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

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grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime 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 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 John's 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 indepth any of these quote unquote interviews with the people at the house
were um it was Elaine law a private investigator on this case whom we discuss we'll discuss her 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 greams 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 none whereabout so search the property yeah so for many people
interested in this case the quick dismissal of the partygoers 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 and 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 GG Hayes right she's the one who organized the Texas equa search search of the 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 Green 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 we're early on in
this case I mean we're coming up on 10 years now mhm 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 yeah 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 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 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 that yeah
she 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 uh 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 probably not going to be letting her drive two you're
not getting out of that car and Le 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
and she she hasn't been and she's been Champion 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 and of uh probably would have invited to hang out with her but wouldn't have went to a party went to a
club so she's been a champion to keep the story in 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 are saying that she's creating the narrative correct and
Tony's friends Tony's longtime 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 cryst story about what happened right
but one of the reasons why they put their trust into her story is 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 Green 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 search 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 cuz I couldn't figure it out are the initial reports when when
they're talking about the the events of that night are the inial 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 do 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 cuz 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 yeah okay yes not to the general public but to the the 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's 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 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 look 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 she's 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 story is two reasons one the other people at the party that
night according to here's the other thing we 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 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 records 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
aaine 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 or believed to be at Willie Green's house at that time because that doesn't seem
to jail 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 cuz 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 she was questioned when
they when people are people are questioning how much people were questioned 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 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 3 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 ACC car bearing plate number dndd
7772 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% 100% of the time I've seen some people point out things that they're more likely
closer to 90% 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 DND 7772 right was in Camden on September
8th that the plate was on a different vehicle now private investigator well you have that idea but you also have the
other idea that you can have the same license plate number but a different state so so Elaine law who is working on
this case the private investigator yeah and who 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 I won't go into specific specifics about it because the family asked 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 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
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 Maran 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 en cammed in 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 6 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 $1 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 sight 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
uh 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 go
there then who knows what bad things could happen Elaine says that she has gathered 50 plus tips that tracked Tony
from initial sightings near or in Lancaster where she worked to camd in and then to
Philly saying it's almost as if Tony was being moved around some of these tips plac 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 Candon 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 and the Camden Police never disclosed whether they followed up on that vehicle sighting 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 con 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 Brandy Wine
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 some 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 answer ansers he was talking the police lingo and he knew what to say end quote several days
later an officer in West Brandy Wine 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 know knowled 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 to 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 that Chief Warner 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 4 years after Tony went [Music] missing this show is sponsored by Better
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out rosettastone.com it's a GameChanger all right we're back you filthy animals stay filthy you animals stay filthy well
you know we were talking about this on Saturday at our um 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 we're becoming less filthy animals
of the True Crime Kingdom It Ain't Easy Being greasy yes or cheesy uh in late 20133 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- paged 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 n i on the return address it was t n y sharpless now here is the text of the letter dear Elaine law the police and 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 an address in the last few days of
September 2009 a friend in Camden called me and offered me money to move a car from
Brook laon New Jersey to Boston Massachusetts he told me he would pay me $55,000 Cash Plus I could have the
plates he asked asked if I knew anyone 27 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' 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'
vehicle's identification number in this right now 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 runin 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 Brandy Wine 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 believed the letter to be a hoax
probably because 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 CU you're you're Captain letter man 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 provide 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 in in place of what
what he or she probably should have put the social security number right 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 uh before we move on I do want to clear one thing up because some people might be asking
themselves this uh 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
right right yeah that's the that's the paper trip that he's talking about or she um
so here's where I have a 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 hope FES and then we had the the one of the police officers the chief of police
saying he believes just by listening with his own ears that that the the caller of those
two calls were one in fact the same so if those if the two calls that come in that are hoax that try to put Tony and
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 um somebody from Camden
hired me to do this uh I had to move the car from Brooklyn New brookln 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 Ste 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 uh feel paranoid maybe they're 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 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 involve yourself at all that's why I'm saying it's it's all
weird man it's all weird and and then then you got if you weren't involved you I don't think you would create the hoax
I'm saying but again the 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 it's
like what if at some point Tony did come back and she went back to the party without
Crystal you know this is not you know we're just basing a 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 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 MHM uh this is um but but it does site several of the things in the letter that we just talked
about so an arange 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 runin with a police officer right so an a AR strange wife of
an ex Camden police officer who was fired after falsifying reports in order to get this a strange 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 to say Brooklyn it's Brook law 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 they go way bad they they all go 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 VD 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 were going to come forward with this letter why not just come forward all
together because you see what I mean like I feel like by sending this letter who 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 that 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 middleman 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 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 15th 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 $1,000 this check M 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 $ 46,6 125 from John's 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 mindboggling for many reasons but mainly because a man named Robert E Morales
went missing from Phoenix Arizona to weeks before Tony did on August 8th 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 in Tony and Roberts 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 that could have nothing to do with her disappearance 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 have investigated that property period did the cops know did law
enforcement know that she'd be going missing for the rest of her life that we'd 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 de 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 wonder 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 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 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 mhm and that needs to be followed um and it's sad because like you said this car
probably went to a chop shop and there was probably evidence of there's probably evidence of what
happened to her mhm and uh and that's gone forever and you know I I do know that some bad for her daughter I do know
that some of Tony's friends absolutely believe that Tony never left Willie 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 pool 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 Forest gum 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 a shady cop 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 of 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 and uh started
out um being a champion for finding her friend and so that's the part that doesn't line up and unless unless 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
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 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 um 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 right 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 yeah 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 true Crim
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 and then also what a awesome individual to take on their case the private investigator taking on their
case for a dollar and uh trying to make a difference in this world that's pretty
[Music] amazing 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 [Music] litter
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Toni Lee Sharpless /// Part 2 /// 327

Part 2 of 2

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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 police investigation and potential foul play.

Key points

Tony Sharpless Disappears. On August 22, 2009, 29-year-old mother and nurse Tony Sharpless vanishes after a party.
Conflicting Accounts. Crystal, the last person with Tony, faces scrutiny over her statements and actions.
License Plate Hit. Three weeks after Tony's disappearance, a possible sighting of her car is reported.
Hoaxes and Confusion. Two hoax calls complicate the investigation into Tony's case, raising more questions than answers.
The Mysterious Letter. A letter postmarked from Trenton claims to have crucial information about Tony's disappearance.
The Mysterious Check. Tony's mother received a tax refund check made out to her and a missing man.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Remember, hoppiness breeds happiness!

2:29WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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