Emma Compton Layne ////// 598 | Forensic Files

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welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me
as always is a man that really wants to make you a mixtape here is the captain yeah and I'll only put asleep by the
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right Captain that's enough of the business yeah if you don't leave your location we don't know how to shout you
out but thanks for the support thanks for listening grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
crime [Music] hold we just hold on Emma Compton Lane first was missing and then things
got worse Emma has a couple of sisters two that from my understanding don't get along very well but yet they are
fighting for Emma seeking just Justice for their sister that passed away too soon at the hands of a very bad man A
man that picks on and threatens women because he is weak insecure and cowardly but because Emma's sisters
Winona and Shauna don't speak they are fighting the same battle but separately I don't know that true crime
garage covering Emma's case will actually get Justice for Emma but I know our coverage today can't
hurt her case you see Emma's case is very solvable but because Emma lived in a Tiny Town her case lacks
awareness well that ends today something else that I wish would end today is this bad blood between Emma's
sisters now I would think after losing your sister and one of your best friends you each would need a sister to
help you with your hurt to help you with your battle and your fight for justice for
Emma you need a sister and you both still have one so pick up a phone and say something
nice no one has to say that they are sorry just say I miss Emma and I want to fight for our sister together because
nothing else matters because as it stands now you've both lost two sisters and all you have gained is heartache and
a Facebook page the justice for Emma Compton Lane Facebook page but you both have the power to
change that the following is from that Facebook page Justice for Emma Compton Lane which
I encourage our listeners to go to show your support by visiting the page to let the sisters know that people
care now this is a post from one of Emma's sisters and it reads 5 years ago on Tuesday June 20th
we filed a missing person's report for Emma we know now that she was murdered after midnight on the
18th but I've wondered if we had filed on Monday would Helifax County Sheriff's Department have taken us more
seriously would they have worked Emma's case harder five long sad years and we still
are waiting for justice for Emma we are still waiting for an arrest a trial for the person who murdered her to be held
accountable no one except the person who killed her knew she was missing until that Monday
the 19th that person had the time to remove evidence and clean up the crime scene I
also believe that person had help covering the crime over this 5 years we have been
told by Halifax County Sheriff's department and Commonwealth Attorney Martin her case is a priority at first I
believe them with their assurances but after 5 years I have to wonder just how truthful they've
been when something is a priority things get done things happen and results are seen I pray that next year I will have a
reason to believe that they really have been working Emma's case and that we will see Justice for
Emma before another year passes thank you to those who remember and love Emma thank you for your
continued support still waiting for and Seeking Justice for Emma I love and miss
you every day Emma Jean this is true crime garage we just hold on [Music] Emma Jean Compton Lane loved
hummingbirds Christmas and more importantly helping other people she was 52 years old when she went missing Emma
was married to a man named Russell Lane Russell was a truck driver and may still
be Emma was a store owner Cody is a small community this is where they lived it's a small community in Helifax
County Virginia it's one of those small unincorporated towns kind of a tiny dot on the map Emma owned the Cody store
listen to this Captain to give a better idea of what kind of store we are talking about this is from one of the
old signs on the Cody store and it reads full service deli op 6: a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Pizza grocery beer ice dog food
hunting and fishing supplies slab bacon and fatback meat sore hours 6:00 a.m. to
900 p.m. Monday through Saturday closed on Sunday excepting all major credit cards sounds like my kind of store has
about everything that one could think of I I couldn't imagine needing anything else and I know you are like me Captain
when given the option we pref for a mom and pop typee operation and that's very much what this was I'm assuming that
there was a larger grocery store in this Tiny Town that people could go and spend
their hard- ear money at but a lot of people prefer to go to the Cody store because of the friendly service you know
you're getting the you're getting that kind of personal service when you walk in and somebody goes hi captain or good
to see you Colonel how about some slab bacon or fatback meat say it's good to be seen it's good to be
seen yep I like my grocery stores like I like my podcast homegrown independently
owned no network the troubling thing about this case well there's many troubling things but the first that
stands out is that often on the materials that we see that talk about Emma going missing they will say that
she was last seen at the Cody store which is not really true but it goes along with the story or some people's
Narrative of the story so keep in mind the store is very important to our timeline and it's also very important to
