Lisa Stebic /// Part 2 /// 272 | Forensic Files

when it comes to Quality sleep Ashley has you covered with top mattress brands at winning prices and with special
financing options available you can snooze now and pay later plus your mattress purchase helps give the gift of
better sleep to children in need and US Special Operations forces visit your local Ashley store or shop online today
and make every snooze count financing is subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for d details Rosetta Stone
is the language learning program with a lasting impact I've been using the rap to learn French and it's not just about
memorizing words but actually having real conversations and it's not just French they offer 25 languages right now
Rosetta Stone has an awesome holiday deal 50% off their lifetime membership every language unlimited access forever
for anyone keen on diving deep into a new language check out rosettastone.com it's a
GameChanger [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 as a man that told me nobody goes there anymore because it's
too crowded he is the captain yeah and you can't find a place to park it's good to be seen and it's good to see you
thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend this week we have selected sleepy bear
by Workforce brewing in planfield Illinois garage grade 4 and A2 bottle caps out of five when we featured this
yesterday I failed to mention coffee there's a good hint of roasty coffee here that mixes well with the chocolate
and caramel flavors and thanks to the following for going to our website true Crim garage.com and contributing to our
beer fund first up thanks to Julie and Rio Rancho New Mexico and a big cheers mates to Jennifer and Covington Township
Pennsylvania next up we have a shout to Matthew and meline in North Augustus South Carolina also in South Carolina we
have Lisa and Fort Mill and put on your tin cap and a big cheers to Maggie a conspiracy theorist in Brooklyn New York
next we thank cat and West cavina California and last but certainly not least we have Harry and Finland so
thanks for the rounds of beers friends make sure you check us out at true Crim garage.com and on social media and for
all of our old episodes make sure you check us out on the Stitcher app and check out our show off the Record which
is on Stitcher premium and that is enough of the business that's right everybody gather around grab a chair
grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime [Music] on Wednesday July 11th 2007 police in a
news conference pinpointed Lisa's husband Craig Steck as the sole person of interest in Lisa steck's
disappearance planfield police chief Donald Bennett said Craig steach has been of minimal assistance to detectives
and refuse to participate in searches in part leading them to name him as a person of interest plus they said he has
refused their repeated request to talk to his children who are amongst the last people to see their mother alive twice
he has refused request to have police talk with these children said Bennett adding that such action has clearly
hampered the investigation it is the police's belief that the children have viable info that could assist them in
their investigation Craig Steck and his children somewhere along this investigative timeline they cut off all
contact with Lisa's family he smell that mhm smells a little fishy yeah this is a bad situation not
only they not working with the investigators and his children you know perceivably we can believe that this is
at his own doing are not talking with investigators as well but we also find out at some point they're not even
communicating with Lisa's family which I understand that there might be some bad
blood especially with her missing but that shouldn't should not really change the interaction between his children and
her family right now this case Lisa steck's Disappearance in what later police would pretty much officially
announce as suspected Foul Play and they even go out and say they don't believe Lisa is alive
this case was receiving a good deal of Statewide news publicity and national news coverage in the beginning but as we
have seen in other cases and in other states eventually there are distractions and I mean cases that take priority in
the news Spotlight MH and cases that took the spotlight came relatively quickly and became big news over Lisa's
case and this is as follows on June 14th 2007 Christopher V murdered his wife and
kids in Shanahan Illinois Chris use a piece of [ __ ] on October 28th 2007 Stacy
Peterson vanishes from balling Brook Illinois Drew Peterson use a piece of [ __ ] then as longtime garage listeners
very well know and one of the cases that fascinates me the most the February 2nd
2008 Lane Bryant store shootings in Tinley Park Illinois unknown suspect use a piece of [ __ ] now even though this
case faded from the spotlight Seeking Justice for Lisa needs to go on and I think there are a lot of important
questions in this case so let's go through some of these here Captain so the divorce is in full swing as it
appears this is often a red flag but in this case it seems clear that both parties wanted the divorce and both were
moving forward with it now there could be some motives inside all of this right the police were called to the house
again normally a red flag flag but here it appears there was no type of physical
altercation right and Craig was the one who called the police not the later missing individual Lisa yeah I agree
with that but also we have somebody that used to be a private investigator this could be some kind of a setup yes and
then we also have this situation about what we now know is probably reported as fact that Lisa was dating another man at
some point during the course of this separation mhm it seems like it that the question here that we have to go back to
if this would be a motive for her to disappear on Craig's part is one did he even know about this other individual
was it even something that was serious and I get that it doesn't have to be something serious for him to fly off the
handle and do something crazy but does one does he even know about it and two if he does know about it does he even
care is this something that even bothers him as said they're both moving forward
