Hope for Ali Lowitzer- Missing from TX since 2010

S3/Ep3- Hope for Ali; Alexandria Joy Lowitzer Part 1

Tonight on True Crime with Tiff Kline

I had the pleasure of speaking with Jo Ann Davis Lowitzer . 

Tonight she shared her journey on trying to find her daughter Ali, missing since 2010 from Texas

Jo Ann gives us an insight on who Ali was- what she enjoyed- and what Ali gave to the world. 

We learn about the family dynamic, where and when she was last seen, the details leading up to Ali’s disappearance, how the police failed Ali, how the media can play a better role in missing persons cases, and how we as a whole can work together to help Ali and others. 

Someone knows something. 

This was a very emotional episode, but was an honor -  stay tuned for part 2. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hi all, this is true crime with Tiff Klein, giving criminals the disrespect they deserve. Tonight I have a very special guest on my show, Miss Joanne Lowitzer. You may recognize her if you go to Crime Con. She had a daughter, Allie, who went missing in 2010. And she's on my podcast tonight to tell us who Allie was and to tell us the story of Allie, what happened, where where she's at with the case today. And I don't want to talk for her, so I'm going to let her tell the story. She is a phenomenal woman. She's such a light. I am so grateful that I got to meet her this year at CrimeCon Vegas. She was set up with pictures of Allie everywhere. And the first thing I noticed about Allie in Denver was her eyes, piercing, beautiful eyes. And something kept drawing me to her. So I put her photo up on my wall at home in my office. And she was actually right in the middle of all my crime con stuff hanging up. And that was one thing my mom said when she met Joanne at CrimeCon. She immediately recognized Allie in her eyes and said she was beautiful. And if you see her photo, I know you'll feel the same way. I can't wait to learn more about Allie and things that she accomplished, things that she wanted to accomplish, and just who she was. We have to remember cold cases aren't dead cases, and cold cases aren't just cases. These are people. This is real life. They are people, they were people. And keep that, you know, the forefront of your mind. And we're we're here tonight to talk about Allie and raise awareness on what happened. And if you know something, please say something. But um we may have another guest joining us shortly, Anna from the Kitchen Research Table. So she will be chiming in at some point. And without further ado, Miss Joanne, I will let you start. And again, thank you for joining me on my podcast tonight.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Well, thank you for inviting me. It w it was my pleasure also to meet you in person. And I can tell just from your other podcasts and from your social media posts that you are you're just a a real down-to-earth person and want to bring awareness to cases like my daughter's. And it's very much appreciated by families like mine. You're very welcome.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I just appreciate you talking because again, I've seen Allie, but I want to know Allie. But yeah, if you want to start us off and just, you know, go back to the beginning or tell us where you're at now, you you can start wherever you'd like.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Okay. Well, I guess uh let's start off by just giving you basically what happened. April 26th of 2010, it was a typical Monday. And that morning, Allie, it was a Monday morning, and I was getting ready for work and trying to wake Allie up to for her to get ready for school. And uh the the usual, you know, she waited till the last minute, you know, threw on her clothes and ran out the to ran out the door, you know, to go to the bus. And I didn't see what she had on that day because I was getting myself ready for work. And she just said, bye, you know, going to the bus and ran out the door. And the only thing that was different that day is uh she texted me from school throughout the day, and she wasn't supposed to be doing that, but I mean, what kids didn't do that that had a cell phone? She at first she was asking if she could stay after school to uh to make up some work with one of her teachers. And, you know, I was my concern was if she wasn't gonna ride the bus home, how was she gonna get home? Would she uh be there till five o'clock until I got off work and I came and picked her up? Or were there other kids, you know, that were also staying after school where they could give her a ride home? So it was a like a logistical problem, yeah, or concern, I guess. And uh and then she texted back and said that no, that's not gonna happen because that teacher can't stay after school. So I'm like, okay, you know, I'll just I'll see you at home then. And a little while later, she asked me if she could walk to work after school to go pick up her paycheck. And I said, no, just wait till I get home. You know, back then I worked until five o'clock, and typically I'd get home around 520, 5:30. And she was like, Well, I w also want to see if I can work, you know, please. You know, she started begging at the time. And I'm like, no, just wait till I get home, you know, because normally my mother would be over here at my house and would have uh taken her up to work with no problem. But that day my mom was in Pasadena with a couple of her girlfriends uh visiting, so she wasn't able to be at my house after school. So, you know, I told Allie to just wait until I got home and I would take her to go pick up her paycheck. And and she just begged and begged and begged, you know, because she also wanted to work. And the she worked at, she had it was her very first job. She had just turned 16 that February, and this was April, and she had two other paychecks, but one of them had bounced. So Allie's dad, John, had to have a quote unquote talk w with the owner of the burger barn, you know, after we had to pay fees at the bank and all that stuff for a bounce check. And so Allie was she was very adamant about picking up her paycheck. And, you know, after after much, much begging and texting and calling and all kinds of stuff, I I finally gave in and and I told her, okay. And she said, I promise I'll be careful, I'll go straight there, I'll text you and let you know if I'm gonna work or if I'm just gonna pick up my paycheck. And, you know, so we set plans that she was gonna walk up there, go straight there, and uh, you know, and pr probably work. And I got home and I hadn't heard from her yet, which I thought was kind of strange, uh, because she told me that she would text me whenever she got there. And it's only is like less than a quarter of a mile walk from my house to the burger barn. And it's basically a straight shot. You come out of the neighborhood, you walk down one street, and then she would have hooked a left into a shopping strip and walked in front of several businesses, and that's where the burger barn was. And yeah, it uh I know kind of rambling on.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

No, no, it's fine. So you said she was she wanted to go to work, it was less than a quarter of a mile. Um, it was a straight, straight path, and she got to work. Well, at least you thought she got to work, and you never heard from her after that last conversation that she would check in when she got there.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Yeah. So I got home from work and I hadn't heard from her, and I thought it was really strange. So I sent her a text message. And, you know, basically uh it's been 16 years, so it the exact uh wording is is not uh gonna be spot on, but you know, basically that you know, you're not here, I hadn't heard from you, so I'm guessing that you got to work and you know, let me know when you get off and I'll come pick you up. And what time was that around? That was probably about 5 30. And uh, you know, I I didn't really know, you know, if because if if she she was working, then she was cooking, you know, because when she would come home from work, she'd smell like hamburgers and french fries. And uh, you know, she said that uh she she loved to cook. Um but I I didn't hear back from her. So in the back of my mind, I was assuming that she was at work and she was cooking and wasn't able to uh stop and text me. And so some more time went by and yeah, I texted her again uh because you know, again, I it was kind of strange that I hadn't heard anything back from her. And that's that's when I just started uh just having a funny feeling because that is very much not like her to not respond because she was always on her phone. And uh, you know, so my instinct was, you know, that's there's something wrong. But um, you know, I pushed it down and pushed it down and deep inside of me, and I'm like, no, she's just busy. And, you know, so I texted her again and no answer. And so finally it was before nine o'clock because I remember in the past, she would typically they would close down at around nine o'clock and clean up, and then I would I would go pick her up. So I decided it was like 10 minutes till nine, I think. I decided to drive up there. And when I pulled in front of the restaurant, the lights were out and there was nobody there.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

And that's when, you know, my mind started uh thinking all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

I I I just couldn't imagine that feeling because you had the feeling the whole time, and then it kind of confirmed your intuition. And I I would like it just seems like from everything you said, the whole day didn't go as it usually does, from her taking a walk to work for the first time, your mom not being home, her not answering her phone, and then you're met with the lights off. That must have been terrifying.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

It was it it was terrifying because you know, that from from the minute that I had that feeling inside, you know, I tried to to stop myself from feeling that way, you know. Just, you know, tr telling myself that, you know, no, there's nothing wrong, you know, that she's just busy, you know, I I'm not gonna be that crazy mom that, you know, things said, you know, something bad has happened and uh something bad did happen.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

What was um what was the first thing you did when you got to the restaurant and realized they were closed? Like was there did you immediately call somebody or try to call her again? Like what what was your first reaction?

SPEAKER_03 9:57

You know what? I I don't remember if I tried to call her phone or not.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

I always go to the memory of calling her dad. And, you know, I I call him and you know, of course I'm already crying because, you know, she's not where she's she said she was gonna be.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

And, you know, of course he's he's thinking that I'm the the tip typical overreacting female and you know, calm trying to calm me down and you know, trying to make me think, you know, rational things.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

And you know, my gut was still, you know, it my gut was still telling me things and and I didn't want to believe it. You know, because yeah, things like that only happen in the movies, you know, or on TV. And it doesn't happen in real life, you know, that you get somewhere and you you can't find your child. And um so I didn't want to believe that that was really happening. And uh, you know, so I I talked to John and you know, we agreed that uh sh maybe she went to work to pick up her paycheck and got it or did not get it, and then decided to maybe walk to her boyfriend's house. And uh so I drove over to his house and I remembered where he uh lived because I had just taken him home the day before. And it it wasn't too terribly far, but I just felt like it was too far that she would want to have walked.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

And uh Is that something she would have normally done? Like has she walked there before, or would she have told you that she was heading there?

SPEAKER_03 11:27

No, she had never walked to his house before. He was in a completely different neighborhood. There there was a connecting street, but it was uh a four-lane street, and you know, she would have had to cross over to that and and walk down. So and you know, she was a typical teenager.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

She didn't want to really walk, you know, a lot of places. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

So I go I his name was DJ, so I I go up to DJ's house and his mom answered the door, and you know, I told her uh what was going on, and DJ said that he had also been trying to call and text Allie and there was no response. And um, you know, so they invited me inside and we were trying to figure out, you know, what where could she be, basically.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

And so is this was this like a first occurrence where she it was the first time she's never not checked in with you? Yes. Okay. So I mean, obviously that's your intuition red flag. Of course, you're gonna immediately think that I would too. I think any mother would, especially if it's so out of character of her. And r you know, that day, did you ever talk to any of her friends? Did did they see anything? Did they see her talking to anybody, texting anybody? Was she was she acting differently at school leading up to this? Was any anything like that going on?

