Toni Lee Sharpless /// Part 2 /// 327 | Forensic Files

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true crime [Music] thank you after a night of drinks and dancing on August 22nd 2009 29 year old mother and
nurse Tony sharpless disappears after leaving a party in the early morning hours of August 23rd
now let's get back to the house where Tony was last seen the people whom we know to be at the home that night
according to Crystal Johns who was with her at the party police Lieutenant Frank Higgins said
that they interviewed all the people at the house that night and I believe he said that all of them were Cooperative
as well so this included Willie Green remember he's the owner of the house right and
they all seem to back up Crystal's story that Tony left the home under her own power
the police stated publicly that there was no indication whatsoever of Foul Play no one at the party was a suspect
and there were no Persons of Interest that they had uncovered in their investigation I wonder if they let them
search the property from everything that I have seen there was never a search of the property or
the house specifically Lieutenant Higgins said quote nothing took place there that
would lead us to believe that something happened there end quote so we don't know how in depth any of
these quote-unquote interviews with the people at the house were it was Elaine law a private investigator
on this case whom we discuss we'll discuss herb more in a bit she is under the impression that Willie
Green basically told the cops that it was mostly just his family there that night and that they didn't really know
anything and she says they weren't really questioned in this case to be clear as we pointed out just a minute ago
Willie Green's home was not subject to any kind of search and none of the people at his house that night aside
from Crystal have spoken about the events of that evening publicly which is I find ridiculous because this is her
last known whereabout so search the property yeah so for many people interested in this case
the quick dismissal of the party goers as potentially involved parties does not sit well and the failure to
investigate a possible crime scene is I think inexcusable Willie Green we are told as you said he
fully cooperated it does seem that the fact that a woman went missing after being at
his home in a compromised state should warrant further investigation well there was a conflict as well
right I always wondered if that conflict had truth or Merit to it or if it was something that that everybody was making
up to cover up something else yeah so Tony's friend Gigi Hayes right she's the one who organized the Texas equiseearch
search of the river yeah she regularly contacted the police demanding that Willie Green and all the
others be formally questioned she is under the impression that Matt Greene somebody else who was at the
party and the uncle of Willie and Matt Green both have criminal histories and she
says these two should have been looked into very closely repeated attempts by private
investigator Elaine law to contact Willie Green have been completely disregarded
she did not even get a return call from his attorney if he is at all concerned about the fact
that a woman disappeared from his home he certainly is not showing it so now let's ask the question captain
is Crystal telling the truth she's the only one that we've heard speak publicly about
what happened that night well I I think like you said earlier she's been pretty cooperative and she's also been very
eager to talk and to get the story out there and as the years go by she's kind of
now more reluctant to to talk about the case um is that fair to say oh agreed 100 and
and here's here's the problem with Crystal it's hard for me to really get a a fix on her I I can't I can't
figure her out because we have the situation as you said where early on in this case I mean we're coming up on 10
years now she was at one point talking and very active and vocal about what happened
that night and about her missing friend and yes that has tapered off over the years some of that might not be because
she is hiding anything or because she isn't telling the truth she has taken a lot of flack on the internet a lot of
people have gone after her yeah and it could just be for that I mean at some point when you're trying to help a
situation you know you and I jokingly say it sometimes um no good deed goes unpunished right if
she in fact is out there trying to help find her friend and she's getting [ __ ]
on for it one can only take that one can only take that for so long you can only
take so much [ __ ] and here's the other thing that makes it hard for me to get a real good handle on
her is that in the beginning not only is she talking but she seems to be doing things that
are helpful to the search for Tony sharpless she is one that is reported to have called and Report
Tony is missing she is one that is reported to have helped the family print flyers and distribute Flyers looking for
Tony right and this is also you're with your friend she might not even have known that Tony was going through these
battles with her mental illness switching of medications uh she might not have known any of that well
according to Crystal she said she did not know any of that right she didn't know that Tony was not supposed to be
drinking and Crystal almost gives the suggestion that had she known had she been aware of what was going on in
Tony's life that she likely wouldn't have asked her to go out dancing and drinking and partying with her then yeah
she'll probably want to ask that and then when you go back to this party and there's a confrontation that's probably
