The missing woman and a Facebook clue that shocked her family | Forensic Files

[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any time you need support
please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website at approximately 7 30 a.m on wednesday
july 18 2018 mobile alabama resident julie darks thomas received a phone call from an unfamiliar number
a man on the other line said he had found a mobile phone that contained photos of a baby
and he assumed the owner would want it back julie soon established that the phone in
question belonged to her son's 25 year old girlfriend daniela vayenne julie thanked the man
and asked if he could drop the phone off at daniella's workplace the asian themed restaurant chain pf
changs in mobile's bel air mall [Music] julie wasn't alarmed by the call daniela
had purchased a new car the day prior and julie thought she must have gone out to celebrate and had lost her phone at
some point during the evening this wasn't unusual for daniela as she had lost other phones in the past
julie assumed it would only be a matter of time before daniella showed up and would be relieved to know her phone
had been found at 9 00 am julie called the building manager of daniela's apartment complex
and asked them to have daniella return her call the building manager said that daniela
wasn't at home so julie asked that they'd leave a note on her door saying that julie knew who had her phone
later that day the founder of daniela's phone called julie again this time offering to
meet her in person to hand it over julie repeated her request that he'd drop it at pf
changs where the staff would keep it safe until daniella arrived for her next shift by 4 pm
julie still hadn't heard from daniella she went over to her apartment only to find the note the building manager had
pinned to the front door was still there daniela wasn't at home further supporting julie's theory that
she must be recovering from the night before at a friend's house julie was certain she would either call
at some point as she knew julie's phone number by heart or would turn up the following day
daniela's four-year-old daughter cora had been visiting relatives for the past week
and julie knew that there was no way daniela would miss her little girl's homecoming
the next morning of thursday july 19 the man who found daniella's phone called again
julie was growing irritated and a little confused as to why he kept calling her instead of dropping the phone at
daniela's work like she'd requested as he seemed reluctant to do so julie told him to hold on to the phone
and she would let him know as soon as daniella got in touch the men asked if they should be
concerned to which julie assured him that there was nothing to worry about it struck julie as odd that this
stranger was showing so much concern [Music] [Music] daniella nicole vayne was born in
roswell new mexico on march 8 1993 to mother joy and a biological father she never knew
when she was very young her stepfather bill vayne legally adopted her and she took on his
surname bill was in the military and the family moved around often growing up daniela had a reasonable
rapport with her stepfather but her relationship with her mother was reportedly tumultuous
as a result daniella spent much of her adolescence cow chopping and staying with friends
while the vains were stationed at the fort riley military base in north central kansas
daniela later adopted the instagram username at former street kid in reference to her
teenage years although it's unclear whether she was kicked out of home or was transient by choice
fort riley is one of the largest and oldest military installations in the united states
and is home to many families of service men and women it was there that daniella met julie's
son tyler sean thomas who was a couple of years her senior the two had a lot in common both had
grown up in america's bible belt region in military families who believed in god
guns and patriotism their military upbringings had required them to move from base to base
which meant constant disruptions and a loss of friendship tyres as such they had both developed the necessary
resilience and ability to adapt like daniela tyler never knew his biological father and had been adopted
by his stepfather patrick tyler as a baby although the military subculture brought
them together there was no immediate romantic connection between tyler and daniela
when tyler was 18 he married another girl but it didn't last long soon after tyler followed his stepfather's
footsteps and signed up for the military taking on a communications role he was deployed to both iraq and
afghanistan where he used social media to keep in touch with his old circle of friends
particularly daniela the two found they had other things in common besides military life such as an
interest in tattoos and were both artistically talented when tyler returned to the united states
he hastily greeted his parents at their home in mobile alabama before making the three-hour trip to
visit 18-year-old daniella their rekindled friendship quickly grew into a relationship
and they officially started dating tyler returned to the military where he spent six
months before being discharged as soon as he was finished he asked daniela to move with him to mobile
mobile is part of america's bible belt an informal region in the country's southeast that encompasses more than a
dozen states with a conservative culture the overall crime rate is 126 higher than the national average with
violent crimes such as rape homicide and aggravated assault trending upwards over the past 10 years
it has close to the highest crime rate of anywhere in alabama and almost double the national average
murder rate in mobile individuals have a 1 in 17 chance of becoming a victim of any crime
and a 1 in 132 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime mobile has a history of economic swings
with much of its income derived from a robust domestic and international shipping industry through
the mobile ports the western neighborhoods where tyler thomas's family lived were characterized by pawn shops payday
loans dollar stores fast food chains and billboards advertising no win no fee personal injury lawyers
the most popular activities in the area besides hunting all typically involved water
with the residents taking advantage of mobile bay the mobile river delta and the nearby
gulf of mexico to take part in sailing fishing kayaking swimming diving or just hanging out on
the beach daniela vayne didn't hesitate to move to mobile with tyler but as the couple had no money they
moved in with tyler's parents julie and patrick and his brother pj from that moment on daniela only had
sporadic contact with her own family preferring to blend in with the thomas family instead
from the outset tyler into daniela's relationship was rocky tyler hadn't been the same since
leaving the military he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and didn't respond
well to conventional treatment instead he self-medicated with the drugs which culminated in a heroin habit
tyler was no stranger to the police and was arrested for various felony and misdemeanor offences
yet daniela and tyler loved each other they both designed tattoos and over time daniella required several including a
mandala style flower on her left shoulder a grey outline of an elephant on her right wrist an outline of a heart
a buddha and an american flag with a unicorn where the stars should be on her inside right thigh