with separating from one another and ultimately it seems like the care of their children is the concern of both of
them yeah but we have mixed you know feelings there as well we have somebody saying hey at one point we have them
saying hey we're going to have joint custody right with with the mother Lisa having the primary custody or primary
house is where they' be living mhm but then that seems like that's going to change well like she changed mind on
that I question that a little bit because of a few things one I don't think it was ever filed in a way that
she would be the sole caretaker of these children I wonder if this is a situation
where we have a divorce moving forward and she's saying I'm going to be the main caregiver of these children well
what if he what if he disputes this at some point her lawyer asking for information to what what do we have to
point out that you should be the main caretaker of these children right because the whole thing you have to ask
yourself if she truly did feel that he was an unfit father and the thing that I keep going back to and I'm probably
going to take some criticism for this but I want everybody to keep in mind we don't know 100% what was going on inside
those four walls we don't know what was going on 100% under the roof of that home right so if she truly did feel that
he was unfit or dangerous a danger to their children she did have some control under
the fact that they were still all living under the same Ruth right and she does seem to be a caring mother that would
take that into account along the way the other thing is I don't I don't hesitate
to say that I do think that there was some kind of verbal abuse or belittling going on I know that there are talks
that she was attending counseling at a place that is pretty much structured for battered women right right one thing
though we got to keep in mind usually those places keep their records sealed for good reason so I don't know that we
have an official from that agency coming forward and saying yes she was seeking counseling here or if this is just
something that her family is saying or friends suspected along the way or something she said she might seek in the
future yeah and maybe it's just Counseling in general MH but one has to Wonder look there's going to be kinds of
rumors that come out your friend goes missing and it becomes okay well I do remember that one time that that she
said her husband was mean I do remember that you know what I mean like right and
now you're trying to you're trying to work backwards your friend's missing now let's work backwards and now you have
this husband which yeah it's odd he's trying to keep everything close to the to the vest but who knows what's been
said about him and then at that point you go okay my wife is missing and that sucks but I need to take care of myself
I need to take care of my family I need to make sure they're all right because if I go away what's going to happen to
them the other thing that could be going on here and this is much darker than anything that we've talked about is we
see a couple things inside this relationship a couple things going on in this Dynamic that we are aware of and
that is fact so let's go through that real quick and look at it through this angle and this might be uncomfortable to
talk about but it's a possibility we have Craig who is the I mean he's the bread winner by far in this situation 80
grand a year roughly compared to 10 grand a year right now is that that doesn't mean I don't mean that to
suggest that Lisa was any less of a person or earner than her husband what I'm getting at is was that a situation
controlled by this man was that a situation where he goes out and he makes a good deal of money and he's reminding
her day after day you got this job over here it's not going to pay the bills I'm
in control of this situation you need me you need me for financial support and you need me to keep this roof over our
heads even if it's joint custody and they award her uh child support money it's not going to be even though he
makes a lot more money mhm it's not going to be enough for her to live off of right and now we certainly know that
she was capable of earning more I mean she has a degree she worked a second job for a while I would love to know what
happened with that second job it sounds to me some of the things I've read Captain sounds like it was a fill-in
position that she was filling in for someone right or was this a situation where Craig goes you know what I'm tired
of you being gone at night you're not allowed to be gone at night you can work your job during the day I expect you to
be home during the evenings right I would love to know the situation going on there because you have to wonder with
this being their second time around on the divorce proceedings was she making plans to better her financial situation
leading up to the eventual separation again yeah and if if he's telling her not to work the job that goes back into
the controlling factor I I just think um somebody that's going to be that controlling of somebody you think
they're actually going to file for divorce mhm it doesn't make a lot of sense but again that could be playing a
certain hand let me file for the divorce let me seem like I'm okay with it yeah again a controlling Factor right he's
the one that decides when they're going to file for divorce he's the one that decides when the police are going to be
called also we know the situation of her cell phone he's in charge of the cell phone both of the cars are registered to
Craig none to Lisa right you know it so you do have some things in here where it
looks like we have a guy that's kind of controlling the whole situation this whole family and then later on or or is
it a logical thing I'm going to put the car in my name because I'm paying for the tags because I'm paying for the
license plates because I'm paying the insurance because I'm paying the gas money because I'm paying for the car
right is it just a logical thing well why would I put it in somebody else's name if it's mine well and some have
cited money troubles as a possible motive while we're on the talks of motives here apparently they did have a
second mortgage on the house and they were getting ready to separate but they owed quite a bit more on the home than
