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- [00:02]
Troy Taylor
Hey, among the missing listeners, I just want to let you know that this episode has turned out to be substantially larger than I'd anticipated. Instead of trying to pack everything into a single episode, we're going to split this out into two parts. Part two is going to drop next week, and then episode ten will drop the following week. As always, thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy part one of they Don't Roar, they Meow. If you've seen almost any movie or television show set in Southern California, chances are you've seen Pacific Coast Highway. It's the picture perfect location for a driving scene. The protagonist usually in a convertible, throwing caution to the wind and driving off down the highway to start anew. The warm orange glow of the sunset shimmering against the water just off the road's edge. Malibu is the playground of the rich and famous. It's full of surfers, celebrity hideaways and high end restaurants. It's a tourist's dream, even if those tourists are just from a few miles away like Elaine was. But beyond the polished coastline and multi million dollar properties sits a different side of Malibu. One that's a little darker. One that doesn't make those movies or television shows. One where the asphalt gives way to dirt roads and the cell service drops and trails twist like an endless maze. It's a place you can walk for hours without encountering another living soul. It's the Malibu Canyons. For the most part, they're the stomping ground of keen hikers, people who want to connect with nature or are looking for a place just to clear their minds. But sometimes people go missing from there, like Matrice Richardson, who went missing from Lost Hill Sheriff station on September 16, 2009. She was 24 years old, a college graduate subbing as a teacher and trying to break into psychology. She'd been arrested at Jeffrey's Restaurant in Malibu earlier in the evening after acting strangely and failing to pay an $89 bill. Employees of the restaurant, concerned for her safety, contacted Lost Hills Sheriff's Department, and officers were dispatched immediately. When they arrived, they noted her erratic behavior and arrested her on suspicion of not paying her bill, in possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. The arresting officers arranged for her car to be towed to a yard on Pacific Coast Highway. Her phone, purse and all of the cash she'd been carrying were inside the car. And at around 12.30am on 17 September, Mitrice was released into the night, into the dark Malibu canyons to find her own way home. With nothing but the clothes on her back. She was never seen alive again. Eleven months later, her remains were found in an isolated ravine almost 7 miles or 11 kilometers away from the sheriff's station. Her cause of death was noted as undetermined. There were no clear injuries. Her clothes were scattered. The area had been previously searched, according to officials, but somehow no one had ever found her body. Not until then, at least. And then There's Matthew Weaver Jr. He went missing in the early pre dawn hours of August 10, 2018. The 21 year old was last seen on video surveillance at around 7:15am driving on the Topanga Tower motorway headed toward the Rojas Overlook. That morning, he took a selfie near the overlook before sending a series of disturbing text messages to some of his friends. Messages like something crazy is going on and help. And then nothing. Shortly after midnight on August 11, someone called 911 after hearing screams near Stunt Road, where Matthew's car would eventually be found. First responders arrived at approximately 2am at least two of them also report hearing screams and cries for help. Searchers turned up a few of his clothes near a steep cliffside trail. And officials lean toward no foul play. But the location, the cryptic messages, the total silence afterward, nothing about it adds up. And Matthew has never been seen again. More recently, at around 1am on May 18, 2024, 53 year old Atelier Brillenberg also disappeared in the area. The stepbrother of a Danish and Greek princess, he'd been staying at the exclusive Sara resort area, a private gated part of Malibu tucked into the canyons, when he'd headed out for a walk and simply just didn't return. Just like Matrice, just like Matthew, just like Elaine. In the early hours of the morning, Atelier vanished into the wilderness. The list of theories surrounding the disappearances, and in the case of Mitrice, her death, are almost as long as the trails that wind through the canyons themselves. But there's one theory that is almost never mentioned. A theory you've probably never heard of or read about. In these remote canyons, where the cell signals vanish and those trails run for miles, there's another presence, one that's lived here long before the mansions and the movie stars. Mountain lions, puma concolor. Apex predators, solitary, silent masters of ambush. In recent years, motion sensor cameras have caught them roaming near homes, crossing trails at night, lurking just beyond view. Most people will never see one, but they are out there. And they don't roar. They meow. I'm Troy Taylor and this is among the missing.
