Kierra Coles /// Part 1 | Forensic Files

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>> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever
you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me I have my partner in crime and
together we would like to welcome you to the husband friendly [music] true crime
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Hide your husbands, too. [music] It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling
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[music] >> months ago, we received the following letter. Hi, Nick and Cap. I've been listening for years. Love the
work you do. I was recently listening and you guys suggested if a first responder had a
local case that we'd like you to look at to email in. Well, here I am. I live in
Chicago, Illinois, and there is a case that is near and dear to my heart that needs your help.
Kiara Kohl's is a USPS worker who has been missing for 5 years. She was 3 months pregnant when she went
missing in October of 2018 at the age of 26 years old. She up and vanished. Her vehicle with her person were found
parked on her block. She was due to work that day but called in sick. When you call in sick for USPS, it is
not as simple as a quick phone call. I know someone who works for USPS and have heard them call in sick before. It's
about a 5-minute long process typing in special codes and employee numbers. Rumor here is we know who is
responsible. She is still missing and I feel like this case resurfacing could help. Thank you, a loyal listener.
So, as promised, we looked into this missing young woman's case, and we certainly did not like what we found.
Sure, Chicago, like many of our country's larger cities, can be a dangerous place. We've all heard the
stories of gang-style shootings, drugs, and murders of sex workers plaguing the city. But Chicago also has millions of
law-abiding upstanding residents, everyday folks who are just working hard to achieve the life they want for
themselves and for their families. One of them was 26-year-old Kiara Kohl's. Kiara had it all going for her. She was
gorgeous. She had a successful job she loved. She had a new apartment and a car. And she was having a baby. But then
suddenly someone took all of that away. Kiara Kohl's vanished from the face of the earth in October of 2018.
Where is Kiara Kohl's? This is True Crime Garage. [music] [music] >> [music] [music]
>> Kiara Michelle Kohl's was a 26-year-old woman whose life was all coming together. Kira was the fourth of five
children born to mom Karen Phillips. Her father was Joseph Kohl's. All of Karen's
kids names begin with the letter K. It was a very close family and Kiara had a lot of people who cared about her. Kiara
was a go-getter and her family says she was very outgoing and driven. Her mom said one word to describe her would be
ambitious. Her dad, Joseph, said her family nickname was Boss Lady Kohl's because she was very bossy and told
everyone in the family what to do. Now, even as a child, Kiara was loud and in charge. Her mom Karen said Kiara was
always a chatterbox, someone who was very outgoing. From an early age, she wanted to be in the media, TV, or radio.
She just enjoyed being out there. Kiara was a super girly person as well and would do professional level makeup jobs
for her friends and family members whether it be for a prom, weddings or so on. She was also known for her
appearance. She was a hair done, nails done, and dressed very nicely kind of person. Her only issue was that she had
asthma, but she had an inhaler and was able to keep her symptoms in check with that. In her 20s, Kiara lived in the
Chicago area. Like the rest of her family, she worked two part-time jobs to pay her bills. She lived on the 8100
block of South Vernon Avenue in the middle class Chattam neighborhood. This is a treeline street with rows of red
brick three-story apartment buildings with small lawns and curated hedges. Kiara also bought a car and drove for
Lyft. But it was her job as a seasonal mail sorter for the US Postal Service that she loved. She did that job on a
part-time basis for three years. She was determined to get the USPS to hire her on full-time as a letter carrier. And
she did. She got the job that she wanted. And it was the job that she loved. She loved putting on the uniform
and using her cart to tote the mail through residential Chicago neighborhoods. She started that position
in 2015 and everything for Kiara was going great. She also had a long-term boyfriend, Josh Simmons. Karen, her
mother, said that Josh treated Kiara well. Josh worked for the postal service as well. As far as Kiar's family knew,
all was good between Josh and Kiara. In October of 2018, Kiara was 26 years old and three months
pregnant. Josh Simmons, her long-term boyfriend, was the father. Kiara was thrilled, and her whole family was
thrilled. Kiara was the last one of Karen's kids to bear a child. And her family was they were over the moon about
the situation. Now, it's unclear if Josh was over the moon as well, but Kiara's family hadn't noticed anything a miss
with the young couple. Now, let's move to Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018. Kiara went to an appointment with her
aunt and a friend. The nature of this appointment has never been released, but it's believed to have been some kind of
prenatal appointment. It's unclear why, but Kiara had taken off Monday the 1st of October and Tuesday the 2nd of
October from her job. Apparently, letter carriers are expected to work long hours
and it's possible that Kiara was tired and not feeling great. We know she's pregnant at the time, but she seemed
like she was in a great mood when her mom talked to her that night. So, this October 2nd appointment, this is, and we
need to all make special mental note of this right here. This is very important to our timeline. This October 2nd
appointment was the last known in-person sighting of Kiara by her family. Kiara talked to her mom every day, and
so Tuesday, October 2nd, was no different. They spoke on the phone around 700 p.m. that night. Kiara was at
a local Wick grocery store and talked to her mom about the healthy foods that she
should be eating during her pregnancy and about the baby things that she wanted to buy. All seemed well. All
seemed normal. Karen later said, quote, "She was already excited about becoming a mother. That's all my child ever
wanted to be a mom and to accomplish all the things she's set out to accomplish.
