Gretchen Fleming /// Part 2 /// 808 | Forensic Files

Miami Metro catches killers and they say it takes a village to race one if anyone
knows how powerful urges can be it's me catch Dexter Morgan in a new serial killer origin story hunger inside of you
it needs a master featuring Patrick Gibson Christian Slater special guest star Sarah Michelle killer with Patrick
deny and Michael C Hall as Dexter in your voice I wasn't born a killer I Was Made Dexter original sin new series now
streaming on the Paramount plus with Showtime plan go to paramont plus.com to try it free terms apply
the first ever Kia K4 seamlessly combines bold style and advanced Tech with striking starm map LED headlights
and an available panoramic display the Kia K4 delivers design and function the available surround View and blind spot
view monitors can help provide added confidence plus Sirius XM comes standard bringing you closer to what you love the
Kia K4 balances Aesthetics and Innovation learn more at kia.com K4 surround View and blind spot view
monitors may not detect all objects around or behind the vehicle [Music] 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 who stands at the edge of the frontier wearing a great pair of boots here is the captain only
boots I wear nothing but a great set of boots it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
telling a friend today we are still sipping on this fine Buckeye logger special harvest
Edition from the fine folks at Mommy Bay Brewing Company the Ohio State Buckey will be hosting a college football
playoff game this weekend and we will be sipping Buckeye logger go buck and to all of you out there I say this I hope
your team wins and as long as they are not playing my team Buckeye logger garage grade three and a half bottle
caps out of five let's give some thanks and praise to our friends for helping us
out this week first up a cheers to Grace David and Regina Saskatchewan Canada and
a big we like your CHP goes out to Reverend Karen Kelly from Minneapolis Minnesota interesting because next we
have Luciana in the Twin Cities Minnesota and a big shout out to Kristen Evans from New Albany Ohio oh IO next up
a cheers to Rachel lowick from fville Michigan and last but certainly not least we have Ron and Sherry from
Walnutport Pennsylvania thank you to everyone who went to our website and contributed to this week's beer fund for
that we thank you yeah BW you and beer run if you need more True Crime garage for your earballs don't be shy subscribe
to us through the Apple podcast app or through patreon and that's enough of the buiness all right everybody gather
around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] [Music] cry want to take you
[Music] home by January 7th 2023 a reward from local businesses and community members was put together this
is for $65,000 for help with Gretchen's case the reward fund was split in half as
follows a reward of $32,500 was being offered for substantial information leading to the
current physical location and return of Gretchen and a separate $32,500 was being offered for inform to
for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in Gretchen's disappearance and or physical
harm to her now possibly motivated by this reward a tip came in that said that Gretchen had been thrown down a specific
industrial well in Ravenswood this is a location that's approximately a 40 minutes Drive Away Captain for this
location to be searched they had to bring out engineers and a drilling company to drain this well and as it
would turn out this ends up being a week's worth of efforts that were completely wasted they found nothing of
value in this search yeah the business Community continued to support efforts to find Gretchen in February a billboard
was erected on southbound Murdoch Avenue this reminding the public about Gretchen
being missing and the Hefty reward detective Zimmerman's phone number was featured on the billboard and the
billboard was provided to the Fleming family free of charge by the Hicks Outdoor advertising company so shout out
to the Hicks Outdoor advertising company for assisting this poor family in their
efforts to find their daughter police decided to make use of the community's eagerness to help and called for
volunteers for a search party for February 4th the Parkersburg police Police Department's Facebook post said a
large scale search effort will take place on Saturday February 4th participation will involve strenuous
work in rugged wooded terrain now note here Captain they did not disclose where the search would be conducted until the
morning of right this turns out the search was of mountwood Park this is a massive Park located about 12 miles from
Park BG with over 5050 mil of trails and a 50 acre Lake a group called Mountaineer area rescue group this is an
all volunteer search and rescue organization based in Morgantown West Virginia provided about 25 team leaders
to divvy up the more than 500 civilian volunteer Searchers who showed up to help the police had received tips about
this area so that's why they are there this search too was a bust now a few small items that were thought to be
potential evidence were collected however after testing these items they proved not to be connected to
Gretchen so detective Zimmerman said publicly we can cross the park off of our list with every search it becomes
more difficult on the family because and I think they made these statements to local news you during
these searches you're so thankful and grateful that the community comes out and searches but you know that if you
find something or you find Gretchen during one of these searches it's not the way you want to find her exactly and
it is amazing the outpouring of help that was coming in from the the locals in March Lieutenant James
stalnaker confir confirmed that the PPD had a substantial amount of data being returned from search warrants remember
the ones that were conducted on Preston Pierce's properties his home this storage unit and his his vehicle right
now we have to assume that this means forensic testing was being completed on items removed from Pierce's home and
data was being compiled from digital sources such as the GPS on the Nissan Rogue and Pierce's cell phone records
both locational and contact wise it could also refer to Gretchen's phone information as well although with that
having been left in Jon's car it would likely not be that helpful in figuring out where Gretchen went that night after
walking out the doors of the MyWay bar what data are they getting from Preston Pierce's phone and is that leading them
to go out and search in these locations yeah this also raises a question did Pierce just get lucky that Gretchen had