this case because I think that it also includes and gives us a good idea of Emma's personality can't you kind of
picture her 52 years old owner operated store very friendly person always a smile on her face when you come in the
door but the store itself remember we read the hours of operation there they're closed on Sunday the last that
she has seen on some of these materials states that it was at the store on Saturday night right however we have
some information of locals that say yes we saw as we drove by the store we could
still see her vehicle there remember this is the kind of town the small little town where everybody kind of
knows everybody and everybody knows what kind of vehicle you drive and of course
people that frequent the store are going to know Emma they're going to know what
kind of vehicle that she drives so we have several people who are saying yes after the store closed on that Saturday
I saw her vehicle in the parking lot which is not uncommon right you have closing duties you have to count the
till you have paperwork to do everything that you have to do before you officially leave the business for that
night that's enough the business now the troubling thing to me is when I see these materials my mind instantly makes
the leap of oh no I pooped myself somebody must have went to the store attempted a robbery or abducted her for
any number of reasons right and that's what went down and that's what we're looking for here however that's not the
case M even though the materials read that way she made it home that night and so she would have left the store at
approximately 9:30 maybe 10: at the latest but she closed the store she closed the shop on that Saturday she
went home the other problem for our timeline though becomes the fact that the store is closed on Sunday now this
store was I was about to say that it's her life but there was other things going on in her life as we mentioned she
was married to Russell Lane but also a very important thing that's going on at this time and a very stressful thing
that's going on for Emma at this time is her mother was recently put in the hospital and I believe it was only about
two or three days before that Sunday on our timeline her mom's having some health problems health issues she's in
the hospital so her sister wona and Emma are taking turns visiting Mom in the hospital making sure that she's has
somebody to talk with somebody to visit with her someone to help her past the time while she hopefully heals or
recovers from whatever issues that she's facing the first red flag on our timeline goes
up Sunday when Emma fails to go to the hospital to visit her mother all and everyone has agreed
this completely out of character for Emma if she says I'm visiting Mom on Sunday at the hospital she would be
there visiting her mother and we know that she was supposed to be there on Sunday because of a phone call and some
conversation that took place the day before with her sister Winona well we know that she doesn't work on Sundays so
she shouldn't have anything conflicting to stop her from going to see her mother
and I don't know if both were going every single day to visit mom or if they were rotating days going to visit mom
but we know that she was going to go on Sunday because the conversation with Winona went something like this Emma is
saying I can't make it there on Saturday to see Mom don't worry I will be there 100% on Sunday right she doesn't show up
on Sunday well again red flags go up mom is worried sister is worried they're trying
to call Emma and this is late Sunday by the time they start calling her because the way that I think that this works is
it's not immediately known to all that Emma didn't show up there right it's it's a conversation that is had between
her other sisters and Mom and Mom saying you know Emma never showed up today I didn't see her I know you guys said she
was coming or she said she was coming but I never saw her today and so it's not until about Sunday night that the
sisters are aware that Emma did not arrive that Sunday so on Monday one of her sisters is shaa and she lives in another
state so any communication that is going on any interaction between shaa wona and
their mother the three that are all very concerned that Emma didn't show up at the hospital that conversations are
happening over the phone so Shauna convinces the other sister Winona you know what why don't you go by and check
on Emma I can't get a hold of her on the phone she didn't go see Mom so on Monday
her sister goes to her home and Russell her husband lets her in and Winona looks at the property and looks
inside the home and nothing seems really out of place but there in lies the real problem
right she says that everything seems to be there except for Emma her car's there
her purse is there her cell phone is there yeah it just doesn't really add up her dog is there everything that you
would expect to see but no Emma this is when we start to get some kind of weird story Russell has some
explanations as for where Emma is and he says oh I think she ran off with somebody with some other man well if she
did run off she didn't take anything with her it's not until Tuesday the following day that the family actually
report her missing to the authorities well the authorities in this case are the Halifax County Sheriff's Office one
concern that the sheriff's office has is they question why would Emma's family delay reporting her missing well the
family does have a good explanation for this they tell the sheriff our mom is not in great shape she's in the hospital
we were worried that us reporting her missing and mom finding out about this that it might be unnecessary stress for