to have a nice paying job, which she had, to get a new car, which she bought, to move into her own apartment, which
she did, and to become a mother, which she was about to do. The next day, Wednesday, mom calls Kiara again. It's
88° that day, and she wanted to remind her daughter to drink plenty of fluids for the sake of the baby. The call,
however, goes to voicemail. Well, Karen, the mom, very diligent, keeps trying, keeps trying to get a hold of Kiara,
calling several more times, but all getting the same result. This was odd and concerning. She called Kim. This is
Kiara's sister. But Kim hadn't heard from Kiara either, so they went to Snapchat. And I guess Kiara Captain was
a chronic snapper. She had not posted a story that day. So this was very unusual
by all considered. Mom and sister, family members are saying, "Look, this is our loved one who always answers our
calls. Sure, maybe the phone's dead. Maybe she's charging her phone. Maybe she forgot her phone and she's out.
>> But she always answers the phone and she's always Snapchatting. And none of this is happening at this time." Well,
just to be clear, she didn't call off October 2nd and 3rd in advance there. She called off in the morning of
the second and then again on the third. Correct. And the the call off is very important to our timeline as well.
Right. We know that she called off on the first. We know she called off on the second. And then we're going to learn
that she called off on the third as well. Again, we understand she has this appointment. So that makes sense, right?
you can't be at work and at your appointment all at the same time, but she's also pregnant and so maybe she
woke up not feeling great, decided to take the day off. That's one of the benefits of a great job like being a
letter carrier or working for USPS, >> right? >> They it takes a while to get hired on,
but once you get hired on, they have great benefits. And so this is a great job. And again, we don't know the exact
details of why the calloffs took place. But now this is going to lead us to Thursday, October 4th. So now we still
have no response from Kiara. Karen, her mother decided, you know what? I'm going
to go over to her apartment. Enough is enough. She gets there, she's alarmed because
her daughter's car is parked outside, but it's parked down the block, right? So, the apartment was locked and there's
no answer. Karen could hear that the TV was on inside of the apartment. So, now she's she's worried enough to go over
there, Captain. She sees the car in a strange spot, which makes her even more worried. And doors locked, no answer, TV
on inside. She is very worried at this point. So, she calls the boyfriend Josh Simmons and asks him if he could come
over because he has a key to the apartment. He says in this phone call that he does
not have a key to the apartment. And this is going to be very problematic to our story here, Captain, because Karen
says and has said many times very distinctly, recalling that Kiara said that she gave
Josh a key to her apartment. >> Yeah. Well, this is liar, liar, pants on fire. >> She's not lived there. This is not a
situation where she's lived there for 2 years or 3 years or 5 years and and she gave somebody a key and maybe she's
mistaken or he lost the key. She had only been there a few months. So, if she tells mom, I gave my boyfriend a key,
there's no reason to doubt that. So, she's a little suspicious now that uh Josh suddenly doesn't have a key.
>> Well, and remember they've been dating for six years. >> And he tells Karen that he hadn't seen
or talked to Kiara all day. Remember, this is the fourth. >> And he doesn't seem too worried.
>> Correct. So, what we have now is mom is going to jump into action. She calls Chicago PD and says, "I have a pregnant
daughter. I can't get a hold of her. I'm worried that she's like passed out on the floor in her apartment.
Shortly after the call to police, we now have the boyfriend Josh Simmons on scene. He's there with mom.
>> Yeah. Law enforcement's going to do a welfare check. >> We have Karen's husband who is there as
well. His name is Dan Perkins. So, both of them have arrived on the scene shortly before the cops show up. Now,
after the cops show up and getting no answer to pounding on the door and announcing a police presence, they took
the hinges off of the door and entered the apartment. Karen says that she was so terrified that there would be
something in the apartment that she didn't want to see, so she stayed outside taking deep breaths, trying to
remain calm. Josh and Kiier's stepdad, Dan. They went along with the officers into the
apartment. Then they come back outside a short time later announcing that the coast was clear. There's they found
nothing inside. >> Right. >> The TV was on. The place was neat and tidy as usual. The groceries, remember,
she was on the phone with mom when she was at the store. So, the groceries that Kiier had bought the evening before were
all put away where they belonged. As far as mom, stepdad, and boyfriend were all concerned. They're telling
police, "Look, yeah, there's no one here. That's strange." But also, there's nothing out of order. And there's no
sign of a struggle. Everything is as we would expect it to be, minus that we don't have Kiara here.