SPEAKER_03 12:50

Well, you gotta think about it it was nine o'clock on a school night. So that night, you know, I had all kinds of questions and no answers. But, you know, because it was so late, I I didn't want to, you know, go knocking on everybody's door. But there was a couple of friend houses that I did go to, but they were like way there would be no way that she could walk there. Um, but they said that uh they hadn't heard from her and you know, also said that they would kind of, you know, call call the other kids and you know, see if anybody else had seen her or heard from her. But I ended up going home and by the time I got home, uh Mason was there. Mason was home as Allie's older brother, and John was there. So uh Mason got some of his friends and they went driving around the neighborhoods to see if they could see her walking around. And then and then me and John also uh went riding around to see if we could see her and go by some of her friends' house. And by the time we all got home, you know, nobody nobody knew anything. And uh it was just before midnight, and me and John decided to call and report her missing. And so we live in Harris County in Texas, and it's the largest county in Texas. So the way our law enforcement works is it's broken up into precincts. So we live in precinct four. So we called the precinct four sheriff's office, and one of the female deputies came to the house, and you know, we let her in, we spoke for a few minutes. She asked if she could see Allie's room. I mean, she just stepped one foot into Allie's room just for not probably not even a full minute, and then turned around and walked out. And that from that moment I feel like she was profiled and yeah. So, I mean, the lady didn't even take a report or anything. You know, she Yeah. She walked towards the front door and she's like, Yeah, y y'all probably had a fight and she's with a friend cooling off somewhere, and I'm like, No, we didn't have a fight. You know, it's it it this is not typical of her. She has never been not where she says she's gonna be. And um, you know, she's she said, Well, you know, just call us tomorrow when she comes home.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Yeah. And uh I'm like, what do we do if she doesn't come home? And you know, she was like, Well, just call us tomorrow. So so that that began the the 16 years of trouble with law enforcement.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

I'm so sorry. That you know, I would I I had my own issues with it, and it this isn't about me, but I I from my own troubles with law enforcement, acting like they don't care, to treat you like that and to profile and to not care that a minor that is acting out of character didn't come home, nobody knows where she's at, hasn't heard from her, and she just walks out like, Oh, call me tomorrow. Like she just assumes she'll be back, just basically assumed she probably ran away and didn't even take a report, Joanne.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Yeah, yeah, didn't even write anything down. Yeah, I I and it and when I say profiled, I I mean uh, you know, like a typical female teenager. Um, you know, because Allie, like me, was very artistic. Uh-huh. And I and I struggle saying was and is. So so if I go back and forth on that, that's it's a struggle for me because you know, I can understand that. I don't know what happened. Uh-huh. But we um we were we're both very artistic. We love to create things. And um, after me and her father split up, we painted her room. So she wanted to paint her room all black, and I told her there is no way I'm going to do so. We did we decided and agreed on black and then uh green, which one of her favorite colors was green. The other favorite color was purple. So we painted over the purple and we did two black walls and then two green walls, which she called slime green. So if you think of Nickelodeon green, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

That's what color my room was in high school. It was it was that color.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Yeah, and I mean it turned out beautiful. I I was completely shocked, but and then she wanted, she talked me into um, you know, of course, her her favorite store back then was Hot Topic.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

And, you know, I would typically typically uh take her and her friends to the mall and she talked me into getting uh day glow or glow in the dark uh paint pens. And um, you know, I I knew what she was gonna do with it. And um, you know, I told myself, it's just paint. We can paint over it, you know. So when they were all said and done, you know, all of her friends had a drone, you know, drew a small picture or their name or, you know, something on Allie's walls. And, you know, looking back at it now, you know, I'm I'm so thankful that I let her do that because I had that piece of her after she went missing, you know, because that was that was her.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

So it was like it was kind of like a it represented who she was, artsy, fun. And her friends, you know, I'm sure they they wrote messages to her about how much they loved her about her favorite memories, things like that. So it's almost a I don't want to say scrapbook, but a representation of her and her life. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So did did she draw all over the walls? Like was she a big like did she make murals or anything, or was it more like graffiti style?

SPEAKER_03 18:39

It was more graffiti style. There was uh there was a a footprint, I guess. Uh well not foot, I guess a shoe print, I should say. She had taken one of her vans and uh put paint on the bottom of it and stamped her shoe on the wall.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

She used to sing a song about uh cupcakes, and uh one of her friends uh it it's that's the only piece that that I left before painting over it just a few years ago. But uh there's there was a really cute image of a cupcake, and and it I can't remember what it says now, but yeah, there's a cupcake, and then they're uh do you remember Invader Zim?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

So her favorite character was Gur, which I have him tattooed on my arm. So uh she drew several images of Gur on the wall, and then she loved McDonald's, so she had thumbtacked an empty French fry holder onto the wall, and then said some wrote something silly, you know, on the wall next to that. And uh she painted her uh light switch plate, uh, which I still have that. She painted it black with some glittery skulls on it. Sounds like I would really get along with Allie.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Look at this. This is all the stuff I would I would do. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Yeah. Yeah. So and she even uh did something on the ceiling. And when I saw something on the ceiling, I'm like, uh I said, don't do anything else on the ceiling. I said, please keep it on the walls.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

What made you eventually paint over that?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Was it I mean, I obviously it was hard for you, but what made you come to that uh decision?

SPEAKER_03 20:24

It was very hard to paint over it. Actually, my son has a family now. You know, I have a grandson, and uh during COVID, they both they both lost their jobs. Uh he was living in Seattle at the time, and he worked at a grocery store, and his girlfriend uh was a bartender, and they both lost their jobs. And I guess my grandson was probably not quite quite two years old at the time. You know, I was trying to send them as much money as I could, you know, to pay their bills. And finally I told them, I'm like, you know what, I have an extra bedroom. You know, I said, if y'all want to move down here, you're more than welcome. And, you know, after much on their end, you know, they they agreed. And so I ended up getting Allie's room ready for my grandson. So I I pulled up the carpet, and that was the only carpet in the house that I had not replaced yet. Uh, because when when me and John bought this house in the year 2000, the carpet was already 25 years old.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Yeah. And it was that ugly, uh like patchy brown color. And except in bedrooms, it was gray, but I had replaced the carpet uh, I guess maybe uh a year after Allie went missing, but I didn't replace her carpet because law enforcement kept telling me that they were gonna come and do forensics in her bedroom, and they never did. Finally I just said, F it, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna pull up the carpet and put down a nice floor. Uh so I did that. I even kept That carpet for a long time and I told them, you know, I said, I'm replacing the carpet. You know, it it it's in my garage. If you want to come pick it up, you can do whatever you want to with it, and they never did. And to this day they never did? Nope. No, they never did. Yeah. And uh so I it it took two coats of paint, but I did paint over the walls, and I had to paint the ceiling. I even had to paint the ceiling fan because she had even used the the paint pens on the ceiling fan. But I I painted over all of it except for the the one little section where the cupcake was painted. And I took a a big empty picture frame and hung that on the wall where it looks like a picture on the wall. It's actually, you know, part of the original painting.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

So I see that that is the typical teenage room. And I always wanted to do that. That's why I said I probably would have got along with her because I always wanted a room that I could just take paint and just slash it against the walls and just let it stick. So I I was artsy like that. And I loved hot topics. So I get I get what was going through her head when she was doing that. And I love that her room was this lime green because I I'm the only other person, and I'm not just saying this, that I ever known that their room was that color. And I begged my mom and dad to let me do it, and then I could never sleep, and she's my mom would be like, Well, maybe if you didn't have lime green walls. So maybe if you I love that. I love that part of it. It's awesome. We're actually wearing a lime green shirt right now, and I didn't even put two and two together today when I went to my closet. So that's very odd. But um, so they never came in. I I just gotta back up here because that just made my mouth drop. They never got the car up to this day. Do you still have it?

SPEAKER_03 23:38

No, I don't have it.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

I was like, I just it it so you're what I'm gathering just from the little bit of information you told me about the law enforcement, they didn't do anything.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

They just let things sit and wait and they did things. So let me kind of give you a a rundown with with law enforcement. So because the precinct is so or because the Harris Harris County is so big, you know, of course, there's different divisions. You know, we started off with just precinct four, you know, they're the the basic sheriff's office. And then after Allie went missing, you know, we kept begging and begging for more help. So they moved the case over to the Harris County Runaway Division. And they had it for a little bit. And when we felt like they did all that they could, you know, we we begged and pushed for even more help. And they said, well, you know, we can't do, you know, forensics on computers, and we can't do things with, you know, certain uh cell phone information, you know, but the homicide department can. And we're like, yes, please, you know, let's let's get them to come in and and do what you guys can't. So so we we were really happy when we were told that the homicide department's gonna step in and and come back.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

How long did it take how long did it take for them to step in though? Like from the time Allie went missing until they stepped in?

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Uh it was less I would say less than a month.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

So but we were already doing we already had a organization called the the Laura Recovery Center. They were already doing ground searches and you know, knocking door to door, they already had Nick Mick involved. Um, you know, we were running and gunning basically with uh searches and doing everything that we could to to find Allie. And when the homicide department came in, all of that stopped because they had to investigate us first. And the it frankly, it it pissed me off because we were we were stopped, basically. It's like, why, you know, why do you need us to go and have polygraphs, you know, when we need to be out there looking for Allie? Why aren't you looking for Allie? You know? So we were, you know, when I say we, I mean the the family, me, Mason, John, extended family members, everybody that was close to us. Well, we were all questioned.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Me and John was her boyfriend and her friends too.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Yeah, yeah. Yep, co-workers, um schoolmates, yeah, they were all questioned. And yeah, me, me, Mason, and John, we were all polygraphed. And I have no problem saying that I failed the polygraph twice.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Well, it's not the first time I've heard that, so Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

And, you know, after after finally passing it, you know, I I walked out of the the office where I had to go do that, and the detective, one of the d the detective one of the detectives was waiting for me, which I didn't know he was there. Uh, he said, I knew you could do it. And and I'm just thinking to myself, I don't know if you cuss on your show or not, but I'm like, Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

See, yeah, there's no filter on the show.