lost her phone and was essentially untraceable by this point or did he Target her after talking with her and
learning that maybe she didn't have her phone with her yeah cuz if he sat at the
bar with her and was talking with her he might have noticed that she didn't have
a purse on her and so unfortunately here Captain time passes without Gretchen and
time passes without an arrest in the case this will lead us to May 5th of 2023 parkerburg police chief
Matthew bour told Fox 11 Eyewitness News this is not a cold case it's still being
actively pursued adding in the early morning hours she left with a gentleman who is the person of interest we were
able to establish contact with him within 24 hours of her disappearance being reported initially he was
cooperative and at this point he has completely ceased contact with law enforcement in regard to this
investigation later that month her family would hold a press conference announcing that the reward for
information had grown now to $100,000 thanks to a hefty contribution from a local business the principal of
the parkerburg high school Kenny de Moss kicked off the presser held outside the
school he talked about Gretchen reminding everyone that she was a 2013 graduate of that school and she had been
missing now for 6 months her grandmother gave a Ste request to the public to stop
criticizing the active investigation being conducted by the parkerburg PD she said there was so much going on behind
the scenes that they were unaware of let them do their work the family begged an
emotional David Fleming spoke to the community about how much he appreciated all the tips calls support and prayers
and how important it was to keep Gretchen's name and face out there he described his daughter as a gentle kind
soul who would never hurt anyone he begged anyone with even an iota of information to please come forward quote
Gretchen we will find you he promised it seems like with so many cases no matter what the case is people
will find something to complain about and in this case a lot of times you have a missing person you don't have the last
person that they were seen with we don't have that information some of these individuals just poof disappear Into
Thin Air Y and then so in this case we have a community we have a community that's rallying around
law enforcement helping out with searches we have not just a individual that we'd like to talk to we have a
person of interest and like you said that that is something that law enforcement they're
not they don't just willy-nilly toss out that that that phrase or that term to any person th this person's a person of
interest for a reason and so for all we know they have the guy they got him but they have to put together the case in
order to get him convicted well and Captain that is the perfect segue into this next bit here because as you said
they they have a person of interest Technically when you look into the details of this True Crime Story the
police announc that they have a person of interest but never name him publicly he was only named by the the media right
so now we get to the unfortunate one-year anniversary of Gretchen's disappearance this is just last December
man and unfortunately there was no new news but we do have the police department going on record at that time
who again is reminding the public that this case is not cold we have a person of interest here he is our
priority he's not working with us and he this is when the chief board police chief board publicly acknowledged to the
News and Sentinel that Preston Pierce was in fact the focus of this investigation so what information do we
have about this Preston Pierce before we get into that you I mean get into it now
all right I'll get into it now but I just I just want to say this because to to not jumble up our timeline too much
here right prior to the the unfortunate Oney year anniversary of her her having been missing they did State publicly
that they were Outsourcing forensics and evidence to outside agencies these are probably agencies that they're only
Outsourcing it if they believe that these agencies are better equipped her father David goes on record saying that
this is this is a good thing for the investigation right public Don't Panic don't read into this the wrong way this
is a good thing for the investigation this could provide to be fruitful and and give us some evidence or some leads
here this shows that the intelligence of law enforcement in this case you don't have to be the smartest guy in the room
you just have to be the guy that invited the smartest guy in the room and that's
what they're doing by Outsourcing Outsourcing information to other agencies agencies that are just more
equipped and they're going to get better answers and faster answers yeah will the
smartest guy in the room please stand up up please stand up neither one NE one there's no no one standing in the garage
nobody in the garage we're actually we actually have slithered down I'm now laying face down on the floor yeah can
you can you hear me I have I've got I've got I've got car grease on my on my shirt now we are the dumbest Boys in
school all right uh thank God they asked us to leave that school many years ago yeah so
who is this Preston Pierce this this is interesting because at this point in our
timeline we have the police who officially announce his name to the public for the very first time but they
don't expand on who this guy is the only thing they're telling the public is we believe that she got in his car and they
went back to his house so this person of interest Preston Pierce as we know based
off of law enforcement statements he was inter reviewed first on December 13th 2022 this is the day after she was
officially reported missing this is shortly after they find the MyWay video footage showing that Gretchen had left
the bar with this guy Preston Pierce because you were exactly right Captain when you had mentioned this
earlier it was the owners in bartenders of that bar that helped police identifying this man as Preston Pierce
they knew this guy so detective Zimmerman confirmed that pierce claimed to have given Gretchen a ride to
downtown parkerburg again in his statements to police he names the location they've never officially
released that location that he claims to have dropped her off now according to Eyewitness News the man at the center of
this investigation Preston Pierce at the time was aged 55 he lived in the general Parkersburg
area he had changed his name at some point in his life and and what's tricky here is nobody's really able to pinpoint
exactly when this took place I'm sure police are well aware of when this took place but I couldn't find it in any