>> Yeah. No sign of a struggle. No sign of robbery. Kiara's car is there, but it's
not in her normal parking spot, but that happens sometimes in these apartment complexes where you get back home and
somebody has a couple people over, so you have to park down the street a little bit. But what they do find in her
house is her keys and her wallet. So where is she at? Did Did she take off on foot somewhere?
>> Yeah. So, let's stay on this vehicle situation for a minute here. So, as we said, Karen finds her daughter's car
there, and this is alarming to her because usually Kiara would park the vehicle directly in front of the
apartment on the street. They find the vehicle parked on the street, but it's down the block. And mom is saying,
"Look, this is not somewhere that Kiara would have parked, especially knowing that she spoke to her on the phone at
the grocery store and she would be hauling in groceries from the vehicle and we found those groceries put away
inside the apartment." So, I'm guessing here, Captain, that that mom and stepdad
are probably thinking, well, she she must have moved her vehicle or went some another place at
some point for the vehicle to be parked >> on the street >> at this location. So, mom calls a
locksmith because they want to get into the locked vehicle. And once they were able to access this vehicle, she found
Kiara's lunch bag all packed for her her day at work. The contents I have listed
here are an apple and orange water, her prenatal vitamins. In the trunk of the vehicle, they found Kiara's mail cart
that she used daily at work, and her work coat. But also inside the car were Kiara's purse and her cell phone, which
was sitting on a seat underneath of a jacket, one of Kiara's jackets. So, they're wondering where the hell is
Kiara. Karen starts calling Kiara's friends. No luck. She called all the local hospitals. Her daughter's not there
either. Cara had never been to jail, so that didn't seem likely. We're reaching out to everybody. We cannot find this
individual. >> But what we do have is the cell phone. But what I couldn't find anywhere was it
was there any suspicious activity on the cell phone. >> The family was not able to access
the cell phone due to password protection. Mom files an official missing person's report with the Chicago
Police Department on that very day, October 4th. CPD and the US Postal Inspection Service begin a joint
investigation into Kiara's disappearance. Her father, Joseph Kohl's, her biological father, he comes
into town from Racine, Wisconsin, where he lived, and he's now actively helping in on the search for his daughter.
>> Right. Joseph in his search, he goes doortodoor in the neighborhood asking people questions, handing out flyers. He
even was stopping passing cars to talk to the drivers, the passengers, and to hand them a missing person's flyer.
Karen began plastering flyers about Kiier all around the city, praying that Kiara had just been maybe having some
kind of mood swing from pregnancy hormones and would turn up. That didn't seem likely, but you can you really get
the feeling here, Captain, that they are just grasping onto any inch of hope that, you know, this is all just a
misunderstanding and she's going to turn up sooner rather than later. And it seems at this point between the
interactions between the family and the boyfriend Josh seem to be where Josh is trying to help, but it's also seems like
he's not uh like his stories aren't straight. Correct. That's that's exactly right.
And the the thing here though that's going to make it difficult for the family to keep grasping to any ounce of
hope is that they're seeing one thing, right? When they review her vehicle and the items
found in her vehicle, they're seeing one thing when they look at her apartment. Everything is as it should be. But then
they learn when talking to her place of work that she called in sick on that Wednesday,
October 3rd. USPS would not go into any details citing privacy interest, >> right?
>> But stated that Kiara had not vanished while on duty. So they wanted to be they
wanted to be clear like she called in sick. She didn't show up for work and then she went missing from here.
Whatever happened to Kiara happened before she ever got to work that day. And again, it's weird.
>> Yeah. Or happened the night before. >> Yeah. Because here the situation appears
that she packed a lunch, packed up her vehicle to go to work like any other day, but then called in sick. Now, it's
not out of the realm of possibility that maybe she packed up her lunch, took her purse and
her cell phone, puts it in the vehicle, and then suddenly gets ill and decides to go back into her apartment. That's
even though it doesn't make a whole lot of sense what they're seeing, that's not
out of the realm of possibility here. But again, if she's if she's sick and at home, she should be sick and at home and
we're not finding her at all. And like you said that we're trying to figure out this cell phone. Can this cell phone
tell us any information about her whereabouts or who she spoke to or her movements after we talked to her at the
grocery store? and they're not able to get into the cell phone because of the password
protection. >> And did she call off work through her cell phone? Because the thing that the
postal service can't tell us, can't confirm is what we what they can say is yes, somebody called off, but they can't
confirm that it was her. >> You see, it gets very difficult because they're going to say, the postal service
is going to say, "We believe it was her and here's why." Right? And it goes back
to the method and and the the protocol for calling off in that situation. And it sounds to me from everything I've
been told is that you got to punch in like employee numbers and codes and all kinds of things like it's a it's a
lengthy process. And so USPS is saying, "Look, somebody provided us all the information that would tell us that this
is Kiara that actually calling in and phoning off from work, >> right? >> But but as you said, if if somebody
knows that information and knows that protocol and you is used to that, >> then one could perform that task and it
doesn't have to be Kiara." >> No. And the person that is being a little suspicious is her boyfriend of 6
years, her baby daddy, right? And he would know those protocols and he would probably know the
information on how to have her call off with her not actually being [music] present.