seems a little strange but again she's probably just going okay well we had a couple drinks but you would have uh way
more knowledge about the situation then you get into the car with her and you get in an argument and she tells you to
leave one you're probably not going to be letting her drive two you're not getting out of that car and let's be
clear if you're drunk at a party or not drunk let's say you're tipsy at a party and you guys decide to leave but you're
40 minutes away from where you know your safe area and your friend drops you off
and they don't come back to get you you're going to be pissed and you have every right to be pissed and she she
hasn't been and she's been championed to go hey we want to figure out what happened to my friend and she probably
feels a little bit responsible because she didn't know about these things like you said she invited her out probably
one enough uh probably would have invited to hang out with her but wouldn't have went to a party went to
the club so she's been a champion to keep the story and the Limelight but you see this
with like when Brian Schaefer went missing last person one of the last people to be with him is Clint he gets
thrown under the bus and the Tyler Davis case you know his wife and his friend are now being thrown under the bus so
you just become that part of the story so Crystal's being thrown under the bus and again how much [ __ ] can you take
well and then you have the flip side of that same coin and on the flip side of that coin what do we see we see people
that say Crystal went out of her way to make sure that she was one of the people that
reported Tony missing that she helped create this story and helped to give Credence to that story by making two
phone calls to Tony's phone so you're saying that people were saying that she's creating
the narrative correct and Tony's friends Tony's long time friends they say they believe crystal is lying and they
believe it's very strange that the police have put all of their trust into Crystal's story about what happened
right but one of the reasons why they put their trust into her stories because she did something that we never advise
and that is to ask for a polygraph so she takes a polygraph which I don't think any lawyer would tell you to do
but I think she was pretty adamant on trying to clear her name yes I I have that she offered to take a
polygraph did so and passed the polygraph test the polygraph examination the the other thing too is uh there are
questions about what her relationship is with Matt Greene and there's still questions about what exactly went down
at the party even if you believe Crystal or not that's just my opinion she was the first to call police when
Tony failed to show up the next day as I pointed out she did help in the searches
for Tony putting up the Flyers she did talk to Media I have a question for you I don't know if you can answer this
because I couldn't figure it out are the initial reports when when they're talking about the events of that
night or the initial reports are they talking about the conflict that happened at the house and why they left the house
because it doesn't seem that clear and I always wondered what you know which came
first you know um did they not talk about why they left and then once Crystal figures out that
her friend was dealing with some mental issues is that when the story of the conflict
came out because I just think that would be kind of telling no the story of of the conflict at the
house came out once it was known that that Tony was missing right so it came out right away
it came out fairly early yes yes not to the general public but to the People to People searching for Tony
but you know here's the thing while Crystal has put up publicly anyway put up a good front
as being a concerned friend and maybe she is legitimately a concerned friend as you pointed out she did pass that
polygraph and she has generally stuck to her story again it's the it goes back to social
media and things that I've seen on the internet she clearly has not come out smelling like a rose during this whole
thing Elaine law the private investigator who is searching for Tony she says She interviewed
Crystal for four hours and her statement is is this she feels that while Crystal was not straight up
lying about the situation she says that she believes that she is not being fully
truthful either and it's interesting because you could take a polygraph test and
and tell the truth but but be omitting things so the right and the thing here is that
the private investigator basically believes that Crystal knows more than what she is saying to law enforcement
and to the public and she cites that she really does not like the fact that Crystal refused to
show her her phone records from that time period yeah the private investigators looking for confirmation
of those the two calls correct she wants to line those up with what she knows about Tony's phone well I and I would
also want to know who she called after that because she she claimed that she she calls Tony's phone twice
doesn't get a reply then she is calling multiple people to get a ride I want to know who's just calling after that did
she call Matt Green um I'd be interested in that but also maybe those two calls never happen but
wouldn't they be able to get Tony cell phone records at some point oh they do have them the private
investigator has them and so that's where I question are they only simply coming up as incoming calls right I
doubt that I'm guessing that part of the reason why maybe police are really going
on Crystal's story is two reasons one the other people at the party that night according to here's the other thing
