MISSING: Brittany Wallace Shank

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“That 911 call you just heard came into St. Joseph County dispatch just before 9 at night”

on November 30th, 2018, from a house of a rural road right outside St. Joseph, Michigan. Do you tell me what's going on here tonight? I don't know, there goes this clip to the back door and there's no two gone, no code. He's losing another treat, there are. He said a boyfriend took off somewhere.

He's wrapped the car into his right hand, I guess. If you didn't catch all that, the man, his name is John, said that the young woman that came to

“his back door was stranded after her boyfriend wrecked their car and then took off on foot”

without her. It was bitter cold with snow on the ground, so the fact that she showed up barefoot with no code and a bit scratched up and bleeding was caused for concern. Under the static and radio chatter, you can hear the young woman John is speaking to in the background of the call. She doesn't sound panic, her tone is measured and she tells them

that she does want medical attention. That's the moment when the woman takes off from John's. Still barefoot, but wearing a green John deer sweatshirt that John had given her for warmth. If you can tell her that help is coming down that way, I'd be here to stay there if she wants assistance.

Yes, you are outside, they've got those shoes on, I give her a jacket. Law enforcement would later learn that the woman who ran was 23-year-old Brittany Wallace Shane. She was moments away from help but something pulled her away from the safety of John's

back porch. What or who or why has never been fully determined because since Brittany slipped into the

darkness that November night back in 2018, she has never been seen again and trying to understand what happened to her. What even brought Brittany out to that rural road to begin with and who she was with opens a Pandora's box of conflicting stories, troubling allegations and a mystery that has taken on a life of its own. I'm your host Ashley Flowers and I'm Britt, and welcome back, you.

The entire scenario that kicked off this case, a woman comes to a stranger's door, a little worse for the wear, shoelace, coatless in the cold, saying she was in a car wreck in her boyfriend took off and left her. Then she takes off just before deputies are about to come. That would be more

and jumping into action. Actually, we've literally seen this play out before. This feels like a slightly different version of the start to our episode on Lisk when Shannon Gilbert was like running to a

“house looking for help. Maybe that's why to me this should have been so alarming from the jump.”

But sadly, that's apparently not what's on the minds of first responders. We were able to get

what seems to be most of the case file. And when they look over the car that's been abandoned, they realize this was far from a serious crash. One of the few things almost everyone in this case can actually agree on is just how thick the fog was that night. And it looked like the car had basically just kind of like veered off the road into, they called it ditch, but like we're talking a very shallow ditch and then maybe got stuck. The car was still drivable, though. And even the

injuries that John saw, he described them as small cuts on her feet and her arms. But I don't know where those would have come from. Some suggest that maybe from the brush in the field going from the car to John's if she got cut through that way and didn't use the road. But like this is like right where we grew up. He's like Michigan, Indiana, Northern Indiana, like field. And this isn't no way. Like November, everything is like cut down by this. Yeah, there'd be like some sticks and

stuff in like the farm fields, but not a lot. I know. And some people have even said, oh well, they cut down the corn and the stalks were still up. Like, but I was like, yeah, but I'm deep

“tracks. I know my fields. You have to switch between corn and soybeans. What was it that year?”

I don't know. And you sometimes like till it under at the end of the season. So like, yes, there'd be stocks, but they're like half buried. Also, like, there is the paved road that goes right to his house, like from where the car was. So like, I don't even know that she would have had to have cut through a field. Listen, I don't know where the cuts come from. But I don't think it was from the crash because there is really no crash. I have talked to enough cops to know

that they do see a lot of this, right? Like, if a driver doesn't want to encounter police for whatever reason, they will just leave a vehicle. Maybe there was a reason that Brittany seemed cagey with John. Maybe she didn't really want the police to come out there. Okay, but then why go asking for medical help? That is not a mystery that they attempt to solve right then.

I mean, I don't think they know who the woman was when they first show up. They don't know that

it was Brittany. They're kind of thinking like, whoever that was, she's probably just going to show

“back up. And the truth is, the people in Brittany's life were probably making some of the same”

assumptions. The 23-year-old mom was struggling with substance use. She had recently given up custody of her four kids while trying to get back on her feet, hoping to start a new job maybe in role in school. And she had a warrant out for her arrest at the time for larceny. So when she goes MIA, at least at first, they kind of wonder if that's because she wanted to. But don't get it twisted. I mean, some of her family and friends had been looking for her, like asking around,

even her boyfriend had been out trying to find her. Is a boyfriend who took off on her? That's the catch. It was her boyfriend, Sheldon Ashbrook. It was his car that she had been driving. But when police dropped by unannounced after the incident, likely sometime around 1030 pm or later to tell him that his car had been impounded. Sheldon was home and informed them that he hadn't even been with Brittany. She borrowed his car that night and he said he had no clue who she would have

been with. So it sounds like even he, just assume that Brittany was either embarrassed, maybe by what she had done to his car, or maybe she was laying low due to the fact that there was a warrant out on her. But weirdly, it doesn't seem like he told her family about the car incident right away. Me told some friends, but the family didn't find out until later that she had taken off after the car went off the road. Though even then, they hear that the car was operable, so

she must have just walked off, right? Even her being barefoot in the snow didn't stand out to them too much. Her mom told us that Brittany was known to run around in flipflops or even barefoot, even when it was freezing in Michigan. And listen, those instincts might have been right, because it turns out when Brittany went to Johns that night looking for help. She did. She went to his house looking to use the phone, but she didn't necessarily call 911 right away.

She had actually tried calling her grandma Vicki first, but either that called didn't go through

or grandma just didn't answer. And I don't know for sure if it was her or John who actually ended up dialing 911. Like she ends up passing the phone off to him pretty quickly and then doesn't seem to want to give him any information. So I keep thinking, maybe he liked dialed before she realized what was going on. Like since she didn't seem scared, my gut is that Brittany probably

she realized that deputies were going to be showing up, she took off. But that doesn't explain why

“she hadn't turned back up now. And with every day that passed with no word from her,”

everyone who knew Brittany was growing more worried, especially the longer she went without being active on social media. Because apparently she is like a Facebook junkie. But the real final straw that set off alarm bells was learning that Brittany hadn't been in touch with her grandma Vicki at all after she tried to call her at that night. Because the two of them were close and they talked constantly. So eight days after the night that she walked off into the cold,

Brittany's dad, Greg Wallace, reports her missing to the St. Joseph County Sheriff's Office.