her at her time when she she cannot handle anything else right and so they delayed this but mind you they only
delayed it about a day and I think that they were wanting or hoping like does happen in so many other situations that
oh Emma will come home or she'll pop up no reason to scare mom while she's in the hospital well
that would make sense to me if the only if people saw her on Saturday and she had nothing to do on Sunday and then
boom Monday she doesn't go to work but because she had this obligation on Sunday that she missed and then she
misses work on Monday I'm calling Monday I think I would too I can't fault you know I'm not going to look back and say
oh you should have done this you should have done that you know that these sisters are second guessing everything
that took place within that first 24 48 hours but yeah you're right here Captain
cause for deep concern right didn't visit mom on Sunday but let's let's compound that with the issue that she
doesn't show up to her owner operated store on Monday we went over the hour she should have been there prior to
opening at 6:00 a.m. on Monday right and then by the time she's reported missing
on Tuesday she should have arrived at the store prior to 6:00 am. to open the store on Tuesday those three things none
of that happened and in the course of that 48 hours or so she's not responding to any calls or texts that's coming from
anybody that knows her so you got to be fearing the worst at this point well do we have any details of what people were
doing to find her yes there was an effort put together to try to locate Emma the best description I have reads
as follows the Cody Community is a buzz with concern over popular store owner Emma Compton Lane
being missing for a number of days now the owner of Cody store on Highway 40 which is located on Stage Coach Road was
last seen Saturday around 7 p.m. again this is one of those things that kind of troubles me and bothers me the store is
open till 900 p.m. there's no reason to believe that she went in at this 700 p.m. hour or anytime shortly afterwards
right her car didn't drive itself home from the store that night are you sure I well I can't be sure I mean maybe she
had one of those night rider cars but my guess you know I am a betting man I would wager a $100 bill that it did not
drive itself home on that night and I also have some information in our timeline that indicates that she made it
home that night night because she had interaction with other people after leaving the store that night but
continuing on on this report Sheriff Fred Clark said a Virginia State Police search team Virginia Department of
Emergency Management search personnel and a local search and rescue team and EMS have been searching the perimeter of
Lan's Cody residence so again they're starting their search at her residence and Fanning out from there
so they have something telling them something indicating to them that the residence is the place to start your
search not necessarily the store a dive team checked two pawns near her residence but found nothing during
the search of her premises a local search and rescue team member suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced
dead shortly after arrival Lane is described as a white female 5T tall and approximately 135 lbs
she has short brown hair brown eyes pierced ears and may wear glasses the sheriff asked if anyone has any
information on the whereabouts of Emma Compton Lane to please contact the Helifax County Sheriff's office now some
of the later reports that I've read Captain was that unfortunately this man who's trying to help out who suffers the
heart attack during the search effort that that may have triggered them calling off the search a
little prematurely yeah um obviously they didn't find Emma during the course of their search but we should also note
that there was what appears to be based off of this report a good effort put forth to try to locate her and what what
would have been a rather well-managed search right they they made the determination to start off at her
residence and work their way out from there we know that they're searching uh the some of the water in the area
they're not finding Emma they're also not finding any clues as to where she may be now at this time you have several
stories that are coming out from people that know Emma the old Rumor Mill or know her husband Russell and keep in
mind I say that but this is a small town you can make the assumption that whoever
knows Russell knows Emma the stories start to pop up that there's a couple of different theories here one that she
left with some man that she was having an affair with and was in a hotel in Danville well that's pretty easy to
figure out if that's true or not you go to the hotel in Danville and if you don't find them you can figure one of
two things either the two of them moved on to another location or this is not a plausible Theory yeah and you don't even
have to go knocking door to door you just stand out front and start yelling Show
Yourself show yourself you cowards there were some other theories that are somewhat similar but one that she had
gone to New York and one that she had gone to the State of Florida and and possibly for an affair she was having
possibly there was also a theory that she was some type of drug dealer and that drugs were involved either in her
disappearance or were the reason for her to leave willingly was she selling drugs
out of her store no she wasn't selling drugs at all um it's interesting how sometimes these rumors come out of
nothing well and that's the other thing too keep in mind the Danville story has her having an affair well the
