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Crime Junkie
MISSING: Jennifer, Sidney, & Monique
00:41:11
When a young mom and her two small daughters disappear without a trace from Topeka, Kansas, in May 2000, her family goes on a decades-long hunt for answers. But right in the middle of our reporting, the family gets a huge tip that could change everything.
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- [00:01]
Ashley Flowers
Hi crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.
- [00:03]
Britt
And I'm Britt.
- [00:04]
Ashley Flowers
And the story I have for you Today is the 25 year old mystery of a young woman who walked out of her mom's house with her two young children, never to be seen again. But after decades of silence and literally during our reporting, the family got their first real tip in a long time, sparking new hope for answers to what happened to the trio all those years ago. This is the story of Jennifer Lancaster and her daughters, Sydney and Monique Smith. It's around noon on May 13, 2000 when Vicki Lancaster starts thinking that something might be wrong. Her 20 year old daughter Jennifer and her two little girls Sydney and Monique didn't come home last night. Jennifer's a single mom, the three of them live with Vicky. And Jennifer relies on her mom for help, especially at night because Sydney is only 14 months old and Monique is a newborn like Jennifer gave birth to her just five weeks ago. In those five weeks, she has never gone mia. So like I said, by noon she knows something is up. So she has Jennifer's younger sister Jessica called the father of her girls. He and Jennifer are no longer together, but they all live in Topeka, Kansas. And while he's not super involved in their lives, Jennifer's family thinks that, I mean, it's worth giving him a call anyway, right? But Monique and Sydney's dad says that he hasn't seen or heard from Jennifer, doesn't know where she is, doesn't know where the girls are, and the family does believe him. Vicki told our reporter. At this point she starts thinking back to her last interaction with Jennifer the night before. And she remembers that she had one of the girl's quilts in a bag when they walked out of the door at 8pm like they'd all just gotten back home from dinner with Vicki's parents and Jennifer was headed out again. Vicki even asked her what she was doing with the quilt and Jennifer told her that she needed to take it to the cleaners, which was odd because they had a washer and dryer in the house. But at the time she didn't really question it. She's only questioning it now. So Vicky tries calling Jennifer's cell phone, but she doesn't answer. And as she's looking around for any clue as to where she might be, Vicki actually finds Jennifer's phone in the house. So she left it, either accidentally or on purpose. But while the phone is there, she starts noticing a lot of other things that belong to Jennifer. And the girls are not the family had recently moved into that house. So a lot of the stuff that they had was still in boxes. So Vicky hadn't really noticed before. It's one of those things you have to kind of like get into the details of.
- [03:07]
Britt
But she didn't see her moving, like, boxes in and out of the house. Like just this quilt?
- [03:13]
Ashley Flowers
No, no, no. Like, if this stuff got moved out, it would have had to have happened earlier. She doesn't know when and she doesn't know what it means. But it probably scares her a little to realize this. So she calls the Topeka Police department at around 6pm to report Jennifer missing. And the police obviously have questions, right? Like they want to know what is missing, what is going on with her, what could have led to this disappearance. Vicki says Jennifer and her children and their belongings are all missing, like, just like she'd found. But she tells police that she doesn't feel like Jennifer would just run off with the girls. Like, the girls were so little and Jennifer had never been able to handle them on her own. I mean, Vicki and Jessica were always helping her out with them, which makes sense to me. Like, two kids under two at 20. Like, are you kidding me? I couldn't handle a newborn by myself at 33. So it does seem off that one day she would suddenly just run off alone with the girls. Now, Vicky says Jennifer is a bit rebellious and she has been mixed up with the wrong crowd for a while now. But she's not involved in drugs or anything like that, at least as far as they know. Only they do know that she does drink a lot sometimes. And the police basically tell her that while it looks more like she left on her own accord than not, they will still take a missing persons report for her and her daughters. But it's really here that Vicky and Jessica realize that that for police, like, taking the report and actually like doing the things they need to do to find her are very different things, right? So Vicky and Jessica start a search for Jennifer themselves. They get flyers printed with a picture of Jennifer and the girls. They start posting them all over. They even get people to help post them at truck stops across the U.S. i mean, it's 2000. There is no Facebook. I don't even think I had a MySpace then. Like, this is just the two of them trying their hardest to get the word out, hoping that someone, anyone, anywhere, will come forward with a tip or a sighting. And in all this time too, Jessica had started calling other friends, right? She and Jennifer are pretty close in age. They know a Lot of the same people, and for much of their lives, they did everything together. But everyone she is calling hasn't heard a thing. Now, it's important to note that Jessica says she and Jennifer were super close most of their lives, like I said. But Jennifer at times struggled with her mental health and she would distance herself. Vicki tried for years to convince Jennifer to get help, but she was never receptive to it. And her mental health declined even more when she got pregnant with Sydney. And then by the time she had Monique again five weeks before this, she was really struggling. So after Monique was born, Jessica said that Jennifer wasn't even showing interest in the girls.