SPEAKER_03 26:53

You know, I I'm just like, what the fuck? You know, you put me through torture just to tell me you knew I could pass it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

It's kind of weird for him to just be like, Oh, I knew you could do it. Like, did he like what was it a game? Like, I I don't it just sounds like, oh, we'll just make her go through this multiple times. She'll eventually pass, but you know, was is it f is it following protocol or is it just they gave you the benefit of the doubt and was like she'll eventually pass? Like uh Well, come to find out, it was protocol.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

They well, uh at least that's what I was told. And I was told that the family has to be investigated and cleared first. And I understand that now, but back then it felt like a game. It did. Uh, because, you know, to be asked the questions that they asked me, you know, like do you have any knowledge of, you know, your daughter being murdered? Did you in any way harm your daughter? You know, do you have any knowledge of anyone else harming your daughter? You know, you know, it all had to do with asking me questions if I knew if Allie was killed or not. And I mean, to be asked those questions as her mom, I can only imagine what they were asking John and Mason.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah, I think I know what you're getting at, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Yeah, and you know, both both John and Mason had to go downtown to be spoken to by law enforcement. You know, me, they did it at we were we were staging the searches at a local church. And uh, you know, I just I was taken inside the church and questioned. And yeah, so I mean that just I n I know it destroyed me, but to see my son and my husband go through that, you know, it broke my heart.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Oh, I couldn't I'm so sorry. But I mean, again, I I do understand it's protocol, they start with the family and they have to clear everybody, but that doesn't excuse making you feel like you're to blame or it's a gain to them and it's not being taken seriously, and they're not sitting back realizing that these questions are also causing you guys trauma.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

Yeah, yeah. I mean uh and you know, clearly it still upsets me, you know, today.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

But, you know, it's it's even hard for me to talk to John and Mason, you know, about uh what happened on those days.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

And you know, it's like it's that unspoken, you know, thing that that we don't talk about.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

It was talked about once and doesn't need to be, you know, brought back up for more pain. I I get that. Was was Allie very close with her dad and brother?

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Yeah. Yeah, she was. So uh a little bit of history on that, you know, Mason and Allie had the typical, you know, little sister, big brother relationship where if, you know, he didn't include her in on things uh, you know, like the video games and the toys and all that other stuff, you know, she was gonna bug the hell out of him.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

We have four brothers, I know. And you know, John uh John was, you know, the the apple of Allie's eye. And when the when we split up the year and a half before Allie went missing, um, you know, she she needed therapy to be able to, you know, handle her emotions.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

And you know, okay, so you guys split up before Allie went missing, not after.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

Correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

I didn't know that, so that's why I asked.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Yeah. Yeah, we didn't uh we didn't get a divorce until uh gosh, probably maybe like an entire year after Allie went missing. Okay. But, you know, that's one thing we've always been united on, you know, were the kids. And um, you know, to this day, you know, we're we're still friends. And, you know, when it comes to finding Allie and and doing things with law enforcement, you know, stuff like that, you know, we're we're still united on that. And that means a lot to me because, you know, a a lot of couples, it can it destroys them.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Yes. That's why I asked um to get clarification for our listeners, because I is it I was gonna bring that up. It does drive couples apart, unfortunately. And that's i I couldn't imagine how much worse it would have been, you know, if you guys, you know, you were making the decision, but if you would have waited it out and then this, you know, Allie went missing and it just I'm sorry. That just that's terrible. So she was close with her brother and close with her dad, she was close with you. Would she would you say she was more of a mama's girl or a daddy's girl?

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Oh, daddy's girl, definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

What you know, and I I know you I don't know if you speak for your husband, but what was his reaction to all of this? You know, aside from yours, were you guys, you know, basically a team feeling the same way, or was he more, you know, internalizing it and supporting you, or was he out also doing what you're doing?

SPEAKER_03 31:53

It's it's kind of changed and evolved. So at the beginning, um, you know, I was a complete basket case. You know, I and uh I'm I'm a very shy person. And, you know, I'm the type of person, you know, where I could have cared less if anybody ever noticed that I was in a room, you know. I I grew up uh chunky and overweight and shy. And, you know, John, on the other hand, uh was very outgoing, very outspoken, uh, you know, basically not afraid to do anything. You know, if he wanted to go skydiving, I I watched him. I didn't go skydiving. And uh so, you know, when when Allie went missing, he was the driving force, you know, as far as the the family went, you know, he he spoke to law enforcement and you know, he made decisions and you know, he was my rock. And I guess it was a good six months maybe into Allie being missing. Uh, you know, I went to him one day and I'm like, you know, well, uh, have you heard back from law enforcement or, you know, what's what's happening with this or what's happening with that? And you know, I noticed that I I wasn't getting, you know, a lot of answers anymore. You know, I would get, you know, like, well, like, no, I haven't called them, you know, or I don't know, you know, stuff like that. And it took me a little while, but you know, I noticed that or I guess I, you know, in my mind, I'm like, okay, you know, what's what's going on? And he started taking steps back from the investigation. And so I guess when I wasn't getting the answers that I was asking uh the questions to, I had to end up doing it myself. I'm like, okay, well, I guess I'm gonna have to start asking. And uh started doing things and asking questions and making things happen. And all of a sudden, you know, it was me that was doing everything and he wasn't doing anything. So it's kind of like a complete role reversal. And I guess I just kind of ran with it and uh I think I pissed him off at one point.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

Do you think he bought do you think he backed off because it was hard for him to keep hitting a brick wall, or it was just causing him more pain and suffering, and then being met with silence, he basically just said, What's the point? Or was he just letting things come as they were gonna come?

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Uh it it it took me a while to figure that out, but he told me that he started seeing a therapist and that he was really he he admitted to me that he was really having a hard time. And so I had to take a step back myself and figure out what to do.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

If he's not gonna do it, do I do it, do I not do it? And, you know, some things that I would do and some things I wouldn't do. But uh, you know, I started doing things and you know, I would always try to come to him and ask him, you know, what do you think about this, or should we do this, or should we do that? And I still wasn't getting the answers that I wanted. So and and I completely get this, but I started making all the decisions without asking him. And and that caused a problem, you know, because he's like, Well, why didn't you talk to me about this first? You know, I don't remember the examples, but and I'm like, Well, you know, I'm sorry, you know, I went ahead and made the decision.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

And I mean, you were already being met with silence from law enforcement. Now you were kind of getting met with silence from him. So you're like, I have to I have to do this. Nobody else is doing this, and uh it's up to me. And like that's a lot to put on yourself.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

Yeah, yeah. I mean, uh I feel like if if I didn't do it back then, I wouldn't be where I am right now. You know, I wouldn't be going to crime con. I wouldn't have, you know, established all of these special dates for Allie and other missing persons, and you know, talking to government officials and talking to you on a podcast, you know. There would be no way in hell that I would be talking on podcasts back then.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

And it seems like every single day you were doing something, saying something, helping somebody, but focusing on Ali every single day. And I'm just astounded, and you should be very proud of yourself because a lot of people would give up. A lot of people would be defeated, and you just keep going. You're like the energizer bunny. I think I've been watching you for a year now and you know, getting to know you, and there's going to come a time, Joanne, where you get something. And I I think from the conversation we had at CrimeCon, you said there there was maybe one lead that came in or something, and they were looking into it, but nothing has really came about after all these years, and you have nothing to go off of except just keeping her face out there for everybody and keeping her name out there and hoping that you get some kind of answer and you find her one way or the other. But it's just every single day I could not imagine waking up and just still not knowing with anything to go off of.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

Well, it I mean, that's it's I know it's kind of uh a cliche, but it's literally a parents forced nightmare. And and exactly everything that you just said. I mean, I I eat, I breathe, I sleep, Ali. And, you know, if if there are are other families out there that I can help on this journey, I call it a journey because I can continue, you know, then I'm gonna do it. And why not why not try to help somebody else? You know, and I've come across families that basically tell me, you know, well, I can't do what you do. And, you know, I've even had a family tell me, well, my therapist told me, you know, not not to do this anymore because it's too stressful. And I'm like, well, I I understand that. I said, but I'm gonna keep doing it.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

Yeah. Yeah, everybody's different. Everybody can handle what they can handle, and that's it. And there's no right or wrong. Um, but I think the type of person you are for you and Allie, your mother, you know, and you're every single day. She's still your daughter. And you're doing ever I mean, you're doing everything you possibly can, Joanne. Like, I don't think there's anything that you're like, oh shit, I should have done this. Like, and do you're just strong? And I've talked to a lot of families. I mean, as of you have, you've talked way more than I have, but you know, my mom would, there's no way. And I'm not saying she's not capable of it, but she it would just break her down so bad that she wouldn't be able to find that strength that you have to. And I'm not talking, you know, beneath my mother. It's just she would be so empty and she wouldn't find the with like the strength to go on because we are her world. But Ellie's your world, and some people take trauma, pain, and they just process it differently. And some people think, oh, well, I'm not trying enough or I'm not doing enough. Nobody knows how you feel. And it doesn't mean that someone's not doing enough or you're doing too much. It's you're all you can only do what you can do as a as a person. And I don't think anybody could sit back and say you didn't try hard enough. I you know, my mom would, you know, eventually push through and and do what she had to do to find us, but I I just think there's different, you know, depending on what you've been through in life, how you handle things, how you react to things. If it was me, I just think my mom would, you know, they say you when you die of broken heart syndrome, I feel like that would would would happen. And you're absolutely like I'm just impressed with you because it's how you get up to get up every day and do this.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

It's well, well, uh the the way I look at it is if I were to find Allie tomorrow, I wouldn't want her to know that I gave up.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

And that's that's what keeps me going. And you know, I have I have mentors that I look up to, you know, uh Tim Miller with Texas Echo Search, you know, he says, what's his motto? Uh oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 39:46

He always he says something about his daughter Laura. It's like d something like don't do it for me, don't do it for Laura, or you know, and he also says that, you know, I I just can't do this anymore. He says, I'm getting too old, it's too I'm too stressful. And, you know, and then he then he says that, you know, I always hear Laura's voice, you know, telling me not to give up.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

So, you know, I kind of I take that and imagine, you know, if it were, you know, well, I can't imagine I am in those shoes, but you know, if it if it were Allie, you know, what would Allie, you know, say tomorrow if she came home and you know, she found out that I gave up on finding her, you know, I I would be crushed, you know, because if that was me, you know, I wouldn't want somebody to give up on me, you know, finding me.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

So exactly. And I I I think it's safe to say that I don't think you ever have to worry about her ever wondering or thinking that you didn't do anything. No matter what answers you get, no matter where she's at, she knows. So I think, you know, you're just doing I think it's instinctual. I I don't have kids, but as a mother, it's just the driving force. You're still protecting your daughter. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So w tell me a little bit about what what did you think, if you don't mind me asking, what did you think happened since the beginning? What was your first instinct of, you know, what happened that day, what happened over time, what may have happened and still happening, or do you have any leads or information that has driven you down one path more than another?