And once they open an investigation, they decide to go to grandma. Since she likely had the most

contact with Brittany. They think she's going to be super helpful in trying to map out Brits movements leading up to the night of November 30. And it is a worthwhile stop. Grandma is a wealth of information. Because luckily, the last time grandma had seen Brit just so happened to be the same night of this car crash with a car going off the road. And Brit wasn't alone. Deputies learned that earlier on November 30, sometime around 630 and 7 p.m. Britney had

stopped by her grandma's house to do laundry with a guy. Now it doesn't sound like they were really interacting too much with anyone else at the house. But that could have been because they had been

using drugs that night. Now later, when her family finally heard that 911 one call, they told us

that they suspect that she was high because of the way that she sounded. Now at grandma, she in this guy also appeared to be arguing a bit. And he was rushing her like he had somewhere better to be. And they stayed long enough to wash the clothes, but not long enough to fully dry them. Instead, Brittany stuffed damp laundry into a basket and then they left together. Let's call it like 830, 845 p.m. So Sheldon lied. Sheldon did not lie. Grandma knows Sheldon. He and Brittany

had been friends for years before dating on and off. Grandma says this wasn't him. Okay, then who was he? Brittany knows. But like I said, Brittany and this guy barely interacted with anyone else. And in hindsight, grandma says there was something off about this guy. Like he just they couldn't put their finger on it. Nobody ever got his name though is the catch. They do have a pretty good description of him. He is this thin white guy in his like early to mid 20s between five,

six, five, eightish with short blonde hair and thick, mutton chopped sideburns like Elvis as grandma described. And he was wearing like a yellow sweat suit type outfit with like some black on it. So when Brittany said her boyfriend took off after the crash, is she talking about this guy like

“whoever he is. If if there was a man in the car with her, when it went off the road, I think it”

has to be this guy just based on the timeline, right? Like so based on one grandma remembers, they left her house around 830 p.m. The spot where the car went off the road is about a five minute drive away and then getting to John should take less than 10 minutes on foot. We know that the 911 call is placed around 850. So it seems like there wouldn't have been a lot of time for her to have like picked up anyone else. Like I don't think anyone else could have been in that car with her.

If someone was in the car with her, it has to be this guy that she left grandma's with. Now, is there a chance that she dropped him somewhere and she was alone in the car? Maybe, but there isn't a whole lot in this area. I was going to say this is like a pretty rule area. Yeah, so personally I think it's unlikely. Also, the direction that they were driving is kind of interesting to me. I don't know where Brittany was headed to, but like the direction

she was going in was toward Bronson. Now, she used to live in Bronson, but Bronson is away from Sturgis where she has been staying with Sheldon. Now, the thing I'll say is that we're told a lot of drug connections lived out that way in Bronson. So maybe she was going to somewhere she used to live or to a connection sheet new, but like I have no idea. Okay, so I'm buying that the

“mystery man is in the car with her. But like, why does she call him her boyfriend, though?”

Nobody really knows. Now, I'm going to have to say according to some family members that we spoke to. Sheldon actually did kind of fit at least some parts of the description. Like, he is blonde. I think he has like similar ish facial hair, which I can show you, but the build I think was really different. And years later, some close to the case would question just how reliable everyone's memory really was that night, right? Like grandma saying I know Sheldon's for sure not him,

close attention to this guy. And I'm not like blaming them for that. They couldn't have known

“the importance that like he would become in this case, but grandma says it is not Sheldon.”

So to your point, why is Brittany calling someone else her boyfriend? Maybe she used the term loosely. Maybe it was someone that she was seeing on the side. Or maybe she just didn't feel like explaining her love life to a complete stranger, right? Because let me tell you, her love life was pretty freaking complicated as we will soon get into. But just a quick observation. I've seen what's believed to be the last selfie that Brittany took from Sheldon's car before leaving

that night. And she looks pretty done up. Maybe that means absolutely nothing, but to me it doesn't

exactly scream like I'm just going to grandma's to do laundry. More likely she may have been like

going out, yes, to meet up with somebody. Yes. And if she was seeing another guy, then the question becomes, "Did Sheldon know about it?" When investigators circle back to Sheldon, the short answer, according to him, is no. He admits the two weren't exactly in the best place the day that she vanished, mostly due to Brits' Matthews. He insists this wasn't some like blow-up fight they had or anything, more just like bickering. But he does say that before leaving the house that night, Brittany told

him something along the lines of "You're not going to like me much later." Which he took to me at the time that she was going to go out and get high. He says he actually didn't want to lend his car to her at that night. People we spoke to told us that that car was his baby. But that night Brittany asked to borrow it so she could go to her grandma's. And according to Sheldon, he actually even offered to drive her himself, like it was only like a 15-minute cruise away. But he says that

Brittany got irritated about this and was adamant about taking the car alone. Which makes sense

“if she's meeting up with another guy. Which is what I think happens. Because Sheldon helps”

fill in more of the timeline for November 30th. He says that she left his place likely sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. And not long after, Brittany called him up like half joking, half complaining, I think that there wasn't enough gas in the car and she was going to have to stop and fill up. And after that's when we have a gap where we think she picks someone up before going to grandma's. Now once ours pass by, Sheldon tries contacting Brittany to see where she's at,

she's supposed to be back with his car. But she won't answer, which probably frustrates him. Not because he is thinking she's with some other guy, he is thinking that she's out using. And like I said, not back with his car after he already seemed like on the fence about her taking it. And look after talking to people close to this case, Sheldon doesn't really seem like the jealous

type. He is more so the guy that Brit felt she could always fall back on if she needed something.

So at 942 p.m., he actually called a friend and his cousin and asked them to pick him up so they could go out and look for Brittany. And deputies end up confirming this with those two people. The first place they said they checked are the village manor apartments in Sturgis.

“But why not grandma's if that's where she said she was going?”

Well, because according to Sheldon, Brittany would go to these apartments to visit friends and to do drugs, like or get drugs. And remember like that is what he thought was going on here. Why she isn't back. But he goes there doesn't spot her car. So then they did go by grandma's, no car there either. They said they drove back to the village manor apartments one more time. But when they still couldn't find her, they just went back to Sheldon's house.

And it is very soon after he gets back home that there is a knock on his door, not Brittany, obviously, but police. And so now we're back to the point in the timeline that I've already told you about. When officers showed up to tell him that his car was found abandoned after this quote unquote crash. And Sheldon said that he had no clue who Brit had been with. And so this is one of the great mysteries of this case because there is some evidence to suggest that Brittany

might not have been running from a car accident that night. She may have been running from this man. And there are signs that mystery man may have found her. For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases

being solved after decades. Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now wherever you get your podcasts.