- [05:56]
Britt
Which sounds a lot like postpartum depression, right?
- [05:59]
Ashley Flowers
I mean, the family doesn't know that for sure, but the fact that she was struggling like this and now that all three of them are missing, it makes Vicky feel certain that something terrible is happening. She just has this dread sitting with her.
- [06:10]
Britt
Yeah, but one thing that doesn't really add up to me within the thinking that maybe she did something to herself and the girls is taking their stuff. Like, to me that says that you're going to write live stuff somewhere else, like, where are you going to need your things?
- [06:24]
Ashley Flowers
Same. Like, again, I don't know what it means. Like, they're contradictory things here. But all in all, people are just worried. And when weeks go by and they don't hear anything, they don't know what to think. So one day, like two weeks out, Jessica decides to head out with a friend to just drive around Topeka looking for any sign of Jennifer. I mean, I mean, this is literally a long shot, like, needle in a haystack kind of thing. But, like, what are you going to do at this point? But they actually do find something on this drive, and it's something big. As they're driving by this apartment complex about 10 minutes from home, they spot Jennifer's car. Jennifer's Jeep Cherokee is sitting in this parking lot of the complex. Jessica walks up to it to look inside, and it's empty. Now, Jennifer's car is typically pretty messy. Like Jessica told us, it usually looks like a trash can. Her words, not mine.
- [07:21]
Britt
Okay, as someone with a trash can car, we do not take offense, right?
- [07:25]
Ashley Flowers
But the weird part is here. So again, like, she's got kids, whatever. Normally it's a hot mess, but when she looks inside, it's clean. And not just like tidy. It looks like it's been cleaned out. I mean, even the girl's car seats aren't there. And that stands out to her as super odd.
- [07:41]
Britt
Yeah. Does this apartment complex mean anything to them? Like, did she know somebody who lived there?
- [07:46]
Ashley Flowers
Not that Jessica knows of, or they probably would have checked it earlier. But she does plan on finding out for sure because she goes around the complex asking people if they have seen anyone resembling Jennifer or Sidney or Monique, but no one has, which, like, none.
- [08:01]
Britt
Of this is making sense. Like we said, why take your stuff unless you're planning to start over or go somewhere. But you can't go somewhere without your vehicle.
- [08:09]
Ashley Flowers
Right. And, like, you're clearly still going somewhere. Right. Or you wouldn't need the car seats.
- [08:14]
Britt
Right. Unless you had another car.
- [08:15]
Ashley Flowers
Whose, though? Because Jennifer didn't have a second car. Hers was in fine working condition, so there's no reason to, like, go buy a different car. And whoever left this car there took the keys with them, clearly because none were left behind.
- [08:30]
Britt
Right.
- [08:31]
Ashley Flowers
So I don't know. At this moment, they're thinking maybe someone picked her and the girls up, they left together, and Jennifer just left her car there, maybe temporarily, like, maybe she planned to return, that's why she took the keys. But there's really no way of knowing at this point. Jessica knows she needs to call police. Like, maybe they'll know what to do. So they show up, they check the car out, but that's, like, the extent of their investigation. They don't process the car, they don't collect any fingerprints on the car, nothing.
- [09:02]
Britt
I mean, it's kind of hard to stick with the theory that she, like, left on her own free will when her car is left behind and totally cleaned out.
- [09:11]
Ashley Flowers
Yet they seem to. Like, we foiaed the records for the police investigation so we could get details about how they were thinking about this, what happened, but that request was denied. Police wouldn't speak to us either because they said this is still an open case. So we really only know what Vicki and Jessica discovered on their own search for Jennifer and the kids. So because the police aren't taking the car now, the family has this to deal with. And because there are no car keys, Vicky has to go to the dealership, she has to get a new key made to move the car, and she takes it back to Jennifer's grandfather's place, where they just kind of leave it because, I mean, they don't know what to do with it. And police are just like, here, you take it. So, I mean, best they do is they just, like, hold onto it, hoping that Jennifer is going to come back and need that car one day. Now, at this point, Vicky decides that the Best thing she can do to figure out Jennifer's movements or what's going on is to get Jennifer's father phone bill. Because Jennifer is still on her plan. But what she sees is a little scary because she finds out that there have been no calls outside of calls to her and Jennifer's grandfather that had been made from her phone in the entire week leading up to her disappearance. So this isn't really helpful. And whether or not it was intentional, tbd, we know the phone clearly wasn't used after she goes missing. Right. Because the phone was still in the house.
- [10:29]
Britt
Yeah. But if she did mean to go off grid, she could have gotten, like a burner or a prepaid phone to use, like, not only, like, when she left, but even to plan her leaving.