on her left collarbone she had a matching tattoo to tyler which was the image of two graveyard
headstones sitting side by side inside the tombstones were the words to die by your side
in early 2013 daniela and tyler discovered that they were going to be parents determined to provide a good life for
their newborn they got their own apartment in mobile and prepared to become a family
their daughter cora was born in late 2013 but for the first month she was placed
into the custody of her grandparents julie and patrick daniela and tyler tried to make things
work but it soon became evident that their own house wasn't a healthy environment
in which to raise their daughter although daniela yearned to be a good mother she felt the only way to do so was to
let cora stay at tyler's parents house most of the time tyler's heroin addiction continued to be
a major issue resulting in several arrests and stints in rehab the couple fought constantly accusing
one another of infidelity and their arguments sometimes turned into physical altercations
daniela bounced around a number of different jobs in restaurants and bars around mobile she made friends
easily enough but due to her busy work schedule her friends tended to be workmates
in order to sustain herself through double shifts she sometimes turned to vivance a
prescription amphetamine used to treat adhd similar to the better known adderall
as well as increasing alertness and decreasing appetite vivants can cause the user to become
jittery and anxious it is tightly controlled as it can easily be abused and cause
dependence daniela didn't have a prescription but sourced the drug via other methods
on march 25 2015 during one of the many rough patches in the couple's relationship
tyler filed a petition against daniela for custody of korra in it he wrote i have been the sole provider for korra
since she was born i am the only parent with a driver's license and the only parent with a
steady work history i have gathered evidence of daniella using drugs around korra and evidence of her being unfit as
a mother i have been doing everything in my power to have contact with my daughter
and it has been denied i do not plan on keeping korra from her mother i simply need a way back into my
daughter's life when the case came up in family court in october tyler failed to appear and the judge
dismissed the application by this point cora was living with julie and patrick who started to discuss taking on full
custody although daniela missed having korra with her all the time she knew the stability that julie and
patrick could provide was in cora's best interests tyler's heroin addiction continued to
worsen and in early 2016 he went to jail for breaking and entering during his incarceration
daniela started dating other people but she and tyler reunited after his release
despite the toxic nature of their relationship she told her concerned friends that
tyler wasn't just her boyfriend and the father of her child but had also been her best friend
for seven years he continued to spend time in and out of jail living with daniela in their apartment whenever he
was released even when they weren't romantically involved towards the end of 2017 tyler was
serving time for failing a drug test that was a condition of his probation he was then moved into rehab where he
was allowed to spend one day a week out with daniela upon his release daniella announced that she was pregnant
tyler was overjoyed and vowed to stay clean after they visited the doctor and established the time of conception
however it became clear that tyler couldn't be the father nevertheless he told daniela he would
support her throughout the pregnancy until she gave the child up for adoption by december daniela had started to show
and tyler lashed out in anger and humiliation at being faced with proof of her infidelity
the situation became untenable for daniela and she decided to try and reconnect with her mother
joy who was living in north carolina daniella wanted to go back to college and work toward
some sort of future for herself cora and perhaps the new baby she also wanted to get away from mobile
and put some distance between herself and tyler cora stayed behind with julie and
patrick while daniella traveled to north carolina but the move was short-lived daniela missed cora and tyler so she
soon returned to mobile upon her return daniella started working at pf changs where one of her fellow servers
hannah jakubowski took her under her wing when daniela told her she didn't have a car
because tyler had erected some time earlier hannah offered her a ride home and the
two were delighted to discover they lived just minutes away from one another [Music]
they struck up a friendship and from then on hannah gave daniella a lift to and from
pf chang's nearly every shift even if hannah herself wasn't working the two women were
similar in many ways and when hannah started attending cosmetology school daniela was only too happy to help out
she let hannah try out hair colors and styles on her as she enjoyed changing her style often
at various times daniela had blonde brown red blue green and even multi-coloured hair
daniela worked almost every single day and often pulled double shifts in a bid to save
money she needed enough to fund her upcoming maternity leave and also hoped to buy a car which would
give her freedom and the ability to see korra whenever she wanted the father of daniela's unborn baby had
no interest in raising his child but offered financial support if she wanted to bring
the child up herself daniela decided to proceed with an open adoption which meant she was able
to meet potential adoptive parents after screening through applications daniela decided on a married couple from
mobile a teacher and a police officer on june 6 2018 daniella gave birth to a baby boy
the adoptive parents joined her during the birth and she let them cut the umbilical cord
hoping it would help form an immediate bond for the new family the adoptive parents were willing for
the child to know who daniela was but she didn't think that was a good idea under alabama law the birth mother can
change her mind for up to five days after the adoption but daniela and her son's adoptive
parents established an agreement that she would have up to six months on the day of the birth tyler overdosed
on heroin in his car but an ambulance resuscitated him with narcan which immediately negated the effects of
the drug tyler proceeded to the hospital as though nothing had happened and it was there to support daniela
through the birth of her little boy afterwards he turned himself in to be put back in
jail for once again violating the conditions of his parole on the evening of the birth daniella
sent a text message to julie to say she was sore but okay and that she hadn't yet seen her baby
and wasn't sure if she wanted to she wrote a letter for her son which she gave to his adoptive parents to give to
him on his 18th birthday she then left the hospital without holding her baby boy
despite reassuring julie that she was in good health daniela had experienced complications
during labor that continued after she left the hospital she was in a great deal of pain and was
bleeding heavily but three days after the birth daniella returned to work determined to save money
she pushed herself hard and didn't give herself time to heal instead she relied on
norco a strong prescription painkiller similar to the better known vicodin which can cause drowsiness