- [06:39]
Matthew Song
Sam.
- [07:07]
Troy Taylor
The NPS will tell you that mountain Lions don't attack people. They like to keep to themselves, hidden during daylight hours, but at night they roam. They appear out at sundown and retreat at sunrise. They stalk deer and other animals they come across in the canyons. This usually doesn't include humans, but sometimes it does. On Labour Day weekend 2024, an extended family decided to visit Malibu Creek State park for a get together. Six adults and a whole handful of kids. The adults had just started setting up to eat as the kids played in the trees. And suddenly a scream broke out. Shrill despair. The adults raced toward the trees and the children playing in them, toward the area the scream had rung out from. They got there just in time to see it. A mountain lion. Its mouth stretched the head of one of their children, a five year old boy, gripped tightly in its jaw. The boy's father jumped immediately into action, attacked the lion and thankfully managed to scare it off, saving the life of his son, who was left with severe but not life threatening injuries. The NPS and law enforcement continue to suggest there's no risk to the public. The lions roam free, but they're more scared of you than you are of them. The truth is, while rare, mountain lion attacks do occur in California. According to the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, there have been 26 verified mountain lion attacks since the mid-80s, with four of those resulting in fatalities. No one really talks about the possibility of mountain lion attacks when it comes to Elaine Mitrice, Matthew and Antilio's disappearances. No one, that is, except Matthew Song. Matthew has been following and investigating Elaine's case since day one. He's gone down every possible path, followed every single lead and through all of it he's found himself coming back to one single place. Solstice Canyon. Here's Matthew talking about how he got involved in Elaine's disappearance.
- [09:30]
Matthew Song
At the time I was probably a year or two divorced. It was my son and I, he was little at the time and we really had nothing to do. And I was on Facebook, someone, you know, when you added all those random people back in the day, was talking about their cousin going missing. The story caught my eye because it was, you know, often Malibu, which I was like, people don't go missing in Malibu. Like they're probably, they'll probably, you know, resurface eventually. And they were like, you know, if anybody has time or whatever, you know, And I was like, yeah, I guess I got time. And I asked my son, you want to go for a drive? And we drove out there and looked around. I looked at the RV park across the street, it was pretty nasty out there. In terms of weather, it was kind of drizzly. I think it was probably two or three days after they had found the car. And I remember talking to them out there in the rain, and I was like, this is just so weird, because I said, aren't they searching with drones out in the ocean? I'm like, my body would just wash up. And it just kind of became one of those things in the back of my mind where you click on the Facebook group eventually whenever you see it, and you just kind of wait around and, like, you know, it's background noise. And I noticed after like a year or so, like, I would still see it come up once in a while because Korean people would talk, and I would say, I remember that. And they said, what do you think? And I said, I have no idea. I don't know how people go missing out in Malibu. I really am not familiar with the geography because I don't go there. I have a background in digital forensics. I work for a company that I can't name, but I have a pretty extensive background in engineering. So my claim to fame is working with a lot of different attorneys back in the past doing digital forensics work. I did a lot of stuff for profit, and I tried to balance it out by doing some pro bono. So I reached out to Susan, or at least who I thought was Susan, whoever was in charge of the page, and I got no reply. About a year later, I saw them posting again, and I reached out again. I got no reply. And then a year or so goes after that. So now we're like. I think we're like four years in or something like that, and maybe three years in, and I finally say, you know, you keep posting about this, but you don't reply to anybody. I would be willing to help you if you need some help. And finally, I get this email and something about an NDA and all this stuff like, what the hell's going on here? And I do a quick Google search of Susan, and I see that she's selling pretty much all her stuff in her house, which seemed to me very odd. Korean people were generally pretty sentimental about things. I have many a family heirloom in my family, and we're pretty Americanized. So, I mean, that should tell you something, right? I'm looking at this and I go, something just doesn't feel right about this man. So I call up the Glendale PD because I don't know what the status is. I don't know why someone wants me to Sign an NDA over a missing kid. That's just a red flag of my book. Eventually, they transfer me over someone in a homicide robbery. And I spoke to them who they'll remain nameless. And they pretty much told me, stay away. And I said, great, I will stay away. And then not too long after, the podcast Live and Die in LA season two came out and I started listening to that and, you know, here we are today.