we don't really fully know a full list of the people at the party right all we have is the people that that law
enforcement spoke to saying yeah what this is it this is all the people that were there that night
and then on top of that they they may have Tony's record saying that it was in fact Crystal that called her on those
two times six minutes apart around the time that she vanished and so that kind of backs up Crystal's
story as well I think what Elaine law is saying here is exactly what you just said she wants to know what other
activity was going on with Crystal's phone before those calls between those calls and afterwards who is she talking
to and one thing that would would cause a big shake-up and a big Wrinkle in her story would be if in fact she did phone
anybody that was still at that party at that time or believed to be at Willie Green's house at that time because that
doesn't seem to gel with with her actions of what she said to the public you know that I called I called my
friends my family looking for a ride home because I was dumped on the side of the road well again it's strange though
too because we have the last person supposedly with her you wonder how much he was questioned
when they when people were people are questioning how much people were questioning at the party
how much was crystal question and she was the one that came forward and said well I'll take a polygraph test they
didn't even ask her to she was the one willing to so then you wonder if they even how much
they've checked her phone records or did they just go well we we talked to the cousin so we know that the cousin came
and picked her up so I know that we're kind of spinning our tires on this here A bit but before
we'll do whatever we want I want to make sure that everyone has their seats in the full upright position because this
is where the story starts to get weird okay on September 14th this is about three
weeks after Tony disappeared authorities in Pennsylvania got word that the New Jersey State Police had a possible hit
on Tony's car on September 8th a stationary New Jersey state police vehicle parked in Camden
had seen something an automated License Plate Reader mounted in the police car recorded the
plate number on each car passing it a car bearing plate number dnd772 passed and was recorded
the automated Plate Reader ran the plate and because Tony's car was listed as missing remember they reported it as
missing it would have notified the Officer Manning the vehicle that it was possibly her car
but the police car was parked and no one was in it so no one noticed the license
plate number hit until a week later right now it's worth noting that I have read that these license
plate readers are not 100 percent 100 percent of the time I've seen some people point out things that they're
more likely closer to 90 percent accurate the other thing that we got to keep in
mind too is it's possible that it was not Tony's car that was seen But simply a car with the
license plate number dnd772 right was in Camden on September 8th the the plate was on a different
vehicle now private investigator you have that idea but you also have the other idea
that you can have the same license plate number but a different state hmm so so Elaine law who is working on this
case the private investigator yeah and who I spoke with briefly for this episode she
she actually is the one that told me to cover this case I approached her about a
different case that she was working there there's a case out there and I won't go into specific specifics about
it because the family ask that we not cover it the victim's family it was a case that I had wanted to cover
for some time there's very little information out there in the newspapers and in the public about it and I saw
Elaine Law's name in one of the newspaper articles so I contacted her thinking well if we're going to learn
anything about that case we need to get it from her to which she says look the family doesn't really want it to be
covered um why don't you take a look at and she tossed out a few other cases that she
had been working on that really need the Public's help and and really need a voice thrown out there and the story
told one more time in hopes that it hits the right ears so she told us that a Camden police officer
this is a little this is a little off the Record here that a Camden police officer told her
that a car with Tony's plate number also got a parking ticket in the city around that same time period but he
didn't go into further detail about that whole situation I could not find that anywhere so it seems like at least that
plate number has popped up twice on Camden police radar so the New Jersey State Police says both
that they and the Camden Police scoured the area but never found any other trace
of the car with that plate on it now Lieutenant Higgins of Lower Marion Township Police Department says quote
cars don't usually disappear entirely at some point in the future they turn up whether it's a junkyard or somewhere
else end quote but we know Tony's car has never turned up and the idea that her car may have been
in Camden in an area riddled with drugs prostitution and crime has led to a predominant theory of what possibly
could have happened to Tony now we also have private investigator Elaine law she
talked about tips that came in and also about possible sightings of Tony so about a month after well six weeks a
month and a half after Tony vanished yeah a former Detective uh private investigator Elaine law
offered her services to the family for one dollar she saw Tony's case on the news and felt
that it was something that there was possibility based on the amount of sex trafficking in the area