John's and asked to use the phone. But there is something about that that doesn't really bring

“all the way true. I mean, yes, the car went off the road. But like I said, I think it was still totally”

drivable. Now, police did have it told probably just because it had been abandoned. Someone had fled the scene. But most people are a reporter Madison talked to said that this ditch was super shallow. Like arguably, they wouldn't even call it a real ditch. I wouldn't either. I was like on Google Maps. I've seen videos that they sent us out. Like you grew up in the air post when I said imagine it's like a slight divot on the shoulder and then barely barely barely barely.

And if a car went off and I know there's a little snow on the ground. Like say it was a really low to the ground. I think even just with a little bit of effort, you would have been able to get it out of there. Now, to be fair, if you're on your own or like if you were high, maybe you are really stuck. But for arguments sake, say the car could have been driven out of there.

“Why wouldn't she? Maybe she was trying to get away from someone in the car. Remember, she had”

those small cuts and injuries that can't fully be explained by her just going off the road. Maybe tapping a little small tree that was there. Grandma said that Brittany and the mystery man seemed to be arguing a bit, remember. And Brittany's mom Jessica Rolf told us something interesting about her. Believe it or not, she said that Brittany actually had this habit of impulsively jumping out of cars when she was pissed off. Like it's something her mom had witnessed

her doing before in an argument. And to further hint at this idea that something happened in the car, when Sheldon got the car back from impound, he says the inside was trashed. Like the glovebox was open, Brittany's purse had supposedly been like dumped out her belongings were scattered everywhere.

And apparently that was exactly how it was when first responders found it on the side of the road

in the first place. So say something happened in that car before or after it went off the road. Was Brittany trying to get away from the person she was in the car? Whip. If so, there is a good chance that he caught up to her. Now John isn't around anymore for us to get this story directly from him. But Brittany's dad Greg relayed to us that John had told someone that when he went out to his detached garage the next morning after Brittany had been at his house, he looked like

someone had gone through his stuff. The insinuation being that this had supposedly happened when Brittany herself was inside with John talking to dispatch. Meaning mystery man is in the garage. Right. But that doesn't mean she didn't know. What do you mean? I mean like adventure to guess people are more willing to open their door to a young woman in trouble than a woman and a man. Like maybe she went up to use the phone, told him to wait outside. Actually that would make a lot of

sense, especially when combined with the tidbit of info that we get like when deputies can't just the neighborhood. So, okay, there isn't like much of a neighborhood canvas again. You know this area. Like it's super spread out. Yeah, it's pretty rural. But there was another house not too far from John's on the same road. And someone in that house saw Brit that night too. According to the case file, there was this young teen who was home alone and they reported seeing Brittany outside

this house wearing a big green coat. Just like the one that John had given her. So, I mean we can almost be sure that this is her and we can be sure that this happened after she left John. Right. But it's what happened next that's really unsettling. So, according to the report, while he watched this woman like circle from the backyard to the front like peering through the windows, he heard someone else knocking on his front door at the same time. Now, this teenager is obviously like

super freaked out. I'm going to answer the door for whoever is knocking. So, he didn't see what that person looked like or anything. The question is, was to like to your point. So, like I was originally thinking like was this person like stalking her and looking for her thinking maybe you know she

“was that John's maybe she's here or now thinking what you're saying? Were they together?”

Did they travel to that second house together? So, did they ever do searches in like the fields?

Because again, like looking at a map of this like he said, this is an area like where I grew up. These houses are kind of like square miles apart. They're huge. Yeah, huge fields in between. If she's barefoot and it's freezing, there's some snow on the ground. And this next house didn't open their door. Like she didn't make it any further. I mean, people have wondered

especially if she was using drugs, she succumbed to the elements somewhere near the road

“that they're on. It's called Fawn River Road. Or they're even thinking like did she possibly overdose?”

But, to answer your question, yes, they have searched and they haven't found anything. So, like that makes me think that that's super unlikely. Especially when you think about this is like late November, early December when they're searching. This is flat, flat, farmland for like as far as the I kids joke is like you can watch your dog run away for a week. Like there's nothing there. If she had just like, like, you know, fallen in die, they're like whatever she would see her body.

She would have been discovered by now. And even since those early days, there have been even

more searches beyond the open field. Like in surrounding woods, water, but still Brittany has never

been found. And outside of people having their own varying opinions on who he might be mystery man has never been identified. Which I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around because this is like 2018, right? Yeah, this is like fairly recently and like, right, did we not pull phone records? How do we not know who she was meeting up with that night? And what about the car? Like his prints should have been all over it if he was in it, right?

It's so frustrating. So, we know she has her phone with her when she leaves Sheldon. And remember, she took that selfie. Right. But I don't know what happened to her phone because actually one of the things I keep wondering is why she wouldn't use that to call for help. Like why did she

even need to go to John's farmhouse at all? And according to Sheldon, it hadn't been left

“behind in his car when he went to pick it up. So the only thing that I can come up with as far as”

her phone goes is like, a, maybe mystery man took it and like that's why she needed to go to John's or be like, I'm trying to think back to 2018 was this a world where like, there was bad service. Like, I mean, it could definitely be spotty for sure. And listen, I know according to the case file authorities attempted to ping it. Even though you can't find it in my mind, I'm like, you know, it's, it is 2018. Let's pull the records. But it's noted in the case file that whatever

ping they tried to do just didn't work. Like the phone was either off or it was roaming or there was like no service. Okay, but can't they see where it was like before it went offline? I would think but there is no detail in the records about this. And law enforcement wouldn't talk to us. So I don't know exactly what they did or didn't pull. And I believe it may have been like a pre-pedal like pay as you go kind of things. So like, I don't know if that factors in. But even still,

I don't know what they tried to track location wise or like communication wise like related to that phone. But if anything, I assume it didn't lead them to mystery manner. We wouldn't be here talking about it. All right. And what about the car? So that is the thing that's going to frustrate you.

It was just never processed. I guess because they just assumed initially that this was like a girl

who didn't want to be found like they're not thinking foul play, especially not at first. So like they just give it back to Sheldon. He just goes to pick it up from impound. No problem. And then I don't know if like by the time they like realize what's going on, they're like, oh well too late. It's never too late, but like never gets processed. But at least in giving evidence back to Sheldon, they did get a statement from him. And he starts telling police about the people that Brittany

was known to go see. Starting with a woman named Ashley Hule. And Ashley's interesting because she lives at the same village manner apartments in Sturgis where Sheldon first went looking for Brittany the night that she vanished. It wasn't grandma's house he went to. It was there. Right. And Sheldon told investigators that he did that because Brittany regularly went there to buy and use met. But Ashley wasn't just some random drug dealer. When she comes into speak with investigators,

she tells them just how deeply she was tied to Brittany. Their sisters. And she's desperate to find her and she is already trying to do whatever she can to help. Except that's a lie. I mean, she did seem to be inserting herself into the investigation, but she is not Brittany's blood sister.