users are warned never to mix norco with the alcohol with the birth and adoption complete and
tyler back in jail daniella seemed more motivated than ever to work toward a better life for herself
and cora her main priority was buying a car as she didn't like being reliant on friends and
tyler's family to drive her around on june 17 less than two weeks after giving birth daniella wrote a list of
goals in her journal using fancy writing and illustrating the page with tattoo style pictures
she had successfully saved up enough money to place a down payment on a car and was taking the
necessary steps to secure the one she wanted her dreams and goals for what came next
related mostly to korra daniella wrote that she wanted to get cora's bedroom together
take her to school every day get her involved with a sport or dance and have cora sleep over 80
percent of the time the other goals related to getting her finances under control
by paying down her bank overdraft and credit card she also wanted to start school and
focus on being more positive at the top of the page daniello wrote we need to see what the world could be
not what it is on monday july 16 2018 daniela went to the pearl motors car dealership to purchase a dark blue
2014 chevrolet cruise pearl motors was a buy here pay here dealership which meant it specialized in older used
cars with high mileage for clients with a bad credit history buy here pay here dealers often provide
on-site financing options for those who are unable to get credit elsewhere offering loans with higher interest
rates the loan comes directly from the dealer who will often stipulate that the repayments have to be made in person
in cash the car daniela wanted was worth around ten thousand dollars which required a down payment of fifteen
hundred dollars pearl motors agreed to let her pay 1 000 of the down payment in cash with the
remaining 500 to be paid by the end of the month however she had to pay for her insurance via a
bank transfer which was a problem as daniela's bank account was overdrawn she didn't have enough money to pay the
full amount owed to her overdrawn account as well as her insurance so she decided to deposit the cash into
julie's account from which the insurance would then be paid perl motors required a number of
documents from daniela including a letter of recommendation from her landlord stating she was reliable in paying her
rent she burrowed julie's car and spent the day going back and forth getting all of the
paperwork together so that she could pick up the car the next day when she finally got everything sorted
she returned to the car to julie's house in the afternoon it was just six weeks since she had
given birth and she was exhausted and still in pain daniella lay down on the couch and took her painkillers
she was staying at julie's that night julie's husband patrick son pj and little cora were away visiting patrick's
sister in selma about a three-hour drive north they had been away for almost a week and
were due back in mobile on thursday july 19. julie and daniela discussed their upcoming plans
the following day julie intended to drive daniela to the bank and then to pearl motors to pick up her
car once daniela had the car she wanted to go shopping for some school supplies for
cora including a tie-dyed backpack the little girl had previously admired after that daniela planned to meet up
with some friends and to go out for a celebratory drink on thursday when cora and the rest of
the family were due back daniela would return to julie's to surprise her daughter with the backpack
and stay overnight so they could cuddle up together as they discussed their plans daniella
barely moved she apologized to julie for being so tired saying this medicine just makes me
really sleepy on the morning of tuesday july 17 2018 daniella rose early all of the paperwork
required to finalize her car purchase was in a large envelope that she shoved into her large
satchel type handbag julie then drove daniella to the bank as planned so she could deposit cash into
julie's account to pay for her car insurance just after 11am julie dropped daniela
off at pearl motors and waited out the front as she signed the paperwork and picked up the keys
ten minutes later daniela finally sat in her chevy cruise and got the final rundown on its
features these included a global positioning system or gps that would be attached to the car to
track all of daniella's movements until the car had been paid off this was designed to make repossession
of the car easier if a buyer failed to make their repayments the gps plugged into a port under the
steering column and would ping the car's location every four minutes when it was in motion
and every four hours when the vehicle wasn't in use if it became disconnected the company
would receive an alert and would go in search of the car daniella had signed an acknowledgement
that the gps was there and that she would not attempt to remove it at 11 35 am julie waved
daniella off as she left the car yard from there daniela drove the 24-minute journey to her home
at the 701 south apartments complex on university boulevard she hadn't been going out lately but was
determined to celebrate her new purchase although it was a tuesday daniella was optimistic she would
find someone willing to go out for a few drinks as most of her friends worked in the
hospitality industry in addition the 89th major league baseball all-star game was on that night and
would be televised alive making it more likely that people would be out and about
mobile was a baseball mad city having produced more baseball hall of famers than any other
city in the us outside of new york and chicago daniela remained at home for several
hours and in the afternoon she started making plans for the evening just before 4 20 p.m she texted her
friend and co-worker hannah to ask if she was at work as daniela was thinking of heading over to
the mall where pf changs was located to buy cora's school supplies hannah responded that she would be
starting work at five o'clock a few minutes later daniela sent a facebook message
to randy capps a former co-worker she used to work with at a bar called hurricane grill and
wings as the bar was in the same area as her errands daniella considered stopping by for a
drink randy responded that he was indeed working that night but he now worked at heroes sports bar
and grill where she would be welcome to come by daniella responded but i don't like it
going to a place i've never been before hurricanes is just along the way of whatever responsible things i have to
get done so i can stop by and drink mid bill paying randy replied ella well i hear well i'm here
not like you don't know anyone at 5 20 pm daniela left her apartment dressed casually in black leggings
a dark colored shirt with a mellow mushroom pizza chain logo on the pocket and black high-top
converse sneakers her ever-changing hair was currently dark brown with red tips around the
fringe and she wore it up in a ponytail she also wore a pink baseball cap that had a cartoon donut sewn on the front
the type favored by cartoon character homer simpson daniela stopped at a small strip mall on
university drive before continuing to the shops mall at bel air at 5 50 pm a shopping center offering a
mix of department stores specialty shops cafes and restaurants pf changs sits on the outside of the
mall just to the right of the main entrance at the mall daniella bumped into a co-worker
and the two had a brief exchange with daniela saying how relieved she was to finally have a car