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at indeed.com/mpodcast. All right, we are back. Onwards and upwards. Cheers to you, Colonel. Cheers
to you, Captain. Often we say tall cans in the air, and this week, very fittingly so, because the 14 karat comes
in the pint can. So, it is tall cans in the air. And oh, little special announcement here, too. We did put some
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TCGNic, do so so you can be part of the cool kids. Now, let's get back to this case.
One thing that is very different about the more recent cases that we cover compared to the older and colder cases
is the technology. And one thing that we're seeing time and time again with these more recent cases, the way that
we're solving these crimes and solving these mysteries is with things like cell phones and surveillance cameras. You
know, in the old days, >> every business had a surveillance camera that they never replace the tape for or
actually didn't work or the time stamp was completely wrong. But today, many people have the doorbell cameras,
whether it be from the great folks over at Simply Safe or any number of outfits.
But these surveillance cameras in these neighborhoods coming from residential places are really helping police. And
now we we know how important the timeline is. Police are going to go around this neighborhood. They're
looking for surveillance video footage to help them fill in the timeline of their missing person. So, they collect
all of this video footage and they start reviewing it. But then a reporter brought them some footage that she had
uncovered. >> Right. >> This was from a couple living two buildings down from Kiara who reviewed
their camera footage and found footage of the missing young woman. They rushed out and they brought the footage to the
attention of an NBC Chicago reporter, one who had went doortodoor trying to drum up leads in the case. [snorts] The
video was timestamped Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018 at 11:54 a.m. So, this is daytime. And on this video, they believe
that it showed Kiara. She's dressed in USPS uniform, carrying a backpack and walking down the block. But the thing
is, she walked past her own car and kept going, walking away from her apartment.
She walked down the block and then changed direction. Karen's husband, Dan Perkins, told WGN9
Chicago that quote, "She seen something that made her turn around that fast and cross
the street and her car was on the other side of the street." End quote. She then
walked out of the frame, so they could not see where she went from there. The last image of her was captured at 82nd
Street and Kohl's Avenue. So Kiara, our missing person, who had not answered her mom's calls all morning
on October 3rd, from what the video is showing them, she's dressed and she's heading to work that morning. And she
had put all of her stuff in her car. We know that from reviewing her vehicle, but also she called in sick and then
vanished. So none of this is really making any sense to everyone who's looking for Kiara.
>> But there's some problems initially. I mean, you'd think that we'd see this video footage and go, "Oh, well, there
she is, but not everybody's convinced that that is Kiara, >> right? We have Mom, who Mom knows best,
watched the footage over and over and over again once it was released to the public. And she's watching it over and
over again. One, looking for clues, anything to help her find her daughter. But then she's also watching it
repeatedly thinking something's off about what she's seeing. >> And this makes me go back to the idea of
we can't confirm that she's the one that called off on the third. Now we have this image of her in uniform walking to
her car like she's going to go to work, but we can't even confirm that that's her. Well, what happens is she goes to
police and she says, "Look, she's talking to the detectives and says, "I've been watching this video
footage and the video footage that you have of a young black woman in a USPS uniform
walking down Kiara's block the day after she was last heard from." I'm mom and I'm here to tell you that's
not my daughter Kiara in that video. and she says, quote, "It's a mother thing. You just know your child. That's not her
walk. She was a little bit smaller and a little bit shorter than the person that
she was seeing in the video." So, police, they get this information and you think that they would be floored,
but actually they're not surprised at all. In fact, they tell Karen that they knew that the video was not
that of Kiara. They This was prior knowledge to them. They said that look, it's another female postal worker who
happens to live on the same block and we've identified who the person is in the video, we've just not updated the
public, >> right? >> And they're saying the the person in the video that's seen, while it does look a
lot like Kiara given the uniform and all, the the actual person abruptly turned around because she had forgotten
something from her residence. She went back to get it and then she walked to the bus stop. And so that's why she's
walking past Kiara's car. It's not her car. It's not Kiara. The cops tell Karen though, even though we know this
information, don't say anything. Keep this to yourself. >> Well, be because this video footage is
probably drawing up some leads. >> It's drawing up leads and it's also leading people to police.
>> Right. >> Right. Because people were viewing this video. They're sharing this video.