SPEAKER_03 41:21

Well, everything, every tip that comes in, you know, takes me down a different path. You know, but since that very first night, I mean, I my gut told me something was wrong. You know, I just couldn't is it's hard to explain because, you know, every every imaginable scenario went through my mind, you know, uh in those first several months. And, you know, people would come to me and they're like, Well, you know, have you done this or have you do you think this? Or, you know, like, do you think she was trafficked? Do you think ran away? Do you think um somebody took her? You know, do you think, you know, I mean, all kinds of questions. And as soon as somebody would ask me something new, you know, that was stuck in my head.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Of course.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

And uh it was like a just a tornado of of things swirling around. But you know, the the one thing that I always come back to is I know she didn't leave on her own. And I know that uh somebody took her. But I mean, we've for the first several years we looked into trafficking, we've been to uh different states, we we even had a uh a TV show approach us called Last Seen Alive. At the time we were working on tips.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

Why why weren't there tips in Ohio?

SPEAKER_03 42:49

We had people um, you know, because back then uh Facebook was like the it uh social media and we had I think we had done a show called Nightline and somebody called in a tip saying that that they thought that they saw her in Ohio and at Columbus, Ohio. And what they told us would just it was too coincidental, you know, that uh this girl went by Ally Cat and said she was from Texas, and you know, she had uh a chicken spot a chicken pox scar between her eyes and you know, all this other different things that were like, oh my god, you know, that's that's just too much uh simulator, you know, to our alley. We have to go and look into it. And so the the TV crew, you know, followed us down there, and our private investigator at the time, Amber, was with us and she was working with local law enforcement on this tip. And eventually they did, after we were done filming, of course, they did uh end up arresting the the girl that everybody was calling Allie Cass. And she looked nothing like Allie. God She didn't even have blue eyes. Yeah, she had olive skin.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

So they just have because probably because of the name. And they just assumed. That's terrible.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Yeah. But uh you know, for the for the love. Yeah. But I when you were going you were going down the road of Columbus, I grew up about three hour two or three hours from there, and there's a lot of trafficking that goes on in that area. So when you said that at first, I was like, oh no. Yeah. But no, I'm sorry that that you don't you almost get your hopes up and then you know Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:40

Well we did we did uncover uh, you know, a a pretty large trafficking ring between Ohio, Florida, and Texas.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Yeah. Yeah. It's I I mean it's I have learned and seen so many horrible things these past 16 years that I I don't ever want to know, you know, but them because I've I've had to investigate it. I've had to, you know, go through pages and pages and pages of backpage images. People saying that, oh, you know, is this Allie? Is this one Allie? What about this one? Is this one Allie? You know? And and um I'm like, well, what color are her eyes? You know, oh well, we can't see her eyes. And I'm like, what the hell? I'm like, I don't, I'm not gonna know what Allie's breasts look like. You know?

SPEAKER_00 45:32

I think I I think the most recognizable thing about Allie are her eyes. Yeah. Yeah. They're very unique and very just my mom said a word about them and it was so like, oh, that's it. And I can't think of it, but they're just piercing and big and full of light. And I I think like if anything, if you're searching for somebody, that would be the first thing when it came to Allie that I would recognize. You know, I I don't know. That's if somebody didn't have her eyes, I wouldn't assume that was her. That's just me though. But she does, she has beautiful eyes. Thank you. She has her daddy's eyes.

SPEAKER_03 46:06

Yeah. Well, my sister has blue eyes too, but I have brown.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Do you do you and I don't know, you don't have to answer this, but do you think you know what happened and you're just nobody's giving you the lead, or you just you're at you have no idea at this point because you've exhausted everything that you could think of.

SPEAKER_03 46:23

I still have no idea. I know, and when Anna came and started helping on the case, she re-interviewed a lot of Allie's friends and even some friends that had never talked to law enforcement before. And, you know, we we feel like that that was very fruitful. And, you know, the information that that she got, she turned it all over to law enforcement. And, you know, it was like going going back in a big circle again. You know, we give them all this information and you hope and you pray that they do something with it. And, you know, we don't know if they did anything with it because they never give us any feedback. And I understand that they don't have to give us feedback, and they can lie to us if they want to. And it's legal and it's not a good thing. It drives me nothing though.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

Like nothing is I think worse than anything.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Ugh it it it it drives me insane, literally. I mean, I have been so stressed out sometimes. I break out in eczema, you know, I have heart palpitations now, you know, it you t you mentioned the hook broken heart syndrome earlier. That shit is real, you know. It it and everybody handles stress differently. And you know, I I feel like I haven't slept in 16 years. And when I actually sleep, you know, I just I pray that I dream about Alex. Do you do you ever do you dream a lot about her? No. No, I don't. I mean, I have before, but it's been a very long time. You know, I've I've had dreams that, you know, I was in in uh the food court in the mall and saw her sitting at another table. And then, you know, I've had dreams of her walking through the front door, you know. And uh you know, it just I wish I would have more dreams, but you know, some of her friends every now and then they'll contact me and you know, tell me about a dream that they had. And it makes me jealous that they had a dream about, you know, at least her friends are still thinking about her.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Yeah. You know, I not to go off subject, I have that in my family where I, my mom, my grandma, my brother, we dream of people who have passed and they come to us and they tell us things. And sometimes I know people pass away before anybody knows. And yeah, it's just a feeling, it's a dream I have. And some people would get mad at me. And it's I said, Well, I'm I'm kind of in my eyes, I'm like a portal and they know that I receive it, I'm open to it. And sometimes my friend passed away, her brother was very mad at me because she kept coming to me. But I think sometimes they don't, if you believe in this, they don't visit because they don't want to upset you even more. And sometimes those dreams can feel so real that when you wake up, you really think you were with them. And sometimes I think they stay away to protect you. And that's that's my internalization of it. Um so you know, however you internalize it is your thing. Um but I I do do that. So I and I reach out to people and say, hey, like I had this really weird dream last night. Does this mean anything? I mean, it's even happened with Gabby Batita's parents. I've dreamt of Gabby and I've never met her, but I'll say things and they're like, What? How did what? And I'm like, it's just it's one of those things, but you because you just said that you don't you feel like you haven't slept in 16 years, yeah, you're probably not getting that deep sleep to have those dreams, you know?

SPEAKER_04 49:37

Like Yeah, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

And part of it could be menopause too. Did you say menopause? I do it. Well, speaking of, I just had this conversation with somebody last night. I said, I think I'm in perimenopause, and I was giving them all my symptoms. They're like, Yeah, it sounds like it. So I'm like, great, this is fun. So yeah, girl, just wait. Fun being a woman. Something that we're laughing a little bit. Let's talk about a little bit of later things on who who Allie was. What was her favorite band? What kind of food did she like? What what did she want to be when she, you know, became an adult? What was her aspirations and you know, beliefs? What were her morals?

SPEAKER_03 50:12

Tell me stuff like that. Oh gosh. Well, first of all, I'll I'm I'm I'm sitting here in my bedroom and uh I'm looking at a quilt on my bed that's made of her t-shirt. And uh one of my best friends, uh Bridget.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

Yeah, I met Bridget Kremcon. Yeah, my mom's Bridget.

unknown 50:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:31

So uh Bridget, uh Bridget came to me and she said, uh, because I think I had posted on Facebook one day, you know, I have all of Allie's clothes, I don't know what to do with them. And Bridget knows a mutual friend from school that makes quilts. So I gave her Allie's band t-shirts. So I'm looking at uh Green Day and uh Gwen Stefani, because I took her to a Gwen Stefani concert. Uh I'm looking at corn. Uh who else is on there? Metallica, a couple metallic. Uh yes. And and then on the other hand, when it comes to music, uh she loved the Beatles.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

One of her favorite movies was Across the Universe.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

I love that movie.