she couldn't stop the chat long because she was on a mission to buy cora a backpack for school
after she was done shopping daniella made the 18-minute journey to hiro's sports bar and grill where her former
colleague randy was on duty behind the bar at 35 years old randy was 10 years older
than daniela he had a checkered past with previous arrests for drug possession possession of stolen property and
driving under the influence just after 6 30 pm daniela settled in at the bar where she could chat to randy
between him serving drinks heroes was a large sports bar with multiple televisions
screening various sporting events the two chattered and before long two more of randy's friends entered the bar
and sat nearby they were dense and white who was aged in his early 40s and mallory miller kenworthy who was in
her mid-30s denson mallory and durandy all played on the same softball team there was supposed to be a game that
night but it had been called off due to the rain so mallory and denson had decided to go to heroes to watch the
all-stars game denson mallory and daniela sat together watching the game and chatting to randy
while he worked behind the bar it was daniela's first time meeting danson but she and mallory
had met before as they had friends in the same social circles mallory had a newborn baby and like
daniela it was her first night out since giving birth six weeks earlier denson had just returned from a work
trip away and had driven to heroes in his rental car he worked for apm terminals at the
mobile port a busy dock where 1200 shipping containers went in and out on an average day
denson was a deal maker who had received many honors for the business he brought
into mobile at 7 14 pm daniela responded to a text from julie regarding some local gossip
one minute later at 7 15 she messaged her friend and colleague hannah to say she hadn't seen her car near pf
chang's when she stopped at the mall hannah responded that she was indeed working that evening
at 7 36 pm daniella messaged hannah again saying i'm drinking happily at a sports
bar to which hannah replied hell yes taking advantage of the freedom daniella mallory and denson made plans
to move on to dublin pub and eatery just half a mile down the road it was an irish themed bar that had
opened two months earlier with live music and a lot more atmosphere than heroes they agreed to meet randy at a third bar
ollie's mediterranean grill when he finished work later that night ollie's was another former workplace of
daniela's and was closer to her apartment randy expected to finish work around 11
pm and said he would text them when he was leaving at 8 25 pm daniela sent a text
to hannah that read okay i'm going to drive now but should i i don't know she had consumed a few drinks while at
heroes but didn't appear to be drunk however it's possible that she may have taken a couple of her norco
painkillers which could result in serious side effects when mixed with alcohol at 8 57 pm daniela and
denson became facebook friends and denson sent daniela an invitation to a party at his house that was to be held a
couple of weeks later at 9 12 pm daniela hugged randy goodbye and she denson and mallory left heroes
for their next destination as soon as daniela was outside she sent two facebook messages to randy but he didn't
respond to either at 9 16 pm she attempted to call hannah who was still working and didn't answer
at 9 46 p.m daniela sent hannah a short video via the messaging app snapchat of her
sitting alone in the driver's seat of her car the clip contained nothing out of the
ordinary although hannah did notice that daniela appeared to be a little intoxicated
as is the case with snapchat messages the video played once before being automatically deleted
hannah tried to call daniela shortly afterwards but there was no answer according to the gps records in
daniella's car she left the hero's car park at 10 05 pm nearly one hour after exiting the bar
it isn't known whether she stayed in the car park by herself the entire time or caught a lift to dublin's earlier
with denson or mallory before returning for her car later at 1008 pm daniela's car pulled into
dublin's where she continued socializing with denson and mallory at some point mallory announced that she
was going to a pool hall called the runway bar to catch up with friends and would meet up with daniella denson
and randy later at ollies however denson said he had decided to go home instead of continuing on
at 10 44 pm randy sent daniella a facebook message to let her know he was about to finish
work and would head straight to wally's one minute later at 10 45 pm daniela denson and mallory each left to
dublins in their separate vehicles randy arrived the dollies three minutes later
unable to find the group he called denson at 10 57 pm but there was no answer so he settled in to wait for the others
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wherever you get your podcasts the drive from dublin's to ollies was only 2.8 miles
and required a left turn out of the car park denson's house was in the opposite direction and required a right turn
according to the gps data from daniella's car upon leaving the car park she also took
a right turn which was odd given she knew the area incredibly well and was fully aware that ollie's was in
the opposite direction mallory saw this maneuver and noted it as strange but continued on to the runway bar to
meet her friends without giving it much thought denson later said he wasn't aware that
daniela was following him until 15 minutes later when they were passing through a quiet industrial area
and she flashed her lights to indicate she wanted him to pull over although there were open gas stations at
a waffle house nearby at 1105 pm the two cars pulled into a dark closed shell gas station at 3550
government boulevard in mobile once they stopped daniella told denson that she had lost her mobile phone
at 1107 pm the gps in her car made its final location call the gps installed by pearl motors was
plugged securely into an outlet underneath the steering wheel and was highly unlikely to come out
accidentally the fact that it made its final signal at 1107 pm indicated it had either been unplugged
or that a fuse had blown either coincidentally or because it had been tampered with
after this it stopped sending locations back to the base denson then called daniella's phone via
facebook messenger it is unclear why he did this instead of dialing her number but the most likely reason is that
daniella had a habit of losing and changing phones and hadn't yet memorized her own number
it would have been even more difficult for her to remember if she was under the influence
meanwhile mallory had arrived at ollie's after a short stop at the runway bar and was sitting with randy waiting for
daniela to arrive at 11 17 pm denson called randy explaining that daniella had lost her
phone and he was going back to dublin's to look for it at 11 24 pm both daniela and de denson's car drove out of the
shell gas station and turned towards dublin's daniela followed denson for a while
before making a turn towards a more populated part of town just over 10 minutes later at 11 37 pm
denson sent mallory a text message from dublin's that contained a selfie of him standing at the bar
underneath the photo he wrote getting phone just got back here but somehow lost to daniella
a server at dublin's had found daniela's phone on the back of a car and placed it behind the bar for safe
