Lisa Stebic /// Part 1 /// 271 | Forensic Files

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C store or ashley.com for [Music] details [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever
you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that would
rather die of exhaustion than starvation he is the captain and I'm just like post
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telling a [Music] friend this week we are drinking sleepy bear by Workforce brewing in planfield
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[Music] [Music] crime us tonight in the mystery surrounding the missing mom Michelle
fiori with WBBM news radio 780 what happened well uh the latest information I have for you Nancy is that I did speak
with planfield police this afternoon and they tell me that tips are now coming into their department and that is
significant because over the weekend when I first met with the deputy police chief he told me they had nothing at
that point they were desperate for leads and now they are finally coming into the
station iding says any lead uh even say one that may seem insignificant to people can be just the tip that they're
looking for and that can help bring Lisa's stach home to her family Jane what were the circumstances of her
disappearance well it was April 30th was the last time that she was seen and she
works at a school cafeteria so she reported for work that day they saw her her husband is the last one that says he
saw her late in the afternoon on April 30s he said that she normally would leave in the evening to go do exercise
she'd come back 10:30 or 11: she was never seen again her children though and there are two children have the same
story that the father had that the last time they saw their mother was late in that afternoon so to you Michelle fiori
with 780 WBBM news radio both children who are allegedly out buying some candy the father says he was working in the
yard when she went jogging or to work out they back up the dad's claim he saw at 6
p.m. we have not spoken with the children at this point I'm sorry I couldn't hear you repeat uh we have not
spoken with the children at this point what do uh what can you tell me about the husband refus using a polygraph
Michelle fiori you know what Craig Steck uh declined to take a polygraph test that
was offered to him by the planfield police department uh it was on the advice of his attorney who is also his
divorce attorney in the proceedings that he filed against Lisa Steck in uh this past January police tell us that besides
Craig other family members and acquaintances of Lisa have also been offered a polygraph test they would not
tell me exactly how many uh have taken it or or if any have taken it at this point joining us tonight is a very
special guest it is Melanie Greenberg this is the missing mom Lisa steck's cousin Melanie thank you for being with
us thank you Nancy for this opportunity to get Lisa's picture out there to a national audience we're hoping someone
will see her and have some new tip or lead to give to the plane field police they need something new to go on even if
it seems like an inconsequential fact please call the Ping field police and bring Lisa home safely to her children
and her family tonight with us Melanie Greenberg this is Lisa's cousin I I wish you peace I wish that you find her
alive I I can't even imagine going through what you're not not knowing if she's dead or alive or
possibly alive somewhere uh needing medical attention or needing help tell me the last time you saw her well uh as
cousins and a large family our last big family gathering was um in December at a
Holiday Gathering um her sisters are extremely close to Lisa and they last spoke with her on the Thursday before
the Monday that she was missing they had a lengthy conversation Lisa was in very
good spirits um and you know it just it's a total mystery to us Nancy we just can't understand because there's no way
that she would leave her children [Music] planfield Illinois is a comfortable town
close enough to commute to Chicago for work but far enough away to have a small town field with the population growing
rapidly in the last 25 years open spaces and Farms mingle with newer subdivisions
the old sections stand in contrast to the new developments but the neighbors are friendly regardless if you live in
one of the new golf course communities or in one of the older sections this is a community where you can live safely
and raise your family and the comfort that planfield encourages now the newer houses are not just from the economic
boom that has allowed families to leave the familiar suburbs and Venture further
out down I55 to planfield but some are replacement houses for the ones destroyed by the August 28th 1990
tornado This Tornado killed 29 people and injured 350 people more than 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed the
tornado made it across more than 16 mil in only 8 minutes this tornado destroyed
the only planfield high school at the time that is now called planfield Central High School Lisa Michelle
Rutenberg was born on May 19th 1969 in Parkridge Illinois she went on to attend Libertyville High School where she
competed on the swim team and was involved in dancing Lisa graduated in 1987 then attended Southern Illinois
University before going to Kendall College Lisa earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management and she worked
in hotels in Lincolnshire and Northbrook Lisa met Craig Steck at a party they dated and later got married on April 6th
1993 this was in Jamaica as the two eloped 2 years later the couple celebrated the birth of their daughter
Alexis and their son Zachary followed about a year later the couple lived in Wan but Craig steach he was a pipe
fitter so he traveled to the planfield area a lot for work so they eventually moved there Lisa steach was 37 almost 38
years old when she went missing on April 30th 2007 Lisa was married for 14 years
to Craig steach and their two kids were 10 and 12 years old when she suddenly vanished but before we get to the day in
question April 30th let's look a little deeper into what was going on in Lisa's life leading up to her having gone
missing in March of 2006 so just a little more than a year before the day in question Lisa started working as a
custodian for the planfield school district she was already working in the cafeteria at Lincoln element M so the
Fillin custodian position required her to work nights after her children were in bed in addition to her daytime lunch
duties about a year later she stopped the custodial work at the time of her disappearance she was only working at
the Lincoln Elementary School cafeteria sloppy Joe sloppy joe meatloaf sandwich she was employed by sedexo Food Service
she prepared lunches for the school students and earned less than $10,000 a year
now as a part of her routine she would work out about 3 to four nights a week starting around 6 until the gym closed
which was at 8:30 p.m. she used the gym at the local high school she was easily Remembered at the gym for her energy and
how happy she was when she was there before she vanished she recently lost about 30 or so pounds good for Lisa
posted a profile on aerobic friends.com she was seeking female friends to work out with on the
website's profile she said she wanted to include her children in her exercise routine she also posted to health.