SPEAKER_03 51:20

And uh awesome. She and and she loved, and that brings me to her journaling. So she she loved to write. She wrote poems, she wrote music, she wrote stories. She loved Across the Universe so much that she wrote down every single song in one of her journals. And I didn't know that about her until after she went missing because journals are supposed to be private.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:48

And I respected that when it came to her journals. And uh, after she went missing, I went through every single one of them and and spiral notebooks and sketchbooks and anything and everything her even her schoolwork. She drew, you know, even it was just little doodles, you know. I'll I'll have to send you uh some pictures of of some of her doodles, but she one one that stands out is uh and I don't know because it it's a whole page written, but in in an ink pen, she she drew a picture, but in between all of the the pieces of this picture is a story. And it starts off, you know, there was uh a little little creepy house with a little creepy girl and a little little creepy something, but but it stands out because it was just I know that I think she made it up. I don't think that she got it from anybody else because I had never heard of it before, but you know, it it just it just stood out to me because I'm like, wow, you know, my my daughter created that. And uh so so back to you know other things. So I this this quilt I'm looking at, it also has her Girl Scout shirts on it. It has some of the t-shirts and jerseys from when she played softball, and she did a choir in school, and and then there's a t-shirt from the corpse bride on there. So anything Tim Burton, okay, we both love anything that Tim Burton does. And so on the closet, uh, she has two closet doors in her bedroom. One year I had given her a nightmare before Christmas calendar from Hot Topic, of course. So when that year was over, she tore off the pages and she hung them up uh in different spots of her room. So she had uh nightmare before Christmas on there and then Twilight. She was in the process of reading all the Twilight books. I know all of them weren't written yet whenever she went missing, but she liked the the dark, creepy things just like me. Just like I'd I'm telling you, I would be really good friends with her. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Maybe that's why you can get along so well. I mean, you know, but then on the other hand, you know, she was like, I'm I think I'm gonna change, you know, the way I wear my clothes next year, Mom. Like, sure, you don't have to wear black clothes all the time. You know, so she she wanted to to change her image, but she didn't get to. You know, she she didn't have have that time. And, you know, just like uh so she went missing in April. So that summer, uh, she was 16, she was gonna be getting her braces off. Uh she was gonna be taking a driver's education course. And then also her art teacher had given her information to do a a week at a an art college on the East Coast. So, you know, we both of us, you know, when you when you have kids, you kind of live vicariously through them and you get to do things that you never got to do when you were a kid. So, you know, I I wanted to see her go to that art college because I wanted her to use that talent that she had inside of her. And, you know, and and she wanted to have kids. You know, she talked about having tons of kids all the time. And you know, and it's until Mason had one child, I never thought I was gonna have any grandkids. So I was, you know, blessed with one. And uh, of course, he is absolutely spoiled and he knows who his auntie Allie is.

SPEAKER_00 55:33

I think I saw a photo yet you posted with him standing next to a portrait somebody drew.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

Is that uh yeah, so yeah, um so locally to Houston, the Houston Police Department, their forensic team put together an art show and uh they they did age progression photos. So we were blessed to have Allie be a part of that. So I took my daughter-in-law and my grandson to the art show with me, and uh yeah, that was me and him and his auntie Allie in that picture. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

Yeah. So we have one grandkid. I have a few nephews, so and brothers, so I'm sure one boy is keeping you on your toes.

SPEAKER_03 56:16

Yes, yes, he definitely keeps all of us on our toes. That's good, though.

SPEAKER_00 56:20

So with with everything, so it's been what, six sixteen years that you said? Yes. What are the what are the updates in the past two years to a year? I know again, like when we spoke two weeks ago, CrimeCon, you were telling me a little bit about a lead, I believe. Maybe I'm wrong. Um and maybe you're not allowed to talk about certain things, and I get that. Um I just wanted to know if like, have you heard of anything? Have any names been brought up? Have any other you know, I know years later kids from high school could have a thought that just passes our mind randomly and be like, oh, I should I should tell somebody this. I mean, that's the importance of re-interviewing people because things come back. So is has anything like that happened? Is anything else new or resurfaced in the past year?

SPEAKER_03 57:06

Not not really recently. So I was probably talking about so I was getting ready for crime con. You know, I was making things to give away. You know, I was making stickers and making bookmarks and stuff like that. And one of my uh best friends was over, her name is Sharon. I've known her ever since we we moved into this house in spring because we would all go see her to get our haircuts and you know, she would cut me in Allie's hair. And we just got really close after Allie went missing because, you know, she was a pretty important part of keeping me going, basically. Help me with fundraising and just in general support. So we were sitting at the kitchen table and she had just recently moved back from uh out of state. And so we were spending a lot of time with each other, you know, to just catch up. And she's like, you know, I s I can't believe that there's still nobody, you know, that has any other information and nobody that saw her besides you know, the two kids off the bus and my sister. And I looked up at her and I'm like, what are you talking about? I mean, my jaw had just was wide open. I'm like, your sister saw Allie that day? Yeah, she's like uh Susie saw Allie that day, you know. And and she's like, Yeah. And I'm like, and you're just now telling me? And she's like, No, I I told you this a long time ago. And and I'm like, no, you didn't. And she's not even remember. Well, you would think, but I do have but uh and and the way she explained it to me, you know, I'm I'm not surprised that I didn't remember. But and you know, I I lean on John a lot for those early memories, you know, the the the trauma, what do they call it, trauma brain or something like that. But there's there's a lot of gaps in my from you know, certain little details that I have no recollection of because of the the traumatic experience. But um Yeah, she's like uh yeah, she she's like, I told you Susie saw Allie that day. And you know, after I kept telling her, No, you didn't, no, you didn't, no, you didn't, she's like, Yes, I did. She's like, Susie saw Allie because she remembered that it was odd that there was a girl walking uh down a street because it was a very warm day. She's like, it stuck out to her because she was wearing a hoodie. And I'm like, well, why wouldn't I remember that information? I'm like, I I'm like, do you know how many shows and podcasts that I've done these past 16 years? And I've never mentioned, you know, any anyone else other than the kids seeing Allie that day. And I'm thinking to myself, she doesn't listen to my podcast. And she does not listen to podcasts, and neither does her sister. Uh so uh so I'm texting, you know, I'm texting John the next day because I'm still trying to process in my own mind, you know, why didn't I remember this information? And, you know, we came to the conclusion that, you know, it just we didn't think it was important back then, and and it is now because, you know, the uh we were thinking that nobody saw Allie except for the kids on the bus. You know, nobody saw her beyond our neighborhood. And for me, this one little piece of information is very, very important because it tells us that she made it out of the neighborhood. She made it one more block. So before we were thinking that, you know, we don't even know if she did make it out of the neighborhood. We just know that she turned to walk out of the neighborhood and then then nobody saw her. But this information uh tells us that she got, you know, one full block out of the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

So do you do you think that maybe somebody in a car that she knew stopped her or maybe it was just a complete stranger? I mean, obviously it's to me, and again, this is just from what I'm hearing, correct me if I'm wrong, is does it is it safe to say that she probably got in a car with somebody or somebody forced her to get into a car, actually?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:26

Uh I well, either way, she got into a vehicle. Yeah. I mean, have proof of it, but how else do people get places?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:34

So if somebody came along that she knew and offered her a ride, I would say, heck yes, that she would take the opportunity. If it were a complete stranger, I would like to think that she would put up a fight and kick and scream and yell and all that stuff. But I mean, uh until you're in that situation, you know, and the and the circumstance, you don't know what you would do.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

100%. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:59

Yeah. So I mean that that's like the burning question. Uh, you know, was it somebody that she knew?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:06

Mm-hmm. So to go back, I know you said she worked at Burger Bar, and if I'm not mistaken, um, one of the videos I watched of you said that they investigated her job, and you said they closed down shortly after, correct?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:20

Yeah, the burger bar uh they closed 4th of July weekend that same year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:26

And they they looked, they investigated everybody that worked there, the boss and everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:30

They told us that they did, or whether they did it or not, you know, I I don't have any proof of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:35

So would this the street that she was walking down, Joanne, was it very populated, lots of traffic, or was it more of a rural area that she was walking on?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:44

It's it's kind of in between. So when you turn off of Cypresswood Drive onto Treshwig, so you're going from a four-lane street onto just a a two-lane street. There's one house on that street uh before you get to my subdivision. There's uh some trees, there's well, down closer at the intersection, so you've got you've got the hair salon and a subway on one side, and on the opposite side would have been where the shopping strip is, where the burger barn was. And then so you you go down towards my neighborhood, you're gonna pass uh the daycare that she went to, which was supposedly the the newest, latest uh spot where she was seen. Uh, and then you have a small empty field, and then a neighborhood that would go to the right. So on the left, you have a church. Actually, you have one, two, you have three churches that are fairly close together. And then you have a small business called the Bow Zone. Um and then a what is it called? Like the not a mud district, but there's a a field where our subdivision, it's chain link fence, and there's a small building in there along with a cell phone tower. That's the last tower where her phone pinged, by the way. Um but that's that's at the corner entrance to our neighborhood. So if you keep going, the street doesn't lead out anywhere, but it's a long street, uh kind of a long winding street. There's not a subdivision back there, but there's houses on it. Um and there's also an outdoor shooting range called Carter's Country. And so the only people that would have gone down that street are the people going to the outdoor shooting range or going to someone's house back there. So I mean, you would have school buses, you would have people going back and forth to the shooting range and people that live back there.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

So busy but not makes yeah, that makes sense because that kind of sounds like we're I'm what I'm picturing, it makes sense in my head. On what time of day, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:58

Yeah. You know, people leaving for work, of course, in the mornings it would be really busy. And then, you know, if people were off on that day or whatever, going to the shooting range, and then school traffic.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:10

So then so this is 2010. Did they did they ask for f you know camera footage from any of these businesses or um places for a long time?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:19

Nobody had surveillance cameras back then except for one gas station that was caddy corner to the intersection that she would have walked through. And John went to that gas station and they burned him a copy of the surveillance for that day. And we both reviewed it. And if Allie had made it to the intersection, we would have seen her walk at the very tip top of the camera footage, but we never saw her. So me and John we both agreed that you know, we needed to give this to law enforcement so they could look at the vehicles that were going through the intersection. And back then it was Harris County Homicide that had the cave. No, Harris. County Runaway Division that had the case. And we we didn't find out until months later that they lost that footage. I don't yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:09

I always wonder, like, I you hear this all the time. It's like, how do you lose footage? Like, how do you just how does it just go missing? Isn't it it's really aggravating? Um so and you said I know you had search parties, so you've searched all this area. I mean, you've had volunteers, I assume, go out and look in these woods and these roads and behind buildings, and there's been absolutely nothing.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:31

Nothing found. We had so I would stay at command center in the church parking lot, and every every now and then uh somebody would uh text in a photo uh to Bob Walcott. He's he worked for the Laura Recovery Center. And then, you know, he would, you know, whether it be a necklace or a piece of clothing or jewelry or shoes or something, you know, he I was there so that, you know, I could verify whether it was a piece of or not. And they found some really strange things, but nothing of alleys.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

Hmm. And you said that when was the time that her cell phone last pinged? And um did you ever get all those records that day to see who she was talking to?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:18

