Amy Hooper /// Part 1 /// 294 | Forensic Files

[Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to true crime garage where of you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always as a guy that thinks my existence is a nuisance he is the
captain I'm the host with the mostest it's good to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening and thanks
for telling your mother this week in the fridge we have so hyoe stout by our good
friends over at the Columbus Brewing Company I was drinking some great Columbus Brewing Company beers at the
Clippers baseball game so we had to put them back on the show garage grade four and a quarter bottle caps out of five
and today we are drinking with our good friends first up a rays of the glass to Mandy and Peachtree City Georgia and the
big shout out to neither us in Chicago here's one to Mandy in Saskatoon Saskatchewan she's asking if the captain
could send her one of his hoodies I'm guessing it's still cold up there I would send one but my hoodies smell like
tears and desperation and a big we like you jib to Sally and blue bell pennsylvania here's a big cheers to
Doreen and Belgium she told me to roll the R I'd like to go to Belgium I think I would be welcome to there and last but
not least a shout to Katelyn in Tiverton Rhode Island thanks everybody for helping us out with this week's shows if
you want to help us out with next week's go to true crime garage comm and click on the donate button and we restocked a
lot of stuff in the website stores to go to true crime garage come click on the store page and check out the new stuff
and I should be launching we have some stickers launching hopefully this week so I've seen the stickers check here is
fantastic we've got a couple more designs coming in the next couple weeks as well so that's another to be is new
yes all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
crime [Music] the website Ohio Attorney General gov contains many resources one resource on
there that boasts saddens me and angers me is a list of cold case homicides all taking place in my home state the great
state of Ohio you can browse this list by searching a specific name or do as I have many times
start at the beginning and go in chronological order through the years many cases on there have caught my eye
several of them I have personally looked into hunting down old newspaper articles sifting
through online message boards looking for not only information but theories and suspects after all this is my home
state where my family and friends live and according to this list killers are walking amongst us one of the cases that
caught my eye was that of a young woman killed at home alone in her apartment the case was initially of interest to me
because I noticed that I once lived in the neighborhood in which she was killed on the government website this is case
number 17 the victim's name Amy Hooper this was just one of many cases that for me stopped being just a number on some
list and became a name on a file folder however I am slightly ashamed to say that the file ended up on a shelf in my
office collecting dust later through conversations I learned of an even closer connection I had to the
unsolved murder case my mother and Amy's mother taught at the same school and my
father followed the case in the papers and on TV not too long ago I was busy cleaning out the old office and sifting
through some old Case Files some that we have covered here on true-crime garage and others that we hope to I found Amy's
folder flip through it and looked at her photo the sadness and anger returned and
so I decided to revisit this case Amy was only 20 years old when some savage took her life she was very close with
her family and had many friends the motive for this cold-blooded killing is not obvious when the killer remains
hiding in the shadows this week we take a look at just one of Ohio's many cold case homicides this is the case of Amy
Hooper [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Amy joy Hooper was one of three daughters born to parents joy and Hollis
Hooper when Amy was born on November 2nd 1971 her sisters were quite a bit older holly
was eight and sandy was ten so amy was the baby of the family joy Hooper said that amy was spoiled from all of the
mothering and that her sisters treated her like a little baby doll they actually took care of baby Amy when
their mother was ill for a time and was unable to do so amy was blonde with curly ringlets and hazel eyes and has an
adult she was on the smaller size she was maybe 5 foot 3 inches tall the website that we discussed lists her at
103 pounds but according to her family she was quote about 90 pounds soaking wet the Hooper's lived in Columbus and
Amy attended Westland high school for a time but Amy's sisters Holly and Sandy tell us that Amy and her mother joy
clashed a little when Amy was a teenager this from my understanding seems to be fairly normal for teenage girls
according to the family some of this clashing had to do with a boyfriend whom the parents have viewed is abusive and
Amy's mother joy was very concerned because Amy actually had been hit on two separate occasions by this boyfriend
also this boy's mother worked in the school cafeteria and it sounds like she may have harassed Amy after Amy tried to
break up with her son yeah after Amy's sophomore year at Westland high school her parents are
gonna try to move her to get away from this douchebag well after being given a choice of where to live she was offered
the choice of living with either her aunt or her sister Amy decided to go out to California to live with her sister
sandy sandy moved out there in 1982 the two sisters were very close despite the 10-year age difference between the two
ami did her junior year at high school in California and hung out with sandy and Sandy's boyfriend ray but after her
junior year ami moved back to Ohio and went to live with her aunt in a nearby town and graduated from a different high