exercis friends.com asking how she could find running or walking Partners in the area
again she was hoping to find quote female friends only end quote to join her in exercise right but I'm just going
to put this out there she might only be looking for female friends but I'm sure that anybody could browse
the different people looking for friends oh yeah you know what I mean so there could be some gym creeps out there you
know scouring the internet for for women looking for workout Partners nothing like a good oldfashioned gim creep no no
they give you the creep eye but it's also the stink eye well Lisa listed her workout goals to include increased
cardio tone up and simply get out more meet new people and just have fun she stated I am a parent and I would like to
include my children in my health activities she wrote in one of her postings she was looking for partners to
get out and enjoy nature well first of all Lisa is a saint because any lunch lady is a saint because I I would not
have made it this far in my life cuz I wouldn't have ate most of the time if it wasn't for the kind Lunch Ladies second
she's trying to improve her life not only physically but also hey you know I've been married for a while I have
some kids I want to I want to meet some new positive people mhm and so this seems like she's on the right path of of
doing so and she's a hard worker she's working two jobs at one point well and this is always a good thing too because
you know some people and I've been there I've been on both sides of this some people work out because they feel like
they have to you know to to maintain a healthy lifestyle right and then you have others that are able to make it a
hobby where they actually enjoy doing it and spending time working out and being
healthy and that's what it seems like to me that this was her way of getting out
of the house and doing something for herself she probably needed a little bit of alone time yeah the only thing I
disagree with her on is the cardio thing because cardio is the devil well the the
steck's marriage was falling apart okay in fact in January of 2007 they filed for a divorce FYI most Publications
report this was filed in Jan January however I did find a couple that stated December of 2006 regardless we're
talking about a small window uh you know difference of time there yeah but again
we have this individual that is trying to improve herself and maybe it's I'm going to get a divorce and I want to
look good and try to find somebody but at this current time it doesn't look like she's looking for you know the next
man no she's obviously concerned and involved with her children's lives that seems to be the focus there at the time
now during the process of this divorce Lisa and Craig lived together with their children in the family's house Lisa
would sleep on the couch while Craig used the master bedroom Lisa told friends that she slept with her phone
and her purse next to her because she was afraid that Craig would take them you know take the phone Andor purse and
possibly destroy them right during the divorce Lisa befriended A co-worker named Ruby and would often spend her
evenings at the gym with Ruby and then often afterwards going to Ruby's house for a glass of wine and some chitchat
often Lisa would bring her children with her when she would visit Ruby's home Lisa went out on a couple of dates with
a recently divorced man a short time before her disappearance I do not know this individual's name could not find
his name but what I could find was that he was 45 years old or so this would be about 7 to 8 years older than leis at
the time well yeah but most women like a older man or or an older Captain what I
gather from this information what little information we have on this dating situation yeah I don't feel like I don't
gather that this was a serious thing right I think we have somebody that's going through a divorce and someone
recently divorced likely they were probably hooked up let's say or you know somebody playing Matchmaker probably put
them together somehow right so now is her husband seeing anybody at the time no there's no indication that he was
seeing anybody at the time there's also not 100% evidence that he was aware that she
was dating someone right again I don't think this was a serious thing I think it was very casual I don't even know how
many times they actually went out on a date together I don't think it was much well and sometimes if you're going you
know especially when I went through my situation I'd meet women that were going through a divorce too and we' go out to
lunch or hang out go shopping that I mean somebody on the outside could go oh well that's a date there weren't dates
there were almost therapy sessions right I was going to say the same thing anybody that's been through a a tough
breakup you find yourself sitting across from someone having a cup of coffee or or sharing a a drink and it's really
just you need somebody to vent with somebody to talk to somebody that's kind of going through the same thing there
might not even be an attraction there really at all well let's face it too I mean women they can kind of get their
stuff together and start moving a lot quicker than most men most men especially married for 14 years is
probably looking a little schlubby he probably has to get his stuff together well let's go through the day of The
Disappearance according to all reports Lisa stebic was last seen by her husband on April 30th 2007 but it's not not just
that simple right so let's go through this Lisa had spent most of the day going about her typical routine she
worked at Lincoln Elementary School the lunch shifts were typically somewhat of shorter shifts so Lisa left the school
around 2:30 p.m. she picked up a sandwich from Jimmy John's on Route 59 and ran some errands before returning
home her routine was to pick up her 10-year-old son Zach from Walker's Grove Elementary school at around 3:30 p.m.