and tips about possible sightings of Tony that Tony was still alive and possibly either involved in drugs and
prostitution or she had been trafficked so Elaine started a website to gather tips she met with both Crystal and the
family tried to contact Willie Green held a town meeting about the case she kept Tony's picture in the media even
going around Camden with a picture of Tony asking pimps dealers working girls and residents if they had seen her right
because you have a individual that again is struggling with mental illness shouldn't be drinking but was drinking
has had some struggles with addiction in the past is it possible that this uh she
gets in this conflict that kind of pushes her over the edge and when she leaves her friend uh she doesn't really
know where she's at but then she goes hey you know uh maybe I can get some drugs by going to Camden and if if you
go there then who knows what bad things could happen Elaine says that she has gathered 50
plus tips the track Tony from initial sightings near or in Lancaster where she worked to
Camden and then to Philly saying it's almost as if Tony was being moved around some of these tips Place Tony in the
presence of a large black man and a skinny Hispanic man with a goatee and there was a sighting of a woman having
very dark under eye circles almost raccoon eyes something that apparently Tony struggled with since her teen years
and then one guy said he had seen Tony four times in Camden and that they had the same heroin dealer another tip came
from a security guard that placed an abandoned dirty scraped up black sedan with tinted windows so a vehicle
matching a similar description to Tony's under the Ben Franklin Bridge between Philly and Camden shortly after she went
missing it had no plates in the Camden Police never disclose whether they followed up on that vehicle
siding or the sightings of possibly Tony now of course we also have no idea whether any of these tips are correct
and if Tony was actually seen and many of these tips do come from people that I would consider to be less
than reliable and if it was Tony that was seen then you have other things to wonder
about was she abducted or did she go willingly yeah it's and it's very hard to I feel for this whole situation because
of her struggles with the mental illness if she hits a point of manic state and then she's using drugs the drugs
could can you know have her continue to stay in a manic state and it and and who knows where she's at
so one thing I do know though too is that police they say that they looked into whether Tony ever purchased drugs
in Camden they came up with nothing regarding that and they also said that there is actually no evidence at all
that she even knew anyone in that area the other thing too if it was drugs that she went after that night or or if
that's the reason that kept her away it seems a little strange to me it seems like there would have been a lot of
other places closer to home to make that score the case did start to grow cold after
these tips were coming in these were pretty early in the investigation pretty early in Elaine laws investigation
I do want to get to some other interesting tips in this case Okay a call that was made to West Brandywine
Township Police Department this is a call where a man claimed to be from the Canadian Security intelligence service
this is an agency similar to the CIA in Toronto the man said agents found a car parked
on their lot and traced the car to Tony and the Agents also found someone who they believed to be Tony matching her
description the man provided an email address and a phone number where he could be reached
and requested photos of Tony the address and phone number however turned out to be a fake
Chief Warner said police called the Toronto police department and was told the call must have been faked Chief
Warner said that the caller was quote the guy had all the right answers he was talking the police lingo and he knew
what to say end quote several days later an officer in West Brandywine Police Department's radio
room took a call from a sheriff's deputy in South Dakota the deputy claimed that officers found
Tony's car there the man promised to fax information over but never did officers contacted the man's alleged
Department but personnel there had no knowledge of the vehicle or of the man who made the
call we have Chief Warner again who says look we got a copy of that recording and he
says it was the exact same guy that he talked to the the guy that claimed to be from Toronto
he said that the reason why he could identify the caller as being the same is he described this man as having an
interesting voice it was something about the way that this man sounded the chief
Werner was able to believe that the caller was in fact the same the thing though that's weird
here and just kind of really blows my mind is why would somebody bother to Stage these
two hoaxes this is four years after Tony went missing [Music] all right we're back you filthy animals
stay filthy you animals well you know we were talking about this on Saturday at our
presentation Meetup whatever you want to call it is um being a true crime lover is becoming a
little more acceptable in society so we're becoming less filthy animals of the True Crime Kingdom It Ain't Easy
Being greasy yes or cheesy uh in late 2013 something happened that could give us a
significant Clue Into Tony's disappearance private investigator Elaine law received
a letter at her office the one-page unsigned letter postmarked in Trenton New Jersey on November 29th
arrived in her mail December 1st she didn't initially notice the letter in the pile of mail and she was shocked
when she observed the return address it was from Tony sharpless now Tony is typically spelled