school this would have been in 1989 after graduating from high school ami moved back to Columbus and moved in with
her mom Hollis and joy had very recently gone through a divorce and although this
was not acrimonious it was a tough time for everyone Amy wanted to save money so she could
return to California to go to college she loved fashion and she looked for a job that would allow her to work in that
industry she got a job as a manager at a Wilson's leather store in the Westland mall which many media reports refer to
as Berman's leather because Berman's was bought out by Wilsons Leather at some point well she worked there for about
six months a job that she reportedly loved and she was very responsible never showing up late never missing a day of
work she also occasionally designed display windows for the Lazarus department store she rode the bus so she
didn't have to spend money on a car one thing to know about Aimee is that she loved animals and had a soft spot for
anything furry at the time of her death she had two cats that she had taken in articles about Aimee state that she was
very social had a lot of friends and was known to frequent a Westside bar called
coconuts she also it has been reported dated black men almost exclusively like the
abusive boyfriend from Westland high school this fact will become significant later also her family describes her as
very trusting friendly and although she was stubborn she would stand her ground when she needed to yeah now Amy's 20 and
she's gonna rent her own apartment this starts on February 17 1992 renting an apartment at 49 42 Medfield away in
Lincoln village in Columbus now even though this was apartment it wasn't a big high-rise type
building Ami's ground-floor apartment door opened into a grassy open area outside punctuated by a spider web of
walkways leading between the various apartments and the street so to get to amy's front door all someone had to do
is walk up to it there were no entranceways gates outer doors or security measures whatsoever these
buildings were not equipped with security cameras Amy leased this apartment on her own but
allowed a friend to move in with her rent free this is a woman whose name we don't know but we do know that she had a
small child the family isn't certain how Amy knew this roommate but her sister sandy says Amy told them that she was
going to let them live there really because she's just taking them in to help them Amy had a kind heart and right
and the woman and her baby really had nowhere to go who cares how they became friends and
simply here's Amy she has a place here's a single mother hey come stay with me for a while let's
get you on your feet it sounds like that maybe Amy tried to move this girl into her mom's house when she was still
living there but after a few days her mother was like no we're not having Outsiders come and freeload off of our
family and just stay here you know this woman apparently didn't have a job at the time or at least that the family
knew of so Amy rented the new apartment and let her friend in the baby move in with her Amy in this roommate were
really still getting settled at the time even Amy's mother had not visited the apartment yet because the women were
still getting the place together and they were actually lacking in the way of furniture at this time Amy's sister
Holly was also living in Columbus but she was in a serious relationship with someone in Cleveland now on Friday March
6th Holly planned to travel up to Cleveland to see her boyfriend so she and Amy made some kind of arrangement
where Amy would borrow Holly's car and take care of Holly's dog for the weekend it
turns out that anyone in the car so that she could go up to see her boyfriend who
was going to Bowling Green at the time this was a young guy whose name we we won't use Holly did not want a me
driving her vehicle all the way up to Bowling Green so what happened is Amy borrowed her mother's car instead and
left her sister's car with her mother for the weekend now everybody has a car to use Amy did not tell her mother that
she was planning on going to Bowling Green and it seems that joy did not know about this boyfriend she never met him
she only heard about him after Amy's death and again now I'm gonna bring up the fact that it's early 90s so it's not
like you have a lot of internet dating or a lot of ways of communication with some of these people it could be
somebody she went to high school with that went to Bowling Green for college or moved there with their family who
knows on Monday March 9th a me sister Holly returned to town from her weekend in Cleveland and she went straight to
work Amy actually returned the night before from her weekend and went out with some unnamed friends the night
before the plan Amy was supposed to meet Holly on Holly's lunch hour that day to
return her car now when Amy failed to show up Holly called her apartment numerous times to no avail
we don't know whether she also called Amy's work but she told us that she couldn't find Amy that day it was later
reported that by 1:00 p.m. Amy's friends and co-workers started to call each other looking for Amy
meanwhile Holly called her father and he gave her a ride to Amy's new apartment Holly had a key to her car and was
hoping to be able to retrieve the vehicle she and her father knocked repeatedly on Amy's apartment door but
there was no response yeah but they were able to find her car yeah Holly's car was in fact still there and because she
had the key she was able to open the car door and then drive the vehicle back to
her work Hollis also left at this time likely figuring that there had been some kind of mix-up one thing we have no
information on is whether the police ever took a look at Holly's car which we know Amy drove that morning so we don't
know if it was ever dusted for prints or examined for signs of a struggle or even
things out of place now at this point Holly called her mom joy to see if she knew where Amy was she had a really bad