the value of that home well that's always good yeah then we have the eviction papers and again this this
thing is a tricky motive here too just like everything else we have the situation where she has filed for a
petition of eviction of this man who's probably paying most of the bills as we discuss with the amount of money that
he's right and that that part's not tricky I mean if you're paying all the bills and you got eviction notice from
the person not paying the bills uh I'd be super pissed I'd be I'd be Captain America B well that's where you wonder
that's where people are going to say hey he must have known about this and when he found out he lost it right but that's
that's the weird speculation cuz do know if he knew about this his claims he says
he never knew about this paperwork until after she went missing right so we cited
the money troubles possible money troubles we cited the eviction papers and the normal red flags we would expect
with a divorce as it's going on we also have a situation Captain where police announced two very vague but interesting
things to the media over the years one they have ruled out several people and what I mean by this exactly is they have
talked to several people they're saying we've ruled other people out in this disappearance we can't rule him out that
makes me wonder about this individual that she was dating this unnamed man he's in the papers he's unnamed this to
me knowing his age the age is reported in the media this points to me that law enforcement knows who this guy is right
and they've probably talked to him they've investigated him he would be on that list and if they're saying that
we've cleared everyone else well then that man that she dated again we don't know how many times he must be on that
list of people that have been cleared by law enforcement yeah I think that's safe
to assume and then two Craig Steck is law enforcement's sole Person of Interest we know this from a statement
released to the public and I think that this has to stem from three key factors one Craig is believed to be the last
person to see Lisa or at least he reports having SE seen her at their home and hearing her leave sometime around
6:00 p.m. that night right we don't have anybody else to say that they saw her after that time we don't have any
activity on her credit cards or cell phone after that time right two the small amount of blood found on the tarp
in Craig's truck I mean that's just that blood just doesn't magically appear again you're not going to be able to get
a murder charge out of that but it seems awfully suspicious then three it seems like law enforcement have good reason to
believe that Craig Steck has access to places that might make it easy for him to dispose of Lisa's body and hide
evidence we talked about the property that his family owns out of state we also have a situation where this guy
he's a pipe fitter he moves around to different job sites you know we just talked about a case last week where
right the husband buried the the wife and children at one of his job sites yeah so what happened to Lisa you know
did Craig do it does Craig not submitting to a lie detector test mean anything I think what it means is he's
not a total idiot as we've discussed those tests are unreliable and the results can be damaged by the Proctor's
opinion and several times we have pointed out how you can end up with false positives to deception regarding
those tests and with specific questions he claims that he has turned down this RH request at the advice of his
attorney what are the other possibilities well like did Craig's dad help in any way this could be an
interesting angle but the thing I have to wonder here Captain is I feel like there isn't much on his testimony as far
as what he was doing or where he was but I would have to guess I would wager that
this was probably looked into and was investigated I mean it could be a possibility but I also think that it's
quite unlikely I think that there would have been something connecting the dad to it or connecting the dad to Craig as
being some kind of assistant in all of this right maybe some eyewitness yeah and I think investigators spent a good
amount of time on this case we talked about all the searches that were involved not just in the stebic home in
the greater planfield area but all those searches inside the home and the vehicles you think that something
somewhere would turn up and I really want to know or have a good I'd like to have a good understanding of what
information we could pull from her phone because we know that she is on a site looking for a gy pal
mhm you know are we just hearing that she looked for a gy pal and it was only female is there more to that story
because her car is still there right and everything goes missing so it's like that makes a lot of sense if you go yeah
she came home we got to prove that we haven't been able to prove that I think that's on her husband to prove I think
it's on her kids to prove but then if she's at home and she leaves we have eyewitnesses not that
much later or some some eyewitnesses around that time that say oh yeah he was working in his in his backyard right so
is are some of these things setups by a guy that knew how cases worked CU he was
a private investigator or is this a guy being cautious because he was a private investigator and we've seen people get
railroaded we've seen people with no evidence mhm but a false confession by somebody
else doing life in prison or get death death row MH so how would we react if something happened
and and and they were putting you on trial in the in the media Spotlight well the public Spotlight and other than that
small amount of blood which I mean she lived at the home who knows that could have come from anything well my other
question would be how long did he own the truck because they're together 14 years they had this tarp for however
many years how long did they have the truck right so is it is it possible if they had the
truck for six years that there's some blood somewhere possible well and with her regards to her cell phone sorry let
me backtrack just a quick second here okay we're talking about what evidence is there against Craig there's not much
and I think that's the big problem with this case one you know the little small trace of blood that could be evidence
