Transcript
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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.
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Listener discretion is advised.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Solkowski.
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And I'm sure it's no surprise to those of you who listened last week or follow us on
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Instagram that I'm coming to you solo again this week.
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Eli's mother passed away unexpectedly, which I mentioned last week in our episode.
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But he's just taking some time for himself right now to grieve and mourn and hold it
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before he gets back to this work, which can be difficult work when you are mourning.
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So thank you if you've reached out to us, left us a comment, kept us in your thoughts,
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prayers, meditations.
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We really appreciate the support and thank you for hanging with us and being with us
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during this time.
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We really appreciate it.
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So thank you.
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But just to keep our episode rolling along here, this week we are going to be talking
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about an unresolved missing person case.
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And just as a content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person.
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Today we are talking about the missing person case of Sherry Lynn Marler.
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And this takes place in June of 1984 in Greenville, Alabama.
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But first a little bit about Sherry.
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Sherry was 12 years old in 1984, but tall for her age.
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Those around her said she could have easily passed for 16 or 17 years old.
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She was born August 8, 1971, and she would be 52 years old today.
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Sherry was a tomboy by all accounts.
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Her family called her Little Farmer.
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Sherry, her mother, stepdad, and siblings all lived on a 400-acre farm.
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Her stepdad, Raymond Stringfellow, said, quote, she was a tomboy and didn't like school.
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Her pride and joy was that she could operate the tractor.
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If any of my kids could be a farmer, it would be her.
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End quote.
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Sherry loved listening to Kenny Rogers and scooting around on her moped, which she proudly
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put over a thousand miles on.
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Sherry was a rough and tumble kind of gal and loved getting her hands dirty in the earth.
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And now, a timeline of events.
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On Wednesday, June 6, 1984, Sherry's mother, Betty, wakes up early for her shift at the
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Waffle House.
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Summer had just started for Sherry.
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She had just finished up sixth grade, and that fall she was going to start seventh grade.
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On this particular Wednesday morning, Sherry was sleeping on the couch in the living room
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since a visiting relative was using her bed.
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Sherry woke up to the sounds of her stepdad making coffee.
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Raymond had a busy day ahead of him.
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He needed to go to the bank to get an extension on his farm loan, and he also needed to work
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on the combine on top of all of the other farm chores.
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Sherry came into the kitchen and was putting on her shoes when Raymond asked her where
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she was going, and she replied, with you.
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Sherry and Raymond worked on the combine for a little bit and then rode around to check
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on some different crops.
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Finally, about 9am, the bank in Greenville would be open so Raymond and Sherry hopped
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in his red pickup truck and headed into town.
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About 9.30am, they pulled into a parking lot used by several businesses, including the
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First National Bank.
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Sherry didn't want to go into the bank since she was dusty from work on the farm that morning.
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As Raymond gets out of the pickup, he puts a dollar on the seat for Sherry to run to
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the gas station across the street and buy a soda.
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According to Raymond, he heard the passenger door open and close, but it is unclear if
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he saw Sherry walk across the street.
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Raymond was in the bank for about 15 minutes.
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When he headed back to his pickup truck, Sherry was nowhere to be seen.
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Raymond knew that Sherry was anxious to get back home so she could watch her favorite
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soap opera.
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Raymond starts looking for Sherry, walking around the streets, just peeking around, seeing
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if he could see her anywhere.
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And after about 25 minutes, he calls the Waffle House, which was nearby, and where Betty was
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working to see if Sherry had shown up there.
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But she hadn't.
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Since Sherry loved farming, she would often stop into farm supply shops just to look around.
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Raymond checked all of her favorite spots, but nobody had seen her.
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At 1146 A.M., Raymond reports Sherry missing.
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The Greenville police begin canvassing the area looking for Sherry.
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They don't believe she ran away as she had nothing with her.
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Police ask around and nobody saw anyone strange walking around Greenville that day.
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The next day, Thursday, June 7th, police begin calling all of Sherry's friends to see if
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any of them had heard from her or knew where she might be, but nobody has seen her.
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Police bring her photo to news stations to get her photo broadcast around Alabama in
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hopes that somebody will recognize her.
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Police continue to canvas the area around where Sherry was last seen, this parking lot
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in downtown Greenville.