“Brittany's dad is like, I don't even know who this woman is. What?”

Now Ashley does eventually clarify that she and Brittany are not biologically related. They're just like really close. And in a later interview, she'd eventually say that Brittany was her best friend. But she didn't know if she was Brittany's. And some of Brittany's family says Ashley may not have been nearly as close to Brittany as she was presenting herself to be. And over time, they start wondering whether Ashley is genuinely trying to help solve Brittany's disappearance.

Because like I said, she just keeps like putting herself in the middle. Or whether she may be trying to steer attention away from something else entirely. But what? According to Ashley, she and Britt

bit tricky. Because in one part of her interview, Ashley tells investigators that the last time

“she physically saw Brittany was November 23rd. Okay. Then later, she changes that to November 28th.”

But she says the last contact of any kind she had with Brittany was through Facebook Messenger on November 30th. The very day she vanished. And listen, from what we know, that communication was friendly enough. Like Britt was just checking in on her. And what did their other actions say? Like further back. Why would love to tell you? But, and this is jumping ahead just a little bit, something weird. And some happening with Brittney's social media, people we spoke to told us that

Facebook Messenger was like one of the main ways that Brittany communicated. But everything on her

social media had gone completely dark since she disappeared. Except months after she had been missing.

A friend notices that one of her Facebook accounts suddenly appears active again. So she tells Britt's mom, Jessica Rolf, who then notifies law enforcement. And it's not like she is talking

“to anyone or like posting anything normally. The account just starts doing these strange things. Like”

they think stuff was possibly being like hidden, deleted, altered in some way. Then apparently some of Britt's conversations with Ashley start disappearing. Now I know investigators took the activity seriously enough that in July of 2019 they requested emergency Facebook records tied to Brittany's account and they obtained IP address information connected to the logins. But a freaking

course their findings aren't documented in the files that we got access to. But I do believe at least

some of that activity that happened on her account can be tied to Ashley because our reporter Madison got in touch with Ashley. And she did agree to answer some questions via Facebook Messenger, of course. But they did end up hopping on a quick call later for some like follow-ups at the last minute too. Now Ashley acknowledges that she did in fact access some of Britt's online accounts after she disappeared. But she says that it's not in the way that's like being portrayed. Like it

wasn't malicious. She says that Sheldon sent her a picture of like notebooks that Brittany kept with passwords and account recovery information and that they were like hoping those accounts might reveal who Brittany had been talking to before she went missing. According to Ashley, most of the passwords no longer work. And she says she was only able to get into that one Facebook account and later she told detectives that she had access to it. They asked her to stop going in. She says she

did. But then months later she says that a private investigator approached her for help accessing the additional accounts. Now Ashley says she believed that this PI was like working with law enforcement and like again she was trying to help. Ashley's explanation is that she wasn't trying to alter evidence or hide information. She was simply looking for clues that might help locate Brittany.

“And here's the thing she says isn't correct about any of these allegations. She says that lots of”

stuff was already gone before she got access to it. And according to her, it wasn't even just messages between her and Britt that got deleted either. She says there were lots more. But both of Britt's parents dispute that who else has deleted her parents say that there is at least one other person who's messages seem to have been messed with. It was actually the one other person whose name kept coming up over and over again with Ashley's as they like police and her family were talking to

people. And that is Eric Shank, Brittany's husband. One her what but two of these names are also giving me a hard time. Actually, Eric, I know. I know. Listen, I told you that her love life is complicated and buckle up because this is where the case really takes the term. For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm

Ashley Flowers and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now wherever you get your podcasts. Eric Shank is Brittany's ex, but still he was technically her husband in November of 2018.

They're separated but still legally married and sharing two children. Brittany had reportedly started filling out divorce paper shortly before she disappeared to try and make things official.

whoever else she wanted. But emotionally, things were messier than that because according to Brittany's mom Jessica, even though the relationship had become incredibly toxic due to drugs, Brittany and Eric still had this intense hole toward one another. Like they could split up and

somehow still always end up right back in each other's orbit. And by the time Brittany goes missing,

she may be back with Sheldon, but Eric is still deeply woven into her everyday life. And into their little friend group because Eric knows Ashley well too. He goes to her apartment to buy and use drugs too. And when he's later asked where he was when Brittany went missing, Eric remembered staying over an Ashley's apartment. That entire night. Oh, that is part of why some of Brittany's family starts paying such close attention to Ashley moving forward.

She is basically Eric's alibi and Eric hers. And when we asked her about that night, Ashley, I mean, she said Eric came over at like 840 p.m. and then was there like most of the time.

So perfect alibi for the kind of exact time that Brittany goes missing. Yes, but around 1 a.m.

she says that he left took her car to put air in the tires. And then it sounds like he like comes back and then eventually leaves her place again to go back home to his parents that around like 2 a.m. Quick question, were they like together together? Like, I love him. He's great. My husband's not running out to fill up my tires at one in the morning. I mean, they say no. Like, Ashley was actually dating someone else at the time this guy named Curtis Poly, who everyone called pocket. Get it?

“I got it. But Ashley being tied up with someone else or not, I think the thing that's important”

here is that Brittany's mom Jessica told us she believed there is no way that Brittany would have been cool with how close they seemingly were. And Ashley herself tells detectives that she thought Brittany wanted to work things out with Eric, even though she was seeing Sheldon. But what Ashley is saying doesn't exactly pass the sniff test. And I'll give you an example. I'm sorry, him staying over at her house late night isn't the example. Well, that could have been anything.

But, you know, but honestly, it may be was about like the drugs, maybe he crashed there. Also, it sounds like he's up and out and about it like one in the morning, like maybe no one's crashing. And they're just like hanging out. It's hard to prove anything with that. But this next thing, especially the timing is a little bit harder to argue with. It's body cam footage from a traffic stop in three rivers, Michigan, involving Eric from December 23rd, 2018. So we're talking like

three weeks after Brittany went missing. Is it your car, Eric? No, it's not. No, we just bought it for life for a few years. You what? I've already from my girlfriend. Well, I don't know if that was all day.

“Are you guys doing out in the woods? Looking for my wife?”

She missing? Yeah, she's been to Wallace. She's been missing since November 30th. Brittany, do you want to guess who he says his girlfriend is? All right. So I'm following this black Ford SUV with a plate of a stir just registered to Ashley, who will be showing no insurance.