keeping denson retrieved it from the bartender and at 11 52 pm he called daniela via facebook
messenger it's unclear why he tried to do so considering he had her phone and she presumably had no way of
answering the call when there was no answer denson wrote daniela a facebook message
that read call me dublin had your phone at approximately midnight denson drove to wally's
where randy and mallory told him that daniela hadn't shown up at 1204 and then again at 12 33 am
denson attempted a video calling daniela via facebook messenger when there was no response he asked
randy what to do with the phone randy suggested that denson take it to pf chang's the next day
where daniela could be reunited with it on her next shift denson agreed and left the dublins taking daniela's phone
with him at 7 30 the next morning of wednesday july 18 hannah sent daniella a text message
asking if she was okay assuming her friend had had a big night out hannah didn't expect to receive a
response right away and after sending the text she went about her day at the same time julie thomas received a
phone call from denson to say he had found daniela's phone he gave no indication that he knew
daniela personally or had been with her the previous night julie was under the impression
that he was a complete stranger she told denson to drop the phone off at daniela's workplace
but he didn't follow this suggestion instead he called julie twice more throughout
the course of the day she eventually told him to just hang on to the phone and that daniella would be in touch once she
reappeared on thursday july 19 julie's husband patrick son pj and granddaughter cora returned
home from their week-long visit to see patrick's family over lunch cora told julie all about the
trip away as the afternoon wore on julie anticipated daniela would walk through the door
at any moment although daniela was often late for her visits julie expected that she would have
turned up in time to welcome cora home after a week away and couldn't help but be annoyed by her tardiness
when thursday night rolled around and there was still no word from daniela julie started to worry
cora had been tucked safely in bed without a good night kiss from her mother which was highly unusual
despite any other issues going on in daniela's life she was loving and reliable when it came
to her daughter julie tried privately messaging daniela on facebook which was daniella's preferred method of
contact she kept checking to see whether there was a response but the message hadn't been viewed and
facebook indicated it had been two days since daniela was last active unsure what else to do
julie posted a message for daniela on her public facebook feed asking her to get in touch
when daniella's friend hannah arrived at work that evening one of her colleagues asked if she had
spoken to daniela as no one had been able to get a hold of her hannah realised she had never received a
response to the text message she'd sent to daniela the previous morning she texted her again via phone and
facebook messenger but received no response sensing something was wrong hannah messaged mutual friends to see if anyone
had heard from daniela one person responded that on tuesday night daniela had mentioned
she was going to hero's sports bar and grill hannah called heroes and asked the manager to check the car park for a dark
blue chevy cruise but there was no car there matching that description the manager offered to check who had
been working on tuesday night to see if anyone recalled seeing daniela he called hannah back shortly after to
say that the bartender on duty randy capps confirmed that daniela had been at heroes and had been hanging out with
denson white and mallory miller kenworthy hannah didn't know danson but was able
to track him down through facebook at 9 17 pm on thursday july 19 she sent him a
facebook message that said hey i'm daniela's friend we haven't heard from her since tuesday
night and we are all very concerned if you know where she could be at or have any information
please message me back later that night denson called hannah to say that he hadn't seen daniela since
tuesday night but he had her phone and had been trying to return it to her afterwards hannah drove to daniela's
apartment but found no sign of her there she sent another message to daniela on facebook
that said hey what's up everybody's worried the next morning of friday july 20 hannah drove by daniella's apartment
on her way to cosmetology school but it was clear that she hadn't been home daniela was scheduled to work at 10 a.m
shift at p.f chang's so hannah dropped by the restaurant to see if she had shown up
realising she hadn't hannah called julie and then messaged denson to let them know that there was still
no sign of daniella julie hannah and denson exchanged a flurry of calls and text messages and decided it was time to
report daniela missing although it wasn't unusual for the fun-loving 25 year old to be out of
contact for a day or two the fact she had missed work and hadn't shown up to greet her daughter
were both major red flags julie and denson arranged to meet at the police station on airport boulevard and
doors where julie could file a missing person's report and denson could hand over the phone and
make a statement once there they were instructed to go to the office on government street where
the missing person's liaison unit was located on the way julie called hannah to ask if
she knew the six-digit number to unlock daniella's phone hannah advised that it was daniela's employee number
and she gave this number to julie once julie had unlocked the phone she read through
all of the text messages daniela had sent and received during the past week and also listened
to her voicemail by the time julie arrived at the missing persons liaison unit denson had provided his statement to the
police hannah also arrived to make a statement about how out of character it was for daniela to
be out of contact for so long and not to show for her shift when she needed money the most
julie provided as much information as she could and surrendered daniella's phone to the
police an officer later accompanied her to daniela's apartment where a crime scene officer met them to
conduct an assessment but nothing seemed to be missing or out of the ordinary [Music]
when julie returned home she logged on to her computer where daniela had saved the login
details for her various social media accounts she signed into daniella's facebook
account where she noticed several missed calls from danson white at 11 11 pm on the night daniella was
last seen just minutes after the gps on her car pinged for the last time denson's
facebook account had left a voice message to daniella's account it appeared to have been left by
accident and featured rustling noises accompanied by a female voice believed to be
daniella's warning some listeners may find the following audio clip distressing i remember even having a double ear
a minute later another seemingly accidental voice message was left from denson's facebook account to
daniella's featuring much of the same rustling noises as well as a muffled male voice
speaking to the female and instructing her not to touch something oh careful down there
you don't want to touch that julie called the police to tell them about the voice messages
and they advised her not to log back into daniella's facebook account in case it tainted evidence
when julie inquired about cctv footage that may have been captured at the various locations daniela had visited