They're watching it. They're they're looking for clues, too. Some of these people are reaching out to police. And
so, when you have this tool, this is a very important tool for law enforcement because you are looking at Kiara's
circle, her family and her friends. Why is she missing? And now you don't always know everybody
that she knew. you may not know everybody that she talked to or had interactions with during the time in
question, which it seems like is about a two and a half, three day period. And so you have now have this tool that
you've put out to the people that is snaring individuals coming into you and saying, "Oh, I knew this young woman,
>> right? I here's how I know her." So, but also when you first hear that they release this video
footage and then you find out that the mother isn't convinced it's her daughter. Uh what what was the first
thing that popped into your head? Cuz cuz mine was not mistaken identity and actually a postal worker. My thought
was is it possible this is some kind of decoy? >> Yeah. No, the I I was thinking the exact
same thing because it goes back to the question of who actually called in sick on the third.
>> Exactly. >> And if if you can make that leap already that maybe that wasn't Kiara, then you
start going, okay, well then maybe it's not her in the video and somebody somebody manipulated the system calling
in calling off sick for her to make it look like everything is as it should be. And oh, by the way, here's somebody
dressed up like Kiara walking down the side of the street. Now, if you really want to try to throw police off and
really want to stage a scene, the best thing to do would have been to get in that vehicle and drive it away and park
it in some random neighborhood somewhere. >> Exactly. But and uh the other thing here
too though with this case that I think is so frustrating frustrating for the family and for the parents and is you
have this boyfriend of 6 years. His girlfriend is 3 months pregnant. She's super excited
and this guy's stories just don't [clears throat] make a lot of sense. I mean even just hey come over. You have a
key. Let's check the apartment. No, I'm sorry. All right, I don't have a key. What? I know you have a key.
>> Well, and it gets difficult too because you have extenduating circumstances, right? You have situation where where
women in general are more likely to be prey than than a a male victim would be. And then on top of
that, you we we've reviewed a case, at least one case, if not a couple here in the garage where a pregnant woman is
taken because she's pregnant. >> Right now, our person of interest or the person that we're talking about here
today is pretty early in the pregnancy, so that doesn't seem incredibly likely. But you're trying to factor all this in
and you go back to the video real quick. My belief is that police probably released this to the public.
Again, it was given to a reporter, so maybe the reporter released it to the public. I don't know exactly who was in
charge of releasing it. We know that they the police were in charge of telling Karen to be hush- hush about it
not being your daughter in the video, right? But my belief is that when it was released to the public and whoever
released it to the public at that time believed that it was Kiara and then later police were able to confirm no
it's not Kiara and it's also not somebody posing attempting to make anybody believe that it is Kier. It's
just a happen stance that another woman works for the post office and lives on her same street and was captured on
video that same day. Yeah, I was reading something and and tell me if this is if
this is true. I mean, it it sounds unbelievable, but I I believe it's true. The number one cause
of death towards a pregnant woman is homicide. I think that that depends on where you
are getting your information because I've seen that reported as well, but I've also seen homicide as the third.
>> Yeah. But even if it's in the top 10, we we live in a pretty messed up society.
>> Well, I mean, look at it. If if we lived in a perfect society, we would have no
show. So, >> well, I'd rather live in a perfect society and not have a show. >> No, I'm not saying that we that that
thank you world for being cruel to other people. I'm not saying that one bit. But
if we want to go down that road, that's that's the truth of the matter, >> right? So
this situation, we're going to go we're going to leap forward in time and then we're going to go back in time as well
here. So bear with me for a second here, Captain. So remember Karen is told to be
hush- hush about this information. She holds on to this information, keeping it to herself for two years. Two full
years. After that, she said, "Look, I'm done keeping this to myself. It hadn't done any good to keep it quiet. The case
is cold by this point." So, she tells everybody, >> "Look, that's not my daughter in the
video. Police told me to be quiet about it." And she's she's not blaming police.
It was a strategy that they attempted to use to hopefully find her daughter. >> Do you know who I love in this case?
>> Who? >> Karen. That's who I love. >> Of course. >> Every interview. I like the fact that
when she is telling you and she's telling the media, I'm not going to give up. There's no doubt that she's not going to
give give up and I I'm glad that this case is getting a little more attention. So, keep in mind Karen is
saying that I last spoke to my daughter. She's at the grocery store. This is at 700 p.m. approximately on Tuesday,
October 2nd. And so now with this information going public, Karen is telling the public, I really believe
that something happened to my daughter between the hours of 7:00 p.m. when I last spoke to her on Tuesday, October
2nd, and 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, October 3rd. This is when Karen is calling her daughter and it's going to
voicemail. So the first time that she is aware that something could be wrong. So, we're
dealing with about a 13-hour window here that Karen is saying, "This is the time
that I'm concerned with. This is when whatever went wrong went wrong." >> But also, isn't law enforcement also
stating that they believe she went missing on the second? >> Well, so that's part of the problem with
this case. So, what's crazy, look, it's it's incredibly crazy that the video footage is not Kiara.