but but it's hard to make that evidence you have to almost make that evidence right and then two we have the you know
people family friends later coming out saying well no Lisa was afraid of him well again we don't know what was going
on under that roof what was going on inside those four walls it seems like a lot of
hearsay so then you have people that come out and say well if there's no evidence against Craig you know and
that's why I brought up the father his father we know they were tight did his father help in some way you have other
people that say well Craig could have paid someone to get rid of Lisa and I think this too is an interesting angle
however I think this very much Falls right into the last question about Craig's father and I think this is an
unlikely situation I don't think this is what happened here because again there would have been phone records or some
type of communication between Craig and the Hitman some trail of evidence connecting the two of them and you bring
up a good a good interesting scenario here mhm did she in fact leave the home just like Craig said did she in fact
intend to go to the gym that night and meet someone at the gym who later abducted and killed her right this
certainly is somewhat of a possibility but in order for this to be more likely than what I think it is she would I
think she would have had to have been abducted in route to the gym you know because we don't have anyone that says
that they saw her at the gym that night and you have to wonder how many people work out at a high school gym at 6:00 on
that Monday night yeah but if let's say she met this person before then it was as simple hey I'll pick you up we'll go
to the gym together mhm and so he picks her up or she picks her up and when it when it comes down to it they just don't
make it to the gym mhm I mean I I she is a a pretty small individual mhm um 52 120 mhm uh this is
uh male or female could move her if she was deceased you know they could move the
body there's the other thought and I know Craig has really pointed to this you know did she leave on her own accord
did she go out to start up a new life life personally I think I would say if there were no kids no children involved
that this could be the case but right I I mean I don't see any signs or any reason that she would abandon her kids
no one said that that would be in her character we also have someone that is tattooing the names of her children on
her body right but that that doesn't mean anything well it means something to me I I feel like it it means that
they're special to her and that they hold some significance some special place in her life yeah and well I I
think the runaway Theory doesn't make a lot of sense because one she didn't use any of her cards we don't have any
transactions she didn't make enough money that she could stockpile enough to kind of get a new start mhm uh and if
you're going to get a new start again is it is it possible that she's trying to better her life and then she just went
you know what and I don't want to be a mom it happens MH it happens to dads it happens to moms it's just there's really
no evidence of it so I mean we can go down that rabbit hole but until there's really evidence I don't see what the
point would be we also have um you know there are cases where there's almost like an underground railroad situation
where like these agencies for battered women will relocate them but it's all very secretive you know and it's all
very much you have to drop everything and cut off all ties with your old life right to go on and start a new one and
they never disclose that information the thing is that doesn't happen a lot for many
reasons the most important one and the most prominent one of those reasons is it's so hard for someone that has loved
ones and people that they care about and children right for them to sever all ties and to to to move on and create a
new life elsewhere the other thing I would point out here too Captain is the children were young they're 10 they're
12 you know these aren't grown adult children that are out making their own life and have moved on or moved away
right you know these are people that children that were very much dependent on her as much as they are her husband
Craig yeah I I mean isn't there some law can't they subpoena these kids and so they could talk to him well
they did they did um and that's where that's where it gets tricky again with Craig's
situation you know they spoke with the grand jury nothing new apparently was gained from that now this these are
closed door meetings these are closed door uh interviews so we don't know what was discussed we don't know what was
asked there but apparently there was nothing there was not enough inside that information or answers that they
provided to this grand jury that would lead to the arrest and charges being filed against Craig
[Music] steik this show is sponsored by better help do you look forward to the holidays
maybe you struggle with seasonal Blues this time of year can be a lot and it's natural to feel some sadness or even
anxiety about it but adding something new and positive to your life can counteract some of those feelings
therapy can be a bright spot something to look forward to to make you feel grounded and to give you the tools to
manage everything going on if you're thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it's entirely online designed
to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a
licensed therapist and switch therapist at any time for no additional charge find your bright spot this season with
better help visit betterhelp.com garaget toay to get 10% off your first month that's betterhelp
hp.com garage dreaming of overseas Adventures or connecting more deeply with family
from afar Rosetta Stone Bridges the language Gap I've tried others but Rosetta Stone ston immersive lessons and
voice feedback technology are game changers dive into 25 Languages by learning intuitively just like when you
were a kid and here's the holiday Sparkle grab a lifetime membership now and save 50% gift yourself the world
head to rosettastone.com now and save 50% you can start your day off right when you find a professional on Angie to
get your plumbing right First Connect to Skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well