the police told her no such footage had been found julie was therefore shocked when a news
outlet reporting on daniella's disappearance featured cctv footage from the shell gas
station where the last confirmed sighting of her had taken place the footage was dark and grainy with
poor visibility but it showed a car pull in at the shell at 1105 pm seconds later another car pulled in
beside the first a couple of minutes later the second car left and then immediately after another one
pulled in given the poor quality it was impossible to tell whether the second car had a left and
returned or if a different third vehicle drove in after the second car departed no people were visible in
the footage due to its poor quality julie called the police demanding to know why the footage was being aired on
television when she was told that no footage existed rather than responding law enforcement
officials contacted the news station and demanded the footage be removed the news outlet complied but no further
explanation was given for the police action on tuesday july 24 less than one week
after daniella was last seen julie and her husband patrick attended court to finalize
custody arrangements for cora this process had already been going on for several months prior to daniela's
disappearance with daniela's full cooperation and a majority of the paperwork had already
been signed and filed the plan had been that daniela would give julie and patrick full custody of
korra until she could get her life in order it was clear from daniela's journal entries about
organizing cora's bedroom and having her sleep over 80 percent of the time that she hoped to
regain custody sooner rather than later daniella had always planned to attend the court hearing
but as she didn't show up julie and patrick were awarded custody of korra the following day tyler was released
from jail and returned to the apartment he shared with daniela he immediately took the few items of
value that daniela owned including her video gaming system and television and pawned them when julie found out
she bought the items back that same day the mobile police confirmed that the case had been handed
over to the homicide squad they also released a statement clarifying that while homicide
detectives were involved there wasn't any evidence to suggest that a homicide had occurred
as the gps device was no longer functioning on daniella's car perl motors hadn't been able to track
its location and there had been no reported sightings of the chevy cruze anywhere
investigators were monitoring daniela's bank account activity and were alerted that her visa debit
card had been used at a gas station however this was linked back to tyler who had found the debit card when he had
gone through the apartment hannah had been a frequent visitor to daniela's apartment
and on friday july 27 tyler gave her a key and asked if she noticed anything unusual or out of place
hannah noted that all of daniela's possessions were still there including her makeup clothes and
her phone charger it was not the scene of someone who had chosen to run away the police also searched the apartment
daniella kept a whiteboard with a record of her goals and to the amount of money she had saved
so that she could keep track of her progress based on the figures on the board daniela had around
twelve hundred dollars cash left in savings but if that money was in the apartment
there is no official record of it being found tyler was unable to maintain the apartment's rental payments
and was soon evicted the building manager wouldn't allow julie in to collect daniella's possessions instead dumping
them unceremoniously on the pavement outside and letting julie know she could come
and collect them julie went directly over to pick up everything daniela owned then she and tyler examined all of
the items but they found no clues as to where daniela might be on friday september 14 almost
two months since daniela's disappearance mobile police responded to a complaint of unlawful imprisonment and sexual
abuse at a home in the town of theodore 14 miles south of mobile three people were detained and a man
named jason corey dykes was arrested on charges of domestic violence strangulation assault and unlawful
imprisonment jason who was julie dark's thomas's nephew was accused of locking a former
girlfriend in a room where he beat and raped her according to multiple sources the
alleged victim claimed that jason had said something threatening about daniela vayenne
however a raid of the property turned up nothing of interest in the vayane investigation
and police determined that jason's alleged crimes were unrelated to daniela's disappearance
the allegations were later proven to be false and jason was cleared of all charges and
ruled out as a person of interest in daniela's investigation daniela's loved ones were frustrated by
the lack of progress in the case julie set up a gofundme campaign to raise money
which she used to print out flyers that were handed out and put into letterboxes in the area
she also had billboards mounted that featured daniela's photo and details about her disappearance
just before christmas a frustrated hannah left a one-star review on the mobile police department's
facebook page writing daniella vayne has been missing for five months five months her
baby girl hasn't seen her mum five months daniela hasn't gotten to hold her daughter
five months her family has had to sit around and wonder when we will all get answers
the mobile police department knows who she was with last but they say they have run out of leads
it's crazy that mobile police will post about robberies stolen property and post surveillance
videos asking for help but not for daniela they post about awards police officers are receiving
but can't post one missing picture of daniela they should hand out awards to police
officers that find missing people not stolen property daniella was stolen a person was stolen
not some groceries a person i have lost all faith in the mobile police department
i have hope that some way or another daniela and all the missing girls from mobile
will be found but it won't be from the help of the mobile police department they sweep the missing under the rug
daniela's friends and family maintained pressure on the police to ensure they continued
the search several vigils had been held since daniela's disappearance and on march 8
2019 20 of daniela's loved ones gathered in medal of honor park to commemorate what would have been her
26th birthday julie purposefully kept cora away as she didn't want the young girl to associate
birthdays with sadness although all the local news outlets were informed only one member of
the media attended a prayer was said and then candles were lit on cupcakes as daniela's friends and family
sang happy birthday months continued to go by without any reported sightings of daniela or her car
and no further clues emerged realised how important it was that cora received as much support as possible
and stepped up in his role as parent he stopped using drugs and focused on getting a job
so he could provide for his daughter with his love for korra motivating him to make
better decisions many theories were put forth by those who knew daniela and by internet sleuths who became
obsessed with the unresolved case the theories ranged from daniela running away to start a new life
to accidentally driving her car into a body of water to ending her own life the more sinister