though no one could say with certainty that Lisa picked up Zack that Monday friends say Lisa wa wait wait wait they
don't know who picked him up well I mean he came home at the normal time so everyone just assumes that the typical
routine was for her to pick him up right at 3:30 p.m. so we're going to assume that she picked him up yes we just don't
have anybody that says I specifically saw Lisa pick up Zack that day but wouldn't he
know um that's one of the tricky things with this case and we'll get into that in a little bit so friends say that Lisa
almost always made sure that she was home with Zach and her 12-year-old daughter until Craig returned from work
in the evening time at 5:40 p.m. Craig comes home from work and gives the kids money to go get some candy now later
Lisa's friends stated to media that Lisa strictly forbid the kids from eating candy or any type of processed sugar so
they question this activity 5:45 p.m. the children leave on a bike ride to go to Walgreens to get
their candy between 5:45 and 6:00 p.m. Craig starts working in the backyard we should point out here that Craig and
this is mentioned by all the neighbors he was one of those guys that was often seen out working in the yard this was
very typical behavior for him yeah at approximately 6:00 p.m. Craig says that he re-entered the home and Lisa had
already left he assumed that she went to work out as per her regular routine now
some Reports say that he thinks that he heard her leave but says he didn't see her right regardless Lisa fails to show
up to work out at the high school which was her regular routine and that' be at what time uh at 6:00 is when Craig
believes that she left the home right but what time do she normally work out uh this would be shortly afterwards she
would often arrive in the 6:00 hour and stay till about 8:30 p.m. you're giving us a lot of information so I just want
to clear this up so her her son gets picked up from school 10 years old mhm we know that he gets home yes we can
assume that it's her we have nobody saying that they saw her but let's just assume it's her then the husband gives
the kids money to get candy which she wouldn't be down with but we're also assuming that she's at home
at this point M and then he states that she leaves the house roughly around 6 o'
yeah and you know what her friends Lisa's friends and family have made a lot of this thing of of her husband Craig
sending the kids out to get candy right because it's against what Lisa would typically
allow I I I do understand why you question that because if something were to go down in that
home and you know the two witnesses would be the children right right so I understand questioning that but at the
same time it could be something as simple as we're going through a divorce we don't even talk to each other we
don't get along right I this is Dad's rules not mom's rules here's some here's some money let me be the let me be the
star of the night and go get some candy yeah but it also seems a little hush money you know what I mean could be it
it feels that way a little bit but again I'm all for Lisa I'm all for the working
out I'm all fourth cardio but kids with no candy come on well here's one thing that I think is
very key to this case and it is you know Craig's word that we have to go off of here we do know Lisa left her car at the
family's home but according to Craig she took her purse and cell phone with her I've seen some statements that say that
she took her car keys as well but that seems to be more in question than fact so let's just point it out there at this
point sometime around 600 p.m. according to Craig's story his wife Lisa has left
the home and her purse is gone and her cell phone's gone but her car is at the house right but you would assume if
she's taking her purse she probably has a house key that she's taking taking her
car keys with her right well between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. the kids return from Walgreens and they go directly to Target
with their father to purchase a birthday gift for someone some unnamed person with their father right right now
between 10: and 11 this is when Craig said would be the usual time that Lisa would return home after going to the gym
or going out she does not return that night the next day Tuesday May 1st at 8:50 a.m. Lisa's co-workers received a
phone message from Craig asking if his wife had reported to work at 10 to 10:15 a.m. Craig called the next door neighbor
to inquire about Lisa the neighbor reported her missing to police a little after 10: a.m. this is shortly after
this phone call right Craig and the kids went about their typical day after he called the neighbor he drove the kids to
school and then he went on to work now before we get too far along Captain here is a description of Lisa at the time of
her disappearance right she is 5' 2 in tall 120 lbs Caucasian with brown hair and brown eyes Now to celebrate her new
start in life I'm guessing this is you know once the the divorce was working its way through Lisa got a butterfly
tattoo on her lower back with her children's names on each side yes this is a very bad decision she already had a
small rose tattoo on her ankle this had her daughter's name on it yeah that's not so bad it's just the the butterfly
on the lower back and and she had also told friends that she would wanted a tattoo somewhere else that would have
her son's name on it there is a reward for information in this case and anyone with information no matter how little
you should you should get in touch with the planfield Illinois Police Department