visit angie.com you can do this when you Angie that all right we're back ohy and a big cheers to everybody out
there yeah so with this case I I don't see the evidence or any indication that she
would be running away mhm like it seems like there's definitely evidence that she
wants to change some things in her life and better some things in her life but not her just getting up and leaving
M well she's making moves too within the divorce proceedings you know it's it's not like oh this is happening he filed
for divorce and she's just dragging her feet waiting for it to happen you know we see the situation of the eviction
notice we see the situation of her going ahead and moving on with her life we see
a situation of her getting her daughter's name tattooed on her body and then telling friends that she wants a
tattoo of her son's name you know these are all things th this to me all points to somebody that has a plan future
things that she is looking forward to right not things that she is running away from or even sitting back and
denying that they are happening well and you also wonder too if she's been with this guy for 14 years that is quote
unquote verba abusive did she meet somebody that's might not treat her the best and we just don't know about it but
she's willing to put up with that because she that's what she's known for 14 years I mean you'd think that would
they would have find some kind of information on that home computer right and I think you know that's where
they're going to get all the information regarding these uh connection sites that
she was involved in because one thing we got to keep in mind in regards to her cell phone first off this is 2007 okay
so her cell phone is automatically different from the ones that we have in 2019 but then on top of that it's it's
often reported that this is an older cell phone right as of 2007 so probably pretty
primitive compared to what we are using today yeah Zach moris called he wants his phone back well and I have to wonder
I'm I'm guessing here that we have a phone that doesn't even have internet capabilities possibly that this is just
a uh a phone used to call people maybe text people as well so but that brings up an interesting question and one that
is posed in this case did Lisa meet someone online and then she agreed to meet with this person this is possible
but the problem with this question here is this was investigated and pretty thoroughly as well well we could answer
some of the questions some of these questions could be answered by was he at work cuz he
claims he came home at about 5:45 6:00 yeah says he was home at about 5:40 p.m. that night that's because he was at work
correct so do we have anything and I know he bounces around from sight to site but some of these cars have GPS
tracking for different job you know for different companies mhm like we saw in the Chris Watts case right do we have
any evidence that he was gone uh until he said he was well what we don't have is anyone disputing that he wasn't where
he says he was right um so I really feel like the the time frame in question is after 5:40 p.m. that night we don't have
anyone to say any differently that he wasn't where he says he was so just real quick back to did she meet someone and
and this is I don't necessarily mean did she meet someone and decide oh you're my
night and Shining Army I fell in love with you let's run away together I don't mean that at all I mean someone that
that was there to deceive her you know someone that she met through one of these connection sites and they did
something bad to her and took her from her life right and the thing is though like I said I think this because some
people have pointed out look someone on there just like you talked about in yesterday's show you could have somebody
on there pretending to be a woman yeah and communicating with her the old catfish and then setting up a hey let's
meet up or let's go for a jog together I'll meet you at the gym or you meet me here on your way to the gym yeah and
then she never shows up again again the problem with this is you you feel like that the investigation really had very
quickly nowhere else to go other than Craig Steck and I think again there would have been breadcrumbs found on
that computer found within those connection sites that would have said she was talking to somebody yeah and
here's okay here's where I feel bad for him mhm initially he called we have a situation take the
Chris Watts case right it's it's been on my mind so from time to time so that's a
situation where he he's not really telling anybody anybody's missing he's just kind of going about his business
he's waiting for other people to say hey something's up here we need to call the
cops not only that he's he's offering an explanation that why they are not at home Chris Watts is he's saying they
went on a play date and I don't know the person's name or where they live yeah piece of [ __ ] uh so but here we have a
case where you go you could say yeah well he didn't call Captain he didn't call till the next day well they're
getting separated they're not going to be married anymore this is going to be his normal life going forward maybe he's
pretending it's already his normal life she's gone out and like we said she go out till 10:00 11:00 MH is it possible
that he fell asleep didn't even know that she didn't come home mhm right maybe he wasn't worried the
night before maybe he didn't think about it then the next day he's going what the
[ __ ] is going on right where is she at guess who calls the cops guess who starts going hello she's missing well he
doesn't call the cops but he does call a couple of people to find out if they know where she is right but didn't
he the one of the people that he talked to they called the cops yeah but again the person it's it's very unclear as to
the situation right but one thing that I'm pretty certain of it seems like the neighbor that he called to find out
where his wife could be right that the neighbor was close with Lisa and and that they were like friends the couples
were friends you know the husband and wife husband and wife they hung out together but I feel like the neighbor
that he contacted and the neighbor is the one that goes oh there's something fishy going on here
and they're the one that decid I don't think he prompted them to call the police right but but one would argue