>> Yeah. Yeah, the the video that was out there for 2 years and then then we the
public find out that's not Ki. >> And I I don't agree with that call. I agree with hey, we put out the video,
we started getting some calls, we got some leads. Don't wait 2 years. >> See, the problem with that becomes this.
Like, first off, that's the only video footage that was public until 2022, >> right? we're going to get more video
footage that's going to be more important to this case than that of the video not featuring our victim that was
out there for 2 years. So that that video that's out there for two years, it's deceptive.
But the strategy is it's resulting in tips and leads for detectives, which is great. But here's the problem with that.
You got to figure that a that a high percentage if not all of the tips and leads that it's providing to you are
just doomed to lead to nowhere because it's not you know what I mean? Help me to help you. I'm giving you
false information. >> Yeah. >> And and saying that this this is this is going to lead to good leads. No, it
might lead to leads. Like I said, the the the powerful thing, the important thing for police, it's going to lead you
to people that you may have not considered or were unaware of to talk to. So, that's a positive. The negative
is my belief that most of the leads you're going to get will result in a dead end because they're not they're not
going to go anywhere, >> right? Because you're also saying, "Hey, have you seen this person?" Well, if
somebody saw that person, they didn't see the right person that you're looking for. Well, and the thing too that you
have to wonder about if the person responsible for making our victim disappear is also the same person that called in
sick for her. Right? We have listeners telling us that only someone who works for USPS could call in
sick. That's not something that that I could do. I couldn't call in. Let's give a shout out to our friend Williams who's
probably delivering mail or running from a a nasty dog in a neighborhood right now listening to this show.
>> Well, let's just make this clear. >> Hello, Williams. >> Shout out to Williams. So,
>> it's your buddies. It's your buddies, Captain Colonel. Hello. >> He's We We've learned that that I could
not call in sick for Williams and pull it off, right? Because you have to have codes and all kinds of stuff. And like
we said, it's not a short process. It takes several minutes. I've had more than one person tell me that it takes
about four or five minutes and you got to jump through some hoops to to get that day off. So that's really
interesting because that tells me that if you have a suspect pool that likely your person
you can limit that pool of suspects to somebody that would have knowledge of that system. meaning either they're a
postal worker themselves or they had witnessed a postal worker do this multiple times to the point where they
were comfortable and able to pull it off. Well, like we, you know, like I said earlier, Josh, old old red flag
Josh, that's why I'm going to start calling him old red flag Josh works for the postal service. He would know the
ins and outs. He'd probably also know her employee number or it might be on a badge or something that she has to wear.
Yeah. And again, we have this situation where the family and police are the only
ones that know for about 2 years that Kiara was not in that video and that they're that opens up their timeline
considerably. So, all things on that front are looking bad. What we do know is that she left
everything behind. Her car, her purse, her inhaler, which most people that have asthma, they are they usually don't
forget their inhaler. If if they're without their inhaler, it's it's simply because it slipped their mind. The
captain and I have different information here that is, you know, we we go to different sources and there's a lot of
different source material on this case. One bit of information that I have that varies from the captain's is my
information says her car keys were missing. And so if that is in fact true, then really the only things missing in
action at this point for the police's investigation is Kiara, who's with child and possibly her keys as well.
Everything else is where it should be. Uh the car just parked a little bit further away from the apartment than one
would expect. >> Yeah. But I'd also say her purse. Most people would not park their car on
the street and leave their purse in the car. Most people would wouldn't leave their cell phone in their car.
>> Exactly. Exactly. But it's also, you know, >> but but it's there. >> It's the situ It is the situation. Now,
this is not our first time talking about the Chicago Police Department, and it won't be our first time talking about
their unwillingness to release information about active cases. We saw the same thing in the case that we
covered in our episodes about missing children. This is missing kids Tonda and Diamond Bradley. Now, here in Kiara's
case, the police have never disclosed much about their investigation. We do know that Kiar's case was very quickly
treated as an endangered missing person's case. So, police acknowledging quickly that something bad had happened
to Kiara, >> right? >> But it's unclear what evidence they have of this, if any at all. They did
interview her family, friends, and co-workers. They looked at all of her social media as well. Her sister,
Kimberly, remarked that it was extremely odd and unsettling to see Kiara's Snapchat dormant.