Um well, I got all of those records because it was my cell phone plan. And so, you know, I was able to see the the phone numbers that she was texting and calling. So we had well, I still have ATT, but um ATT back then, and I had somebody at CrimeCon that wanted to argue with me about this uh because they asked me and I I told them that ATT did not back up their data, meaning we had the date and time stamps and the phone numbers, but no content of the text messages.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:53

You know, ATT, they were even subpoenaed eventually by law enforcement, but they didn't back up the data. And you know, somebody, somebody at Chrome Con wanted to argue that with me, saying that no, that's not right because everybody had their data backed up, and and I'm like, trust me. In 2010, 18.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:16

That's what I was gonna say. Like, pe I think people sometimes are and I don't know who this was, but in general, I'm talking about a general population here, sometimes people lose touch of reality and and forget that the technology that we have today did not exist 16 years ago. It has moved so fast. We've adapted so quickly that that's why I even asked about surveillance cameras, because I'm sitting here going, wait, did we d did those exist back then? I mean, I was it was rare it was rare back then.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:42

I mean, nobody had home security and you know, uh you had buzzers that, you know, would go off on your doors, but there was no cameras. I mean, unless you were the mega rich people, you know, that paid ADT or whatever. But nobody had ring there was no such thing as a ring doorbell back then, you know, just businesses would have surveillance and not even all the gas stations had surveillance back then.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:08

A lot of the time these businesses just put up cameras to place fear and they don't even use them. Right. Why even have them installed? You know, you could be saving lives if you just turn them on. It's ridiculous. And then so what what time of day did her did her phone last ping?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:24

Um right off right after she got off the bus. Uh so that would have been between 245 and 250 that afternoon.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:35

So it definitely happened from my point of view that it was daylight. Why else would her phone go off? You said she's on her phone all the time. Um and it just was in a blink of an eye and nobody saw anything. So like no there nobody saw a car, nobody saw a person, nobody saw anything just out of the ordinary. It was just like she was walking and then all of a sudden she just vanishes. Yeah. How was that have like how does that there must really I don't even know how to ask this? How does that m like how do you process that?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:05

How did I well I think I've read your mind, yeah. How do I process that? I mean I don't know. I mean, it's it's mind-boggling. I I mean I and I talk to my friend um Robin all the time, you know, because her daughter is missing also, uh, Kristen Galvan. But it's like people don't just disappear. And I was talking to her last night, I'm like, don't they? You know, I'm like, I think we're kind of living proof that people do disappear. I mean, but but they've got to be somewhere. And you know, that's that's when that phrase, you know, somebody knows something comes into play. And you know, we we pray every day that, you know, that guilty conscious, you know, starts screaming at them and they eventually say something. But you know, until that happens, I'm I'm gonna keep doing anything and everything I can think of.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:01

Do you think that she's far away, or do you think she's maybe in the same state or anything like that? And I don't know how to ask it without you taking it the wrong way. Like just in in general. Where do you have been asking every question or okay it well from my my side it can be a little uncomfortable because I don't like to upset people or ask the wrong questions. So if something you know, if she's alive, and we all hope she is, do you think she's just really far away? Um and unfortunately, if she's not alive, do you think it's possible that she could be around your area still?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:33

I hate asking them. It's uh well, it's it's been 16 years and you know, I I have I have thought of everything, you know. I I know that she's not just out there having fun because I know that that's not the type of person she is. And you know, she wouldn't have left her dogs here, you know. She was very passionate about her animals. And I know she loved us, so you know, people like to t you know, tell me their theories all the time, you know, or maybe, you know, maybe she met somebody and you know, she's just living her life. I'm like, yeah, you can think that. Yeah. But I know and you know, then sometimes, you know, I I'll hear I always compare my case and story to other people's cases. So example, you know, you hear of a case of a homeless man, you know, that really didn't know who he was, and then, you know, his family found him, and it was it was a medical episode. You know, he had been missing for a few years, and you know, they've they finally found him in a homeless encampment, you know. So things like that happen. And then, you know, you you hear stories of, you know, Elizabeth Smart and JC Dugart and you know, the three girls in Ohio. And and I'm I'm thinking, you know, well that that would make sense that Allie was being kept and you know, was unable to to get away and be free. And but then it's like, well, you know, who who would that be? You know, we don't have basements here in Texas because we flood, you know. But, you know, and then I'm thinking, you know, well, maybe she's not in Texas anymore. You know, she literally could be anywhere in the world. And, you know, and then, you know, uh people like to put the thoughts in my mind, you know, we live in Houston, and we, you know, I don't live in Houston, I live in spring, but I I live next to an international airport. I live less than 10 miles from Interstate 45, which will take you all the way north into other state. I live close to Interstate 10, which if you if you go left, you go to California, if you go right, you go to Florida, you know. So it it's a very hard question to give one answer. But my gut my gut just tells me that she didn't leave on purpose. Yeah, no. No. If if she was trying to be dis the deceitful uh sixteen-year-old typical teenage girl that wanted to have an evening of fun, she didn't intend to not come home.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:20

Yeah, no. And if if anything, she would have been with friends or her boyfriend or not just with strangers that she didn't know and gone all hours of the night. That just doesn't sound right at all. And you said they investigated her boyfriend. Um did he have any information that was useful that you know they cleared him, but I'm sure it was hard for him too.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:41

It was hard for him. Now her her boyfriend was DJ, but he was a very new boyfriend at the time. It wasn't her first boyfriend, but I don't know what number he was. I mean, he she he she didn't have a lot of boyfriends. Uh she just had a lot of friends in general. But you know, there is I I feel that, you know, and again, th looking at other cases, you know, I was the what's that case? I can see her Skyler Skyler niece. Uh-huh. She was killed by her best friends, you know. So I mean, that scenario also comes to my mind, you know, when I think about Skylar's case, you know. But then it, you know, it's been sixteen years. You know, you would think that something somebody would have heard something by now, you know, and somebody would have squealed by now. So l literally, I I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:33

And that's the that must, you know, that's the hardest part because you don't even know which way to go. Up, down, left, right, you know, diagonal, because it just sounds like you have nothing to work off of except the last time she was seen, um, the the one footage that you had of surveillance and the time that her phone shut off. That's literally all you have. There's nothing else. Well, like it's not like you can even follow a direction. Um that uh you must be spinning in circles. Like just like and of course, I would I would think, you know, I would compare it to every case too, because the fact that you don't have any information, that means anything is possible. And that just opens it up for a million other things. And I I I'm first of all, I'm sorry that the police did this. You know, again, that's not the first time I've heard this with anybody. It seems a common trend, especially when they're minors, their first assumption is, oh, she ran away. That just happened here in Wilkes Bear, PA. That and then they found her because of her aunt, and she never had a history of running away. So it's like I don't know why they constantly jump to that all the time. Like, oh, you have to wait so many hours before you report somebody missing. How about just do it? What's the worst that's gonna happen? You have to you have to do some extra paperwork? Like that, that's my thing on it. It's like, so just file it as soon as somebody reports it and be safe about it. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. They would have to do the paperwork.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:50

Oh, boo-hoo, you'd have to do your job. And if they didn't end up being gone away, then yay, you know, throw the file in the trash.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:59

Yes. So I the whole, oh, we gotta wait. Why? Why do you have you don't have to wait, you're choosing to wait. No, and yeah, and it's not the law that you have to wait. No. Nope. So the whole, oh, you gotta wait 24, 48 hours, whatever. And that time, that's the most like crucial time. You know, I think they say after 72 hours, the the chances of them coming home is less likely. But maybe if you if you went out and did your job within the first hour, you would have saved yourself 72 and found a lot of evidence that first. Like I just I get so mad in Joanne. So if it sounds like I'm angry, it's because I am. I get so mad. And angry girl, because I'm angry. It's pure selfishness, stupidity, and laziness. And you know, if it was, if it was these, and I just had this talk when I did a speech the other day at a domestic violence thing. If it was those cops' daughters and sons and aunts and uncles and parents, man, they'd be right on it. But because it's somebody else, it's just thrown in a box and it pisses me off. There was a cop in the audience while I was saying this. I was like, 90% of them are a waste. They're just a waste and with a badge. And I don't care because it's the truth. Like, look at all the people we meet in our true crime community. And if you listen, most people listen, it's the same situation that people deal with with law enforcement. It's the same thing over and over and over. So that when is there gonna be like enough is enough? You know, oh, you have to wait so long before you do an amber alert. Just put it out there. Like right?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:25

Well, Allie, it's the amber alert, amber alerts do not all have the same rules for the same for different areas. So in my area, um, you have to have physical evidence of a crime. Somebody has to have witnessed something. So Allie did not get an amber alert. And as a matter of fact, I was going to talk about that today at Houston City Hall, but I couldn't drive down there because we had a really bad um weather, some flooding today. But I missed my opportunity to be able to support our local uh digital billboard provider. So, so Clear Channel Outdoor, they have a digital billboard around Houston, but not in downtown Houston. So when there's an Amber Alert, they can activate their digital billboard and put that child's face on there and the information. And I was gonna go down there and talk to the city council members about why digital billboards would be uh very important to have downtown and how it could have, you know, possibly helped my case because Allie's been featured twice uh within these 16 years that she's been missing. Um she's been featured twice for National Missing Children's Day. And each time she's been on those billboards, except for downtown Houston, we've had tips coming. And when they do that for National Missing Children's Day, uh they they feature a new child every year. But they've been successful in uh recovering some of those children.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:11

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:12

And you know, so I I kicked myself because I didn't drive down there because I I let and you'll see my Facebook post later. Uh I I let my fear of the bad weather stop me from driving downtown. But I I missed my chance to to talk about Allie to City Council and the how important the amber alerts are and the digital billboards and I'm sorry that I didn't mean to go off on that branch.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:38

Listen, every no, everything you just said is very informative and everybody should hear that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:43

Yeah, but I, you know, I'm I missed my chance to to talk about Allie and you know, I just feel that if Allie would have had an amber alert when she went missing, you know, we could have her home. And because they labeled her a runaway, I mean, we missed so much time, you know, and and the the resources and the help, I feel like if they would have taken us seriously, then we would have her back.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:09