And it's cutting through the first work neighborhood using side streets. So I've been to traffic

stop on it because it's not insured. It's Eric shank deriving. He's on a restricted license. And Jon Fox Jr. is in the passenger seat. Now Ashley's relationship with Eric is one of the things that we asked her about. And she did admit to us that after Brittany vanish, she and Eric spent a lot of time together because they were both caught up in the search. They were using drugs. They were dealing with intense emotions. And Ashley acknowledges that their relationship

did eventually become intimate. But she maintains that happened only after Brittany's disappearance. She says it was not during the time of this traffic stop when he is calling her his girlfriend or even before. So anyways, back to this stop because there is more here. The officers are searching the car as part of this. And it sounds like they're like concerned about drugs. But when they ask Jon Fox Jr. or JJ, as he's known, if he's got anything on him, he explains that he's got a

no patent in his pocket full of names because he's trying to figure out what he described as

“some sex trafficking thing that's been going on. And I can't be 100% sure, but I think he's”

insinuating that this sex trafficking thing has something to do with their search for Brittany. Maybe even like why they've been out in the woods all day. But weirdly, these officers like don't press. And you can definitely sense that they're skeptical about why they're really out there.

in Saint Joseph County. So if they have no reason to connect these dots, exactly. Now when Ashley

shows up to the scene, because she'd been called, it's her vehicle that they're in. And when she's asked by an officer, she does in that moment deny that she is Eric's girlfriend saying that he's like just a friend. But she's clearly upset that her car is going to get impounded. She says like she can't afford it that she has already been through a lot. And then the situation just kind of like escalates from their fast. They say she's not cooperating and she ends up in handcuffs. And then

she claims officers hit her head on the car while arresting her. JJ and Eric on the other hand appear to be staying like, cool as cucumbers. And even though officers find needles, needle caps, and a billy club type impact weapon. Sorry. And what? Like, you know, one of those like, um, like a heavy like duty nights to kind of thing like a police like a police baton. They find all of this in there. Still, they decide to give these guys a break because it's the day before Christmas Eve.

Happy holidays folks. So all things considered Eric and JJ seemingly like make it out of this

“traffic stop pretty much unscathed. But here's like another reason why I think this stop is so”

important. And it has to do with JJ, the passenger in the car. So remember in our timeline of November 30th, after Brett leaves the house in Sheldon's car. Sheldon said that she had called him up complaining that there wasn't enough gas she was going to have to like stop, fill it up, whatever. So if Brett did end up stopping for gas that night, that would make sense. What if I told you there is reason to believe Ashley had the receipt from the transaction that Brett made in her possession

of some point. Ashley, who's saying she didn't see Brittany at all that particular day. That's the one cool. So this receipt is for 20 bucks worth of gas at the marathon station on Fawn River Road, which is the road that like everything is happening on. Yes. It is timestamped for 6/11 PM on November 30th. And it appears to have Brett's account information on it. But investigators don't end up with the physical copy of the receipt. They end up with photos of the receipt that Ashley had. That's somehow

almost weirder. I know weirder to me is that she's not even the one who originally brought it to their attention either. Okay, but why does she have them? Okay, so this is all according to a later

interview that she does with detectives. Okay. Basically, she tells them that her Ford Explorer had been

stolen sometime near the end of January beginning of February 2019. So this is like to put in context like two months after Brett went miss. Okay. Two months after her car is taken, it's finally recovered. Okay. She says that when she got her car back, there was this garbage bag full of just like random items and trash inside the vehicle. And Ashley said she started digging through the bag trying to get proof of who took her car to see what they've been up to or whatever. And she claims that is where

the gas receipt turned up. So she said she snapped a picture of it. And to be fair, she said she took photos of a lot of things that she found in that bag. And she said she didn't realize the significance of the receipt until it had already been thrown away. But if you didn't think it was important, then why take a photo of it then? I mean, it's literally what Mads asked her to. And Ashley said

“something that I think kind of contradicts what I just told you from her official statement to”

investigators because she tells Mads now that she actually did notice the November 30th date, the time like the specific gas station. And she said she had this gut feeling that it might be connected to Brett. Even though at that point in time, she said that no one was thinking foul play yet. It's important if there was foul play that no one's thinking about yet. There yeah, like what? Because she's like at that point, they're just like trying to when she finds it like

track down her friend. I don't know. But I do know that back when she was telling police this, she did believe she knew who took her vehicle, like and who had it for like two months. And here we're coming back. John Box Jr. JJ JJ. She told Madson she's confident it was JJ because she claims he literally took off with her keys, left her a note saying he was borrowing it,

and then just like never bothered bringing it back. Oh, the thing is, she's not necessarily saying

that like he's the one who had their seat initially. She's kind of just like, you know, it could it easily been like any one of the many people in the circle that he associated with that he could have like picked up or been in the vehicle or borrowed the vehicle in like the time period that

“she is saying she did not have it. And she supposedly did. But here's the thing, the gas receipt”

isn't the only thing connected to Brittany that somehow resurfaces after she disappears.

still not totally found after the crash. And this did always strike her family as odd because

according to Jessica Brittany would have like fought somebody over that phone. So for it to be completely like gone that night with her, like seemingly untraceable, that's always been like a big mystery.

“Like they're thinking that it has to be with her, right? Who is missing? That's the only thing”

that makes sense. But then this happens. So Eric Shank showed up to one of the early searches for Brittany dropped off by Ashley, by the way. Even though Brits family told us that like at this point in time, like they did not even know who she was. But it is like in this one of like early day searches that he claims to have found part of Brits' phone, part of it hard. So according to people close to

the case, what Eric allegedly said he found was the back plate from a Samsung phone that resembled

the one that Brittany had been using before she disappeared. This Samsung J337P. And we know that that's reportedly the same model tied to the selfie that Brittany took before leaving Sheldon's that night. It all seems to match up. But some of Brits family tell us that they're suspicious

“of this whole like finding. Because according to them, Eric was off searching by himself”

in a field near the crash site when he made this alleged discovery. No one else from the search party was there to witness it. And with even weirder, Brits' mom Jessica said that he didn't even like run over to the rest of the group and tell them like I found this clue. Jessica said that he just like left and she learned about it later. Now in the case file, there is mentioned of a ZTE cell phone missing back plate listed under the evidence. But there's like no other details.