Normally she snapped and posted on Instagram daily. >> Yeah. But al also if you're law
enforcement, you know that women that are pregnant have a higher percentage chance to be met with foul
play. So I think you can go, well, she left her car here, left her purse here. It
doesn't look like she ran away. So, I think it's um makes sense why they would come to that conclusion that it's more
likely she was met with foul play. >> Well, and we do know that they retrieved her phone and they went through her
phone. They went through the computer analyzing them. They used chemicals to search for forensic evidence in her
apartment and basically dismantled her car looking for evidence. What they found is unknown. As said, they've not
released much in this case. They also reviewed thousands of hours of video surveillance footage and didn't reveal
what they found in that regard until 2022. Now, in the meantime, rumors were flying
about this case. The public thought maybe Kiara had been abducted while on her postal route,
>> right? >> There were even rumors that her her stepfather, Dan Perkins, was somehow
involved. I don't understand why. It's a little unclear to me why that was even a
rumor. Karen denied had to publicly deny that her husband wasn't involved in any
way. >> Well, I see. I wondered because he was going door to door and he was stopping
people and maybe that ruffled some people's feathers. >> That was her biological father.
>> Oh, well, that makes sense. I'm what they call sometimes stupid. >> So, what we do know is that
mom, who we all love here, she's she's the angel. She's the the fighting angel for her daughter.
She's worked this last 5 years to keep this case alive. >> And just so I'm clear, you're I mean,
you're not throwing Chicago police under the bus. I mean, yes, it's this case has
been going on for 5 years, but it's not like it's we're in year 10 or year 15 and they're still not releasing more
information to try to drum drum up leads. I >> I'm not happy with their handling of
this case. Um, and and I won't really dance around that and we can get into more of that in part two.
>> I just think it's difficult for law enforcement if you're in that position of what do you release to the public and
what do you hold back because you you're eventually going to have to build a case
against somebody. >> Well, here's one thing that we do know and talking about building cases. So,
let's talk a little bit about suspects, right, Captain? So, of course, police interviewed Josh Simmons, Kiara's
boyfriend. old red flag. >> And some interesting things came out about Josh. He and Kiara had been
together for six years at this point and now they are having a baby together. Everybody knew that.
>> Kiara seemed very happy with Josh. Everybody knew that. And Josh was happy too. Or at least they thought because
later everyone will find out that he had a whole other long-term relationship with another woman that he was involved
with. I I get conflicting reports here. Some reports say that they were married.
Some reports say that they are boyfriend and girlfriend for a long term. But what
we do know that's not conflicting is that they did have kids together. So they're living a life together.
And so what police learn is that Kiara, our missing person, was his girlfriend on the side. Yeah. It's very
tough here because you hear that they dated for six years and then you go, "Oh, Josh is a cheater
cheater pumpkin eater." But was he cheating on uh Kiara or was he cheating >> with Kiara?
>> The the cheating part is weird because and normally it's pretty pretty obvious
what's going on here. Not so much. So, the other woman's name, get this, is Kiara.
So, >> Kiara and Kiara. >> Yeah. Now, to be clear, what we learn is this. Kiara,
long-term girlfriend, six years. Kiara, who he may have even been married to or is married to,
>> right? >> They know about each other. So, they both know that Josh is in a long-term
relationship with the other. So, I mean, we could you could call it cheating for a lack of a better term,
but >> it's not really cheating if everybody knows what's going on. >> Everybody knows what's going on. So, now
we what we don't know is whether this was something that one or both were just simply putting up with or if one or both
were totally cool with it. We could also have a situation with with one being cool with it and the other not. We don't
know. But this guy is a complete [ __ ] He this guy is a complete you're right when you meet when you're with Kiara or
Kiara whichever one you're with first once you meet the other girl and you go oh I fancy you too. What's your name? Oh
those names are too similar. I'm sorry. I'm going to hard pass on this one. Can you imagine trying to get that right? Oh
wait, which one did I wake up next to? Kiara or Kiara? Well, and we also see reports that Kiara,
the the other girl that we just introduced, also worked at USPS. [laughter] So, this is a really unique situation.
All three of these persons working for the United States Postal Service and all in this weird
>> messy triangle, >> difficult to understand Postal Service love triangle. He was [laughter]
he was he was known at work as Josh red flag dirty dick. Police of course they're
very interested in talking to Josh once they learn this new information. Now they want to talk to him again and again
and again. They've never named him as a suspect. All the investigators have said
about Josh is that when they have interviewed him in the past, he's given quote varying accounts end quote of the
last time he saw Kiara. Chicago PD detectives said quote he gave us some conflicting accounts, wasn't
consistent on some of the statements, and then didn't want to talk to us. So after his initial interview, Josh at
some point lawyers up and reportedly has never talked to police since he gained counsel. Karen turned against Josh
pretty quickly, rightfully so, after he told her right away. She says >> when he said he didn't have a key to the
apartment, >> she was suspicious of him right then and there. >> This lady is brilliant. But also, am I
is this information correct? Not only has he not really been cooperative, not only has his stories kind of varied, not
made sense, but he has moved out of state. Well, and so this this is the other problem too with with Josh and adds to
the level of concern here coming from Karen. Let's pretend for a minute that he doesn't have a key and he's telling the
truth. Okay, let's pretend that that's real. I don't believe it. I believe he had a key and now he conveniently
doesn't have one. But let's pretend that that's that he's telling the truth there. What we also know, another
statement coming from Karen here is that when she had her last conversation on the phone with her daughter Kiara, Kiara
not only said she's at the grocery store and this that and the other thing, but she also says that night on October 2nd
that Josh was coming over that night. And and if I was Karen when he got there to check the apartment and he says,
"Yeah, I don't have a key." Well, I'm pretty for sure that you have a key. No, I don't have a key. I would have said,
"Can we check your pockets?" >> Well, but the other problem, too. So, let's let's continue on this road for a
moment. He says when he meets up with Karen and others, he says, "I didn't see her
the night of the second." Which is weird because daughter tells mom he's coming over.