right and that goes for everyone everywhere not just in Illinois because there has been some speculation tied to
the state of Michigan and the state of Wisconsin and as you and I know very well Captain we have seen good very good
information come from further away than just a state or two when discussing these cases yeah so what what's
interesting here is that we have a situation where they're going through a divorce
we we don't it doesn't sound like it's that messy as far as she's sleeping on the couch he's sleeping in the bed yeah
I mean she holds her phone tight and her purse tight but you don't know why that is I mean
who is she talking to maybe she just wants to keep that stuff private now uh cuz they're going to be divorced so she
doesn't have any reason for sharing that information um so it's it's kind of strange and then you know logically you
got this guy that goes well she normally comes home pretty late but she didn't but you don't know he he might have some
he might be speculating a little bit that she's on a date mhm and then it's like then he's probably thinking well
it's not my place to call her and ask her where she's at or text her because you know we're getting a divorce like
this is what's going to be happening a month from now anyway two months from now anyways you see what I mean well
well the the big thing that you have to question here regarding the situation of
her not coming home whether it be 10 11 or you know whatever time her not coming
home at all is there was some turmoil going on in this divorce and there there was some bitterness I think and what
what we will see here going forward is the reports about that do seem seem to be one-sided it seems to be Lisa telling
some people that some things are going on but it also seems like they were if if there was a lot going on if there was
a lot of hostility inside that home it was kept fairly quiet and the thing too that you have to call into question is
what kind of situation on craigend are we talking about are we talking about a jealous husband that that is wondering
where his soon Tobe ex-wife is you know pacing the floors at their house or are we talking about a guy that's already
moved on and he doesn't really care you know he just he doesn't become alarmed until she doesn't show up to work the
next day that's why I'm saying two very different situations yeah no I to I totally agree and I think just on the
surface right now it seems like because there's no call at at night mhm you'd think that if he was like a real jealous
dude mhm that he'd be texting one of her friends or calling calling somebody there'd be some kind of effort made at
night cuz he'd be thinking she's with some guy she's staying the night oh my God right mhm but since that doesn't
happen and he waits until the morning then now he's going and you got to remember there they've been together 14
years they had two kids together I'm sure there is some kind of love there you know even going through a divorce
you still care about the person for the most part or you should and so now you have this individual that's going hey
wait a second okay she didn't show up last night that's one thing but now this is I'm getting a little worried mhm well
let's take a quick beer break and when we get back we'll talk more about Craig stebic and we'll also take a deeper dive
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[Music] all right cheers me mes cheers Captain let's take a closer look at Lisa's
husband Craig Steck Craig was a former private investigator who was working as a pipe fitter at the dial corporation
based in Montgomery Illinois Craig Steck earned more than $80,000 annually at his
union job he was working there for at least 5 years that I could tell and it was not unusual for him to have several
weeks in between jobs he does have one prior arrest when he was arrested with his father on October 8th
1995 I believe this was looked at as a possible like illegal hunting type situation
according to the police report freshh blood was discovered inside uh somewhere on the truck on Craig's truck but no
animals were found police believe the two hid them in one of hundreds of mining pits that can be found in Iron
County Michigan Craig steach was charged with two felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon after Police Stopped his
vehicle about 1,000 ft from a school at 9 in the morning police found a 10 gaug double barrel shotgun a 44 magnum pistol
a Ruger and an AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifle in his Toyota pickup red flag's going off mhm I think
that's what a lot of people are probably thinking that's a lot of guns right but
like we were talking about earlier maybe not so much there's a lot of people in this country that hunt all the time
regardless if it's hunting season or not correct and one thing we should should point out here is that Craig's family I
believe it might be his father someone in his family owns a good deal of property up in Michigan that they use
often for hunting purposes and you know just to get away uh and what what you and I do know from you know several
friends and things like that certain parts of this country people just hunt when they feel like hunting especially
if they have a good deal of land now Craig was also charged with four misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a
weapon operating an unsafe motor vehicle and driving while his license was revoked so like you said most people
thinking a good deal of red flags the only real red flags here are the obvious this man owns several guns if he was
hunting illegally well we do know he was operating his vehicle illegally this is