I don't know if this is the one that we're talking about. I also don't know why you would call it a missing back plate. Like and they don't give any like notes in the file about like who ended up turning it in when that happened or if investigators were ever even able to confirm that it was

“in fact Brittany's. Still, the family can't help but wonder. Did Eric genuinely stumble across”

part of Brittany's phone while searching for her? Or did he somehow already have it? Did anyone ever just ask him? Not really, even though Eric is her husband, even though he is allegedly finding evidence, even though he has tied up in some weird way to Ashley who seemed to keep finding herself at the center of this thing, St. Joseph County investigators don't seem to question Eric at all until more than six months after Brittany went missing. And even that

appears to have been this like super short interaction from what I can tell. During that little chat, Eric even admitted he hadn't spoken directly with any law enforcement about Brits' case before, and he had only passed information through, guess who? Ashley, and it wouldn't be until nearly five for wreaking years later that they would actually sit him down for a 45-minute formal recorded interview. How is this even remotely acceptable for investigation? You tell me,

as someone from the Michigan area, it is embarrassing. Yes, now while the St. Joseph County Sheriff's

office did provide us with the records, they never got back to us regarding our request for an

interview. But you know what is so bizarre about all of this Eric and Ashley stuff? I mean, I could go on, but you're going to tell me something new. Whether it was only with like the pure intentions like that Ashley describes, there is no doubting that Ashley puts herself at the heart of this case. She is definitely cooperating with investigators, providing them with theories and leads to chase down. People she thinks should be looked at as a suspect, but for some reason,

at least in the files we have, in all of the talking and finger pointing she's doing, she never seems to suggest that they look at Eric. Instead, she really focuses her attention on someone else, close to Brittany. Not Eric, not JJ, the one who supposedly had this like freaking receipt or like some kind of connection to someone who had the receipt or whatever. No, she turns the tables on Brittany's own mom, Jessica Rolf. Now to be fair, we know that Jessica is suspicious

of Ashley too, so they're both pointing the finger at each other. And the accusations against Jessica kind of stick for at least a brief moment in time. And that's because of some disturbing voice memos between mother and daughter that end up getting leaked.

I'm Ashley Flowers and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country

“to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases”

being solved after decades. Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now wherever you get your podcasts. Ashley Huli believes Brittany's mom, Jessica Rolf. At the very least, knows more than she's saying about what happened to Brittany. Because according to the case file, there was speculation that Brits disappearance was somehow linked to retaliation of some sort, like maybe Jessica owed

some dangerous people money, or there were like stolen drugs, or something of like of the sort

there. Now to be very clear, investigators never publicly substantiated any of those claims

against Jessica. But this is where the case really starts spiraling, because even by Jessica's own account, she and Brittany did have a complicated relationship. They fought about drug use. They fought about the custody of Brittany's children. And Jessica admits that she and Brittany had even fought over men. They had been involved with two of the same guys over the years, although apparently at different times. You can imagine this left a lot of room for rumors to run

rampant, especially considering Jessica herself was wrapped up in the local drug scene and struggling

with substance use back then. So none of it looked good. But after several years of what

seems like back and forth fingerprinting, this video gets blasted online that plays horribly for Jessica. It's a recording of one of their mother daughter arguments from not too long before Brits

“went missing. And honestly, it is hard to hear. But because it's already out there and has become”

part of the narrative surrounding this case, I felt like it was important to acknowledge and to play for you, to play for everyone listening, but it has been edited down slightly for time sake. Now this is from about a month before Brits went missing. And these voice memos seem to center around a man named Daniel, who Brittany had dated and Jessica had had a thing with. Now Daniel seemed to be stoking the fire around like Brittany's custody of her children. She had recently given up

custody and her mom was furious. "Hardest off, you destroy yourself. You are a toxic waste to everything and everybody you touch." Secondly, no, I'm not a thought of you about jail, I'm not a thought of you about Daniel. I am kind of thought of you about Daniel. But um, you need to shut your big ass mouth. Don't be big a phone call, don't be sent in people that do sudden messages. Like, you are full of everybody knows that you're sick in the head. There's

“something wrong with you. Seek help that's what you need to do. Immediately, you put people's lives,”

you've been tormenting mine, you torment your dad, you torment everybody, you torment Daniel, you torment your children, you suck, dude, you suck, you suck the life right out of people. Nobody likes you. We do not want to talk to you, we do not want to hear from you. Yep, and you're blocked again. And no, actually I'm doing great. Thank you. If you have a good one and don't contact me anymore. You're not my mom. Okay, you need nothing to

me. And as far as Daniel, that was my closure. I don't really get a um, other than that, I don't have anything to say. So, have a nice life, stop contacting me. And no, I could just see my kids on a regular basis. All of them, thank you. So, stop texting him, stop calling him, stop emailing him, stop everything, stop having people contact him. Or, I am going to that, everybody know where the little misprinting is at.

And I'm going to ruin your life. Stay the way from everybody. I was just going to visit station with my boys. So, it doesn't really matter. You do you and I'll do me. And you can live your dope style life with Daniel and let him keep ruining your life too. It's peace ship. I don't do a fuck about him. And I move back out of state. So,

huh? And as far as Daniel goes, I'm with somebody. So, I don't really give a shit.

“Like I said, that was just my closure. I came last morning.”

Those are tough. I'm tough to listen to. And what I'll say is this, Jessica told us that she is not proud of what she said. She seemed to own it, though. These voice memos haunt her. They are played over and over again, sometimes when she least is expecting it. One of her lowest moments on repeat. But she says it's taught her to be more careful about what she says at an anger because you

never know what your last words to someone might be. And those being hers to Brit is something

that she has to live with now. But she is adamant that no matter how ugly those recording sound, Brittany did not deserve what happened to her. She never wanted any harm to come to her daughter. And she firmly believes that Ashley put those out just to make her look bad and two divert suspicion away from her and Eric. And Ashley admitted to us, yes, she was the one who originally got access to that video. But she says the story is a bit more complicated than that because she claims

at one point she was helping Jessica get into an old Facebook account while they were still on good terms. But like long story short, that changes. They're no longer cool. And then she finds these voice memos between Brit and Jessica on Jessica's account. So while she says she's the one who discovered them, she also is saying she's not the one responsible for actually circulating them online. She said that she only shared it with some of Brit's other family members, like people she

“thought needed to know and like that's how it got blasted out. Now when all of this is said and done,”

there is nothing that I come across that seems to put Jessica with her daughter the night that she went missing or anywhere near fond river road. You mean like a gas receipt? Like that. I get that where there's smoke, there's usually fire. But what I am really struggling to find here is the why. Like, let's say Ashley and Eric at least had a minimum. No, a little bit more than what they're saying. What do they know? Why did she go missing? Because I've been out there. I've been

in Stardust. Yeah. I really struggled to believe that this is a random person who could have picked her up. Like, where does this mystery man come in and all of this? Well, it is possible that mystery man isn't that much of a mystery at all. Because we did anyone look at Daniel? Oh, they definitely looked at Daniel like, obviously due to all the drama. Yeah. I can say, um, not Daniel. He like apparently was living in the Florida at the time. Though I thought there was like some back and forth questions like, was he

wasn't he? I don't know. I don't think it matters because he is like, ultra-tatted, like even on his face. Oh, like, identifyable. Yeah. But anyways, not Daniel, but still might be someone she already knows.