overwhelming majority of people spoken to and and asked these questions they don't believe she's
having an affair they've never seen anything any indication right that she's having an affair but it doesn't seem
like a lot of times in these small towns when these crimes take place the rumor mill seems to ramp up a lot faster yeah
I think when you had these small towns a lot not only a lot faster but I almost feel like some of the rumors are more of
the wild variety yeah they become a little more redonkulous but we've seen crimes and cases that we've looked at
here in the garage where often when a case first breaks that there are some early rumors going on and sometimes even
if it takes years to solve them you find out that one of these early rumors well
it must have been based Bas off of a lot of Truth or fact because in the end when
they get the result when they get Justice for the victim they find that a lot of the information in one particular
rumor turned out to be true now here in this case I think that all of these rumors are completely
false 100% false but I also think that these rumors are what will help you ultimately
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just all right we are back trying to sift through the rumors cheers mates cheers captain now in this
case we have a woman who is missing and as said there are some rumors that are being bandied about that maybe she is
taken off and left on her own here's a follow-up report on Emma's status of still missing and this says that on
Saturday June 17th Emma closed her store as she did every Saturday and finished with closing duties and she left for the
day day so now keep in mind this report is coming out quite a bit later from the
previous one we've already noticed the shift in the narrative right that they have figured out she finished her
closing duties she left the store for the day the store is always closed on Sunday so Emma told her family she'd
spend that Sunday with her mom Sylvia in the hospital Emma had admitted her mom just 2 days earlier but Emma never
showed up to the hospital Hospital the next morning Monday Sylvia her mother called her sister shaa to see where Emma
was shaa lives in Mississippi wasn't able to get a hold of Emma either so she sent their other sister Winona to Emma's
house since Winona lived nearby quote everything was there Emma's credit card clothes car keys cell phone her dog
everything was in the basement except Emma shaa said the family knew something was
wrong the next morning Winona called the police when I first got the call on Tuesday June 20th around 10 or 11 a.m.
investigator Burton of the Helifax County Sheriff's Office said some of the family had been looking for her prior to
the call we keep going back and forth with why they waited so long to call us the family told police they waited until
Tuesday to call because they didn't want to panic their mom who was in the hospital at the time unless it was
absolutely necessary and then we have the sheriff's office that goes on to say I got in contact with Emma's husband
Russell Lane who gave us permission to go into the house and look for whatever we needed investigator Burton said
Emma's husband has cooperated with police since the beginning of the investigation so a little bit more
information coming out later as to the timeline itself and pointing out that police were suspicious for the delay in
reporting the family member as missing and now we have the statement from the detective saying well the husband said
yeah go ahead and search the property search my home you can look for whatever you need to help your investigation
which doesn't always mean anything because we've seen that in the past where the husband says come on in take a
look around and we know that son of a [ __ ] is guilty so but it it does let us know where
they're at in the investigation and then you have to again like you were saying start from the inner circle and start
moving your way out well there's a little bit of information in there that I think we need to dissect and put it
right under the microscope let me grab my lab coat listen to this statement from the sister who searched the home or
went to the home shortly after Emma was missing everything was there Emma's credit card clothes car keys cell phone
her dog everything was in the basement except Emma strange everything was in the basement except Emma so I was
curious about that statement that to me makes me want to know why would you expect to find Emma
in the basement and I was able to track down a few people that are very close to
this case and they told me the following information that her and Russell had not been
getting along for quite some time in fact there was reason to believe that Russell may have been
aggressive or even violent toward his wife in the past dou now the information that I have here Captain is not exact so
we need to we need to point that out to be perfectly clear to everybody out there in listener land the information
that I have found was saying that Emma was living in the basement of the home and Russell was living in the
ground level or the upstairs of the home and this Arrangement had been going on for quite some time some sources say as
long as 3 years and some say as little as 2 years but regardless of that information whether it's 2 years or 3
years that's a long time for husband and wife to be basically living almost like
roommates separate lives in the same dwelling well so then the rumors of her having possibly a affair is not really
out of the question not out of the question but let's examine this a little bit further