reports out there that are available to the public his his birth name I'm assuming it's his birth name was Daryl
lot and he's former law enforcement he he used to be a law enforcement officer at multiple departments in the state of
West Virginia according to law enforcement Professional Standards Information Systems records Pierce had
been a cop for at least 12 years not good now so the news agency this is WTAP confirms that pierce worked for several
police departments in West Virginia including Barber County and in Jackson County and with the Vienna police
department at some point now remember she's living in Vienna at the time of her disappearance and I have a note here
that says that Pierce reportedly finished his career law enforcement career at the Bellington Police
Department well if you're moving around that often it's for a reason and it's normally not a good reason you would
think not look there in a lot of these jurisdictions there's a requirement for certain level of training and or
education and certification and things like that and so you might have one police officer that's dumped by one
agency because he sucks at his job for any number of reasons like could be could be a good standup guy just not
good at the job right and he'll get picked up by another Police Department or she will get picked up by another
Police Department really rather quickly um note note to self here too you also don't want to come in contact with a
priest that seems to be getting moved around quite a bit as well not a good thing no now there there is some
information out there there are some locals who say that they know Pierce a little bit and they're claiming that he
also spent several years with the United States Coast Guard okay but it's strange
that he changed his name sure says the guy on the show that's never used his real name and for and as far as anybody
knows Nick is a name that I just made up as well well let me tell you my real name it's uh ding dong
dungle the the thing here that that is rather unsettling and it really just makes the hair on the back of your neck
stand up if he's got this twst 12E background in law enforcement and he's spent several years with the Coast Guard
I hate to go down this road but doesn't that somewhat imply that he may have some kind of knowledge about disposing
of things in waterways or disposing of and concealing evidence he knows quite a bit about law enforcement and the
tactics they're going to use to try to catch a criminal but let's be frank about it right
this guy is known by those patrons and and the employees of that bar because he's known to be a local creep oh yeah
and that's why you have a guy she was with this guy John and and people just go yeah I I kind of know the guy but
he's John didn't know much about him well that's kind of how you want to be known if you go into two bars it's just
yeah seems to be a nice guy you don't want to be known as the local creep and unfortunately it would appear that from
the surveillance footage Gretchen is has been engaged in conversation by the local creep and yeah they don't wait for
you to make contact they make contact they creep up on you they creep up on you that's usually their their emot now
MH you want to dive into this dude a little bit more here we have gret and stepmother Jennifer who tells
disappeared that as soon as his name comes out she's immediately asking people about this guy mhm not only is
this dude a creep he's a creep with wheels and what I mean is not the Nissan Rogue that he drove and likely had
Gretchen in his vehicle that night he was one of these guys that was working for a food as a food delivery driver in
the parkerburg area yep and this is how really essentially how yeah he become how he becomes known as like a local
creep so women and ladies who had interacted with him from very various workplaces in the past also posted
things online about him saying this dude's a creep he would constantly tell me how beautiful I am uh at least one
person saying that he followed me on an occasion and you can use your imagination from there
but the the thing that really stands out here is a distinct pattern of behavior from this creep yeah it's not it's not
creepy to give somebody a compliment but if you give it in a creepy way or then you start following people or one of the
things I believe he was doing is he was you know delivering food to people's houses and because he had their
information he was then reaching out to them and texting them and trying to build a relationship it's like dude you
were just the guy that delivered my food I I'm not trying to build a relationship
with you and I think he even would then try to find some of those individuals online and make contact with them online
as well well and I think he worked a good deal of hours and look if if he was getting some kind of creepy enjoyment
out of these activities of course he's going to work a bunch of hours so he was a a food delivery driver for the spark
company and for door Dash now I'm not familiar with how these companies work but from my understanding in this case
this gave Pierce access to female customers names and of course their phone numbers and addresses where the
food had to be delivered right and sometimes you even get a photo like right when when an Uber pulls up to pick
you up you often have a photo of the the man woman that's supposed to be driving
that vehicle so this is a trove of information that is really just handed to him on a platter because of this job
yeah and he I mean there's no better way to sum it up than he used this information to
stalk some of these women he used their names and phone numbers for solicitation
several women coming forward saying he would text them saying hey like like very casually okay hey it's Preston I
delivered food to you I think you're pretty right again very strange and and the problem here is it's a it's an app
so to find somebody to reach out if it's the local Little Caesar Pizza Hut and the delivery driver started texting you
well you know who to call to complain to but it's hard to complain especially once the food is
delivered if he was just nice and polite you give him his five stars and you and
he's on his way but then two days later he starts texting you that's beyond strange well there were people you know
a lot of times persons who use these Services it's typically not a one-time thing right and so a lot of people were
coming out of the woodwork a lot of ladies coming out of the woodwork saying yeah I used to order from spark or I
used to order food with door Dash however I quit ordering food altogether because I was
sked out that Preston Pierce would be the one showing up with my food well and think about this if you order a Uber