a guy that is going to kind of do what he wants when he feels like doing it so let's take a look at this divorce shall
we this was a mutual thing and this was actually the second time around with the
divorce proceedings for the Steck the first time the divorce was called off by Lisa after the birth of their daughter
then Craig Steck filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage in January of 2007
so just three or 4 months before Lisa disappeared Craig says he filed for divorce when his wife declared quote she
didn't want to be married to me anymore end quote he said the couple rarely spoke in 6 months living separate lives
under the same roof his divorce petition cited irreconcilable differences both parents sought joint custody of their
children with Lisa stebic as the residential custodial parent child support and division of their marital
properties so that doesn't seem to be anything crazy going on there right it all seems kind of very mutual we're
going to split up our properties we're going to have shared custody you're going to have the kids most of the time
all pretty regular stuff in my opinion well and to me it sounds like this guy's going hey look you don't want me you
don't want to be married to me okay but he's taking the steps he's not doing one
of these Maneuvers where the guys go oh you don't want you don't want me you don't want to be married to me you're
going to have to divorce me mhm he filed the paperwork mhm so he on on some level
it looks like he's going okay well let's get this process going and let's get this over with and and we both can move
forward with our lives as an outsider looking in it appears to me Captain that these two were probably staying together
or trying to make it work for some time probably just for their children yeah so
Lisa's complaints against Craig were somewhat different uh she states that he's unnecessarily Relentless he's cruel
inconsiderate domineering and verbally abusive now in the divorce proceedings there's a claim made by Lisa Steck that
Craig her husband is an unfit parent and she cites one instance where she claims
that one of the children was allowed to handle one of his loaded guns she also says that he was very very lackluster in
the way that he cared for these guns meaning the way that he just kind of kept them around the house right um
according to Nancy Grace and CNN on the day Lisa disappeared she mailed a ition to her attorney seeking to have Craig
removed from the home Craig Steck says he knew nothing about these papers yeah but this is kind of weird too because it
seems like they're both filing for joint custody and so she's saying that you're
verba abusive you're not a fit parent but I'm going to give you custody half the time mhm that just contradicts
itself yeah it's it's weird but what I think that this F fing filing this petition to have him removed or evicted
you know we should say from this home May point out a situation where the proceedings weren't moving along fast
enough for Lisa at some point I mean they're living together that's got to be incredibly uncomfortable we've talked
about other cases where this stuff happens where people decide we're just going to we're going to share the same
roof we're going to get through this somehow and then one day we'll be separated that's not a comfortable thing
for either person I have to guess it's the worst thing you can imagine however bad you think it is it's worse than that
mhm I once was doing the dishes and had my ex come up and and she was laughing with anger for no reason I
haven't talked to her in weeks she was laughing with anger and saids I can't wait till you're at of here it's like
what did I do I haven't talked to you for 3 weeks yeah yeah my parents used to tell me the same thing the only prior
police action regarding the steck's household planfield police were called to the home at Red Star Drive for a
report of a nonviolent that's very key word nonviolent verbal fight between the couple in an interview this took place
on May 10th 2007 Craig said he called the police when his wife showed up intoxicated after being out all night so
Craig called the police now later a friend of Lisa's said that Lisa told her Craig locked her out of the house so
regardless Craig was the one that made the the phone call you know something happened that
police showed up that night well look during that whole time yes it's not your wife anymore or
it's not going to be your wife they're still your wife I think there's a lot of people that are separated quote unquote
separated and they just start acting in IM mature and I could see it going both ways oh yeah she's going to go out for a
little bit she goes and has some drinks maybe she forgot her house key somebody picked her up and oh I'm going to lock
you out yeah or it's so late that you just think oh you just expect me to stay at home and take care of the kids while
you go do whatever you want to do lock the door well and again though I think the key word in there is nonviolent that
is not Craig's words that's not Lisa's words that is the words of the responding officer to the call yeah now
after she went missing after Lisa disappeared of course the search and investigation began immediately first of
all the husband no matter what we need to look into oh yeah but the fact that they're going through a divorce it's
like double check that box please yeah we have shirts True Crime garage shirts that say the husband did it for good
reason well we used to have I think they're sold out we sold out of that that in in its own way is funny yeah uh
