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00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:12,440
lot of indigenous land where like it's like hundreds of women do you know what

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00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:18,280
I'm talking about I do yes okay yeah but yeah so Sharon's story is brought up

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00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:23,120
kind of with those reports of like trying to bring light to this big problem

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00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:31,280
but otherwise there's really been no leads and nothing on her case truly damn

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00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:37,880
and it's so frustrating that they like caught the guy the guy died in jail but

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it's like where Sharon like how it's like that he escaped justice in that you

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00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:49,960
know like he escaped responsibility in a lot of ways yeah for sure even though

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you know based off of my research and you know he suspected in these four

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other disappearances like guys dirtbag like I'm glad he was off the streets and

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00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,640
that they did ultimately put him in jail for the rest of his life when they did

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but where Sharon and like he never had to answer for that but that's it if you

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are enjoying our podcast we'd love it if you followed us on Instagram at cold and

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stories on there we also upload all of our episodes onto YouTube so maybe

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that's where you like to listen you can subscribe there as well on our

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Instagram page you can email us cold and missing at gmail.com if you have thoughts

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00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,960
about the case about any of the cases we've covered or if there's one that's

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close to your heart that you want us to cover please email us and we'll chat if

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you are enjoying the contents and would maybe like to tip us in order to support

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at our Instagram if you click the link in our bio you'll see the buy us a coffee

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page it's great it's great we really appreciate it we appreciate that you're

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listening and that yeah I'm so blown away by these numbers I know every day

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00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:28,560
we wake up and we're like what yeah to meet people who are like oh my friends

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00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:32,760
been listening they have so many questions like to meet people who we do

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00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:37,560
we don't know yeah and to talk about these cases like that's really cool and

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00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,560
yeah it's really cool that these cases are getting talked about because I think

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they're all important yeah of course yeah thanks for listening thanks for

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being here and have a good week and stay safe y'all have a great week y'all