driver you say I need a ride to the Little Caesar Pizza Hut and they say okay I'm going to pick you up and it
tells you who's going to pick you up so if that person's a creep you could cancel that ride and ask for another car
but when you're ordering food from the local Little Caesar Pizza Hut you don't know who's going to be the guy
delivering it to you so if this guy has reached out to you and that's just he reach out to you in such a creepy way
you're just not going to take the chance of having him show up at your door well
it's impossible to know how many of these encounters were later called into the Parkersburg police but we do know of one
for sure that is particularly disturbing so a woman claims that she was drugged and woke up
at Pierce's home Jesus with no idea and no recollection of how she got there at all
and I want to be clear here it's it's an allegation but it is an allegation that
was discussed with the parkerburg police detectives [Music] [Music] if you ever worry about the safety of
your home and family there's no better time to act right now Simply Safe is extending its massive black Friday deal
for our listeners get 50% off a new Simply Safe security system simply safe's active guard outdoor protection
changes the game by preventing crime before it even happens if someone's aler working around those agents see them in
real time talk to them directly set off your spotlights and even call the police
before they've had a chance to break in Simply Safe is the only security system that is stopping crime before it happens
stopping break-ins before they happen get peace of mind do what I did I love Simply Safe this is the best security
system that I have had and it was one of the easiest things that I have ever installed Simply Safe is extending its
massive black Friday deal for my listeners this week only you can get 50% off any new system with a select
professional monitoring plan this is your last chance to claim their best offer of the Year head to simplysafe
docomo that's simplysafe doccom garage there's no safe like Simply Safe Miami Metro catches killers and they say it
takes a village to race one if anyone knows how powerful urges can be it's me catch Dexter Morgan in a new serial
killer origin Story Hunger inside of you it needs a master featuring Patrick Gibson Christian Slater special guest
star Sarah Michelle Geller with Patrick Dempsey and Michael SE Hall as Dexter's in your voice I wasn't born a killer I
Was Made Dexter original sin new series now streaming on the paramont plus was Showtime plan go to paramont plus.com to
try it free terms apply with big Wireless providers what you see is never what you get somewhere
between the store and your first month's bill the price magically skyrockets with
mintmobile you'll never have to worry about gotas again when mttmobile says $15 a month when you purchase a 3-month
plan they mean it not to name names but I have had mobile providers in the past that have a less than reliable service
that I have paid much more than mintmobile like you I was tired of complicated bills that included new fees
and upcharges that made absolutely no sense mmobile was straight up great reliable service at a great and fair
price all Mobile plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest
5G Network you can use your own phone your own phone number and all of your existing contacts ditch overpriced
Wireless with mint Mobile's deal and get three months of Premium wireless service
for 15 bucks a month to get this new customer offer and your new 3month premium Wireless plan for just 15 bucks
a month go to mintmobile.com TCG that's mintmobile /cg cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a
month at mintmobile.com tcg $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 per month new
customers on first three-month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabyt on Unlimited Plan additional taxes fees and
restrictions apply cement mobile for details this message is sponsored by Greenlight as we enter the holiday
season now is the perfect time to give your kids money skills that will last that's where green light comes in greenl
is a debit card and money app made for families parents can send money to their kids and keep an eye out on kids
spending and saving while kids and teens build money confidence and lifelong financial literacy skills millions of
parents and kids are learning about money on green light it's the easy convenient way for parents to raise
financially smart kids and families to navigate life together my family absolutely loves green light if my
nephews want to come over help me with some yard work it's an easy way for me to pay them and it's an easy way for
their parents to monitor their children's spending sign up for Greenlight today at greenlight.com
garage that's greenlight.com garage to try Greenlight Today greenlight.com garage this message is proudly sponsored
by Green [Music] Light all right we are back you filthy animals put your eggnog in the air and
cheers and happy holidays Merry Christmas to everybody and cheers to you Colonel I'm looking forward to a good
oldfashioned Griswald family Christmas myself the [ __ ] is full my friend and if you hear the doorbell that's the door
Dash arriving at the garage you got hungry yeah yeah hangry yeah there was one person that posted on social and
again that I I don't have the police records to back this up so take this with a grain of
salt but one poster says on Facebook that he meaning Preston Pierce followed me and a friend from the front row to
the my way and then followed us to my home and states that we did call the police so if that did in fact happened
police should have some kind of record of that call that complaint well again I don't know if we have uh video footage
to see if he had any contact with her drink or not but it just makes you wonder if we think about Gretchen as a
person she's 51 what 10 PBS or something she's she's a tiny person if he could drug her and
get her alone he could easily move her and I think that's where the surveillance footage
becomes difficult for law enforcement because if he puts her in the car but she's either slumped over in the the
front seat or he puts her in the back of the vehicle as he's driving and I think
these W there's pictures of his car online I believe his windows are pretty tinted out so they might have video
footage of his car going into to the direction of his house but I don't know if there's any way of knowing when she
was in the vehicle or when she wasn't in the vehicle and I think this just gets a
little more complicated for law enforcement but I think they're building a case against this creep oh absolutely