in that same interview that I just mentioned this was with Fox News Craig said that he thinks someone picked up
Lisa for her exercise class the night that she went missing now on Thursday May 3rd just 2 days after Lisa is
reported missing there is quite a bit of searching going on specifically searching the area behind the steck's
house planfield Emergency Management agency Personnel searched the park across the street from the steck's house
because Lisa reportedly walked and jogged there often hate to cut you off but I think the idea is that we have
this story coming from her husband and he was working in the backyard all night mhm so then it starts becoming well we
nobody has really seen her once the boy picked up from school right so who knows
if he did something to her during that time period and was he burying her in the backyard well and and you know what
this is a good time to kind of lay out the property a little bit for the listeners so their home it was a pretty
nice house and it was in a pretty nice neighborhood U for what I could tell look there's a park across the street
from their home their backyard was surrounded by a privacy fence because they had a inground swimming pool right
so this looks to me from the pictures I saw to be probably a 6ot tall fence so someone that was working in the backyard
I mean if you needed to conceal something this would be the place for Searchers to be looking in in my opinion
right now police also searched steck's computer files for a lead uh planfield Deputy police chief Mark eding told
foxnews.com that Craig Steck voluntarily handed over the family computer to the police of course he did but now remember
he was a private investigator a website www.ind lisa.com is started and missing Flyers were distributed again this is
the Thursday after she went missing right the next day on May 4th Lisa steck's cousin Neighborville resident
Mark Greenberg and his wife Melanie held a press conference in front of Lisa's house on Sunday May 6th planfield police
told reporters that they have no reason to suspect Foul Play so far in The steach Disappearance they have
investigated Craig steck's computer records spoken to his friends and Associates and interviewed steach
himself several times police also told reporters Lisa's cell phone and credit cards have not been used since her
disappearance on April 30th yeah but is it tell me if it's just me he was a private investigator for a while mhm
does that make you a little more suspicious does that make you a little like you would know what to do yeah this
guy he's playing with a little information mhm right so great that you turned over the
computer records but what does that mean you know is there another computer that
we're not aware of yeah and here's the thing too that everybody needs to completely understand it's not so much
like it's not like Craig shows up to the police department and goes here's my computer thought you might want to take
a look it's more of a hey Craig we want to take your computer and look at it and he goes well okay you
know it's it's so when they say voluntary that's the situation now we're going to see the tides shift quite a bit
here though but it's creepier if he shows up with this computer right right I got my computer for you it's still in
the box from Best Buy Hey listen to True Crime garage they study computer yeah uh
here's a shift in the tides though Captain because now we have friends of Lisa Steck who are telling the media
that Lisa was frightened by Craig and she was attending counseling at the guardian angel this is an agency that
provides services to battered women friends also say Lisa suffered verbal abuse from her husband and after divorce
proceedings began would sleep on the living room sofa where she kept her personal belongings constantly by her
side right on Monday May 7th a $20,000 reward for information is announced women are natural snoopers right okay
it's true put down your cell phone for a while and just see if they pick it up they're going to pick it up they're
going to look through it they're natural snoopers they're a little nosy that's okay but you wonder is this guy I mean
what was his motivation to be a private investigator anyways I just wonder if he's a natural snooper too and that's
one of the reasons that she's keeping all these things beside her when she's goes to
sleep because he's a natural snooper even if he's not like jealous even if he's just like yeah we're getting a
divorce whatever but he might go well it's kind of funny she didn't come home that day ah she's at the bar pretty long
that night and he just wants to know maybe he's not even jealous about it well you know there might be some truth
or a lot of Truth to him being controlling because one thing we do know regarding her cell phone this was a
phone that he kind of supplied to her right and it looks like he was pretty much in charge of this cell phone
everything I could find suggest and points to that it was a prepaid cell phone and that he was kind of in charge
of the the minutes that were applied to this cell phone and he would keep the minutes quite low oh that's nice of him
yeah well on Tuesday May 8th Craig Steck refuses a polygraph test at planfield police station and is refusing to go
into the police station for further interviews and he asked that law enforcement not interview his children
as well now this other bit is less fact and more speculation but there are stories out there that on the same day
Craig Steck supposedly does not answer the door when FBI agent show up on his doorstep yeah that's odd but back to the
polygraph test are would you take one no I mean and we've pointed that we pointed