t-o-n-i on the return address it was t-o-n-y sharpless now here is the text of the letter
dear Elaine law the police in PA do not have a tip line I tried calling the Philly police where
I live but they said it was not in their jurisdiction one of the detectives pulled me aside and gave me your name
and address in the last few days of September 2009 a friend in Camden called me and offered
me money to move a car from Brooklawn New Jersey to Boston Massachusetts he told me he would pay me five thousand
dollars Cash Plus I could have the plates he asked if I knew any 127 or 29 that wanted to paper trip so he gave me a
social security card I drove the car a black four-door Pontiac Grand Prix and drove to an auto
body shop outside of Boston Massachusetts I took off the plates and with a black
Magic Marker wrote down the last five digits of the VIN number and cleared out the glove box
I came back to Camden a day later and he told me that the car was not stolen but
missing he said a friend of his a cop in Camden got into a fight with a girl she died
and he needed to get the car out of Jersey about a month ago my daughter was playing in the garage and found the box
with the plates and social security card I had forgotten all about it the plates are DND
7772 the social security card and this is where sharpless's cell phone number was written in this spot
and the last five digits of the VIN are the person wrote the last five digits of
sharpless's vehicle's identification number in this spring no I think some of this stuff was actually
reported or public knowledge but I think it's definitely that VIN number would be
hard to get the writer goes on to say because of Hurricane Sandy I had to visit Jersey to
help friends clean up I decided to drop you this letter what happened to Tony I don't really know all I know is that she
had a run-in with the police and I was paid much needed cash to get the car to a shop in Boston again the the letter is
not signed it's a one-page letter and as you said Captain yes the we do know that
the plate number was readily available this was not only I mean it was on the internet plus it
was on Flyers looking for for Tony because her vehicle was missing as well the the difficult thing as you said are
the five digits of the VIN number and we could speculate day and night how difficult it could have been or how easy
it could have been to get Tony's cell phone number that may have been difficult we do know that it was a
relatively new phone I don't know if that came with a new number um but we should point out the VIN
number and the cell phone number were both correct they were Tony's Now Elaine turned over the letter to the
West Brandywine police and also notified the New Jersey State Police and the New
Jersey attorney general's office she also gave the letter to the media in hopes that it would keep Tony's case
alive later she learned that police believe the letter to be a hoax probably because
it was sent in close proximity to the two hoax phone calls she's not certain why they came to this
conclusion but that's what they have said publicly that this letter is is a hoax what are you feeling about this
letter because you're your captain Letterman we will cover every case that involves a
strange letter yeah so I have a lot of questions about this letter I think that most of the information in
so this is not the same as like the Zodiac who who kills Paul Stein and then provides you a bloody torn off piece of
his shirt right in a letter this is very different this is somebody who is claiming to have done something been
paid by somebody else possibly limiting their involvement limiting their involvement and then my proof of you to
believe my word is I'm going to provide you with these three things these three pieces of
information and they could have obtained these in the exact manner that they said that
they took the plates they wrote down the VIN number they cleared out the glove box that easily could have obtained all
these things from that exact action however I believe that somebody could have got
this information if they looked and spent a little bit of time on it I don't think it would have been extremely
difficult to find all three of these things and provide it one thing that I find interesting is that when with the
claim of having the Social Security card this individual then provides her cell phone number
and in place of what what he or she probably should have put the social security number Brian
so that makes me wonder well why have a hoax why why write this letter well those are things that point to me
point to me that it could be a hoax okay before we move on I do want to clear one
thing up because some people might be asking themselves this of some of the wording in the letter
when he says that he was asked if anyone if I knew anyone 27 or 29 that wanted to
paper trip so he gave me a social security card what they mean by this is somebody that
wants to steal an identity to to take somebody else's information all right right yeah that's that's the paper trip
that he's talking about or she um so here's where I have a different issue with it
where I question the validity of of the letter I'm also a bit horrified and terrified by the letter
there's something very strange going on here if there were to be three hoaxes and then we have the
the one of the police officers the chief of police saying he believes just by listening with his own ears that
the the caller of those two calls were one in fact the same so if though if the two calls that come
in that are hoax that try to put Tony in her vehicle in Toronto and then the other call tries to put Tony's vehicle
somewhere in South Dakota and now this letter is stating that hey I live in Philadelphia right