- [12:47]
Troy Taylor
There's so much conjecture around whether Elaine went directly to the spot on PCH after leaving Devine's residence or whether she went somewhere else first. There's no question in my mind that at some point during the day on the 28th, her car was there. It's just a case of when and how got there. I asked Matthew his thoughts on whether she went there directly, and here's what he had to say.
- [13:12]
Matthew Song
I really have not seen anything compelling one way or another that her car was parked there. Immediately, I think we've gone over this back and forth about this mental gymnastics of like, was it parked on Peace beach or was it not? I actually really, I don't even care to even get into it because I don't even think it matters ultimately where she parked. I can only tell you, though, if you do park in Solstice Canyon, your signal dies. From what I know, the signal was spotty at best. I can follow that up with saying, I did some tests in the last five years. I had parked on tch, I had checked my phone. My son and I have two different carriers. In fact, at one point, we have three different carriers because I had my work phone too with me, which was on a different carrier at the time. And I didn't get spotty service on pch. I got a weak signal, but I didn't get spotty service. Like, it didn't, like, say, hey, there's no signal. Move over here. Like, it just was low, right? But when I parked in Solstice Canyon, it wasn't there at all. And if I walked to the gate, then it was kind of faint. I don't know anybody who gets reception out there. So first, like, we started really looking around, literally the first national parking spot, right when you get into Solstice Canyon, Funny enough, when you park there, you can't see it, but there's actually a path right in front of you. But because of the way it sloped, you can't actually see what's up there. And we got bored and we decided to go walk through the fence and then go lock up this thing. And this is, like, early on. And we found two bones, one of which was obviously an animal bone, and the other one, it looked like it could be a femur. I don't know. I'm not a. I'm not an anthropologist. And, you know, we're sitting there staring at it, and, you know, eventually the cops come and they pick them up and whatever, and they get back about, you know, this animal. We're going to toss it, you know, and that was kind of disappointing because you're really looking at it. And it was like the sun was out, you know, the ground was clear, and there's two bones. And you're like, holy crap, where'd that come from? And the funny thing is, the cop was like, they're from deer. And I was like, oh, okay. I never see deer out here.
- [15:22]
Troy Taylor
Snakes, crocodiles and spiders as big as dinner plates. When you live in Australia, you're used to dealing with all of these kinds of things on a daily basis. Wrestling crocodiles out of your backyard is just a part of life. Okay, maybe I'm overblowing that slightly, but what we know absolutely nothing about is mountain lions, coyotes, and bears. Thankfully, for his sake, at least, Matthew does.
- [15:52]
Matthew Song
If you live out here, there's nothing but coyotes and mountain lions out in the mountains. It's just a. It's a commonly known fact. It's not like I'm pulling this out of my ass. I don't go by myself. I'm not going to a mountain lion area by myself. I know for a fact they don't like multiple people, so that much I knew about the area. I just remember this from being a kid about the mountains, like, don't go by yourself. And I was like, okay, we'll just follow that rule, you know? But I didn't really understand what eminent threat I was actually in until I started, like, reading headlines. You know, they're attacking kids and stuff. And I. And it's crazy because I would ask about. They're like, well, that's really rare. And I'm like, but there's a lot of articles about it, like, more. More than there probably should be. And they said, well, sometimes they just. They're out there and they're more scared of you than you are of them. And I was like, yeah, well, I mean.