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With no sign of Sherry, by Friday, June 8th, she had been missing for two days at this
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point, the Butler County Sheriff launched an airplane to help search for Sherry, but there
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was still no sign of her.
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Any thought that Sherry could have ran away was slowly diminished.
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Police say they usually track down runaways within a few days, but with each passing day
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and with each passing hour, there is no sign of her and police begin to worry more and
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more that foul play is involved.
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Sheriff Parker Worthington says, quote, We've also been riding the roads and talking with
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people everywhere, but we haven't had any luck.
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We're going to do all we can for as long as we can, end quote.
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The search continues quietly, but by July 16th, this is over a month now Sherry has
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been missing, police do believe that foul play is suspected.
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A $2,000 reward was raised for information leading to Sherry, but all of those tips have
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fizzled out.
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Police have interviewed dozens of people, but they have no suspects.
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Sherry's family believe that she was kidnapped.
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Her stepfather Raymond says, quote, I believe somebody took her.
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I think she's been kidnapped, end quote.
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Police have searched fields and woods for Sherry , but no sign of her and any tip that's
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called in, no matter how far fetched it is, is run down.
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Some hunters called the police because some buzzards are interested in an abandoned well.
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So police go and investigate looking for signs of Sherry, but all they end up finding are
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some dead snakes at the bottom of the well.
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A woman had a dream about a body being buried in a field, so they dug up several acres of
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this field looking for any sign, but no signs of Sherry.
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So they really are running down every lead according to the local news reports at this
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time.
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Sherry's family has contacted Child Find, which was a national agency that helped get
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information out about missing children.
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So through them, they're able to get Sherry's picture on billboards and posters around the
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country.
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Some tips do come in because of this, but they all fizzle out in the end.
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However, starting in October, Sherry has been missing for four months at this point.
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Police start to receive tips of sightings.
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Detective Ken Flowers says, quote, we still get tidbits, but nothing major.
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We've had possible sightings in northern states and some local information was brought
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to us just a few days ago, but nothing came of it.
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End quote.
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The sightings continue between October and December of that year.
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Three different callers from three different states in the South, Louisiana, Georgia, and
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Florida called police to report seeing Sherry with a man.
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All three witnesses kind of described the same guy.
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They describe him as a husky, five foot eight, fifties year old man that looked very weathered
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and had noticeable crow feet.
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All of the callers also said that the young woman who was with him seemed disheveled and
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the word that was used in the newspapers was ragamuffin.
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The caller from Georgia said that this young woman called the man BJ at a truck stop.
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Betty Stringfellow, Sherry's mom, said, quote, the man who reported her said that what made
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her so discernible was that she was so despondent and dazed looking.
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End quote.
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In April of 1986, Sherry has been missing for nearly two years at this point.
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Police still do not have any leads or suspects.
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Rumors have flown around Greenville, though, particularly around Sherry's family and her
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stepfather Raymond.
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Several people in town say they never even saw Sherry that day.
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An anonymous resident told the local newspaper, quote, that little girl never made it into
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town or else I would have seen her wherever she's at.
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She's dead.
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End quote.
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The family stands together and believe that none of them had anything to do with the disappearance
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of Sherry and they keep a united front.
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While police believe foul play is involved, they do believe that Sherry would have only
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gotten into a car with someone that she knew.
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And furthermore, nobody saw a stranger around Greenville that day.
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She disappeared.
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Greenville police captain Thomas Touchston says, quote, this is not like Birmingham or
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any other big city.
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If you was to see somebody you don't know, you'd find out quick who it is.
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End quote.
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And I think any of our listeners who have lived in a small town or experienced that
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kind of lifestyle know that in a small town, if somebody's there that you don't recognize,
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people really notice that you can't get away with just blending in like you can in a big
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city.
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So the residents of Greenville say that they did not see anybody out of the ordinary the
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day that Sherry disappeared, which kind of eliminates to a certain extent a stranger
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grabbing her off the streets randomly.
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The FBI originally looked into the case when it first happened back in 1984, but they withdrew
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when they couldn't find any solid evidence of a kidnapping.
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Police have asked Raymond and Sherry's family to take a polygraph test, to which he and
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the family refused.
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Raymond says, quote, why should we take a polygraph test when they don't even check
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out people who say they have seen Sherry?
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We haven't done anything we're ashamed of.