um somebody from Camden hired me to do this uh I had to move the car from Brooklyn New Brooklyn New Jersey to
Boston Massachusetts we have six different cities named in three different hoaxes and then on top
of that if it's not that big of a leap to go okay well if the same person made those phone calls did then the same
person write this letter and that's where I get horrified and terrified at the same time there's
there's something very strange there if one person is responsible for all of these communications yeah but to me it's
like what is the hoax trying to prove it's trying to prove that she left the area that she was last seen by her
friend that's to me what these are trying to prove so that draws like it's trying to steer
the direction of the investigation like throwing them off the trail if they were
in fact that's that's the other problem I have with this whole thought it's four
years later the only conceivable reason that I can come up with that somebody would would
make these communications would be just that to throw them off the trail but but we're under the belief that the case
had gone cold by this time so there is no Trail what trail are they on were they even on a trail at the time right
but maybe I'm just saying if something happened bad at that party that they're still
you know they feel guilty um they they've uh felt paranoid maybe they're creating this hoax for that reason
let's keep you away from thinking about that party unless you because they don't know the
leads but again that doesn't make a lot of sense to me because you'd think unless the cops were constantly beating
down their door and asking for information why would you involve yourself anymore why not just
stay away right and if you had nothing to do with it why it involve yourself at all that's
why I'm saying it's all weird man it's all weird and and then then you if you weren't involved you I don't think you
would create the hoax I'm saying but again the other possibility that I haven't really thought about till now is
the idea of when when she says crystal said well she I thought she would come back for me and it's like
what if at some point Tony did come back and she went back to the party without Crystal hmm you know this is not you
know we're just basing off of if the cops might believe Crystal and she might be telling the truth about that but that
does not mean that Tony didn't go back to the party yeah and uh but you know if we haven't
done any search of this property I I just don't know how again and we also don't know how many individuals uh
were at that house so is it there but I do know there was enough individuals that something bad could have happened
and somebody could have disposed of her car it would appear that something happened
to this car and actually Tony's car going to a Chop Shop out of state makes some sense why her car has never
been located yeah after this point I I do want to throw this information out there and I have
names here but I've I've purposely removed them because I question how how true this this information is
this is um but but it does cite several of the things in the letter that we just talked
about so an estranged wife of an ex-camden police officer okay remember in the letter the
the letter writer claimed to have been paid by somebody that said that that Tony had a run-in with a police
officer right so an estranged wife of an ex-camden police officer who was fired after falsifying reports in order
to get this estranged wife arrested this wife comes forward talks with the private investigator Elaine and tells
her that her ex who lived in Brooklyn I keep wanting you to say Brooklyn it's Brook Lawn New
Jersey right again the town mentioned in the letter also ran an auto business where he would
repo cars and resell them including the area of Boston she claims that at one point she saw a
black four-door Pontiac with tinted windows in their driveway one day and assumed it to be one of these vehicles
one of his cars that he repossessed or that took possession of to resell so again
that's information that was provided to us yeah it's it's always difficult when you have these these marriages that go
south that go way bad so the hell goes south it's tough to whether or not you get a divorce that's a different thing
but they all go south it seems like he was definitely up to no good because we do have the Camden Police Department who
claims he was fired for falsifying reports yeah you're a liar right I mean that's and
I want to believe the letter it seems like it makes sense it seems like just with the VIN number it's not the full
VIN number right it's just part of the vid number five numbers the last five but it's enough for me to go okay that's
information that's not easy to get my issue with it is if you're gonna come forward with
this letter why not just come forward all together because do you see how I mean like I feel like
by sending this letter whoever paid you could come after you could come after you and if you don't go and tell them
your full story then you've offered yourself no protection from that person right it's not like you know it's like
oh yeah well they but they didn't put their identification in the letter well no but no but the person but the person
it's real the person that paid this person like he knows where you are according to the letter it was like a
person he there was a middle man right so right so the police officer if in fact the letter is correct may not
exactly know who ultimately was paid to move the vehicle who ultimately wrote the letter right but it it's for sure it
won't be that hard for him to figure it out right it wouldn't be that hard for him to