>> Liar. Liar. Pants on fire. >> He also says, "Look, I didn't see her. I've not seen her at all, but I've been
talking to her, >> which seems to be highly unlikely, probably untrue as well, because
remember Kiara's cell phone was found in her car. So, when did it get to her car? And once it
was there, he clearly wasn't talking to her after that time period. >> Well, again, how are you communicating
with her? And why is she communicating with you and not her mother? Doesn't make any sense. Mom also says that Josh
did not help to disseminate flyers about the missing young woman. He didn't participate in searches
for her as well. >> Well, you don't have to search for somebody that you know is dead.
>> And Karen says, quote, "I can't understand. You dated my daughter for 6 years. I took you to be a decent guy.
You work and go to church and now my daughter is pregnant and missing and you do nothing." End quote. friends of
Kiaras like her friend Kiara Johnson. This is another this is a whole different person. I don't know why
everybody has practically the same name in this case, but this is a third person
now. A friend of Kiaras post on social media begging everyone to help out in a search for Kiara. So, as you heard,
we're we're talking about Kiara's father, Joseph, biological father, Joseph, pulling out all the stops
looking for his daughter. This man lives in another state, lives in Wisconsin, travels to Chicago, and stays there
permanently looking for his daughter, knocking on doors, stopping cars, passing out flyers. And yet, postal
employee, boyfriend, and baby daddy Josh Simmons did none of the above. >> [music]
>> If you are a member of law enforcement or a first responder and you have a case
from your jurisdiction that you would like for us to take a look at here in the garage, please go to our website
trueimeg.com and find our contact information. And until tomorrow, be good, be kind, and don't litter.
>> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Hey there, it's [music] Katie Nolan,
host of Casuals, the sports podcast where we don't care how much you know about sports, we're just happy that
you're here. Every week, I hang out with [music] some of my good friends to discuss the biggest stories across
sports and entertainment, but in a way that's like fun [music] and not boring. Want to know Subird's favorite Diana
Terrasi story or how heavy the Larry O'Brien trophy is? Or even what baseball team is right for you based on your moon
sign? We got you. Listen to Casuals [music] every Tuesday and Thursday on the SiriusXM app or wherever you get
your podcasts. Bye.

Kierra Coles /// Part 1

Episode: 715

Part 1 of 2

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

Kierra Coles is a United States Postal Service employee who went missing in October of 2018. This year marks five years since her disappearance and unfortunately her case is getting cold. Where is she? Did Kierra really call off from the job she loved on the same day that she seems to have vanished? Some say something happened to the young woman in the middle of the night and then someone else with working knowledge of Postal Service Employee business called off for her to cover their tracks and buy some time. Join Nic & the Captain for this almost “unbelievable” Missing Endangered - Foul Play case out of Chicago, Illinois. There is a reward for information in Kierra’s case, $68,000 last time it was reported. If you have any information regarding Kierra Coles and persons that knew her please call the United States Postal Inspection Service 877-876-2455. For more information go to Missingpersoncenter.org (http://missingpersoncenter.org/) and search Kierra Coles.

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Brief Summary

Kiara Kohl, a pregnant USPS worker, vanished in 2018; her boyfriend's conflicting accounts raise suspicions in her disappearance case.

Key points

The Disappearance of Kiara Kohl's. Kiara Kohl's, a 26-year-old pregnant USPS worker, vanished without a trace in October 2018.
A Mother's Concern. Kiara's mother grows increasingly worried as she fails to reach her daughter.
The Search Begins. Kiara's family takes action, distributing flyers and contacting authorities after her disappearance.
The Video Footage Mystery. Police confirm the video isn't Kiara, but it raises more questions.
A Mother's Instinct. Karen, Kiara's mother, believes the woman in the video isn't her daughter.
The Missing Kiara Case. Kiara's disappearance raises questions about her boyfriend Josh's involvement.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Where is Kiara Kohl's?

6:15WatchDec 2, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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