- [16:40]
Troy Taylor
I have to admit, when he first told me he thought mountain lions could be responsible for Elaine's disappearance, I thought he was certifiable. After all, Elaine, while she did go for walks, she didn't strike me as the hiking type. I've since clarified that my understanding of hiking versus those who say she was a hiker differ somewhat. So I'm happy to shift my view here and say yes. In the context of going for small to medium length hikes or walks, I agree she was a hiker. But then there's the fact that it was 6:30am at best. She'd gone to sleep maybe a couple of hours before she left Devine's property because her Spotify data shows she was interacting with it all the way through till 4am from what I can tell, the Dry Canyon Trail, which is the one way trail where Matthew believes Elaine went, is around one mile there and back. Not to mention the walk from her car to the trailhead. If she went directly to pch, which is around another half a mile, who in their right mind at 6:30am before sunrise after having maximum 2 hours sleep is deciding to go on a 2 mile hike? And if she didn't park on PCH and parked up near the trailhead in Solstice Canyon parking lot, how did her car get back to pch? And even ignoring all of that, there's still the question of why Elaine would leave all of her belongings, especially her phone, behind in the car. But the more I looked into it, the more I looked at the information Matthew provided me, the more I listened to him explain it all, the more it all kind of just started to make sense.
- [18:25]
Matthew Song
The mountain lion theory didn't just come out of left field. What happened was, is we really got kind of fed up with it and kind of discouraged. And we were like, you know, there's another guy missing Who's Matthew Weaver Jr. And I had read about how they found a shirt. I've heard either the shirt was torn or the shirt was not torn and apparently it had blood, but it was inconclusive or something. And then I heard someone else that was confirmed to us. I hear so many things, I don't even know what to believe anymore. Let's just say that was probably his shirt because they found a hat too that matched his hat. One thing we started to notice was that a lot of people online had these theories about the cartel and a murderer and things. And I really got to tell you, when you're walking over a mile up a rocky terrain, that a guy who was, you know, there was no argument that he was on drugs, drove up in a BMW. I don't know how the hell he did it and his car got stuck over a ledge that I really don't think the cartel or a Murderer or such would go through the exercise of first having to conceal a gun and, or carrying it open, carry all the way up that nasty hike and then waiting for somebody to show up randomly just to snipe them. That seems just kind of not likely. And then two, what would be the way this person died? Because there, there's no body, right? So this is, this is the thing you have to consider. And, and I, I started looking at it and I don't know what happened, but I saw something about like a mountain lion attack. And I was like, really? And I was like, I thought those are really rare. And I actually still believe they are probably pretty rare, but I don't think they're very rare if you're in their domain. So I started looking at the area and going online and doing my homework about the mountains and where these things actually roam, where they've been cited because there are photos, they're all over the place. You can see them in the Santa Monica Mountain. People randomly photograph them all the time. And then I kind of pivoted and said, well, that seems pretty likely here, but how likely is that over there? It got kind of weird because we went back to where Elaine went missing or where we think she went missing, at least as 90% sure that's where she went missing. And looked at it from a different lens. And the lens we looked at was like, okay, let's just say you, you have to eliminate areas of that whole park because if she was on the main trail by now, someone would have run into some bones on the road in a bush, maybe they're taking a pee, you know, and see something like it wouldn't make any logical sense to, unless, you know, she's going to win the award of hide and seek at this point. You know, like, it's just not, it doesn't seem likely. But, but what we did notice is that there was this other off trail right by the, where you can park. I noticed that nobody ever walked through that weird thing with some signage saying that it was like a one way path. And I was like, oh, well, we should probably start looking there. It just seems interesting, you know. And the thing that boggled my mind is that how bad the brush was then, even worse than how it is now. And we thought, okay, well, I mean, could she have made it through here? And we weren't aware that it was ever trimmed. So I went online, did some homework and looked at some old photos. There's like ones from like 2014, 2013, where it shows it nice and Trimmed. And I was like, oh, that looks. That looks like something a woman would might like to do. I don't know. But it seems like something, if they wanted peace of mind, that it's a pretty nice site right when it's trimmed. And yeah, we just started focusing on that because it seems like nobody knew anything about that spot. And when I talked to the former mayor of Malibu and asked him about it, he didn't even know it existed. Okay, great, we got something, right?
- [22:27]
Troy Taylor
There are so many more theories on Elaine's case. And I asked Matthew if he'd looked into any of them. Turns out he'd looked into every single one.