I'm I'm with you on that now the look that I apologize in advance this going to be be going to be
rather uncomfortable for me to discuss however I think that it is important to highlight the activities of this
guy so we have a person who alleges that her 18-year-old daughter she reported Preston Pierce to police after
Gretchen went missing because she told police he had texted my daughter with inappropriate
communication and she had screenshots the text exchange now I cannot say that this is the entirety of
the text exchange but the what has been made public is this yeah Pierce text and and you can gather from the
from these words from the exchange that that this text exchange started prior to
this portion of the conversation Pierce text I'll think of something good to eat
the girl responds okay Preston Pierce replies can you guess what I want to eat the girl says
Nope Pierce responds I'm sure you can guess the girl replies I don't know and Pierce then replies take a while guess
it's sweet the girl shows her mom these texts and there was probably others involved
the mom reported Pierce because on top of this text exchange he had offered to give this 15-year-old girl a ride
somewhere creep and there are over 40 so when you the there is a Facebook page dedicated to Gretchen's disappearance
that has compiled m mesages from many different women who have had similar encounters with Preston Pierce there are
over 40 of them the usernames are redacted but the messages to the Facebook page are visible this guy sucks
tipto tail he's a piece of [ __ ] couldn't couldn't have said it better myself the
complaints about his skevy inappropriate behavior go on and on and on and a lot of this to back up these claims again
people are providing screenshots of interactions with Preston Pierce who these are coming from women and from
daughters who who were very uncomfortable with their communication with him some more examples of this
inappropriate behavior in claims by others we have one person who wrote I had a message request from him he was
going on about how I look pretty and my daughter looks so pretty too then a few days later he got mad and said said oh I
see you're too pretty to talk to me babe you could look at that as an interaction
that well he just attempted to compliment somebody and that person didn't give him the response that he
wanted right the problem being is you compound this compliment air quotes with other behaviors that we seen and then
note that the daughter that he says looks so pretty too is age one at the time another person claims I went to
college with him and he went and went to his place to study he tried to kiss me and I pushed him away and left another
says that he was her door dash at her workplace and he refused to give her her food until she gave him her personal
phone number saying he came back another time and said he had been looking for me
was going to wait for me and plan to call my work to find out my work hours he texted me and and was relentless I
deleted that door Dash account and made up another one for future use this guy gets off on stocking and he gets off on
putting women in these uncomfortable situations and and again I think this is probably
why he changed his name so people couldn't find out about any of his history another woman posted that she
would order door dash for her and her kids when her husband was at work and she would request that the door Dash be
left outside on the front porch right but he would insist on knocking and hammering on the her words are hammering
on the door attempting to get her or somebody to answer the door instead of just simply leaving the food as
requested and leaving and when he wasn't pounding on the door he's sitting outside of the house for very long
periods of time I guess just waiting hoping somebody will open up the door and then one woman wrote that this guy
is so creepy my dad was a police officer and worked with him he was certainly making excuses to come by the house and
hit on me I had to have my dad tell him he's not welcome at the house because he
creeped me out so much well when law enforcement is made aware that we have a missing person and then they start
looking into the events of that night and the details and then they come across this
Preston Pierce individual and did they work with him and did they know people that worked with him and I'm sure that
they were able to gather up a bunch of stories and I think that's maybe also one of the reasons he became a person of
interest so quickly yeah they have every reason to believe that he is most likely
the person that she left with again Unfortunately they do not have video footage of the two of them getting into
his vehicle so that seems to be a hurdle that they need to clear in this investigation and it appears at least as
where we sit now at the unfortunate 2-year anniversary of this poor young woman having been
missing they don't seem to have enough physical evidence to move forward with the case we don't know what
could still be out there that is in the process of being tested or or well they did another
search on his property I want to say within the last month um but they didn't say what was found I don't believe or if
anything was found yes there you are exactly right Captain there's been some recent news on this case so very good to
know that it's still a very very active case this is from the good Folks at the Metro News the voice of West Virginia in
short the news report reads FBI agents and Parkersburg police executed a search warrant this would have been November
20th so very recent at the former residence of a man believed to be a person of interest in the 2022
disappearance of Wood County resident Gretchen Fleming Gretchen Fleming 28 of Vienna was last seen on December 3rd
2022 the search is at the house at 1300 Division Street where Preston Pierce used to live parkerburg police chief
Matthew Bard released a statement later that day saying we are thankful for the FBI's ongoing assistance throughout this
investigation as they have assisted in various capacities from the beginning though there is no new information to be
released at this time the execution of the search warrant is a continuation of the investigatory process our agency
remains dedicated to utilizing all available resources and investigative strategies to fulfill our commitment to
Seeking Justice for gret and Fleming and providing answers for the Fleming family
the search warrant conducted is part of that effort so the chief the chief clearly is all over this and been very
vocal about this case and as we've seen throughout our timeline here and in reporting and our fact-f finding mission