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We didn't do anything to prompt Sherry to run away.
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End quote.
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The police argue that the polygraph is just standard procedure since Raymond was the last
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person to see Sherry before she disappeared.
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And then after this in 1986, the case truly goes cold.
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Over the years, any time remains were found, especially in the southern states, that could
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be a match for Sherry.
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They were compared, but none of those remains ended up being Sherry.
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Sherry's family stays committed to bring her home.
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In 2003, Betty, Sherry's mom, says, quote, I wish I could see her again.
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Not a day goes by that I don't think of her.
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End quote.
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In 2005, police chief Lonzo Ingram told local media that he believes that Sherry was murdered
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the day she disappeared and that he has the suspect in mind, but he doubts that he'll
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ever be able to bring him to justice.
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In 2018, officials in South Carolina helped search for Sherry, although it was unclear
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if they were looking for a living person or for remains.
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In the newspaper report, Sherry had been seen in the St. Stephen area a year before she
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disappeared and then shortly after she disappeared, a sighting of her came in near that area.
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So that was really the last update I could find that was in 2018.
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And there is a Facebook group.
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It's called Sherry Lynn Marler Still Missing.
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And it has popped up and it is dedicated to bringing Sherry home for a proper burial.
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This group has their own theory about what has happened to Sherry.
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And just to give it a quick summary, they believe that Sherry was killed by somebody
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that she knows, but not somebody in her family.
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So not her stepfather, anybody else in her family.
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They believe that her body was fed to hogs and she disappeared on a hog farm ultimately.
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This Facebook group has done a ton of research and kind of their own investigation into it.
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If you're interested in learning more about what they have done, I totally recommend you
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check them out.
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But it does seem like the police are not interested in really working with these people from the
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Facebook group, not really interested in anything they find or anything they uncover in their
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investigation.
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So it's all very sad because ultimately there's a lot of energy around finding Sherry, but
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maybe the police aren't interested in harnessing that energy and that manpower that's kind
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of ready and willing to act.
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But to date, no suspect has ever been named in Sherry's case and no evidence has ever
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been found on what has happened to Sherry.
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So if you know anything about the disappearance of Sherry Lynn Marler in June of 1984 or her
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whereabouts today, please call the Greenville Police Department at 334-382-3107.
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And the sources for the timeline today come from the Montgomery Advertiser, Birmingham
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Post Herald, the Enterprise Ledger, the Selma Times Journal, the Dothan Eagle, the Greenville
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Advocate and the Facebook group Sherry Lynn Marler Still Missing.
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So that is the case of Sherry Lynn Marler.
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I'm always fascinated in these cases where it happens in broad daylight.
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You know, we've covered a couple cases where in the middle of the day, just a child goes
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missing and it's so hard to wrap my mind around that.
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I just know when I'm out, you know, in my everyday life, if I see a kid, I usually,
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you know, clock what they're doing.
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And if something seemed fishy, I would hope that I would notice that.
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You know, it's always a hope of mine in these cases that like a memory gets shaken loose
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and someone remembers, you know, seeing a car or seeing somebody strange on that specific
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day years ago.
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I know that it's very slim, slim to none that something like that would happen.
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But it's like, ugh, you can't help but just like wish there was like a device that can
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scan your brain of all the memories that you've ever had, anything your eyeballs have ever
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seen like a big database.
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Wouldn't that be helpful?
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Maybe kind of horrifying, but could be helpful in these circumstances, right?
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And then it's always such a mystery to me when, you know, it's a short amount of time,
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you know, is roughly 15 minutes from when Sherry was last seen by her stepfather Raymond
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to when he's back at the car and kind of notices that she's gone.
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So like that short timeframe for a child to go missing.
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Nightmare.
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It's every parent's nightmare.
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You know, you think you can leave them alone for five, 10 minutes.
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Here is Sherry, a 12 year old just running across the street to another store to get
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a soft drink, a Coca Cola, and she disappears.
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I have a lot of questions in this case, as I'm sure a lot of you listeners do.
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I can't help but really want to know about the suspects.
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You know, the in 2005, I believe it was the police chief says that, you know, he had a
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suspect in mind, but he didn't think he'd be able to bring the guy to justice.
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And that's really the only hint we get is, you know, he uses him in, you know, whenever
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he's describing this person.
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So it's it's a man.