Like, don't get me wrong. Mystery man has still never conclusively been identified. But here is the

thing about the sketches that were done of mystery guy. So the first one, the one that I showed you already, that one was done by, like, grandma's description in 2019, a couple of months after, like, the incident. That's the guy with, like, the long skinny face, the sideburns. That one didn't really get circulated publicly. Like, for some reason, investigators only seem to show it to some people they talk to asking who it, like, look like to them. Britney's dad Greg, who is grandma Vicki's

son told us that he was told detectives never really completely trusted that sketch, which I mean, he's like, look, I kind of get it. Like, right, remember, their interaction was super brief. Like, people were in and out of that house all the time. Perhaps that one was wrong. But for some unknown reason, detectives thought that they could get something better, even if it was like way down the line. So in 2023, they get like a whole new sketch from Britney's cousin who was apparently

around when Britain's mystery guy were there. How was something done five years later, more accurate

“than grandma a couple of months out? The only thing that I can make makes sense for myself is like,”

the person, this cousin who gives this, they were a teenager. So like, total shot in the dark, maybe they hadn't been like drinking like other people in the house or like, weren't intoxicated in some way, like, more clear-minded. Either way, 2023, they give a description and somehow police

feel confident in this second one. Now, I'm going to still post both just in case, like, they're

not wildly different in my opinion. And all of that to say, between the two, first, second, whatever, some people thought that the general description of this mystery man may be kind of

wondered whether Eric could have been the mystery man at grandma's house? How would they know Sheldon

but not Eric though? On paper, I know that sounds like ridiculous, but according to people close to the family, most of the family hadn't seen Eric in a long time. Like, him and Brett are separated, they're not living together. And in that time, I guess his appearance had apparently changed drastically, like we do to his drug use. So Brett, that body cam footage of the traffic stop that we got earlier, that actually may be one of the most accurate views we have of Eric circa the time Brittany,

like vanished. Because that's from December 2018, remember? And like, there's something like, I noticed there's a sideburns, huh? But the other problem I have though is like, he's got a big beard

“and glasses. And we heard that he's strictly was like a glasses guy. Yeah, I honestly don't see”

how it could be him. Yeah, you would think that that would have like stood out. Plus, remember, based on the timeline Ashley gave us, it probably wouldn't have worked for Eric to be mystery man. But if we believe that, we have to believe that the timeline Ashley is giving us is accurate. Okay, let's just say, mystery man isn't Eric. It still feels like he knows something. So again, I ask, why? Like who actually has motive to want Brittany gone? So of all of the things that have

come up over the years, all of the rumors, all of the finger pointing, I'm telling you, this case is like a, you can get lost in it. I don't have like a firm, this is it, reason to point to. But there is something that I can point to and say, I think the answer might be here, ish. So we got word that Brittany had been talking to this guy named Zachary Bowman, seemingly romantically. And the very evening that she went missing, they talked in a phone several

times. Like it even sounds like one of these calls took place on her way to Grandma's. Is he mystery man? Well, this, I know, is not possible because he is in prison at the time. That is the only reason that we even solidly know about these calls. Okay, I was going to ask that again. They're

recorded on a prison line. And Brit, it sounds like we are the first ones to obtain these recordings.

So I was praying that there was going to be some new tidbit of information from them. Like maybe Brit would drop a name or location, a hint that we hear some like something strange in the background, anything because I definitely believe that she picked up mystery man on the way to Grandma's. And although she doesn't end up revealing who it was who was going to be with her at that night, I do think there is something in one of these calls that we got that could be telling.

But I need to give you some quick background context first. So at the time the Brittany goes missing, we know that Ashley says that she's dating a guy that I mentioned earlier, pocket, real name, Curtis Poly. So part of her alibi, outside of Eric being over at her place for most of the night, is that she stayed home upset because pocket had apparently just been picked up by police. Apparently, he'd previously been on probation for something drug related and decided to ditch his

monitoring device. So in one of the calls with Zack, it sounds like Brittany is maybe just about to leave Sheldon's house for the evening. So that's the context I need to know going into this call.

“And the one that I'm going to play you some clips from is at a time when I think Brittany is maybe”

just about to leave Sheldon's house for the evening. So take a listen and then we'll talk about it. Oh my god, I have to tell you something. Polly went to jail. Polly? Yeah, he picked up yesterday at 7 or night.

Time? I ain't going to lose no sleep over. You know. That means he's just a scoundrel and it gets more started. I have no idea. Actually, he hasn't said anything to me. Well, I asked your body but she hasn't responded. I mean, if he's in jail, I'm going to get word to him now.

Yep.

I mean, I could have been a first. Well, you know, no, you better, you know, don't do that right now.

“You need to wait a little bit. Only because when I was up, I don't, I don't need anything to come back on me.”

I don't need him to get a hair under the ass because of what he said to me. I repeat it back to you. You hear me? And I said, I don't, I don't need him wanting to do some revenge for shit because something that he said to me got back to you and why he's in there sitting on whatever he's sitting. You know, man, what was said to you that it all comes out.

It was like there were all my baby moms. I'm not talking about it. You know what I'm talking about. Bye. What's up? I was talking about Sean's daylight, but no, I can't, I can't say what I want to say over the phone, but there's reason why I don't want you to say anything right now. What was I was saying around? I was hanging around Eric.

Fuck it's a lady and talk it. Okay. So I don't, I don't need anything said right now. It feels like they're like talking in a code. I mean, probably, they know they're being recorded. Right? And I don't know what you're like, I feel like there's like some tension there. Like code or no code. Like the vibe I get is that Brittany has been hanging out with Eric Ashley and Ashley's boyfriend, Pocket, who is now in jail, where Zack is already at.

And it sounds like Brit has something like maybe some dirt on at least one of them. And she doesn't want what she has like getting back to that person or to someone. And like, I don't know,

“maybe this means nothing. I mean, I definitely sense something same. So what's that in prison for that?”

Also something drug related, but like seemingly separate, not whatever like Pocket was like going away for hey, I don't know. Maybe Brittany or Zack, like new Hell Pocket, like ended up getting picked up by police, like could Brit have been the one who routed him out? I don't know. Our reporter Matt is in tried tracking down Zack and Pocket hoping that they might remember what the heck she was talking about, but she has not had any luck reaching them. And of course, we tried reaching

out to everyone named in this episode to including Eric Shang, but as of this recording, Eric never

got back to us. And listen, when we asked Ashley straight up, if she is involved or if she knows more, she said most definitely not. And I want to point something out that I find like pretty odd. And I'm not sure where the disconnect is, but it's the concerning, no matter what is going on here. So in the case file, there is this mention of detectives talking to Ashley about potentially taking a polygraph, but then there's like no info on whether or not they followed through. So obviously,

we asked people like we were speaking to about this. Did they hear about the results? It happened. And Brittany's dad Greg told Madison that St. Joseph County Sheriff's Office told him that both Ashley and Eric ended up taking polygraphs and they passed. But plot twist,

“Ashley told Mads that she never ended up taking one. But wouldn't a pass polygraph be good for her?”