so the the basement itself was actually set up to be like a living quarters almost so that once she was home and
once she's in the basement there's little if no need at all to go upstairs right to have any interaction with her
husband let's back up the bus a little bit more where yeah you can look at this and go okay well maybe these Affair
rumors have some truth to them but let's also examine the idea that there is information out there that her husband
has been violent towards her in the past now where are these rumors of being a drug dealer and the affair and all of
that coming from well she put out a mixtape and she did she was rapping about her drug dealings there is nothing
that I have found to make me believe that either of these rumors have any validity at all they have any truth to
them at all so the thing here is we have to start really wondering where these rumors are coming from and based off of
these rumors think about the other thing that's a big part of those stories right
the story is that she left town with another man or she left town because of some Mis dealings that she was doing
that's all going to become a very big problem for everybody five months later yeah so what you're saying is we have
these rumors that she's a drug dealer and she left town with a bunch of money or to go sell drugs somewhere else uh
expand or that drugs was the cause of her leaving town it doesn't necessarily have to mean that she's dealing drugs
that's just one of of several rumors that were going on one was that that she left town because of drugs right and
then there's other rumors that she left town to go live with somebody or she left town with somebody which if
somebody else locally left town at the same time wouldn't we know who that person was or it could have been a man
from out of town again these These are rumors these aren't things that we have direct statements from these local
people that are giving us detailed statements right I'm sure they gave detailed statements to the
authorities but we the public don't have access to that information right but the
problem becomes this whole idea of her leaving town is that her body is found in the county yeah so here's the report
we have here Captain authorities are awaiting the identification of human remains found in a wooded Cody area keep
in mind Cody's a pretty small town remains found in a wooded Cody area after a Hunting Party came across the
find Wednesday November 22nd 2017 around 1:30 p.m. Helifax County Sheriff Fred Clark said Foul Play is
expected in the death but Clark declined to comment further including whether there is any indication of how long long
the body may have been left in the woods The Remains were sent to the State medical examiner's office in Richmond to
assist with the identification on Wednesday a member of a Hunting Party came across the remains in a heavily
wooded area approximately 700 yard from Sandy Ridge Road at the 4,000 block of the northern Helifax County roadway the
location is a short distance from the Cody store the discovery comes as police continue to investigate The
Disappearance of 52-year-old Emma Compton Lane of Cody who has gone missing since mid June she was last seen
at the Cody store where she worked on the evening of June 17th since that time police have conducted multiple searches
for Lane including in the vicinity of her home nearby the searches produced no evidence of her whereabouts other
missing person cases have gone unsolved and alifax County and it goes on to reference some of these other cases now
the thing here Captain it will take a little bit of time but ultimately the body that is recovered is identified as
that of Emma Compton Lane right the other items that they find and some of the information that we learn here is
that the ruling from the medical examiner is that the cause of death is homicidal violence with traumatic neck
injuries there was also a sleeping bag that was found in the way that it's described to me it sounds like she may
have been inside of the sleeping bag there was also reports that someone had tried to burn the body or that there was
indications that someone had tried to burn the body the reports also state that she was in a very shallow grave
there's a whole bunch of things here that we need to kind of consider Russell Lane and Emma Compton Lane husband and
wife living separately in the same home they owned some property throughout this
Helifax County the place the wooded area of Cody Virginia that her body is located is really like a Stones throw
away from the property line of one of their other properties that's suspicious and I've also seen it
reported that the property that she was located on now this is an area where we're talking like Farmland there's not
a bunch of people out there this is an area where you would put something that you hope and wish will never be
found but the property that she has found on there are reports out there belong to one of Emma's husband's
friends now again it's a small town this could be all coincidence we're not talking about a whole lot of people
we're talking about a lot of land and not a whole lot of people so it could be complete coincidence but it's still
suspicious huge red flags MH well on top of that on top of that we have a lot of
rumors happening right and you'd think for three years if if it's true that their friends are saying look they just
really were kind of separated for 3 years there's going to be a lot of rumors happening between their friends
in in the town does that make sense there are some people in this story that have said they were
unaware that they were living separately in the same home right now it sounds like the people closest to them were