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It seems like it's one person.
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But that's really all we get as far as a clue as to who this person could be.
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I do think that, you know, it makes sense what the police were saying that Sherry most
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likely knew this person.
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So I think that does make sense that Sherry, you know, could have hopped in the car with
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somebody.
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Somebody could have said, hey, your dad told me to come and grab you.
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You know, there's a lot of ways that an adult who is trusted by a child can misuse that
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trust and abuse that trust and get them in the car without having to force them, cause
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a big scene, physically interact with them.
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You know, it's it's really sad.
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But that's what we see in a lot of child abduction cases is that it is somebody that the person
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knows.
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I do think that tracks for this case as well.
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And I'm also very curious about these sightings that kind of come in for years, sort of after
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Sherry goes missing, her being seen kind of around the southern United States, but also
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a couple of reports from more northern states as well come in that she was reported with
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this man.
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And all of the callers describe the same person or a very similar person, which that's just
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not something that I hear a lot about in these missing person cases.
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Usually if there's a sighting, you know, it's unconfirmed.
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And I should say that these are also unconfirmed sightings of Sherry.
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But what makes them stand out in my mind is that the callers all describe a similar person.
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In past cases, you know, it might change how many adults the person's with, like the description
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of who they're with, the description of them.
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But the description of Sherry kind of stays the same.
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You know, she's disheveled, she's dazed and kind of out of it.
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And the descriptions of the man all kind of hold up.
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So that's one thing that seemed to have some steam for a while as a possible answer to
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what happened to Sherry.
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Like, could this be a trucker, for instance?
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It seemed like it was at a lot of truck stops that she was spotted at.
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So you know, could a trucker have gotten her in a truck and taken her around?
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I would be curious to know if police were ever able to rule that out completely.
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You know, were they ever able to find these two or this girl that matched Sherry's description?
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It's something that just kind of falls off.
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And I also just want to address because, you know, there were a lot of rumors around this,
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but it does seem like the police also said over the years that her stepfather and the
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family had nothing to do with it.
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But they did refuse a polygraph test, which knowing what we know about polygraph tests,
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I don't know if that really means anything.
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Of course, in 1984, 1985, like maybe they held more gravity and, you know, it meant
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more.
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But today, if somebody refused a polygraph test, I don't necessarily think that person
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is guilty or trying to hide something.
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As always, I'm hopeful that we can get some answers on what happened to Sherry.
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It just never sits well with me when a child goes missing with no trace.
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Like that just seems as a society, like we need answers for every missing person, but
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especially like we need to answer for why a child didn't reach adulthood.
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Like I think as a society, we need to have those answers and we don't have them here.
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So again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Sherry Lynn Marler in June of 1984 or her
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whereabouts today, please call the Greenfield Police Department at 334-382-3107.
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And while I have your ear for just one more second, if you could please rate us and review
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us.
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It really helps others find this podcast.
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It feeds that algorithm machine.
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So whatever platform you're on, if you could give us a thumbs up, a five stars, whatever
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the metric is.
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Thank you so much.
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If you're in Apple podcasts, leaving us a written review helps immensely.
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So if you have just a couple seconds to do that, even just some fire flame emojis will
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make my day.
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If you have a second, I really would appreciate it.
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So thank you.
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And please follow us on Instagram.
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You know, last week we had a bit of a disrupted schedule because of, you know, what was happening
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in Eli and I's personal life with his mother passing.
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So if there's ever going to be a delay in an episode or if it's going to come out on
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a different day of the week, we post that over on Instagram.
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So please follow us there if you're not already.
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We also will be posting pictures of Sherry this week, along with, you know, other cases
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that are happening around the country in real time.
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So all of that information is over there.
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If you or someone you love is hard of hearing, we have transcripts up on our website.
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All our episodes are up there.
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We have additional pictures.
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We have blog posts.
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We have more information about Eli and I.
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If you don't have Apple podcasts and you want to write us a written review, you can do that
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over on our website.
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It's all there.
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If you want to reach out to us, you can do that there too.
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If you want to leave a tip, donate to the podcast because you enjoy the content that
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you're getting and you appreciate what we're doing.
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All of that can be found there.
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And that's all I have.
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So thank you for listening to Cold and Missing.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Zulkowski.
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Have a great week and stay safe, y'all.