theories suggest that she was the victim of a botched carjacking that she went to score drugs and was
attacked in the process or was deliberately targeted to settle a debt one of the more extreme theories was
that she fell victim to the sex trafficking trade no evidence emerged to support any of
these one of the most astonishing details of the case was that daniella's car hadn't been
spotted as it had only been purchased on the day of her disappearance it didn't yet have permanent license
plates and still bore the dealer tags while this would have made it easier to spot
it also may have made the car an attractive target for thieves who could give it a new identity
in a chop shop the individuals who were last seen with daniella denson white malory miller
kenworthy and randy capps all cooperated with the police but elected not to provide any
statements to the media one day julie and to the now five-year-old cora were driving in the car when korra
suddenly asked has mummy passed on julie was surprised and asked korra where she heard such a thing
cora replied i've been having dreams about mummy i have dreams about her all the time
mummy said that she's passed on but she'll still come to see me all the time julie said she was unable to answer the
question but reassured cora that they would keep looking for daniela no matter what although cora seemed
content with understanding that her mother wasn't coming home julie was determined to get answers for
the young girl so she didn't spend her whole life trying to find out the truth of what
happened life went on with the julie continuing her efforts to find daniela by searching online and
contacting media outlets including case file case file became involved in the story
in december 2018 and had ongoing contact with several of daniela's family members
friends and associates who provided information that led to the creation of this episode
in the last week of april 2019 nine and a half months after daniella went missing
an off-duty sergeant for the mobile police department dive team was mapping out areas for
training exercises at the bayou sarah river in saraland approximately 17 miles north of the
shell gas station where daniela was last seen the bayoucera is a long wide and gentle
stream that expands out from the mobile river the main access point to the river is
via the bayou sierra boat launch a public park in a quiet residential area that's popular with locals for fishing
boating swimming and other water activities the park is surrounded by tall trees
shrubbery and grass with a long wooden footbridge extending along the banks of the water
towards the drop-off of the bayou sera public boat launch where the water reached between 20 and
30 feet deep the sergeant noticed something unusual he marked the spot using a gps
recognizing it as a training opportunity for the dive team to investigate further
on thursday may 2 2019 the sergeant returned to the area along with the dive team
and additional equipment they quickly identified the submerged item to be a vehicle
and notified the police department that they had located what was most likely a stolen car
upon further inspection it was determined that the vehicle was a dark blue chevy
cruze with pearl motors tags and that there were human remains inside due to the sensitive nature of the crime
scene the vehicle and body were left underwater as investigators consulted experts to determine the best plan of
action to retrieve them while preserving evidence in the meantime the mobile police
department stated they would be treating the case as a homicide until an autopsy could confirm for
certain on friday may 3 the vehicle was retrieved from the murky water and drained on site there was damage to
the front panels on both sides but other than that the vehicle was in relatively good condition
the car and remains were then transferred to a secure facility to be thoroughly examined
in a press conference mobile police chief lawrence batiste revealed that the vehicle belonged to
daniela vayne but that due to the level of decomposition it could be weeks before the body was
formally identified he did confirm that the body belonged to an adult female but couldn't say how long the vehicle
had been in the water or whether it had been pushed or driven in when asked if the body was in the
driver's seat chief batiste said he couldn't confirm the exact position it was found in
he added that given the amount of time the car had spent underwater it was unlikely that investigators would be
able to determine where the body was originally positioned when it entered the river
investigators had scoured other bodies of water during previous searches for daniella but never
in sarah land caseval spoke to daniella's friend shana hayden who had been involved in the search from
the outset shana said there was absolutely no reason for daniela to be in the sarah
land area and she was therefore convinced fair play was involved shana said daniela wouldn't have driven
that far without her phone as she wasn't familiar with the area she believed someone had either driven
daniela's car out there or rode in the vehicle with her another theory is that her car could
have been towed to that location when speaking to the press shana said i don't think daniela drove her car 20
some odd miles north of mobile and a drove into a boat launch she loves cora and never would have done
that it's not plausible even though it does bring some closure it just kind of brings up this
whole other box of what ifs and hows and whose we are content with knowing what has
happened and now we just need to find out who did it it'll only be a matter of time before
the truth does come out a co-worker of daniella's named christy meisner told the press that daniela viewed the
purchase of her new car as the start of her new life but that quote it wound up being a curse
which is really hard for a lot of us to wrap our brains around the person who did this is not going to
get away with it we won't stop just as hard as we were searching for her they will come down it will happen
a resident of the bayou sarah area voiced her opinion to local news station nbc 15 that given the amount of boat
traffic fishing and swimming that occurred in the river there was no way the vehicle had been
there undetected for over nine months she said that locals didn't notice anything out of the ordinary
and that no skid marks or tire tracks were ever reported on the boat ramp on sunday may 5 julie dykes thomas told
the press that although the family was still waiting for the results of dna testing
she believed the body found in the car was daniela she stated it's just a numbing
realisation that she's really gone that's what you've been working for for so long and striving for
and begging for and praying for when you finally get that it's not closure [Music]
on the evening of friday may 10 one week after the vehicle was found a candlelit vigil was held at the bayou
sarah boat launch for members of the community to lay flowers and pay their condolences to
daniela's friends and family a friend told those gathered everyone here has prayed for this and
granted it's not the outcome that we wanted it was our prayers and our pushing that got
us here help us figure out what happened so we can get justice and she can rest peacefully
i don't think that her car ending up 17 miles from the last place that she was seeing is an accident
um yeah you have to get in your car and either drive down the interstate or drive through town to