well aware of this like the family and friends the direct friends that you're talking about they were well aware
that's where this information comes from but it's it's all a very weird situation because some of the reports
are that Russell almost had Emma in a situation where it appears like she works for him like runs errands for him
she's not really allowed to go too many places on her own she's not allowed to have a lot of friends she we know that
she works a lot of hours based off of the store hours that we covered at the top of the story
but this to me when you have a situation where she goes missing why do they find all of her
things there you know people I do understand it people do have affairs people do have
Mis dealings people do leave town on their own free will rarely do they do it without taking a single thing with them
and so of course that's the cause for concern for the people that know her best early on on in the missing person's
investigation they all believed that something terrible had happened right then and there they none of them were
convinced that she was missing and then we learned 5 months later that she wasn't missing yeah somebody killed her
and somebody placed her body in this area not terribly far from the Cody store if Russ is being physically
abusive he's probably being mentally abusive and so he's also seems to be controlling
her so he should know about if there's a affair happening cuz he's controlling exactly now in Russ's
defense I couldn't find any report online or otherwise that states that there was any type of police report
based off of that previous violence this all seems to come from people that knew
the two of them best the the but it only takes one right so it's like she so maybe she was beat up thousands of times
and she never called the cops or once or twice right but or or none that doesn't
rule him out bastards like that are very capable of if if she came home and said
you know what I'm just so tired of all this stuff my mother's sick she might be dying I need a do something with my life
I need to change I'm tired of this situation I'm I'm living in a basement this is not this is not the
life that I wanted if if they got an argument and she said you know what I'm leaving and he's this
controlling it just seems like there's a lot of signs pointing to you know the the typical the husband did it well and
we cannot say the name of the person but this is where it gets a little I feel like the picture gets a little
clearer of what may have happened yeah there was a friend a close friend of Emma's who was texting with her that
night after she got home she's in her basement watching TV and they are trading text back and
forth there was a text from the friend that came in at approximately 15 minutes after
midnight that Emma never responded to that later when her phone was looked at by family
members Emma had never opened up that text now that does not mean that 100% of what I'm about to say is accurate but it
makes it makes me think that very likely this is what happened okay lay lay it down well they're trading text back and
forth mhm something happened before she opened and responded to that 12 15 text that's where the timeline I would be
concerned with with what's going on with Emma at that timeline yeah very good point because she's talking with
somebody back and forth and she has this husband that is going who are you talking to give me that phone I want to
see what's happening her phone's found at her residence along with all of her other
belongings and what I'm pointing out is this is one of those things one of the the rare occasions in these types of
cases where we may have the exact marker the exact minute marker of when all things stopped for Emma right because we
know that she all of the activity she was supposed to be a part of on Sunday she did not she didn't go to the
hospital she was unheard of she was unreachable she doesn't show up to work on Monday doesn't show up to work on
Tuesday well you can backtrack that all all the way to that 12:15 15 minutes after midnight text that does not get
responded to well look her her and look her family not reporting her missing till Tuesday okay
fine but if you care about your wife even if you're separated or you're kind of living this roommate
lifestyle you're calling the police right away she gets she got home from work we know that much she's missing the
next morning you're calling the police that didn't happen that didn't happen and so it it seems like there was
this text message conversation maybe there's an argument happening at the same time like you said it gives us
almost to the minute of when this confrontation took place and where was she at her house where's her phone at
her house this reminds this is very similar to me like the Chris Watts case where he had her phone and
had all her stuff and and it's just like oh well she must have just went missing don't know
where she's at well and I don't want to question or call to fault the hellofax county sheriff's office but isn't it one
of these cases Captain we've seen bigger mysteries in other murder cases we' seen bigger Mysteries you have
to sit here and wonder okay guys what's the hangup here what what's the problem with the investigation well hold on
here's what we do know right we we can surmise this right we're not that dumb I mean we are two dumb guys in a garage
and we stand by that to the end of the time to the end of our days see but we're not that dumb we know
that law enforcement at least has a short list of suspects especially where the body was
found her items still being at home and I think there's a lot more motive too not just the separation not just the