Well, that's what I was just gonna say. It all comes back to that first woman that came in your house, stepped foot in her room, and didn't do anything. It comes back to her shoulders and it comes back to them not taking the rug and you know, trying to get DNA or evidence from that. It comes back from them not following up. So whose whose shoulders is this all following on? And I don't want to blame one specific person, but the first police person that came through your house is the one that should have filed the report and banana immediately. And it should be a thing across the entire country. An Amber Alert should all every state should have the same protocol, the same there should be billboards that you know how you're on TV and then they have breaking news and they interrupt your your show. Well, these damn digital billboards that I used to sell in advertising, they should be interrupted like that when things like this happen. So, you know, John Schmo down the road selling rings can hold off for 20 minutes or a day because somebody's missing. Everything sorry, I used to be in marketing and like advertising. Everything should be breaking news, just like TV. And you can't sit there and say, well, there's no room, we can't afford it. No, put it up there and just put it up. Like I I I am I have a degree in child and family services, and I wanted to help kids with loss and trauma. So this is why I get so heated because I am an advocate just it by passion, because I always feel like I have to be the voice because other people don't speak up. And people don't a lot of people don't like me for it. And I don't I don't care because somebody has to say something. Um there's absolutely no excuse that your billboards can't be interrupted 10 minutes, 20 minutes a day to show Allie's face and all the other people in that area. There it's just you can't have one business donate a one of those billboard companies, can't just put one somewhere for free and and and put these photos up. Like the selfishness in this world is disgusting.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:50

Yeah. Well, I've been in uh a public place before and everybody's phone started going off and it was an amber alert. And I heard that somebody say, It's another amber alert. And I would popped them right in their face. It took me everything not to walk over to that person and say something to them. It it made me angry and sad and all kinds of rage. You know what, Joanne?

SPEAKER_00 1:23:16

They say that until it's their kid. And then everyone, then everyone is supposed to stop what they're doing, and it's right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:27

There's been a few cases where celebrities, uh, their child has been missing. Uh, what was one of them? Uh Wanona J. Mm-hmm. And I heard about it all the way here in Texas, you know, and but she was found the next day. Uh Donald, what was this, Logue or something like that? I mean, his uh his uh transgender child uh went missing. And um, you know, I saw it posted all over social media and you know it it it ended up where you know they wanted to to be missing on purpose, but it's still the fact that it happened in on the other side of the country and I heard about it. And parents like me, we beg and scream for that kind of attention. And uh, you know, we we're we're just nobody.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:17

So I it's I wanna inter I want to interject for for a second, if you don't mind, and then this, because uh I have this conversation with everybody every single day. Why do you scroll past people who have missing flyers? Why do you scroll and not just share real quick? Because one set of guys could solve a case and bring somebody home or give somebody answers. Why are people so against just hitting the share button and putting something important out in the world, but they'll share a meme that has no effect on the world, that has n serves no purpose, but they they can't bring themselves to share a missing person's flyer?

SPEAKER_03 1:24:47

I've I I've had that conversation a lot of times with other families that have a missing person. And the one thing I always compare it to is that uh, you know, a missing child or a missing person in general is just some people just can't deal um emotionally with that. They would rather share a missing cat or a missing dog post than a missing person post.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:14

And you know, you know what? I'm gonna say something off record, but on record, because it's been on the news. And again, I'm not trying to use my own sometimes when I relate to things, I just interject. You know, there was a thing a lot of people say, why did Gabby go, you know, why did she hit national news? And they blamed Gabby's parents for that. And Joe got on the TV and said, that's not our fault. That's the media's fault. That's on them. And every single person should get the same exact attention that Gabby got. And that's what they're out trying to do. And it is. It he's absolutely right, Joanne. Like it's the media. They pick and choose what they can run with for a headline for engagement and re you know, ratings. And it depends.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:52

It depends on what's going on in the world, actually. You know, because when Allie went missing, it was right after the BP oil spill. And that was all consuming, you know, uh the news.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:05

So it was like it a missing child was not important because of uh and this is what gets me so hot and heated with the media when I worked in radio. I would ask them like to talk about a missing person in my area, the DJs. Oh, we can't talk about that. Why? Well, because our program directors in other states give us what we are allowed and not allowed to talk about. And I said, you know what I would do? I'd become Howard Stern and I'd make it my own show. I said, because there's I'd be damned if somebody asked me in a local community as a radio DJ with an influence of hitting a hundred thousand, you know, listeners a day that I can't for five seconds take a time of my day and say, please look be on the lookout for so-and-so. Or if I was running a TV station, you make every single person pay a thousand dollars for a 15-second commercial during the f during the Super Bowl, but you can't put up a a commercial of a missing loved one for free. Like that that's what I'm getting at. Like it's they pick and choose and they can't do anything out of the kindness of their heart because they have there has to be a price tag attached to it. Exactly. It's I can go on this all night. Well, and and this is just you know, from my side, I can't even imagine the rage that it puts you in because I mean, imagine you were daughter. So, you know, and times that by all the missing kids in the world and all the parents dealing with this every single day. And I'm pushing for you and and Maggie to be speakers at CrimeCon. I, when they asked me the survey back when I bought Orlando badge, I said, Who do you want to speak? And I put you both down. I put it in the CrimeCon group with 10,000 people. I messaged Shane Waters privately because I know he talks to all them of stuff about that. I started you that GoFundMe guys. I have a GoFundMe to get Joanne Lowitzer here and our friend Maggie Phillips. Her daughter's life was taken in 2004 in Oklahoma. She drives the caravan to catch a killer. These women deserve to be heard. They deserve to be at CrimeCon. They deserve to speak. And I told CrimeCon this last week when they sent out their survey. I said, These women come every Single year, they spend every dime they can to raise awareness you need to give them the respect of the time of letting them get on stage. Like it's it's I love crime con, but it comes a time where what matters needs to be on stage, not something that happened 20 years ago, which it's important, but not when they're a I don't know how to say this without sound when Mark Aragos is getting on on stage trying to defend his client who's sitting in prison. There's more important things like Ally missing that should be on top of that. I heard you're not the first person that heard that. Like you picked you pick him, and I get it. Joanne, everybody has a job, everybody's entitled to an attorney. The guy's that's his job. But this happened 20 years ago. It's not like he's out there trying to help Lacey. He's trying to prove Lacey's husband's innocence when your daughter's missing and they won't give you the stage to talk.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:46

And that that's why I'm pushing for this, and I I'm gonna keep blasting that. Go fund me. We have a year and a half, we'll get you there. Um donating, I think it's at the 500 now. If I if I looked the other day, yeah, and people are texting me and are like, I'll donate soon. So, like, it's it's got traction. And I know Megan from Silver Line of Hope is gonna start sharing it. She asked me if I wanted to band with her and she'll start putting it out there and we can put it on her foundation. She's amazing. She's the one that solved her own mom's murder. And uh at CrimeCon, she talked about it with Nikki, but I'm trying. I I I want you guys to be able to go and not have to worry about flights, food, and hotels.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:25

You know, I booths if we can help you pay for the booth.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:28

Yeah, I I would love to be able to, you know, to reach more people and and tell Allie's story. And you know, they I think it was in the I didn't get to go see any speakers, you know, because I was manning the table, but uh my friend called that saw Kelly Siegler and they sent me pictures because they showed Allie, they showed Allie's flyer up on the big screen.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:53

I was so happy. See, Joanne, that's all it takes. I I remember you telling me about you know about Kelly at Crime Con. See, that's all it takes is someone just having a a good soul to do something. Yeah. It took why can't they all do it? Yeah, God, I'm gonna cry.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:09

I I uh I started a t-shirt fundraiser. I don't know if you uh saw me. I I posted it um earlier this week, and my sister gave me the idea, you know, to go ahead and start fundraising now for Orlando for next year. And the t-shirt is I chose the picture of the one that I the t-shirt that I wear most of the time where is the black t-shirt and oh yeah, the one I wanted at Kremcon, you said you didn't have any more. Oh yeah. Okay. The the one where Allie's face is kind of colorful with the purple and the blues and stuff like that. And uh so the the campaign is basically uh take Allie with you this summer. And uh, you know, I I have I can't remember the exact wording, but basically, you know, it's like um, you know, take her with you when you go on vacation, take her with you when you go to the grocery store, you know, just you know, take the wear the shirt wherever you go. You're a walking billboard.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:10

Yeah. Sorry, my mind always goes to advertising. I just that's where it goes. That's all it is. That's they wear a shirt with Allie's face, and somebody could be in a grocery store and really say, like, and be serious and be like, I just saw her. Yeah. Like and that's all it takes. And it's it's like talking to a wall to get people to do the little like the smallest thing of act of kindness. And yeah, it it just it's so maddening and frustrating. And I'm I'm I want you, I want this year to be the year for you, and Miss Maggie, and I just uh just something.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:42

You know, and I say it was just it was such a pleasure being at the table next to Maggie. Um, you know, because I met her for the first time in Denver, and you know, I I really got to know her at Crime Con this year, and she's such a such a kind soul.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:00

I think it would be amazing to have you both on stage together. I think that would be a a room packed full of people. I think that would be one of the biggest highlights. And you think that people don't know about Allie or Miss Maggie that thinks that people don't know about Brittany, but everybody I talk to says they know who you guys are and they know who your daughters are. It's not a well, who's that again? Who's that again? And I it's and it's it's not branding. It's just you guys have put yourself out there and put your daughters out there so much, it's important. It has caught on. And a lot of people did tell me, they're like, we we would love to see them on stage. And I said, well, then you need to tell crime con. Like you can't just sit here and be like, oh, I want to, you know, and I'll tell you more than everybody knows I love Nancy Grace and Joe Scott Morgan and everybody knows. Yes, we want to see them, but we want to see you guys the same way just as much. And I think if they put you two on stage or one at one at a time to tell both of your stories separately, the rooms are gonna be packed. It w I'm not even gonna doubt it, and people want to hear you, but think of the 7,000 people that have come to Crime Con that don't stop at your table. They they don't have any idea.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:01