Like that would like help her. I would think so. I would think so. She told that she was supposed to take one. Like she even went in for it. And she spent more than three hours being like pre-screen only to ultimately not be tested because the examiner felt like she hadn't gotten enough sleep. Well, apparently like she had been on the road a lot for work around that time. And she said that she spent several months trying to coordinate a second exam with a detective,

but then like they eventually just like died off. I can't even like come up with a reason for any of that to make sense. Right? Like is someone in law enforcement so confused that they're like

imagining polygraphs that never happened? Or maybe like Ashley confused about the pre-questions,

like the pre-screening, maybe they just told her it was like the beginning part, but it wasn't. Like for at least from what I know and admittedly like I don't I've never seen like all

“but bunch of polygraphs. Like but I think that like they do the pre-screen before you're like hooked”

up to the machine. I think you would know if you were taking a polygraph. Right. I mean this is just like the perfect example in my mind of like this encapsulates the case. Like we're missing something. And like the lies don't even like make sense if there are lies or is it like everyone's got their wires so cross. I don't even understand the things that are being said. And yes, I think we are missing a piece. But I like I really think someone out there has to have the piece.

So like this is my plug to everyone to reach out to us [email protected] because I find that with the stories that have this like kind of local following people tend to come out of the woodwork with important information. And no matter which theory you follow, like something just doesn't work here. And maybe that's because what happened wasn't planned. I mean I think there's a real possibility something spiral. Maybe tensions that had already been brewing

finally boiled over. Maybe drugs were involved. It could have been an accident and people panicked

afterward. Some people believe that mystery man eventually caught back up with Brittany after she left John's house called for help like went by that second house and then like whatever happened next just went horribly wrong. Others have even speculated that Brittany may have been hit by a car sometime

her and then it was covered up. And honestly, when you remember how dark and foggy those roads

“were that night, there was like a little bit of snow plus the possibility of drugs being involved.”

It gets not hard to imagine how quickly things could have taken a dangerous turn. Almost every scenario in my mind though involves someone else. Mystery man hasn't come forward. So there has gotta be a reason for that. Right? Like if he knows what happened, he had to have gotten a ride out of there from someone with or without Brittany. I want to know who else was in that area. We know detectives didn't even talk to Eric for forever.

Like did they get his phone records? Ashlee's JJ's anybody's I would love to know who was in communication with who that night. Right. Maybe one of them were even out that way. I mean Google doesn't offer geolocation info to police anymore, but they did for a long time after this case. I want to know what detectives have and who was in that area. And as unlikely as it seems, it is possible that there was someone out there who isn't part

of Brittany's circle. I mean, there was some like super strange events that happened like out that way after she vanished. Like for example, a couple of weeks after Brittany goes missing a woman in a neighboring county reported that someone driving a white Cadillac stole gas off her farm. Seemingly unrelated, right? Well, the ring cam footage of the event ends up being circulated. And that's when some people in town start saying that they can hear Brittany screaming in the background

like maybe she was being held captive by the guys who were in this car. Even grandma Vicki reported Lee thought that the man who turned out to be the driver of that car resembled mystery man. But the man later claimed that it was only a friend a sleep in the car who he had like startled awake or something. And deputy did process the vehicle, even recovered blood evidence. But when testing came back, the samples belonged to two unidentified men, dead end.

Then there was an abandoned property off of, guess where? Font River Road that investigators paid really close attention to. This was like a place

tied to rumors. Like basically the after the crash Brittany had been taken there against her

will where she was subsequently assaulted, tortured, and eventually killed.

“There had also been sex trafficking rumors tied to this house, which I think is important to”

mention knowing what JJ brought up earlier in that body camp footage. And what really like fueled this theory around this house was the fact that it burned down the arson possibly to try and cover things up? Question mark. Investigators photographed the scene, searched the property multiple times, even collected evidence, all after the fire, and they even found women's underwear that looked like it was the kind that Brit War, like found near a burned pit.

There was a knife with what looked like possible blood stains in the basement, along with more suspicious stains on the basement floor. Again, you're thinking like this has to be it. I guess all of it turned out to be nothing. Apparently wasn't actually blood, and likely nothing was connected to this case. And Brit there is so much more where that came from stuff like this. If anyone were to want to go down like a deep rabbit hole, there is this podcast called

hide and seek hosted by James Basinger. He is like deep deep deep in this case. Has been for

“literal years. The guy's done like 50 plus episodes just on Britney's case. That's how much there”

is to this. So I want who wants can go take a listen. Britney's case was his third season. He's

in a couple now. I really liked the one that he did his first season on Nancy Moir. So that's hide and seek. Go listen. You can go way deeper. You'll hear, I mean, so many stories like this. And like this is a thing about these stories. Like some of them are so detailed and specific and disturbing that part of me wonders like how could all of this just be made up. But then there's another part of me that wonders like what if what we're really seeing here is just like an entire community

trying to make sense of something horrific after one of their own vanish. Because sadly, in worlds shaped by instability and rocky relationships in paranoia, trust disappears fast. People hide things. People protect each other's stories. Shift rumors spread faster than actual facts do. And once fear enters the picture, every coincidence starts feeling sinister. So I keep coming back to the simple things. The Facebook messages that disappeared.

How did Britney's gas recede actually turn up? I think somebody out there really does know exactly

and the chaos in the outlandous stories just served another purpose entirely. Maybe it was creating

“so much noise that detectives would never find the truth buried underneath it. But I believe the”

answers are there. And I believe that the right person can still get to them.

So if any of our listeners know anything about the disappearance of Britney Wallace shank,

especially if you recognize the man in the sketches which we've also posted to our blog,

you can contact the St. Joseph County Sheriff's Office at 2-6-9-4-6-7-9-0-45. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website crimejunkey.com. And you can follow us on Instagram @crimejunkeypodcast. We'll be back next week with the brand new episode. [Music] Crimejunkey is an audio check production. I think Chuck would approve.

Okay Crimejunkey is you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn,

“especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have”

been obsessed with the podcast Camillion. Every Thursday host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam, so bizarre, it will leave you wondering how to take it away with that. It is truly one of my favorite

“podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. I think you'll love it too. Listen to”

Camillion wherever you get your podcasts.