feeling when she was able to locate her car at Amy's apartment but Amy was nowhere to be found
joy was a teacher and she was in the classroom all day long so it was hard for her to talk on the phone but
eventually around 3:30 joy was gathering mail at the school where she worked and
people from amy's work started to contact her because joy was listed as Amy's emergency contact person
Amy failed to show up for work then when joy was finally able to call Holly joy told Holly that Amy had been to her
house in Grove City around 6:30 that morning and returned her car and took Holly's car the two chatted while joy
put on her makeup getting ready for work Amy told her mother at that time that there was a manager's meeting that was
scheduled for work that day later that morning and she was supposed to be a part of this meeting from what I could
tell from what I could find the managers meeting was to be around noon or at least that's what some reports say Joyce
said Amy seemed normal at this time when they were talking that morning and very
happy that morning so just a quick summarized version of that timeline because there's a lot of moving pieces
and parts here okay so the the general timeline is this Amy returns to Columbus Sunday night we
don't know what time she goes out with some friends early Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. she's at her mother's house
remember they have to switch out the vehicles and so at 6:30 she talks to her mother every everything seems normal and
happy and good at that time there's nothing strange going on with Amy she makes her sister's car and presumably
goes straight to her apartment now where we are now is we have multiple people we
have reached out to amy's mother trying to get ahold of her because they're like
we haven't seen Amy we have Amy sister Holly who I found my vehicle at Amy's apartment but no Amy and now we have her
work calling joy because she is the emergency contact listed on her information because they've not seen Amy
either she's supposed to have been at a manager's meeting that day and mind you she's worked there for over six months
and never missed a day of work so this is raising all kinds of alarms the you know the red flags are going up
especially for joy well sometimes mothers just know well she's already heard from one daughter and she's heard
from Amy's work and she's saying as soon as this went down she knew right away that something bad had happened right so
joy Amy's mother asked Holly the sister to meet her at Amy's apartment they wanted to go to the rental office and
asked if they had seen anything trying they're still trying to find Amy and they called Amy's father to meet them
there as well so once they arrived hollis her father tries the door to Amy's apartment and found it locked they
decided to go to the Super's office and ask them to open up the door now joy the
mother had to be present in order for the super to open up the apartment door he had to receive permission from a
person listed on Amy's lease documentation as a person who could actually authorize entry into Amy
Hooper's apartment so around 4:00 p.m. Amy's dad and the super entered the apartment Holly and joy stayed outside
thank thank God this is what Hollis and the super found according to the newspaper reports upon entering the
apartment they would find Amy lying naked and bound face up on the hardwood floor of an upstairs room in her
apartment she had been beaten over the head suffering a cracked skull which one early story in the Columbus Dispatch
described as a split and that she was stabbed in the neck and heart her hands were bound
behind her with a nylon cord dangling from a unique pendant tucked into her hands and the police stated that they
were unsure whether this belonged to Amy or if it was brought into the apartment
by the killer right this was a wood and leather medallion a heart-shaped painted
with colors of red yellow and green glued to a black wood circle was there any sign of a sexual assault
there was according to the newspapers that is unclear oh now regarding this medallion itself the the newspapers
asked if this could mean something even asking if the killer was making some kind of statement because Amy was dating
an african-american man or was this just something that was lying around right but what does I'm gonna dalian have to
do with an african-american man well mind you the colors that were on there we have red yellow green so we have
colors of the African flag I would believe the right or is it somebody that saw a white woman with a black man and I
wanted to make her pay for that correct I mean is that what you're saying that's
what the papers were saying okay I want to be very clear about that that's what the newspapers in 1992 were saying not
what the colonel is saying not in 2019 I'm simply reporting what was reported so the question here regarding this this
medallion this necklace whatever you want to call it is did this actually mean something did the killer bring this
to the apartment with them or was it just something that was lying around that was found in Amy's apartment that
the killer used to tie her up newspapers even suggested that this might be the key to the case police told the media
that Amy may have been rendered helpless with her hands tied and then struck on the back of the head
the family has stated that the blow to the head is what in fact killed Amy the stab wounds were
all post-mortem and the family say that they were told that there were 13 or 14 stab wounds and all well said to me that
seems like act of passion rage so more likely somebody she knew well that's that's pretty spot-on there by you
captain good job out of you because according to the detectives what they told the papers was whoever did this to
Amy was harboring some kind of rage against her now the knife that was used was found at the scene that's always
nice when they leave that behind for you but the puzzling thing is the weapon that was used to bludgeon Amy on the