figure that out so I are you ready for another twist here Captain sure all right on May 15 2014 Tony's mother
Donna received a check in the mail from the Department of Revenue state of Indiana for just it was
a little over a thousand dollars this check this was a tax refund check what's notable is
that the check was made payable to Tony Lee sharpless and Robert E Morales husband and wife
this Tony and Robert apparently filed joint State Returns on earnings of forty six thousand six hundred and twenty five
dollars from Johns Hopkins University Tony's occupation was listed as a nurse and Roberts as a doctor
a bogus phone number was on the return now this is mind-boggling for many reasons but mainly because a
man named Robert E Morales went missing from Phoenix Arizona two weeks before Tony did on August 8 2009 he is still
missing to this day you can see his Charlie project page on their website I wonder if somebody is
trying to scam the system and going hey let's put these two missing people together
you know but how would you file a tax return so the the private investigator Elaine
contacted the Department of Revenue in Indiana and she said that she learned it was a
legitimate refund check and that the tax returns and Tony and Robert's joint names had been filed electronically
as for why the check was sent to Tony's old address instead of the address listed on the return
Elaine said she was told that whenever the address is less than one year old that they just send it to the former
address who knows how this happened but significantly someone had stolen Tony's identity
and yeah but they could have nothing to do with or disappearing it could have nothing to do with the case but then you
also wonder if in fact that person had access to her social security card and we know that the anonymous letter writer
mentioned that he had the card uh Donna her mother believes that Tony kept her social security card in her
wallet which of course has never been found but this is what drives me just absolutely insane about these
missing person cases the investigation should have been harder on these people at the party they
should investigated that property period did the cops know did law enforcement know that should be going missing for
the rest of her life that would be sitting here 10 years later wondering where she's at no
but you got to start by assuming that you need to assume that the worst case scenario is going to happen and you need
to make sure that you do your due diligence don't be a piece of [ __ ] right well here's here's the thing
I I see two things kind of going on here there are points in this investigation where me on the outside looking in it
appears to me that they are doing their due diligence that they are working the case hard but there are other times
where I have a completely different feeling and this is not a small case this is an
investigation that's been 10 years now how many how long and good have they worked on it through the course of that
time is certainly up for the for debate and and my own opinion is at times it was not good on their end that could be
that we have multiple jurisdictions involved in this I will say that the local police investigating the case gave
the impression pretty early on in what I would consider to be a very unprofessional manner that they believed
Tony was simply on drugs and or crazy so when you have that coming out of their Department you really have to wander and
I'm sure a lot of people close to Tony are wondering the same thing is in fact if they were investigating the case
thoroughly if they were giving her disappearance the appropriate due diligence as you were saying well it's
pathetic that they would call her crazy because look if you break your arm what do you do you go to a doctor got
something broken in your brain you go get help for that so that to me that's uh a sign of somebody
trying to get help I I think my gut is telling me that this there's more truth to this letter
than not and and I couldn't tell you why but it's like yeah I'm not ready to dismiss it as
quickly as what it appears law enforcement has yeah the VIN number I can't get over that and then also
uh I don't know how much I buy the the ex-wife of the cop coming forward and saying hey I saw a car similar to
this I don't know but um but those are two things that line up and that needs to be followed
um and it's sad because like you said this car probably went to a chop shop there was probably evidence of uh uh
there's probably evidence of what happened to her and uh and that's gone forever and you
know I I do know that something bad for her daughter I do know that some of Tony's
friends absolutely believed that Tony never left Willy Green's house that night that something happened to her
there and it could be any number of things an overdose died in an accident was killed as the
result of some kind of physical altercation there was a pull there maybe maybe she drowned in the pool
uh but you know their belief is that in order to protect Willie Green's NBA salary and reputation that she and her
car were later disposed of and that's and we don't have the whole story there well like Forrest Gump said
maybe it's both happening at the same time is there a possibility that something happens at this party they
know a shady cop they call the Shady cop hey we need your help right or they call
their lawyer their lawyer knows the Shady comp the shop the cop comes the cop then knows some bad people that
can help take care of this problem it could be both happening at the same time is anybody there that night
in some shape or form a police officer right even from another city we again we don't have the full list of names we