- [22:39]
Matthew Song
We went down the avenue of, like, what would happen if she got kidnapped off pch. And I didn't sit there and hold my kid at gunpoint, but I was like, just act like you're freaked out. And like, how long do you think that would last until someone noticed you freaking out in a car? Because PCH is quite a long ways of the freeway. There's really like two routes you can go. You can take Malibu Canyon, which is pretty long to get to the 101, or you could take PCH south, which again, there's tons of traffic signals and it takes you a pretty long time to get to the 405. So I said, okay, let's just think about this. Maybe she was followed, right? When she was followed, she went down Malibu Canyon. So maybe the kidnapper would have gone back down Malibu Canyon and whatever. So we drove that a bunch of times back and forth. And we found that there was these little spots that would dump into ravines. And I got really focused on one ravine and it was right behind city hall. Cause it was just so heavy and brush. And I was like, you could drop anything down there, nobody would see anything. And eventually we finally got the balls to go to go hike it. It's very, very narrow. The further we went. We went to this one part, like I said, where that deep ravine was. And then bones started falling down the side of the hill. And I don't know whose bones they were. I don't know. I think some were animal. But it was basically the first discovery of a mountain lion cache because they were just literally falling out. And it's again, it's like a, maybe a 45 degree slope or worse. It's just pretty bad. And as I was standing below my son, I. I'm catching them with my gloves and I put in my pocket. We walked down the hill. It started getting dark, so we rushed the hell out of there. Anyway, I called the police, and I was like, what do you want me to do? And I was like, can I just bring it by? And they said, yes. We drove up Malibu Canyon, go to Lost Hills, bring it in. The guy at the front desk is like, why do you have a person spine? And I was like, oh, yeah, definitely. That's. That's great. It's gotta be a person's spine. I was like, some of this looks like animal goes, yeah, it's like, but that definitely looks like a person's spine. And I was like. And I started explaining the story of Elaine park, whatever. And he didn't really know. It's kind of a forgotten case at that place, I think. Anyway, we wait around. The detectives show up to do this intake process and, you know, inventory what we brought. And then somehow this devolved into us getting questioned for murder. So one hour for me, one hour for my son. And he was like, are you keeping anything? And I was like, why would I keep bones? I. I just brought you a bag of bones. And he was like, oh, okay. And nothing really came of it. So a couple days after that, I called, and they had said, oh, those. Those were animal bones. And I was like, oh, that sucks. But I was like, it's crazy because the guy at the front desk said that they were human, though. So I write to the city and I tell him, I said, hey, man, you know, there's these bones behind your city hall. Okay. A couple days later, I think it was on a Friday. Next thing you know, there's. There's Search and rescue there, man. And they're like, can you come down here and tell us where you found those bones? I was like, well, I thought they were animal bones. Yeah. Now we need to me to take a look if you're not around, you know, because I live like 40, 50 miles away. I was like, I mean, I wouldn't be able to get there in a timely manner. He's like, that's fine. We got it. Heard nothing back. A month goes by, and all of a sudden I see on the. On the corner website that someone in Malibu found some bones. And I see that a news article comes up that a car crash, which was like a mile down the road, some two hikers, who knows who they were, apparently registered a skeleton. That or partial of a skeleton next to this crashed car, which I find very perplexing that they knew the car crash. It was on the news. They knew who the victims were, but yet I guess they missed one dead body. And it was like some Latino guy. So then we got kind of pissed because we're like, I guess we can cross. I guess we have to put an asterisk whether we found a dead person or not. But I'll let you decide. Right. Like, that's, That's. That was kind of into that, right? I looked very, very heavily into this. It's not like I. I went there and I made up a story. It's like, okay, well, that side quest panned out. Nothing. And then we went back to the park and I think it was January 27th of last year, like a day before her anniversary missing. We went to do that full on hike. And then we found that shirt. Okay, not to get too nasty, but I did get a lot of cuts when I would go through that place. And I do have things that are white, like clothing. And, you know, I did test to see if you wiped it off on a white shirt, if you added water because it was raining out there, if it would turn yellow. And it does. How the shirt ended off, I don't know. I do know that we researched into drugs at the time, from 2017, a popular thing that people were doing were