head the blow that killed her was never found so real quick before we move on regarding the knife we know that it's
found at the scene although we've never been told no one could tell us if this was something that the killer brought to
the scene or something that the killer found already in the apartment we don't know if this knife belonged to Amy or
even the roommate right but they believe those stab wounds were postmortem so where is this object that hit her on
the head to split the skull well they didn't find that at the scene you know unlike the knife they did not find this
weapon and in fact they according to investigators they weren't really even certain what type of weapon it was the
only thing that they told the media was that they all they know is it was a sharp heavy object so almost immediately
after finding Amy's body investigators they're searching alleys dumpsters garbage bins in the area they're looking
for of course not only clues but mainly looking for the sharp heavy object that killed her right but they found nothing
well even though that they found nothing around her apartment do we have anything
else that we know more information about the scene of the crime we do have some more detailed
information here regarding the murder scene we know that Hollis the father discovered the horrifying traumatic
sight of his daughter lying dead on the floor the Franklin County Sheriff's Department
they were called in to investigate they were the lead on this murder case the 9-1-1 call came from Amy's family at
4:21 p.m. that day detectives were very quick to close off the scene and they started their investigation immediately
now the apartment door windows or really anything otherwise showed absolutely no
signs of forced entry there was also very little sign of a struggle in the apartment there was a
phone cord now this was found to be ripped out of the wall police from what they could see at the scene surmise that
Amy had taken a shower that morning well and this kind of gives us some kind of a
window of when the time of death would be mm-hmm yeah and this is actually very important
to our investigation here because what we have here captain is we know that around 4 o'clock is when her father
enters the apartment by 421 we have detectives on the scene they've already blocked everything off so regarding the
time of death we have a couple of indicators to tell us what that could be we know she was at her mother's house at
6:30 and then she returned we're presuming that she came straight to her apartment maybe she stopped off along
the way but what we do in fact know that once she returned to her apartment she did take a shower and we'll get into the
details of this more why we know this to be absolute fact this is not something where anybody needs to let us go she
could have taken a shower the night before or before she went to go pick up the car no we have details that point
out that matter of fact she took a shower after returning to her home so what I'm getting at here with the window
of time of the frame of time that we need to be concerned with to find this offender is the narrow the call narrow
the time of death down to this she returns home sometime after the shower and before the time that she had to be
at work that day somebody killed Amy Hoover [Applause] [Music] no one really has time to go to the post
office you're busy that's why you need Sam's comm one of the most popular time-saving tools for
small businesses and like I've always said stamps.com is a must for any small business owner
stamps.com brings all of the amazing services of the US Postal Service right to your computer whether you're a small
office sending invoices and online sellers shipping out products or even a warehouse sending thousands of packages
a day stamps.com lets you print official US postage 24/7 for any letter any package
any class of mail anywhere you want to send it's easy once your Mail's ready just hand it to your mail carrier or
drop it in a mailbox it's that simple with stamps calm you even get five cents off of every first class stamp and up to
40% off Priority Mail we use stamps com we've been using them for years we save a lot of times we save a lot of money
it's a must for anyone with a big business small business or even personal use and right now our listeners get a
special offer that includes a four week trial plus free postage and a digital scale without any long-term commitments
just good as stamps I'd come click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in garage that's
stamps comm and enter our promo code garage you know what feels great paying off high interest credit cards getting a
lower rate and saving money refinance your credit card balances and save with a credit card consolidation loan from
light stream get a fixed rate as low as six point one four percent APR with Auto
pay and get a loan from $5,000 to $100,000 with no fees you can even get your money as soon as the day you apply
plus light stream as a division of SunTrust Bank one of the nation's largest financial institutions so you
can have a complete peace of mind want to save even more our listeners get an additional interest
rate discount the only way to get this discount is to go to light stream comm slash TCG that's l IG HT s T ar e am
calm slash TCG subject to credit approval rate includes 0.50% auto paid discount
terms and conditions apply and offers are subject to change without notice visit light stream comm slash TCG for
more information that's light stream comm slash TCG support for today's show comes from hellofresh hellofresh
makes conquering the kitchen a reality with deliciously simple recipes and fresh pre-measured ingredients delivered
to your door all meals come together in 30 minutes max call for less than two pots and pans and require minimal
cleanup plus with three plans to choose from including classic veggie and family
there's something for everyone so get out of that recipe rut and start cooking outside of your comfort zone check out