is that the the public as a collective is very invested in this case and very invested in getting answers for the
Fleming family didn't law enforcement ask if anybody knew the whereabouts of his car as well that information I don't
have but I I if there's a vehicle that they're looking for we've seen time and time again them asking the public for
help so that would stand to reason we do know that that the Nissan that he had back then the Nissan Rogue was processed
because it was seized by police for a period of time yeah I just wonder if I wonder if it's a situation where where
the FBI got more involved and the FBI was going hey we'd love to process this car ourselves and if they can't find it
because it seems like this Preston Pierce has kind of fallen off the map himself he doesn't live in the house he
used to I don't think he has a current resident I don't think he's working for any of these food delivery services
anymore and we don't think he's in possession of that car anymore yeah it it seems Pierce pulled up stakes and
moved rather shortly after Gretchen vanished because it's been reported that he relocated to Martinsburg West
Virginia yeah he posted in July 2023 that he had been in the VA hospital and then was homeless and living on the
streets now the whole town of parkerburg then becomes on high alert to him because it was posted that he's back in
town right and showing screen grabs of Pierce at local businesses but as far as official police action there have been
no charges or arrests made in connection with this case at the end of the Disappeared episode detective zimin says
very clearly that Preston is a person of interest and that he does think they're
eventually going to get him but eventually could mean a very long time right and in the meantime the evidence
that they that he did something nefarious to gret and Fleming is fading away well I think what's difficult is
and correct me if I'm wrong but Preston Pierce's story is that she didn't go in his house so if the crime correct that
she had never been to his house he dropped her off before he returned to his home exactly so if the crime took
place outside of his car or if if it took place inside of his car and she never was in the house that's why
they're doing the search warrants at at his for former residency is because they're trying to connect her to that
house because now we can go well you're lying she she was obviously in your house but if she never was because
that's not where the crime scene was and and like you you said and I think again
this is very tough for the family the community for law enforcement you have this window of time what did you say 33
hours correct that they're going hey if anybody has any information and that's why it's so important for the True Crime
Community to keep these stories alive and to keep talking about them because somebody's going to hear this or
somebody's going to see a a Facebook post and and somebody might know something that they didn't think was a
vital piece of information and so you know whether it's our podcast or other podcasts because there's tons
of great podcasts out there covering stories that need to be heard share those post on your social media because
somebody knows something yeah and you wonder why Gretchen would leave my way with Preston
Pierce knowing what we now know about him well it's very likely that she didn't know any of these things about him she
didn't know him at all she didn't have any clue as to what kind of person he was yeah we also don't know what kind of
ruse a lot of these guys have these a lot of guys have ruses to get people into their car or to get them
outside because I don't think we have the surveillance footage to I mean I think we have surveillance footage that
puts her outside of the building with him yeah but I don't think we have surveillance footage of every
action U before that car before his car left no we in fact we have police on record saying we do not have footage of
anyone getting into that vehicle that we Then followed via surveillance footage so well because of his background or
just because he's a super creep he might know that and like you said we have other individuals that said he followed
us to this bar or he may have had enough to drink that he didn't care right right
a lot of a lot of these types of you know it's it's not terribly uncommon for a rapist to be impulsive I'm not trying
to say or victim blame or or put anything on her I'm simply pondering the circumstances and trying to think
through this and once they're out in that parking lot for all we know she went out because she was the person she
was talking to she was he left Preston Pierce left because the the the statement is that she follows that not
necessarily that she follows him but he leaves and then she leaves almost immediately after him she he's not
walking her out of the bar he's not holding her hand but for all we know she's done talking with that person she
thinks her night is over she can't find Jon and she goes out to the parking lot looking for Jon's vehicle and and
Preston Pierce forces her into his his car and if she's 5 foot one 110 pounds and been drinking all night long guess
what it doesn't take a gun to get her body into that vehicle right digging through this here clearly she's not
walking out with him if she knew these things that we know about him but then there's a but you said a ruse it doesn't
have to be a gun it could be for some reason she trusted him and there are a couple possibilities here one he bought
her a drink and he drugged it and she wasn't thinking she she know what hell was going on well no I think that that
could be a very plausible thing he leaves he knows that she's intoxicated she doesn't have her phone on her like
you said okay so now she's starting to feel woozy well where's John is JN in the bathroom like John says we have an
eyewitness that took her to the bar that says yeah I remember going into the restroom and when it came out she was
gone I couldn't find her and so did she look around for John and she's now uh feeling these effects of the drugs and
then she tries to get to her phone and then something happens in the parking lot or did she decide to go outside for
a cigarette I mean I don't know if she smoked or not but I mean did she go outside CU she wanted fresh air or
wasn't feeling well after a night of drinking or or or she was drugged and she didn't feel good right or or was it
as simple as she was a trusting person or he explained to her hey I I'm I I'm a police officer or a former police
officer and she felt safe accepting a ride home from him right I mean there's any number of scenarios here but clearly