again this guy was a private investigator he's no dummy right mhm one could argue by calling other people you
called her work mhm you're calling people that you're notifying people that she's missing
you're notify yeah right you're notifying the people and on top of that you're the one that that's that's
throwing up Flags in his favor in his favor that's right he's saying hey you know did he call cops right away no cuz
he was calling people so we don't know if he would have eventually you know after five calls maybe he would have
called the police or if he returned home from work that day would have called the
police right right at some point he but he's calling her work again it's one of those things
where on one side you go oh that's a play you sneaky bastard mhm and that's just you setting it up you got rid of
her the night before you bought your kids candy to keep their mouth shut and guess
what now you're just uh you're you're dropping off this information leading to you want to make people believe that
you're concerned but then on the other hand you go well maybe that's just the truth
because there there is a logical explanation to his actions there so it's it and then he goes here's the computer
well how much time did he spend making sure that they would find exactly what they found on the computer mhm and maybe
it or erasing what they didn't find right and what I mean by that is it doesn't have to be you know like a Casey
Anthony where it's like uh Craig came home and and Googled how to murder wife and get away with
it right maybe it's not something like that but maybe it was a dating website that she was on that he got rid of
mhm again I don't know what his uh knowledge is of computers and I would assume that law enforcement has better
text that would be be able to uncover that information that's the thing we've seen plenty of cases where people think
they're pretty good at wiping clean a computer or device police get their hands on it and very quickly they're
like what about this what about this what about that cuz what they don't know as they call the garage and they go wing
wing wing wing is is the colonel there we need him to check out this computer and then you find every but
what I'm saying everything that's encrypted I will find so then he goes okay uh yes we're trying to find my soon
Tobe ex-wife I'm helping you here's the computer I'm talking to you some things get said and then he goes oh I've seen
this story before and he shuts it down and can you blame the guy you can't blame the guy MH but that again it's one
of those things where logically you go One Direction is this guy is trying to protect himself trying to protect his
kids trying to protect his family on the other hand you go that seems fishy that that is fishy as the fish
sticks that they serve during lunch well and here's the thing too because a lot of times and I would say 99% of the time
99% of the time we have a situation where people are like you know what the he does not
report her missing he does not call police that is a giant red flag against him I think the thing that everybody
needs to keep in mind here is that can we all agree that this scenario is unique in
the sense that every bit of evidence that we can find points to the fact that they were both walking away from this
relationship they were both walking away maybe in a situation if if she were and
this is not the truth but if she were running around on him you'd go well that's a red flag he didn't report her
missing he didn't he didn't get scared he didn't get nervous that she wasn't coming home right that's a red flag no
they were both walking away from this relationship regardless of what was going on inside that home so therefore
to me I almost feel like a different reaction to her not coming home is what I would actually expect in this
situation meaning either a he was a bit upset oh what she's just not going to come home now oh I'll call a few people
but I'm not going to waste my time on it I got kids I got to get to school I got
a job I got to show up to right or the other one that we've talked about a few times here too did he just not care did
he just go well whatever this is over I've I've already emotionally walked away from this relationship a while ago
right but hold on you're talking about just the fact that he didn't report her missing right where where many many
people would say that's a red flag against him I almost feel like if I were in this situation I would think that
it's a it's in his favor that he felt differently or at least appears from the outside to have felt differently yeah
but I don't look at that like that at all I mean he could have been going I'm going to call her work I'm going to call
some of her friends well then you call the neighbor and they called the cops mhm okay well you didn't report rep it
but you called the neighbor so it's not like you hit it from anybody right indirectly you reported it so you know I
mean like uh he didn't report it but somebody did so at that point for all we know the neighbor said hey guess what I
called the cops or the cops came to his house and why he's calling and still looking for her okay now we're doing
this you know so it's so weird because there's so many things that like you easily go ah this guy I don't like him
smells like a turd and then there's other parts where you go I see what you know a sane person would do
that or somebody that actually cared about her you know and again they're going through a divorce there's anger
there but at the end of the day they're together for 14 years he probably cares about her on some level there's the
mother of his kids so just it's so weird it's like he calls I mean does that that's as simple
as it can be he calls her work to figure out if she made it to work that's either
a cover up or he gives a [ __ ] and like that's what where almost every piece of evidence points and and
that's really frustrating and if he's not guilty of anything you know this is uh I feel bad
for him well here's the other thing you got to wonder about right for for the future of his life separated from his
exy wife doesn't having her around make it easier for him and what I mean by that look if they're having money