hellofresh today I love hellofresh I was getting down in the kitchen with hellofresh last
week cooked three different meals creamy dill chicken and one of my favorites melty Monterey Jack burgers plus I did a
chicken rice teriyaki bowl thing you're gonna love hello fresh I'm keeping it fresh with hello fresh for $80 off your
first month of hello fresh go to hello fresh calm / garage 80 and enter the code garage 80 that's hella fresh calm /
garage 80 and enter promo code garage 84 $20 off your first four boxes [Music] well right cheers mates cheers to you
captain so regarding the time of death this has never been publicly stated what the actual time was police publicly
would only say that Amy had apparently been dead for several hours by the time she was found what other information do
we have from the scene of the crime well there there were things at the scene captain that would give the
appearance that she may have been getting ready to go to work at the time when this attack went down right okay so
she had a plastic pink carry all that held her makeup and hair brushes this was found lying open on the bedroom
floor you know ready for use right the she had an electric blanket on a pullout sofa remember we said that they had just
moved in and they were kind of lacking in the area of actual furniture everybody knows this when you go out
move out of mom and dad's house for the first time you realize I don't own anything maybe the fourth or fifth time
yeah I don't own anything so she was actually using a pullout sofa at the time as her bed so the pull-out su sofa
is still set up for for her bed and she had an electric blanket on that which was still plugged in at this time her
hair dryer was plugged in as well so here this paints a picture of this young woman who had returned home we might
even guess that she may have taken a nap maybe went back to sleep for a little bit of time possible but there are
people that just leave things plugged in all the time so that is a possibility and then decides to get up and start
getting ready for work and then somehow this attack happens right so we know that she was found in the nude there is
some question what she did was she surprised you know was was she coming out of the shower when she was attacked
or did the killer strip her you know because the shower part and the Megane part makes me
seem to me makes it seem like she's getting ready for work and also then it goes back to the idea that somebody
knows her schedule because they would know when she would have to go to work mm-hmm
or somebody watched her go into her apartment alone right is another possibility so regarding this this whole
situation of her getting ready for work what we do know is this that this was not in the newspapers but detectives
specifically told her family that they believe that Amy may have opened the door and was in her robe at the time
that she opened the door and we don't know or have details as to why they would come to this conclusion or tell
the family that what we do know is we have no signs of a forced entry so that has to be a consideration did somebody
simply knock on the door or ring the doorbell and she lets them in or opens the door and they forced their way in
now the other thing that I wonder about regarding this situation of telling the family that we believe she opened up the
door and was in her robe at that time we know that she was found dead upstairs did they find the robe downstairs near
the front door you know those are the questions that that you wonder how they came to that conclusion or at least why
they are telling the family that you know now regarding the scene itself we have Kris Floyd he was one of the deputy
sheriff's who was he was actually the first officer on the scene and he noted the position of Amy's body and he says
that he found it to be quite bizarre he said quote she was displayed it wasn't as if she fell that way my first thought
was this was to make a statement it's hard to know what the reason why he believes this because we have his
sleeved in the see how she was displayed so but I'm guessing there's there's some
kind of reason well use the using just his words I think what we can we can deduce from that is he is of the opinion
that she was displayed that she didn't fall like that some positioned her in that manner in his
opinion right but we also have possible post-mortem wounds and does that come into a play of where she I'd assume that
comes into the play of where she's gonna be Lane if you're attacking the body after she's already dead well let's talk
about that medallion for a while because so much has been made in the newspapers
about that medallion if you look up this case unfortunately there's not a lot of
news coverage on this case there's there's a handful of of good newspaper articles I'll say that that word good
newspaper articles they're not great in a sense that some of the lengthier ones while they make for a good type of
murder mystery if it were to be fictional this is a true story and the truth of some of this stuff seems to be
left out of the papers now in their defense this may be information that they just don't know okay so this
medallion if you look up the Columbus Dispatch news stories regarding this case and I'm sure that there was
probably one or two that made their way through the Associated Press but they time and time again ask the question is
this medallion is this necklace the key to the case because they're they're asking the obvious question here was
this something that the killer brought to the scene with them used it to tie her up and then either forgot about it
was startled and had to leave the scene earlier than they wanted to right or you
know left it there for any number of reasons the truth about that medallion is it's
very likely not the key to this case at all because we know this this is one thing that we know to be fact her sister
sandy her older sister remember that she lived with for a time in California old