rumors of possibly Affair but also Financial if we get a divorce and we have all these properties we have to
split this up this also could be something that's not planned good point let's pretend for a moment that these
previous acts of violence from her husband are are in fact true if they are true this seems to me like somebody with
a temper with somebody that can fly off the handle this is a guy that's been married and divorc before his
relationship with Emma what I'm getting to here Captain is I wonder what the hang-up is in this investigation now we
do have the Sheriff's Office on record early in the investigation especially when she was still missing saying say
you know Russell's been cooperative and they even go as far to say that he's not
a person of interest well wow we know that he was a truck driver is there a chance I would love to know this
information I don't believe that this is true at all but is there a chance that he was not home or they have reason to
believe that he was not at The Residence at any time that night now let's fast forward a little bit mm keep in what the
Sheriff's Office was saying he's Cooperative he's not a person of interest well that does change that
blows my mind at some point it's stated that Russell is no longer cooperating with the investigation that he lawyered
up which is his right and I recommend everybody does have an attorney however he stops communicating
and stops cooperating with the investigation there are some reports out there that state that he failed a
polygraph test and that's when boom communication and cooperation ended yeah Shame Shame know your name I just I want
to point out that those are reports I've not seen 100% Stone Cold evidence of the
fact that he failed a polygraph test well let's just assume I'm the detective right let's hypothetically I'm the
detective I go I'm giving statements if I'm a detective I start talking like this right I'm giving statements to to
the public and I'm saying this guy Russ man he's a he's a standup guy it's it's her husband they own a bunch of property
together he's been Cooperative seems to have an alibi of some kind he's not a person of interest
at this time no he's not he's been Cooperative you're going to say that anyways even if he's being a little bit
of a scumbag cuz you kind of you you want him to soften up right you don't want him to be guarded with everything
he's saying but also when you talk about that she's found in a shallow grave there's a lot of individuals a lot of
victims that we've talked about where they're just dumped on the side of the road this is somebody that put her in an
area and tried to conceal her so she wasn't found maybe I can get behind the idea that maybe this wasn't planned out
but the disposal of the body definitely was to some degree and oh I think to a big
time degree there was evidence that someone had tried to burn the body there was a sleeping bag that was recovered
from the scene there was an attempt to bury the body yeah that was was I don't know if it was well thought out or not
but somebody went to a great deal of effort to try to conceal the body and the other thing too there's no reason at
all for anyone to believe that she was killed where she was found so she was moved and
transported as well now here's here's the problem this this is where I'm going to go okay I understand that there are
complications every murder investigation is complicated for any number of different reasons but I'm sitting here 5
years after the fact 4 and a/2 years after her body's found and I'm going what is wrong with this case what is
wrong with your sus ECT what is wrong with the investigation why haven't we charged
anybody in this case and here's where my mind goes and these are things that I hope and pray that the sheriff's office
has already done the cell phone we know that she was actively using the cell phone and I believe right up into the
point where something happened to her or she was abducted or attacked and killed Ina those cell phone records if
you could could you find out where that phone was located we know it was later found at her home in the basement where
anybody would expect to find it right subpoena those phone records let's find out where that phone was during the
course of that text activity let's subpoena somebody else's cell phone records and see who was in that same
area at the same time we know that she shared the home with another person there's reason to believe his
phone may indicate that he was home at the same time that that text exchange ended here's some other things that I
would be doing I think that in this case in this murder investigation that the Sheriff's Office
actually has a very powerful weapon in their Arsenal and that would be their missing person's investigation
I would be using the information that they gained and learned during the course of their missing person's
investigation to drive and spearhead my murder investigation and what I mean by that is every person that told me that
Emma left town I want to know why did you think that she left town who told you that is
that something you came up with on your own because we know that her body was found in town
so she didn't leave town we know that so why would anybody be telling law enforcement that she did leave town if
you told me that you're a suspect if you told me that you better tell me who gave you
that information because then they are my suspect and the other thing that I think
happened here too Captain I think that they there's plenty of reason to believe that whoever transported the
body had help I almost feel like the the finding of the sleeping bag screams to me at