problems they're separating they're going to share those money problems even after they separate um it it eases his
burden a little bit and the other thing too is they both planned on shared parenting as a single as a a now single
man he has somebody that he can trust more than anyone else to watch his children a few nights a week right you
know so what I'm getting at it seems a little easier for him that that she be around there doesn't seem to be a
situation where he's running around on her and just has to get out of this marriage and can't come up with any
better idea than to turn into Chris Watts and end it all right well well I agree with that but then I start
thinking that maybe it's a situation where he goes I'm in control I make 80 grand you make 10 grand and she starts
playing the system a little bit and goes you know what I can actually get you out of the
house maybe I can win this house in the divorce because look anybody that's gone
through a big breakup let's just say you live with the person you don't have to be married to the person but several
times I'd sit down at a table you know we need to talk about what we're splitting up okay this is how
I think things will go right that's maybe somebody lays out to you I'm I'm going to keep the house you keep this
car you do this right all that can change in an argument you see what I'm saying no I
get I get it and so is so motive could be a lot more than money and custody it could be a bunch of stuff whereas this
person maybe didn't really care so much he filed for divorce but now it's all all of a sudden shifting and she starts
going well you were verbally abusive and you did all this stuff and I'm going to
take everything I can and then he's going wait a second this is not how it's supposed to go we're supposed to both
this walk away mhm is that enough for somebody to snap and kill somebody I believe so she could have threatened him
with that but from the outside looking in I don't see much in the way of property I mean I just don't see it you
know what I mean it seems like well I mean she filed for him to be evicted from the house right I mean that's
evidence of that's just a place to stay until they get until the divorce is final though right but what I'm saying
the difference is is the the the communication could have been you know you're going to you know
he paid for the house maybe if she's only making 10,000 bucks you think he really needed her help to pay for the
house probably not no no I don't think so and so what I'm saying is the the conversation could have been well I'm
going to keep the house cuz I paid on it and she's like yeah no big deal and we're going to do shared parenting yeah
B deal but what I'm getting at is it's it's I see what you're saying but the the problem in that though to go to the
extent of killing somebody there's no equity in that home it's not like you're losing something right but sometimes
people are grasping at straws to hold on to some stability of their life is what
I mean and I know that sounds like silly but if if it's a stretch is what I'm saying so I'm not leaning towards that
I'm just saying I could see that and that's what make like I said back to the my main point and my final wrap up of
the case in my eyes is either almost everything in this case points to that's fishy and I kind of understand why he
did it does that make sense you kind of understand why he killed his wife no no no no no no I'm no you kind of
understand why people suspect him no no no what I'm saying is like just take any
point of evidence any knowledge that we have it's like he called it her work it's
like part of me goes oh that's him covering up that he did something to her right and the other part of me goes no
he was actually looking for her but it's like there's so much stuff that does that where like At first he's talking to
the cops and then he stops talking to the cops and it's like I see does that make sense yeah well but one thing one
possibility we didn't get to yet is did some random person grab her off the street and kill her and this I actually
believe to be one of the more probable scenarios for a couple of reasons one the weather was not bad that night from
what I could find it wasn't perfect but what if she took off on a jog you know planfield is a safe area but we have
covered just in the past year at least three incidences of a lady going out jogging by herself and some snake in the
grass evil man sees her and attacks her um so it's even though this is a safe area you have to keep in mind
unfortunately this stuff can happen anywhere and I think that this might be somewhat possible because of the items
missing you know we have the purse is a bit tricky I don't know anybody that goes out jogging with their purse but I
would expect her to take her cell phone with her we also know that the area was safe enough and at least the weather was
nice enough for the father to send a 12 and 10-year-old you know kids out on a bike ride in search of candy right so
that is a possible interesting angle here and we know that she jogged in the park across the street from their home
this wouldn't require her to take her car this wouldn't require her to tell anyone where she was going well also she
could have taken her purse and put it on a bench while she's running mhm as long as she knows that
she can see the bench while she's running I I've seen people do that a lot the problem though here Captain is you
know could this case just ultimately be a dead end because I hope not what I mean by this is I I've so many cases
that we've covered there's very few what maybe two that I can think of that it seems like a person just straight up in
right and with her situation it doesn't seem like she was in charge of going missing I feel like between her close
friends all the things that came out later I feel like Lisa was a bit of an open book to her friends and her close
you know relatives right and so therefore I kind of feel like this is a situation where she may have vanished
for unknown reasons and the answer could be right in front of us it really could
but there's nothing to connect there's nothing solid and concrete to connect Craig as 100% your guy let me just ask a
a couple questions if if you can answer these and I know I'm going back a little
bit but she leaves work what time at 2:30 and then this would be a pretty normal time for her to leave work and