sandy says to us that that medallion was not only not only did it belong to Amy but I know that it belonged to her
because I purchased this for her right sandy says that she bought the what she called a Rastafarian themed
medallion for Amy when the two attended a reggae festival in San Diego when amy was out in California with Sandy and
then furthermore sandy went on to tell me that not only did she purchase this for her little sister but she knew that
Amy would often keep necklaces hanging on a this is how it was described to me anyway hanging on a from a lamp that was
near her bed I think this was up on a desk or table of some sort and that all of them just kind of hung from this lamp
well we know that amy was found in an upstairs bedroom my thought is that this turns out to just be something handy
that was already at the scene we know this per her sister sandy right and that the killer grabbed it and used it to tie
a me up and then never felt the need to take it with them because it wasn't theirs in the first place it had likely
had no connection to the killer at all one the fact that her sister's story is so detailed hey I know where I bought
this for my sister mom and then also it makes the idea of what the police are saying they think that she answers the
door in a robe or something like that when she's getting ready to go to work because maybe she had this in her hand
or in the pocket of the robe or whatever when she's getting ready because she was
gonna put it on well and in the defense of the reporters I think that this is really just a detail that has gotten
lost somewhere along the way that's gotten lost between the investigation and the reporting of the murder and the
investigation because sandy was not questioned or spoken to until about two days after Amy was actually killed
remember she's still out in California so she has to fly back she wants to be with her family and during that time is
when she spoke with the investigators so my guess is the way that this thing went
down is that very early on the newspapers are given some details regarding the crime in the crime scene
right which includes this medallion or now this whatever you want to call it and
they kind of ran with this idea I don't know that this information ever got to them that that is not the case that they
don't have to question this medallion and it being in the apartment anymore because it was supposed to be there
right in a lot of times when people cover a story again they just read an article and then repeat a lot of that
stuff and then then you have another paper saying hey this medallion might have something to do with the connection
you know I buy more of our sisters story that she bought it for her sister well I
I'm stating it as fact I have no reason to believe that anything other than exactly what she said happened so I was
actually talking to a friend of mine regarding this case because this is a bit of a pet case of mine you know you
talk about red light cases this is this is one for me and we were talking about this this medallion this necklace thing
and they asked me well why would the detectives on the case still continue to let the newspapers believe that this
medallion might be a big key to solving the case and my answer is simply this one the detectives don't owe that
information to the newspapers they may be wanting to hold that information back but then on top of that as detectives
they're just happy that somebody's reporting about this case because we talked about so many times that you need
the public's help and if this case can stay somewhat in the public eye even though it has not you know that's
probably their hopes there and I do want to point out something regarding this case as well that there have been a
couple detectives over the years that have worked this case and I've not questioned their efforts and I don't
think anybody should I that from the detectives that I've spoke to and from retired individuals that I've spoke to
there there has been a lot of effort made on this case this case is not cold for because of lack of effort on the
investigation yeah but let's be honest being the end of the 80s early 90s was a different time than now and there there
was definitely more prejudiced and racism going on and and more people being vocal about that and so to have a
20 year old white girl dating you know pretty much all black guys there could be some police officers on the case that
are prejudiced or racist but it really doesn't seem that way in this case it really seems like they were trying their
best to solve this case for this family well speaking of investigators there was
a Franklin County sheriff's detective Clark he has been the one that is often cited in the newspapers when talking
about Amy Hooper's case and one thing one statement that he has made is that quote there are a couple of significant
things that only the killer would know and quote so one of these things might be the actual murder weapon because
although the cops have told the press repeatedly right and even as recently as 2011 that they didn't know what the
bludgeoning weapon was they did tell the family amy Hooper's family at the time of the murder at first that it might
have been a hammer now we don't know if they're just guessing here that it could
be a hammer or if in fact they did find the actual weapon and they're holding that information back right because a
lot of times when they're doing the autopsy they will go okay here is the here's the wound there's maybe a
puncture wound what are we looking for what kind of object and and they might have a broad strokes of what that object
is but like you said the hammer could just be a guess yeah and then they told the family that it looked like to them
that Amy had run to her landline phone okay so this is kind of the full story of what investigators are working with
the it what the evidence is showing them is that this is some this is how this might have went down right that she