that out a bunch of times on on the show yeah but yeah cuz it's the but the idea
for me would be there's what's the win I mean even if you pass it nobody believes
it anyways right it's a it's a you can't win situation right now on Wednesday May
9th Craig Steck was seeking temporary full custody of the couple's children his lawyer Dion Davey said he filed the
custody P petition in Will County Courthouse in order to protect his client from the possibility that Lisa
steach could return and then disappear again possibly taking the children with her on Thursday May 10th firefighters
and boats searched Lake Renwick in planfield for Lisa Steck note the lake is about 5 miles from the steach home of
course they didn't find anything and also authorities in Crystal fall this is in Michigan's Upper Peninsula searched a
cabin there this belonging to someone in Craig's family actually I believe it was
his fathers we discussed this earlier uh but nothing came of this search as well
Saturday May 12th officials from the planfield Emergency Management agency continued to focus on large water areas
Retention Ponds bike and jogging trails parks and natural areas within the village of planfield
volunteers distribute hundreds of carnations to businesses throughout the planfield area attached to each flower
is a photo of Alisa Steck and contact information to report tips on her whereabouts so volunteers gathered at a
gazebo around the corner from the stebic residents this was to pin steck's photo
to the carnations to be handed out on Mother's Day in hopes of someone identifying her alongside the Gazebo was
a makeshift Memorial with flowers stuffed animals and a sign that read Lincoln isn't the same without you Lisa
steck's husband Craig did not participate in any of the weekend events this according to
suburbanchicagonews.com but is this another situation where it's a no- win situation if you help out and
you do something odd at the event or you say something wrong or somebody imp you
say something and they they think that you imply something else like is does that become
headline news Well by I I see what you're saying and it's a tough situation okay so let's say that he is grieving or
wants to protect his children from the media right uh but what ultimately is going to happen and we've seen this with
the Scott Peterson case and other cases along the way what's implied here is that
you from the general public is that you don't care that your your efforts aren't
being focused on finding this missing person and why is so many other people focused on finding her do you know
something we don't know so that's what I believe is implied here whether whether
that's correct or not remains to be seen now on Monday May 14th planfield Police
and FBI evidence response team and Special Operations unit from the Jolette Police Department conducted a midnight
search of the steck's house and vehicles they raided the steik home taking taking
pillows blankets and towels they also confiscated the family's two vehicles a 2002 Chevy S10 pickup truck and a 2004
four-door Saturn Ion both vehicles were registered to Craig Steck but the Saturn
was used by Lisa so I'm a little confused they raid the guy's house but when they ask him for things he gives it
to him other than the polygraph yes well but I mean you're going to count on finding things that
you wouldn't find in a voluntary search if you just show up in the middle of the
night maybe he's unprepared and you can find the evidence that you're looking for it's clear that at this point even
though they they're not vocal about it the local police department believe Craig had something to do with his wife
going missing possibly or they just don't have any other leads or have anywhere else to go so they just keep
circling back around and guess who's going to be the first person you Circle back around to right well on Saturday
May 19th Lisa steck's family and friends celebrate her 38th birthday with a candlelight vigil again Craig Steck was
absent from the vigil as was the couple's two children well I don't I don't know if I
agree with the kid thing but all of her friends you're going through a divorce and now there's bad
thing look it it's just weird that it doesn't seem like there was so many bad things said about this guy until she
went missing on Sunday May 20th the neille son exclusively reported that blood found on a tarp in Craig steck's
truck matched the DNA of his wife Lisa Craig Steck speaking through the door of his home on Sunday told
nbc5 that the blood may be from a deer adding that he had been deer hunting in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan recently
a DNA test though determined that the blood on the tarp was in fact Lisa and authorities use that information to
convince a judge to issue a search warrant that was executed at the Steck planfield home
so take that all into Factor there what we're finding out later this seems like news on Sunday May 20th however what we
learn on that day is remember back when we took these took their vehicles we found this information and this is what
allowed us to gain access basically to their home and property when ever we want because we have a judge saying so
all right so hold up hey this tarp they test the tarp that they find in his truck right and it's definitely her
blood they determine through DNA testing yes her blood yeah and look there's there could be some logical explanations
for that but that seems very very suspicious extremely suspicious we should point out though usually when you
have a situation like this this indicates that they probably found a very small amount of blood um the reason