least two people moving the body yeah know I was actually going to bring that up as a question to you earlier was
doesn't this seem like because one thing was tried then another thing was tried and and then the distance that she would
have been found in this property kind of leans more towards two people than one so I'm glad that you brought that up
but I I know that they said he was being cooperative and I and and I know he um I
know that they said the husband was being cooperative and and and maybe there was some
Alibi that didn't check out and that's that's why he lawyered up and he stopped being cooperative but once he lawyered
up and and stopped being cooperative is one thing if you want to lawyer up and have the questions go through your
lawyer and you answer what you can and and you protect your client that's fine but my list of suspects would be a
list of one my list of suspects would be rather short because I want to know again we're
both sitting here believing that two people and minimum transported the body well and and that's more likely the
person that will come forward is look I was told the story uh that she was uh cheating on him or that she was stealing
money from him or whatever and it was an accidental death and so I helped move the body but that person is more likely
to come forward come forward we all sit here too believing that more than one person likely told law enforcement that
Emma had left the area of her own free will again those are the tools that the the the phone activity the phone
activity of others inside that residence or on that property at that same time 15
minutes after midnight on the night that she air quotes went missing I'm looking at that I'm looking
at the people that told me that she left town of her own free will and I'm also looking for the point of origin of that
sleeping bag because guess what if I can figure out and prove and have reason to
believe that person a owns that sleeping bag or own that sleeping bag at one point and he was one
of the people that told me that he was with a certain person on that night and that is that person's Alibi well guess
what that alibi don't mean jack [ __ ] anymore because we have your sleeping bag found at our crime scene well no and
I think one of the things that they could possibly do is you know obviously test the sleeping bag for for DNA but I
would also test it for fibers like carpet fibers because that that could have been a sleeping bag in her house
that they use just like when Chris Watts went to transport his W wife didn't he use the bed
sheets so I I just feel like it's so similar and we don't always agree mainly because
you're normally right and I'm wrong but I think in this case we at least agree that the suspect list is very small it's
very small and again anyone that told law enforcement that Emma left town for any number of
reasons they should be people that you really want to question and you want to get to the truth because they obviously
told you a lie at some point and anybody willing to lie is somebody that is either directly involved or is helping
to cover up what actually happened so those nasty rumors about an affair or drug dealing or being involved with
drugs boom none of them are true somebody murdered this woman and didn't take her body very far from where she
was killed Emma Compton Lane was last seen alive on June 17 2017 and C Virginia on November 22nd 2017 her
remains were found by a hunter in the woods near her home on Sandy Ridge Road she was buried in a shallow grave the
person responsible or persons responsible for her murder have never been identified if you have any
information regarding the murder of Emma Compton Lane or recall seeing any suspicious Vehicles along Sandy Ridge
Road between June and November of 2017 please contact the Helifax County Sheriff's Office at 434
476 [Music] 3334 hold thank you so much for joining us here in the garage and letting us be a
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Emma Compton Layne ////// 598

Part 1 of 1

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Emma Compton Layne loved Christmas, Humming Birds and helping people. She was a friendly face in a tiny town. Everyone knew her because she owned a general store in Cody, Virginia. Emma was missing for approximately five months. Later the missing investigation turned into a homicide case. If you have any information about Emma Compton Layne’s disappearance and death, call the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office at 434-476-3339.

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Brief Summary

Emma Compton Lane went missing in 2017; her remains were found later, and her murder remains unsolved.

Key points

Sisters at Odds. Emma's sisters, Winona and Shauna, are fighting separately for justice after her tragic death.
Emma Compton Lane's Disappearance. Emma went missing under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind her car and personal belongings.
The Cody Store's Importance. Emma owned the Cody store, a central hub in her community, where she was last seen.
Emma's Mysterious Disappearance. Emma Compton Lane goes missing, leading to a frantic search by her family.
Rumors and Reality. Speculation about Emma's life and relationships complicates the investigation.
Tragic Discovery. Authorities find human remains in a wooded area, leading to the identification of Emma.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You need a sister and you both still have one.

Encouraging Emma's sisters to reconcile after their loss.

5:20WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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