she didn't know what type of person this guy really truly was and look I this this is one of the things that sickens
me about my gender and I know that I'm not the I'm not the representative for our gender but it but God I well maybe
you can say that but I'm certainly a million times better than this [ __ ] that is true so the thing here is like
what what sickens me and what aggravates me when I review these cases and damn it
there's so many of them is look and there's bad women out there too there's there's there's bad children out there
too it there's bad people that come in all walks of life but in all forms inap love but this is why we love dogs over
people I've met a few bad dogs as well let's not let's not get into it too much but what what I'm saying here Captain is
that I just wish and this is nothing new this isn't anything new to the 2020s this has been going on since
Vehicles existed I just wish that that we lived in a world where somebody could offer somebody a ride to
try to do something nice for somebody and that's and they what they meant is to do something nice for somebody not to
trick them into getting into their vehicle not to not to take them somewhere and do hard to them and then
this person vanishes off of the face of the Earth well we need to have serious conversations and sad that we don't have
serious conversations about how we're raising our society not just men but how can we all be better people and and we
see that I mean the amount of people I know that aren't talking with each other over politic disagreements or football
disagreements or or whatever it is and you just go I think we just have to have that conversation what kind of society
do we want to live in and are we helping or hurting the situation and and I think another thing
that's at least a positive uh in the True Crime space is you don't have to be polite to people
you don't have to be polite in the sense of if you feel that you're in danger you
don't have to be polite and and like back to your point it's not victim blaming but how many
women are put into these weird situations where these guys are being creeps and they they still feel a sense
that they need to be polite and and I know there's been other podcasts that been screaming from the rooftops you
don't have to be polite if you feel that you're in danger don't don't absolutely don't be
polite it's the people at the bar it's the employees at the bar we all need to do a better job of looking after each
other I mean especially if they knew this guy had a reputation of being a creep it's like but like you said maybe
this maybe this creep knows that and that's when he left and then he was just hoping for an
opportunity I agree I agree with everything you're saying but but from a a a former bartender
from what I've seen and everything I've reviewed it was extremely busy and crowded at that bar it's very difficult
for bartenders to police and babysit everybody there on top of that that's not what they're hired for but I agree
no it's it's being no and I'm not I'm not blaming them I'm just saying everybody we all can look out after we
can all look after each other a little bit better I think that's fair to say yes no and I 100% agree with that and
and there's there's a bunch of amazing bartenders out there that are doing that I agree with what you're saying about
you know raising our our children the the the the problem though is this really truly when you want to break it
down to its most simplest form unfortunately men have been raping and killing women since the since caveman
times yeah what what sickens me when we review these cas es and it's I what I see time
and time again is that there are men out there that are so evil or so backwards or
perverted or what have you I don't know the correct term or terminology for it there I don't know that there is a label
that exists to explain it bags of [ __ ] because they're all they're all slightly
different but in the end what it is is one person choosing that 15 or 20 minutes of
whatever the hell I want to do is much more important to me than your existence and your life and therefore I will take
it I will take your life and end you to get what I want for 15 or 20 minutes and and that's something that
that makes me sick to my stomach and it and it and and it hurts me it hurts me internally when we cover these
cases I'm sorry but this is just another story of a woman getting victimized after a going to a bar yeah we that's
all it is and we've reviewed a hundred of these at this point we Captain we could go on and on
for days we wish and hope the best for the the Fleming family and for Gretchen FL Fleming and hope
that answers Justice whatever is needed whatever is appropriate in this case is coming sooner than later as we said just
minutes ago there was recent activity in the later part of November on this case action by the parkerburg police
department we should give them kudos for working this case and jumping on it immediately we need to give kudos to the
local people that that helped out this poor family and have assisted the parkerburg police department in attempts
of hoping to find Gretchen Fleming if anyone listening has any information at all the best place to send that
information is to the Parkersburg Police Department you may submit crime tips anonymously the telephone number for the
Parkersburg Police Department is 304 485 8501 that number will be included in our
show [Music] notes want to take you home [Music] want to thank everybody for joining us
here in the garage and remember as a true crime Community it's important for us to share these cases somebody knows
something Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners thank you Captain this week we
are recommending Eden undone a true story of sex murder and Utopia at the dawn of World War II by Abbott caller
Eden undone is an incredible true story of murder romance and a fateful search for Utopia in the galpagos it's a
wickedly Gothic tale with Sublime storytelling check out Eden undone a true story of sex murder and Utopia at
the dawn of World War II by Abbott caller you can find that recommendation and many more on our recommended page at
true Crim garage.com and until next week be good be kind and don't [Music] [Applause]
[Music] from the makers of rice cerroni comes macaroni a creamy delicious boxed mac
and cheese that's not just good it's cheesy good macaroni will please even the pickiest eaters with two magnificent
flavors that will melt your heart creamy cheddar and creamy white cheddar if you
love cheese you'll love macaroni by the makers of reron if you don't love cheese
well that's just unbelievable try macaroni it's cheesy good macaroni the San Francisco treat