a whole nother town or suburb city of mobile and then go back through this winding
neighborhood you know over railroad tracks making this curvy road that kind of goes back and forth
and tucks into this neighborhood it's not an area that's just right off the road that you would you know
accidentally drive into you kind of have to know where you're going to get there
you know it's not a real publicized area that you know gets uh gets a lot of attention i mean a lot of
people know about it but it's just kind of one of those like hidden spots tucked away you know
you know of it because you grew up there or you know somebody took you there or whatever it's not
it's not a place that you just get in your car and accidentally drive to it's just
just that night overall i mean i do think that it's possible that there was an accident that happened that
night but i don't think that her her and her car ending up the water miles from where she was last
known to be um was an accident and also you know i don't know if other people will will really understand
it but fair land here um is like one of those places that you you don't drive through
if you're messed up um you know how they're like you know but you shouldn't drive when you're drunk
but you know how there are places that you just know to avoid if you're doing something
wrong i mean whether you're drinking or whatever it may be center land is kind of one of those
places like they have that kind of police force that just doesn't really it kind of takes no [ __ ] so that that's
kind of the other thing with us is you know for her not only to have driven from
the show to the launch but to have driven through stairland in the shape that we heard her in on the
audio and not having a path of destruction or anything from from a to b is i'm not saying it can't happen but it's
just it's pretty i mean you'd think that something would have happened up until then you know she
sideswiped a guardrail or a car or you know a mailbox or whatever drove through somebody's yard especially on
that road leading back to the launch because it literally is like a snake i mean you
come off of 43 you go over some railroad tracks it snakes to the right a little bit snakes to the left you
go straight for a minute and then you snake back to the right through a fork in the road that goes three
different ways you know what i mean and one of those is the dead end and the other two comes to a stop sign or then
you have to take a left to go to the launch so it's just a lot to it more than just getting in your car and
driving down the road [Music] on may 14 mobile police confirmed the body belonged to 25 year old daniella
vayanne and announced that the evidence indicated her death was the result of an
accident early investigation had revealed that certain manipulations to the inside of
the vehicle indicated that daniela had been alive when her car entered the river the vehicle was in
park which they believed daniella had done in a panic when her car hit the water
daniela's family were told that she was found in the driver's seat with no seat belt on
according to sources the keys were still in the ignition but the car was not turned on
the emergency brake was set all the doors were locked and the rear window on the driver's side
was down about two inches buttons that enabled the driver to lower any one of the
vehicles four windows were located on the driver's side door with a button to unlock all the doors
located in the center of the dashboard this raised the question that if daniela was in the driver's seat
and conscious at the time her vehicle entered the water why hadn't she attempted to unlock the
doors or open her window preliminary autopsy results didn't reveal any trauma to her body
but given the level of decomposition and amount of time she had spent in the water
the official cause of death was unable to be determined [Music] similarly the results of toxicology
testing later came back inconclusive police chief lawrence batiste told nbc 15 this is still an
active investigation but everything that we have found to this point indicates to us or appears
to us to be an accidental incident he clarified that the people of mobile had nothing to worry about and that the
police quote are not looking for someone who is going around abducting women a statement released by daniela's
biological mother joy said daniela's father and i still have hope in the homicide division
due to the fact that they have not closed the case and it's still ongoing [Music]
daniela's chevy cruze was later auctioned off presumably by the relevant insurance
company and was shipped to the ukraine to be used for parts the auction notes mentioned that the
vehicle had sustained flood damage and that it came without keys photos included with the auction
documentation showed that the back passenger seat belt had been completely removed
investigators have never made any mention of this [Music] the mobile police department has been
reluctant to publicly release any further details about daniela's death they have confirmed to the family that
the investigation is open but not being actively worked on many of daniela's loved ones believe
that her death was not an accident as many unanswered questions and inconsistencies remain
in the months following the discovery of daniela vyanne's body those close to her distributed science
around mobile demanding justice for daniela around the start of 2020 several of the
signs began disappearing julie and shana continue to seek answers and hope that those who may know
something of importance will come forward [Music] [Music] you

Case 155: Danniella Vian

By 4:00 pm, Julie still hadn’t heard from Danniella. She went over to her apartment, only to find the note the building manager had pinned to the front door was still there...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Writing – Eileen Ormsby Creative direction – Milly Raso Production, scoring – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn

SOCIAL LINKS

Website https://www.casefilepodcast.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/casefile Twitter https://twitter.com/case_file Instagram https://www.instagram.com/casefilepodcast Patreon https://www.patreon.com/casefile Casefile Presents https://casefilepresents.com

RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-155-danniella-vian

Brief Summary

Daniella Vayenne's disappearance and death raise questions about foul play amid struggles with addiction and a troubled relationship.

Key points

Daniella's Journey to Motherhood. Daniella navigates the challenges of motherhood and addiction while striving for a better life.
Daniella Gets Her Car. Daniella finally picks up her new Chevy Cruze, marking a new chapter in her life.
A Night Out Begins. Daniella heads out to celebrate her new car, hoping to find friends to join her.
Lost Phone Mystery. Daniella loses her phone during a night out, leading to confusion and concern.
Family's Frustration with Police. Hannah leaves a one-star review on the police's Facebook page, expressing her anger over the lack of progress in finding Daniela.
Cora's Dream About Her Mother. Cora shares a dream with Julie, revealing her belief that her mother has passed away but will still visit her.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We need to see what the world could be, not what it is.

Daniella's hopeful outlook for the future.

22:59WatchSep 5, 2020

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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