Yeah. Well, you know what Nancy calls Allie? Girl Scout Allie. Yeah, I think who was I did you tell me that? Somebody told me that. I might have because uh, you know, we were when Nancy had her I guess it was every night when yeah, when she was uh HLN, I think, uh way back in 2010. We were she had us on there twice and uh called her Girl Scout Alley.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:24

Yeah. Well, when this is some insider information. When I was at Crime Con, I talked to one of Nancy's assistants who put me in touch with their producer, and Nancy's producer reached out to me last week to follow up on the local missing girls case here. So when I hear back from him, I will uh say, Hey, here's another one for you, and I will send them this podcast and everything about Allie and everything you've done because I know Nancy knows about her, but it doesn't, you know, and I know Nancy's bo booked and she, you know, I know it, but it doesn't hurt for anybody to post a photo on their socials when they have a mess following. Yeah. Just one day, you know, and I think Nancy would, I really do. Um, I'm not you know, I love her, but I'm just saying in general, it's you know, crime con I think would be good if they started posting every single day, not just leading up to crime con, maybe post a missing person every single day leading up to crime con so we can see these faces and learn about them before we even go. Yeah. You know, that's not just post the speakers, post the people that the speakers are there talking about.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:23

Yeah, they they have such a a large following and they're such huge influence.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:32

I mean, I I don't know if they realize it or not, you know, what what their true potential could be and how many people they reach. I mean, I'm sure they know how many followers they have.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:44

But you have like 300,000 followers, and every single day from now until Orlando CrimeCon kicks off, they could post the missing person.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:51

Oh, that they could post a one a different one every single day and not show every missing person.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:58

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm just thinking like that's some that's a start that they could do, you know. These are just feedback ideas I've been thinking about that I'm I'm going to send them. And again, no ill will. I love crime con, they're doing great things. I just I just want to give suggestions on what I think could enhance it, especially for people like you. You know, we a lot of people think that when we say we're going to crime con, they think we're dressing up as famous serial killers and standing in line and paying paying for autographs. And I'm like, no, um, we're there to advocate for these families and victims, and we actually invest our time and we care about them. And it's we want to help them.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:34

When when I talk to people that have no idea what crime con is, that's what they think it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:40

Yeah. And I really wish we called it crime conference because that's what it is. It's a conference. We go, we learn, we're educated, and it just has that stigma. And I'm really trying to get that, you know, out of people's minds. And when I start explaining it, they're like, oh, that sounds really cool. And I'm like, yeah, we're not like weird, you know, serial killer followers. We're not there for them. We're there for the these families. Like, and you're just I just want you to know my best friends.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:04

I have one of my best friends that because that's what she thinks it is. And my other best friends that come with me and were like, no, that's not what it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:13

I tried to prepare my mom before that or cross Vegas because I told her how great Denver was and she really would have liked the environment. And I said, Mom, you're because she goes to those conventions, like horror conventions and all that stuff all the time. I'm like, this is not what you think it's gonna be. And I like even Cheryl McCollum was telling me to tell my mom, like, this is not what you think. And I tried telling her and I tried telling her, and she got there, she's like, this is really neat. Like, I really enjoyed this. This is a whole different perspective than I thought. And I'm like, that this is what I'm trying to get people to, you know, understand. But I just want you to know, like, you, your voice and Allie is just as important as anybody else that gets on that stage. And I'm supporting you 100%. You need anything, you know I'm gonna help. I'm really trying to, you know, I really want to focus more on Allie. I want to help Miss Maggie more. I'm trying to do things in my local community, and it's it's just it's time. It's time to do some make some changes, and everybody knows me. I will say whatever I think. I don't care if you like me or not, and I will push Allie's face out there as much as I can.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:14

That's what's wonderful about you because you know, there are people like me that are, you know, afraid of what other people think when we say something. And then if it weren't for people like you, you know, uh, we would just probably be stuck.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:31

Well, you're not stuck with me. And I will tell you why I'm the way I am. Being in abusive relationships, I was silenced for a long time. And recently I got my backbone back from before my first abusive relationship. And people, I will not stay silent to make other people comfortable because I did it for myself for so long, I'm not doing it again. So I will, and I was always that kid in school that if someone was afraid to ask a question, I'll be like, what is it? I'll ask. I was I've always been that person and I don't care what people think because I know what I'm doing is making a difference. And if someone gets like, look at Nancy Grace, if someone gets mad at what I say and they know it's the truth, then they probably should listen if they're getting that mad about it because it's triggering something inside of them. So if what I say and I believe in is making you mad, well, that's you. Like that's on you. So you can either hear me and try to understand my perspective. You don't have to agree with me, but at least try to have an open mind and understand where I'm coming from, and then we'll talk about it. But I'm not here like pushing things down people's throats. But when it comes down to having a digital billboard on a highway or a free commercial on the TV of missing children, like I think that should be a priority over 12,000, you know, vape commercials. Like I just that's I have a lot to say, and I don't know where I don't know where to start to make things change. Like I wouldn't be one of those people at the on the Capitol steps, like just being loud, but I don't even know where to start. But I have I have all these ideas, and it's just like if I'm thinking this, other people have to be too. And why aren't the people in these, you know, seats of power not thinking of these things? Why are they so complacent with not doing things better? And, you know, whatever the outcome is with Allie, whatever the outcome is, she should be a priority every single day. And you should have answers. This is that you should not be going this long without anybody. And those cops should not have failed you like they did. They they basically just said, she's a runaway, she's not to me, you know, she's not a big priority, she'll come home eventually, and then they forget about it and go on. And that that is enraging. And as a mother, for you to be able to hold yourself back, I'd be down, I'd probably be in jail because I'd be down there screaming at them every day. And that's the that's the flaw I have with being so passionate that sometimes I go too hard and then I get myself in trouble. But uh Miss Joanne, I could I would love to do another podcast with you because I feel like we there's a lot we didn't get to discuss. So if you're okay with that, I would love to continue more. I just thank you for what you do. Thank you for letting us know a little bit about Allie, the journey that you've the that you've overcome the past 16 years and that you're continuing to do every single day showing up for Allie because you're her mother and somebody has to. And you know a lot of us true crime people are right behind you. So you're not alone. I'm gonna continue pushing the fundraiser. I'll find your link for the for the t-shirts and I'll start, I'll order one and start pushing that out because I want one. I was like, when we left crime con, I told my mom, like, I really wanted one of those shirts. I said, I'll I'll reach out to her. So it's funny that you did somebody did message me the other day and said, Does Miss Joanne know that you have a a GoFundMe up? I said, Yeah. She looked at it. She's like, Oh, because I saw she started her own. I thought maybe she got upset. I'm like, no, she's she would definitely not be upset. I don't know who it was. Somebody named Kim that talked to you. I don't know. But I'll I'll do my best. But yeah, I definitely want to do another episode and and and dive more into maybe some things that maybe I didn't get that you wanted to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:44

Yeah, I mean, there I mean, I could talk for another two hours.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:49

I could too. I just I mean, I if you want to keep going, I'm all for it. I just don't I don't want to keep you if you're tired or anything, or if you do want to do a part two, I'm definitely down for that um because I know this there's so much to this, and there's so much to what you're doing, and you're gonna continue to do. And if there's anything that comes to mind after this that you want to be like, oh, we need to talk about that, we will set up an interview whenever is good for you. And we'll if it's if it's just you wanted to talk about the Amber Alert, or you just want to talk about Allie, or you want to talk about, you know, maybe the changes from her her story, what changes has it made on the world, or anything like that. This isn't gonna be a one and done, you know. I gave you two hours, that's it. No, we're we will do this as many times as you want. It's not a problem. I don't care if you call me tomorrow, you're like, I need to talk. Can we get on a podcast? We'll do it. Like, I don't care. So don't ever be afraid of like, oh, I have some I have some updates or I forgot to talk about this. Just let me know, Joanne. Like, I it's not a I would love to do it. And I hope that I I was respectful enough with my questions and I hope that you got the information out there that you wanted to. And if before we wrap up for part one, because I feel like there's gonna be many to come. What's one thing that you want people to know about Allie? What's your favorite memory with her? And what do you want to see change in the next year?

SPEAKER_03 1:42:06

Oh gosh. Let me think. Um, my favorite memory of her. I guess just I know it's kind of general, but you know, it's it's her it's her art. So I'll try to make this uh quick, but it's not my favorite memory, but it's um it's one that that sticks out.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:24

My grandmother had passed away probably w within the year of this memory. And my dad gave me uh some of her furniture. She gave me uh and I still have this dresser, so she gave me this beautiful uh dresser, and it was in my bedroom, and it's one of those, you know, where I made sure that I kept it dust-free and polished, and you know, it was the the wood is so beautiful. And Allie was probably two between two and three, maybe. And uh she had taken a ballpoint pen and she started to carve an upside down A in the top of it. Um I I got so angry uh because you know, she scratched it, looks like a V, but I know Allie was uh she was trying to draw at the time, you know. She her favorite thing was to to color. And um and I don't know why she chose the the very top of uh of this dresser, but it was uh you know, it looked like she had scratched it like four or five times, you know, trying to to scratch her name into the top of this dresser. And you know, I look I still have that dresser and you know, every time I pass by it, I put my hand on that scrat and uh you know, I'm thankful now that it's there.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:44

I know that's a weird memory, but I don't know, that's just something that uh that I think about now. And yeah, but uh I don't remember what the rest of your question was.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:54

Okay, we'll wrap it up. I know well, listen, thank you for sharing Allie with us. Thank you for sharing everything, and I will send this to you. But it it's been a pleasure, it's been an honor, and I will continue helping you fight to find Allie. And if you ever need anything, let me know, okay?

SPEAKER_03 1:44:10

I sure will. Thank you so much for taking the time to to talk to me and me cry and say we'll keep doing it, I promise. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:22

All right, thank you. Right, thank you, sweetheart. Right. All right.