Gretchen Fleming /// Part 2 /// 808

Part 2 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

Parkersburg, West Virginia - On the evening of December 3, 2022 twenty seven year old Gretchen Fleming went to a popular downtown bar for a night of fun. She has not been seen since. Parkersburg Police and her family have been desperately seeking answers and help trying to locate Gretchen. Now, after the passage of time they all fear the very worst. Police worked diligently and swiftly with their investigation. Evidence brought them to question the actions, movements, and motivations of one man in particular. Police believe that late that night Gretchen’s path crossed with his and law enforcement wants to know what he knows. Parkersburg Police is seeking help from the general public as well. If you have any information regarding this case, information about Gretchen Fleming, or information about the publicly named person of interest Preston Pierce a.k.a. Darrell Lott the telephone number for the Parkersburg Police Department is 1-304-485-8501.

Beer of the Week - Buckeye Lager Special Harvest Edition by Maumee Bay Brewing Company

Garage Grade - Garage Grade 3 and a half bottle caps out of 5

More True Crime Garage can be found on Patreon and Apple subscriptions with our show - Off The Record. Catch dozens of episodes of Off The Record plus a couple of Bonus episodes and our first 50 when you sign up today.

Follow the show on X and Insta @TrueCrimeGarage / Follow Nic on X @TCGNIC / Follow The Captain on X @TCGCaptain

Thanks for listening and thanks for telling a friend. Be good, be kind, and don’t litter!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Summary

The episode discusses Gretchen Fleming's disappearance and the investigation into Preston Pierce, a person of interest with a troubling past.

Key points

Gretchen's Disappearance Reward. A reward of $65,000 is announced for information on Gretchen's case.
Community Search Efforts. Volunteers gather for a large-scale search for Gretchen, but it yields no results.
Press Conference for Gretchen. Gretchen's family holds a press conference to raise awareness and increase the reward to $100,000.
Disturbing Allegations. A woman claims she was drugged and woke up at Pierce's home.
Creepy Texts. Preston Pierce allegedly sent inappropriate texts to a 15-year-old girl.
Community Outcry. Over 40 women report uncomfortable encounters with Preston Pierce.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I wasn't born a killer, I was made.

Dexter Morgan reflects on his origins.

0:18WatchDec 18, 2024

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.