synthetics. Some of the side effects of these synthetics were hyperthermia, which is where you get so hot you take your clothes off. I don't know if that's what she was doing. Maybe she got slipped on accident and that's what led to the panic attacks. And maybe she undressed out there. I don't know. I wasn't there. I called Glendale Police Department to turn it in. I know people would criticize and say, why didn't you call the police while you were there to go get it? They're not going to show up with the rangers to pick up a shirt. And they really don't understand the circumstances. And I had gloves. We took the shirt back. I called Glendale. They already know generally who I am and what I'm doing. It's not like it's a secret. Okay? And nobody called me back. Maybe they just got tired of me. I don't know. Maybe they don't care. I don't. I don't know. But this went on for about a month of trying to call them and arrange to go drop it off to where I just said, look, I'm coming by. You can have it and figure it out yourself. And that was like five months later. And then it's been sitting there waiting to get tested pretty much ever since. We're almost at a year now. So now you fast Forward to a year later, almost. Right. And we went to go back to dry canyon. This time it was dry around the creek area. And you have to understand that this area is very strange. You can hike around there, and it's nasty from all the brush, but there is a creek that kind of runs parallel, and sometimes it's pretty full, Sometimes it's not so full, and sometimes it's completely barren. It looked dry, so we decided to go take a look. And it was. And this time we decided to go take the bottom route because we had spent way too much time on the top. And again, all we found was a shirt. And we went down the creek, and then we kind of split up in the middle. And I found this area. I used a lot of chatgpt to kind of make me think of things that I wasn't thinking. I found it pretty helpful because I was like, look, you know, I sent pictures, and I was kind of amazed that it was able to take those into effect. And it was like, okay, well, you'd be looking over here, over here by a tree. It gave me all these details about mountain lions. I didn't. Again, I'm not a mountain expert. I was like, okay, well, that sounds strange, but okay.
- [30:10]
Troy Taylor
And.
- [30:11]
Matthew Song
And lo and behold, buy a burnt tree and buy a creek that was down dry. There was like, it's just. It's kind of like a. I don't know how to explain it. It's just dark out there. Like, everything there is burnt from that big fire. Except there was this one white piece. Isn't that a rock? And we almost missed it. I was just. I was just so annoyed. So we picked it up. Looking at him like, it's kind of heavy. It's not light like wood, you know, I mean, like, when you pick up wood, it's really light. This is more. It had more substance to it. And, you know, I kind of brush off the dirt, and I'm looking at it, and I was like, is this wood? And then my kid, who's a. He's studying criminology, he takes a look at it. He's like, there's pores in it. Like, it's. That's. That's bone. And so we kind of thought about it, and we noticed that there's mountain lion caches right above it. I looked to my right, and I'm like, holy crap. There's like a big. Like, it looks like a nest, you know? And so we searched that nest, and there's nothing in there. It's just. Well, there is Stuff, but it's black, and I'm not going to go picking up trash looking for bones. You know, we got what we got. It's probably fine, right? And I was like, I don't know, maybe it's animal. I don't know. But the problem that we under, that we both understood from years ago and out there is that the deer are not in Dry Canyon. They wouldn't go there. There's nothing for them to really eat. And I don't think they'd want to go in a place where there'd be open to predators. So I took it in. I found it on a Sunday. I got stabbed by a piece that broke off. I didn't notice that until after I took it in on a Monday. Then they called me immediately on Tuesday and said, thank you. Wednesday, they asked me if I could be there by noon and go show them where. And I meet with one sergeant and three of his homicide detectives. He himself a former homicide detective himself, right? So now you got four homicide guys in plain clothes and all this hiking through there. And they're looking around. And I asked, you know, what do you think? And you're like, well, we don't know if it's animal or human. I'm like, well, that's odd, because wouldn't you just go down the hall and ask the guy, hey, what is this? Right? And they're getting kind of cagey about it, but it didn't make sense to have four people show up if they were not sure. And so I asked him, I said point blank. I'm like, well, does this match with your timeline? And he goes, yeah, this matches with the timeline, but where she would have gone, we just kind of looked at each other. And again, they were very short and brief with communication with me. They look around, they took pictures, they marked it, whatever. They brought us water, shook all our hands multiple times. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And then they just dipped out, right? And then I hear from Sergeant Krivak that it's petrified wood. I said, well, that's strange. It took like 10 days or something like that. And I was like, okay, that sucks. And I asked, well, you know, I guess I could just keep it for novelty, right? Just the time we may have fought and found a bone, you know, I said, well, I'll. I'll just go pick it up. I might be in the area. And then things got weird, and it was like, whoa, it may have been destroyed. I'm like, oh, really? That sucks. I mean, don't you have to notify me and ask me to destroy things before you just destroy them. I'm pretty sure that's how it works. That's how it's worked in the past, even. We found the deer bone way earlier on, like I told you, they asked to destroy it. It wasn't like they just destroy things, okay? So I filed a public records request on this because I want to know the chain of custody, and nothing. It's actually. I think it's due this week to get me a response. But it's funny because, like, an hour after I filed it, he writes me again. He's like, I'll have an answer for you on Friday. The coroner's out. I'm like, okay. The medical examiner. I'm like, okay. And I called the medical examiner, and they just sent me to a black hole and never picked up my call once I told him who I was and what I was looking for. So that got kind of strange. And here we are today. I have a friend, a close friend. He's a retired detective himself, 35 years, and he worked for the LAPD. And, you know, we talk on and off, and he said, that's a great way to make you fuck off. He said, that's. That's. That's their game. And he goes, to be quite honest, I got the honesty as a friend. He's like, you look like a suspicious guy anyway. Maybe they think you were the one who planted it or something, I don't know. And I said, well, I have nothing to do with it, and they know who I am, what I'm looking for. And he goes, yeah, but I'm just telling you how I cop things. And I'm like, okay, well, I don't know. And we're not really at the full month and some change. Maybe it's two months for them to come out and say if they know what happened to her. Because I remember my past experience, like I told you about the bones and the, you know, behind city hall, But I wouldn't be shocked to hear that it's met resolution and no other details have been given, if you know what I'm saying.
- [35:31]
Troy Taylor
The end of the conversation threw me for a spin. Reading between the lines and let me know if you think I've got it wrong here, but it sounds to me like maybe Matthew believes he could be a suspect or at least a person of interest in Lame's disappearance. And that kind of got me thinking. Here's a guy who was there from the beginning. He's found a shirt he thinks is Elaine's. Almost six months later, he's found a bone in the same area, a bone he thinks could be Elaine's, something the Orange County ME as well as my own ME contact confirmed was indeed a bone. He was gravely ill at the time Elaine disappeared, and he's shown a tendency to get frustrated when people get the theory of what happened to her, at least in his eyes, completely wrong. All of it dawned on me while Matthew was still on the other end of the line. Did Glendale Police Department really consider him a person of interest? If they did, it would be the first time they'd ever held someone in that position on Elaine's case, as far as I know. I realized as we continued to chat that if they did think that I was potentially on the phone with someone who knew exactly what happened to Elaine. And you know what? Matthew had a whole lot to say about that. But that is in part two of they Don't Roar. They Meow. Thanks for listening. If you're looking for more of among the Missing, jump on over and take a look at our subscription offer on either Apple Podcasts or Patreon. There's some really great content on there already, including expanded interviews and our first subscriber only bonus episode, she said she want to disappear on Patreon. There's also copies of the photograph and the drone footage from PCH on the 28th and 30th of January. If you know anything about what happened to Elaine or where she is, a Reward fund of $25,000 cash is still on offer. If you'd like any more information on the reward or you have any information relating to Elaine's disappearance whatsoever, please visit our website at among the Missing Podcast where you can send us a message or leave us a voicemail. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok at Among Themissing Podcast. If you've got any questions you'd like to be addressed in our Q and A episodes, please visit our website at among themissingpodcast.com and either send us a message or leave us a voicemail. Among the Missing is a production of FTM Media produced by Troy Taylor, Mark Tarulli and Fred Scherzer, written by Troy Taylor. Our theme song is Lucid Symphony by Dirty Freaks. Elaine park is still a missing person and her case is still open with the Glendale Police Department. If you have any information about her whereabouts, please contact them on 818-548-3135 and mention Elaine's case number 171512.