actually had two people that were unnamed in our list and we're going off and saying that that is an accurate list
of people there could be additional people that were there that were conveniently left off of the list
provided to law enforcement my only issue with all that is like I said she would have had to drop her friend off
and somehow Circle back around because I do think that her friend uh started out
being a champion for finding her friend and so that's the part that doesn't line
up and unless possibly unless she drops her off and circles back around but you'd have to obviously it would not be
that hard to fabricate and manufacture the story of of Tony leaving ditching her friend and
her phone conveniently being off all at the same time right and and to work that into her
story but to be the one to come forward and and ask for a polygraph test again I
I we don't know what questions were on that test we hear from law enforcement that she passed but we don't know what
questions um and it's just a sad scenario for for whatever reason once you put mental
health in it it's I think people uh I think people are a little too dismissive of of things
regarding the private investigator Elaine law she is no longer so certain that Tony is still alive
she does still believe that Tony was that something happened to her and she was trafficked she does believe that the
sightings of Tony in the area were legitimate she does continue to follow up on leads and tips to this day
speaking uh there are there is some movement on this case as far as the private investigator is concerned there
are still some leads that she is working on it would be it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss those here today
because it's not something that we have a lot of information on uh but regarding Tony's parents uh her
mother and her stepfather they say they don't know what to think quote it's like a roller coaster of
emotion Donna told one reporter they aren't sure that Crystal is telling the truth and they say that they have had no
contact with her but they also know that Tony should not have been drinking and could have been disoriented and gotten
lost and ended up in the river or elsewhere they both of them feel strongly that it's a
that a search of Willie Green's home should have been conducted when asked if she believes that her if
her daughter is still alive Donna says honestly no Tony would have called by now she always did my granddaughter is
the same way if she doesn't call me I know something is wrong no one knows a child like a
mother Tony's stepfather agrees with his wife and he has also stated that someone
must know what occurred the night of August 23 2009 and he adds that she didn't just
vanish Into Thin Air that there must be more to this story now Tony is still listed as a missing
person the 10th anniversary of her disappearance is next week we will have a photo of Tony on the blog at truecrime
garage.com Tony's DNA has been entered into a National Database so if at some point a body is found she will be
identified hats go off to her her friends and family and and then her parents you know now looking after her
her child and and then also what an awesome individual to take on their case the private investigator has taken on
their case for a dollar and uh trying to make a difference in this world that's pretty amazing
[Music] how about a little recommended listening for everybody this week this week I want
to recommend the Stitcher app you've heard it before it's free it's amazing it has all of our old episodes on there
to listen to and you can check out our other show our wonderful show that everybody loves off the Record it's
available on Stitcher premium I bring up the recommended listening Captain because this last weekend we were at the
Ohio History Center and a lot of you came out and joined us there and we did a discussion on Ohio cold cases which
we've covered so many of them check those out on the Stitcher app we will see all of you back here in the garage
next week until then be good be kind and don't litter foreign [Music]

Toni Lee Sharpless /// Part 2 /// 327

Part 2 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

Next week will mark the ten year anniversary of the disappearance of 29 year old mother and nurse Toni Sharpless. Almost ten years have gone by and there is no trace of her - Or is there? This week, join us as we discuss the details of the night she was last seen and the strange events that occurred after. Beer of the Week - Speed Wobbles - Key Brewing Company Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

Tony Sharpless vanished in 2009 after a party, raising questions about the investigation and her friend's involvement.

Key points

The Disappearance of Tony Sharpless. On August 22, 2009, 29-year-old mother and nurse Tony Sharpless disappears after a party.
Investigation Oversights. The police dismissed partygoers as suspects, raising concerns about the investigation's thoroughness.
Conflicting Accounts. Crystal's story about the night of the disappearance raises questions about her truthfulness.
Possible Sightings of Tony. Months after her disappearance, tips about sightings of Tony emerge, suggesting she may still be alive.
Elaine's Investigation. Elaine gathers tips and holds town meetings to find Tony, keeping her image in the media.
The Hoax Calls. Two hoax calls complicate the investigation, leading police to question their validity.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

So search the property!

Discussion on the investigation's shortcomings.

5:10WatchNov 21, 2022

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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