what time does the kid need picked up 3:30 and we know that she stopped and got a sandwich somewhere along the way
right so we have her whereabouts up to let's say about 3:00 somebody picks up the kid we don't
know if it's her don't know if it's the husband mhm they get back to that puts him back to the house pick the kid up at
3:30 he waited in line a little bit roughly about 4:00 mhm the neighbors see him roughly around
6 6:37 no I I don't know exactly when they see him um or if they even claim to have
seen him at all what here here's what I think is concrete in this in this case and this is coming from law enforcement
law enforcement has stated that they believe that Lisa Steck was in the home when the children left to go to
Walgreens to get candy this would have been shortly after Craig came home from work at 5:40 p.m. then when they
returned sometime between 6:30 and 6 4 p.m. Lisa Steck was not in the home but Craig was and we do know that they even
though that communication was cut off at some point law enforcement did speak with the children right yeah at first
yeah and so what's interesting here is you have an hour you have an hour that you have to now they talked to the kids
so I'm assuming that the kids are saying yeah our dad was there when we got back
our mom wasn't that gives him an hour and if people saw him digging in his backyard or whatever that you know
working in the backyard whatever they brought dogs in mhm nothing no scent picked up you would
think they would have picked something up case be solved but that an hour is not a big window well a a good friend of
mine who lives in Illinois he's retired uh firefighter he has a theory that basically ends with Craig killed Lisa at
some point and was planning it for months and she's in the ground at their property really I Greg is shout out to
my buddy Greg thanks for all your he just retired recently as a firefighter so thanks for all your years as a first
responder I think his theory is very interesting he claims that she would be um at least she's probably in some kind
of container maybe a Barrel or something that he put in the ground at some point
and that this Barrel would be at least 3T or deeper in the ground and he's his thought is that they need to
use uh sonar you know ground penetrating sonar to see if there's anything on that
property right there's a couple of there's a couple of things that I I throw in there to to poke a hole or at
least question that theory I think it's a good one but I saw that the property was listed for sale at some point this
is not a large property it would be interesting you know you and I have talked so many times about in these
cases what can we prove and what can we disprove is there any Theory or anything
along our list that we can at least scratch off even if we can't find Lisa's remains on the stebic property that they
used to own can we at least go well that's not a possibility because we've searched it properly and we know that
that cannot be right and so it would be interesting that's not a large property it's a regular neighborhood so I'm
guessing from pictures we're probably talking about a quarter acre loish somewhere in there so it wouldn't take
long to scan that property and see if there's anything hiding in the ground there but I would love I would love for
the current homeowners to give consent for that to happen and I'm sure there's somewhere someone out there that
followed this case maybe even to this day that would be willing to help in that detection of if there's any anomaly in
the ground there well the reason why I would like that theory is the idea like I said it's not a lot of time from the
time that the children leave yeah 45 minutes maybe an hour this guy would have had to have moved quick yeah but if
you plan this a week in advance well then you'd have everything ready all all you'd have to do is kill
her put her in the container and then bury it it's an interesting case but a very sad one too because I kind of feel
like unless Lisa's now grown adult children come forward with something new with something that they have not spoke
about yet some kind of new information this is a cold case and I think it might just keep getting colder do you have a
number to call if anybody has any information uh we can look up the planfield police department the number
is area code 815 436 2341 815 436 2341 thanks to everybody for joining us in the garage this week we will see you
back here next week until then be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause]
[Music] the Angie's List you know and trust is now Angie and we're so much more than
just a list we still connect you with top local pros and show you ratings and reviews but now we also let you compare
upfront prices on hundreds of projects and book a service instantly we can even handle the rest of your project from
start to finish so remember Angie's List is now Angie and we're here to get your
job done right get started at angie.com that's ngi or download the app today

Lisa Stebic /// Part 2 /// 272

Part 2 of 2

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

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!

Beer Fund: https://truecrimegarage.com/home

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

Brief Summary

The episode investigates Lisa Steck's disappearance and the implications surrounding her husband Craig as the main suspect.

Key points

Lisa Steck's Disappearance. Police name Craig Steck as the sole person of interest in Lisa's disappearance.
The Control Factor. Exploring the dynamics of control in Lisa and Craig's relationship.
Suspicious Circumstances. Blood found in Craig's truck raises questions about his involvement.
Lisa's Intentions Questioned. Was Lisa planning to leave her life behind or was something more sinister at play?
The Runaway Theory Debunked. The theory that Lisa ran away is challenged by a lack of evidence.
Suspicion on Craig. Craig's actions after Lisa's disappearance raise questions about his involvement.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is a bad situation.

Discussion about Craig Steck's refusal to cooperate with police.

4:48WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

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