why I say that is we have seen cases where they find a situation with a large amount of blood right and they determine
that hey we need to make an arrest because we probably have a murder investigation going on not a missing
person's case right so the situation here appears to be a very small amount of blood because they do not arrest
Craig stebic but this I mean the the police essentially at this point are sharks circling this dude and they're
going to be circling closer and closer and closer right on Tuesday May 22nd Craig steach goes to court for the child
custody hearing now the judge denies Craig the motion for full custody as his wife is missing at this point right and
then on Thursday May 24th nbc5's Amy Jacobson reported that the FBI seized high-powered assault rifles
and handguns from the steck's home no surprise to us Captain we know that this is a guy that has a lot of guns yeah on
Friday June 8th police announced that they would interview people as far away as Iowa and the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan looking for Clues and planfield police chief Donald Bennett confirmed that kadaver dogs were used during the
search for stebic quote we did have cadav dogs in the residence end quote I can't give any specifics about what the
dogs did or didn't do while in the residence he said now on one of those prior searches kadab dogs were brought
in and made a positive hit this is according to an unnamed source that they made a positive hit on an article in the
home it was not immediately clear whether the dog zeroed in on an article of clothing a piece of furniture
Appliance or some type of other item in the home yeah on Sunday June 10th police
search ditches along a construction site in Montgomery and around Silver Spring State Park they said that they were
looking for steik older model cell phone and her small black purse decorated with
rhinestones now this type of cell phone are we going to get a cell phone ping off of it they were looking for pings
regarding shortly after the time that she was last scene at the home yeah this phone didn't ping anywhere Not only was
it it it appeared to have not been used and again they openly stated that her credit cards that would have been in her
purse were never used after the time that she was last seen right but hypothetically if she is killed in her
house they turn off all the electronics it wouldn't ping now there is a scandal that goes along with this story we
already mentioned WM AQ NBC 5 reporter Amy Jacobson who was covering steck's story well on Friday July 6th she was
caught on tape by the pool in a bikini at Craig steck's home this was she was caught by the Rival channel uh Channel 2
now this led to her exit from the TV network so Amy Jacobson left her job that's what they they say left her job
after a video surface showing her in a swimsuit at the home of a man whose wife disappeared 2 months ago a story she had
been assigned to cover Jacobson told her bosses that she was on her way with her
sons to go swimming at a local Club when Craig steck's sister asked her to go to
his house to talk about the case the video posted on the Rival station's website shows veteran reporter Amy
Jacobson wearing a halter bikini top and towel near the pool pool at Craig steck's Suburban planfield home
Jacobson's two young children were there as well and a shirtless Craig steach or
also shown in the video the station decided to air the video once it quote was clear Jacobson's own conduct was in
questioned by the people she worked for end quote so she was let go from her job
because basically she's at a pool party with this guy who many consider to be a suspect in The Disappearance of his
wife all right so much more to get to tomorrow in part two for everything True Crime Check out True Crime garage.com we
will see you all back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and
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Lisa Stebic /// Part 1 /// 271

Part 1 of 2

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Lisa Stebic lived a rather quiet life. She was a working mother with two children and a failing marriage. She had her routine, a day at work, then home to her family and then out to the gym for a workout. On April 30th, 2007 the routine ended. Her husband says she was last seen leaving their home on this day. He has since been named a “person of interest” in this baffling disappearance. Where is Lisa and does her husband hold the answer? Beer of the Week - Sleepy Bear by Werk Force Brewing Garage Grade - 4 and a half bottle caps out of 5!

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Brief Summary

Lisa Steck went missing in 2007; her husband is a key suspect amid allegations of abuse and suspicious evidence.

Key points

True Crime Garage Introduction. Welcome to True Crime Garage with hosts Nick and the Captain.
Community Background. Planfield, Illinois, is a growing town with a friendly atmosphere.
Lisa's Life Before Disappearance. Lisa was a dedicated mother and worker, involved in her children's lives.
Lisa's Disappearance Timeline. Lisa left home with her belongings but never returned, raising concerns.
Craig's Background. Craig Steck, a former private investigator, has a history of legal issues.
Divorce Proceedings. The divorce between Lisa and Craig was mutual but had underlying tensions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I can't even imagine going through what you're going through.

Cousin expressing empathy

7:11WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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