answered the door in her robe and then the killer either is welcomed into the home or forces their way into the
apartment then at some point Amy made a move for the landline phone possibly to call for
help they believed that the killer then grabbed the phone and hit her over the head with the actual phone according to
one family member they were told that blood was found on the phone itself now that doesn't have to mean that she was
hit with the phone we do know that the only really true sign of struggle that was shown inside that apartment was the
phone cord being ripped out of the wall right and the fact that she dated a guy that was abusive to to her you know one
where's his whereabouts this day is is he around I think that's something they need to look into and also the men that
she was dating was there any history of abuse with them maybe not that she reported to the family or friends but do
they have any arrests by being a abusive to somebody else that they dated and so
now you have those kind of suspects and then it we have her wanting to go to Bowling Green right to hang out with a
friend she she came back the day before Yeah right and so does she have somebody
at home that she's seeing that would be jealous of the fact that she went to go hang out with somebody in Bowling Green
so you're saying we should get to some possible suspects here captain yeah that's all I'm saying well and I'm
starting with the high school douchebag okay you know not a high school anymore but the guy that she dated in high
school well let me finish up with the crime scene stuff first and then we'll get to
the possible suspects so one thing that in the investigators are keeping mum on and won't even discuss with the family
is whether amy was sexually assaulted or not now later all these years later we do know that DNA was found at the scene
we do know that that DNA does not belong to Amy this has been publicly stated we
do not know the source that DNA but do we know if it's male or female well I sound like we don't know
[ __ ] well here's here's where I'm gonna go with this okay they've never said this
publicly okay so we're we're basing our story off of what has been stated publicly
throughout this the course of this very long investigation but what we can do for you is we can pick apart the pieces
of this investigation and really tell you kind of what's going on with it based off of their actions and we do
this often when we look at these investigations how do we know that DNA was found at the scene well we know that
because they've publicly publicly stated that they have cleared possible suspects
when testing DNA right okay the only suspects that they have publicly stated have been cleared by DNA
testing are males so where I'm going with this is I believe that they have knowledge that the DNA found at the
scene that was not Amy's is that of a male that our offender is in fact a man right because there there could have
been females that you would you would test right yeah yeah so they must know that this DNA belongs to a man and they
have tested several individuals and cleared them based off of their DNA evidence
well can you start with the acts the abusive far eating jerk store yeah so earlier we mentioned Amy's abusive
boyfriend from when they attended Westland high school together well get this the the family says that they have
reason to believe that this guy actually tried to follow Amy to California remember her parents suggest hey you got
to get away from this guy you can go move with your aunt who lives in another part of Ohio or you could go
live with your adult sister out in California she chooses California what I've been told the family says we have
reason to believe that this dude tried to follow her out to California but from what
can recall for whatever reason he failed to do so meaning he never caught up with
Amy while she was in California so then you wonder was he waiting for her when she returned to Ohio
yeah or did he hear about her returning and go oh she's back time time to go back to being a jerk store as far as the
family is aware of Amy Hooper's family they say that they are not certain they have no reason to believe that the two
actually ever saw each other ever again after Amy moved out to California even when she moved back right but it
certainly seems though that he was a good candidate for a suspect to be the murderer
given that he was violent and vindictive but according to one of Amy's family members it seems that he has been ruled
out okay I've been told by her family that this individual was not only ruled out but he was cleared using DNA testing
okay so maybe they wouldn't talk to him he said I had nothing to do with it here's my DNA clear me yeah I've not
seen her and God knows how long I will cooperate with your investigation so where do they go to next the more
recent boyfriends well yeah that is the obvious place to go they probably may even went there before any of anybody
else so police honed in on her current boyfriend remember this is somebody that the family was unaware of he's a student
at Bowling Green State University at the time and Amy spent the weekend with this
boyfriend in Bowling Green what we end up learning here is that he does speak to police and he's very cooperative he
tells police that hey I gave her a small diamond ring that very weekend the last
weekend that I saw her and in fact it was still on her left hand when she died when police found her once but as we
said Amy's mom didn't know about this boyfriend and Amy didn't show her that diamond ring when she came over that
day morning the morning that she was killed yeah sometimes it's yeah you know sometimes that's sensitive with your
your parents you don't want to tell him you jumping into something too serious you know give him a little time well and
I do want to I want to remind you about something too is Amy's intentions so Amy
was very much wanting to be in the fashion industry that's why she took that job she applied
for that manager's job at the leather store Brett and she was working towards that she was saving up for college her
intention was to move back to California and attend school there so I can totally
see a situation where maybe this wasn't as serious for Amy as it was for the current boyfriend or maybe this is not
something that you want to discuss with mom knowing that she plans to move out of state soon right I know how it is you
don't want to get in one of these long conversations with with one of your parents regarding what you're doing and
how the order that you're choosing to do them in I prefer to never talk to my parents about relationships sex or
anything I mean or that I'm even alive so the family does not know about the boyfriend they didn't know about the
ring at the time later they did find out that he was not only a good student at Bowling Green but he was also a football
player regarding this boyfriend though he was cleared now as far as public knowledge goes what I could find in the
newspapers we don't know why or how that was never stated publicly other than he
was clear so much so that police have gone on and stated that he's not a suspect right publicly said he's not a
suspect this is happening Monday morning correct so wouldn't he be at school yes I mean
they would have some record if he went to class well have a lot of alibis because if he's in a class of 30 then he
has 30 alibis and plus that's a it's a hefty Drive it's a two and a half hour drive roughly so that's five hours we're
gonna be on the road mm-hmm so well and we got like he would be easy to clear yes
well 100% its its it would easy easy to either put clear him or put him right on
the suspect list and so what I think we have here is its early on in the investigation where they
are stating they being law enforcement stating that he the current boyfriend is not a suspect and my guess is that
you're probably spot on here captain that there are many people who are able to account for his whereabouts during
that window of time and really that window of time only has to be from 6:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. that day right so
less than a full day and if he's at school all day long well then he's not a good candidate for a suspect and what
I've been told here is the it's believed that even at a later date I want to point something out here it's not like
they find Amy's body and then they're immediately plucking suspects and testing DNA and clearing people this
isn't happening rapidly this is happening slowly over a long period of time and we have him who very quickly is
named as not a suspect from my understanding they even at a later date even much later after being named as not
a suspect he provided DNA and they were able to clear him in that way so there's
absolutely no question in regards to the boyfriend that's doing your due diligence right there when you go okay
we have alibis we have cleared him we don't think there's any way possible that he was even in Columbus at the time
but we're still gonna go back down that we have DNA and make this mother sucka take a DNA test well and that's why I
stated earlier that I don't believe that this has not been solved because of a lack of effort this is really them
circling the wagons here and stating you know what we're gonna double-check everything we're gonna double triple
check everything until we get this thing solved [Applause] [Music] for all of our old episodes check us out
on the stitcher app if you download this to trap all of our episodes are for free
there and also we have a show a weekly bonus show called off the record that's a stitcher premium show check
that out there's a link on our website good a true-crime garage com alright thanks everybody for joining us here
today in the garage we will see you right back here tomorrow until then be good be kind
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Source: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-gt7en-ad8568

Amy Hooper /// Part 1 /// 294 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com March, 1992 - Columbus, Ohio - A young woman is brutally attacked and killed in her home. To this day her killer remains at large. This is a case that is solvable and hopefully will be soon. This week Nic and the Captain take a look at a cold Columbus homicide case. Beer of the Week - Sohio Stout by Columbus Brewing Company Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of 5 Explore these great companies and these great deals with our promo codes… www.Stamps.com - enter code GARAGE for a special offer that includes a 4 week trial plus FREE postage and a digital scale www.LightStream.com/TCG - for a great rate on a credit card consolidation loan www.HelloFresh.com/GARAGE80 - and enter code GARAGE80 for $20 off your first 4 boxes!

The full archive of True Crime Garage is available on the Stitcher listening app - for FREE. Our show “Off the Record” is only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

Brief Summary

The episode covers the unsolved murder of Amy Hooper, detailing her life, investigation, and potential suspects.

Key points

The Tragic Case of Amy Hooper. Amy Hooper, a 20-year-old, was brutally murdered in her apartment. Her case remains unsolved.
A Kind Heart. Amy's decision to help a friend in need showcases her compassionate nature.
The Mystery of Amy's Death. Investigators are puzzled by the circumstances surrounding Amy's murder, including the missing weapon.
The Discovery of Amy's Body. Hollis, Amy's father, found her lifeless body in a horrifying scene.
Investigation Begins. Detectives quickly closed off the crime scene and began their investigation.
Significant Clues. Detectives believe that Amy may have opened the door to her killer.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Amy was only 20 years old when some savage took her life.

Introduction to Amy Hooper's case.

5:38WatchApr 9, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.