- [10:39]
Ashley Flowers
Totally. And I mean, it's 2,000 cell phones aren't glued to everyone's hand like they are today. Like, forgetting it also seems totally possible. But I mean, you're right, like, it would have been easy to go buy a prepaid cell phone still even in 2000. And it's maybe even what is most probable, because at this point, even Vicky starts thinking that, okay, maybe Jennifer was planning on leaving. Right. We're not seeing any sign of her communicating with someone else. Like, she's leaving with the quill. Some of her stuff is missing that she had to have siphoned out of the house at some point. Like, maybe she really did just decide to go. Because the longer Jennifer's been missing, the more time she's had to just go over and over and over in her head, like, what has happened before she left the house that night. And though at the time she told police that Jennifer wasn't really acting differently. Like, she's realizing now that she kind of was acting a bit odd in the week leading up to her disappearance. She told us that that whole week, Jennifer brought the girls to have breakfast with Vicki at the hospital that Vicki worked at, which was out of the ordinary for sure. But, like, at the time, Vicki was just grateful for that time with them. Right. Like she said in that those breakfasts or whatever, Jennifer was acting like, like, fine, but it was almost like she didn't want those meetups to end. And now looking back, she's like, that's super strange. Like, was this. I don't know if she was thinking, was this some kind of goodbye or. Or whatever, but she starts thinking about what else was going on that week, what was different. And that was the week that Jennifer had gone back to work as a dancer at a popular Gentleman's club in Topeka called Baby Dolls.
- [12:17]
Britt
And who was watching the girls Jessica did that week. Okay.
- [12:21]
Ashley Flowers
Now pre Baby, pre Monique, she worked the night shift at Babydolls. But coming back, she was on days. So her mom's thinking, okay, maybe something happened there. And so she turns to Babydolls, which reportedly was known to be a little bit shady. Our reporting team actually got in touch with Jennifer's manager from babydolls back in 2000. His name's Rich Christie. And he gave us more insight into like, the vibe of the place. He called Babydolls a reputable establishment with a lot of high end clientele. According to Rich, by the end of a good day shift, Jennifer could walk away with between like 250 to $300, which today has the buying power of about twice that much. So like not a small amount of.
- [13:03]
Britt
Money, but also not enough to start a whole new life with.
- [13:06]
Ashley Flowers
Very true. But in talking to Rich, he wasn't giving any goods. Just like, you know, yeah, weird. She went missing. Work was work. But then our reporter like really was like drilling in and asked the exact right question. Was there anyone at the club that week that Jennifer returned to work that stood out? And he says, you know what? Come to think of it, yes, there was this one man that he remembers. Rich said that the guy he was thinking of was maybe an attorney, maybe a doctor. Like, he couldn't quite remember. He just knows that this guy was or at least seemed really successful, pretty wealthy. What he knew for sure was that this guy was from Florida and he was there getting treatment at a place called Menninger's, which is this renowned mental health facility that used to be located in Topeka. Rich didn't remember the specifics of what the treatment was. All these years later.
- [14:00]
Britt
Like, how does that even come up in conversation at a gentleman's club? And bigger question, why is this man who's there for what I assume is like inpatient treatment, even at a gentleman's.
- [14:12]
Ashley Flowers
Club, how it came up, it seems like maybe he was spending a lot of time there. Again, I don't, I don't know. And that's what I was going to say. Like, I don't know if he even would have told them exactly what, what the treatment was or whatever. But I know it was like an outpatient situation where he was free to kind of come and go during the treatment. But Rich said, like, dude was there a lot even during the day shift when Jennifer was performing that week and he would drop hundreds of dollars on the dancers he made it apparent that he had a lot to offer. Rich says that after Jennifer disappeared, he came back to the club, this guy, a few more times, but far less frequently. And about a month or so after Jennifer had vanished, he also stopped dropping by the club altogether.
- [14:51]
Britt
And how long had he been going there before she went missing?
- [14:55]
Ashley Flowers
He had been coming there for about like five or six months, according to Rich. Now, obviously, nothing ties Jennifer directly to this van. I mean, Rich doesn't remember him, like, singling Jennifer out or anything. He doesn't even remember him being creepy or off. Just not part of, like, the usual crowd that you got, you know what I mean? So this guy involved or not? What this guy represents to Jennifer's family is the sort of people that she might be coming into contact with. And that could have led to her disappearance because her family thinks that maybe Jennifer met someone in the club that promised her and her daughters a better life. Like, the more time that goes by, the version that they hope was that Jennifer got her happily ever after, that she just wanted to stay off the grid ever since. And the end.
- [15:45]
Britt
But why wouldn't she have just told them that?
- [15:48]
Ashley Flowers
I don't know. Like, maybe it goes back to the way her headspace was in that time. Like her being distant. Also, even though Rich told us that Jennifer was a dancer, her mom said that she always thought that Jennifer was a waitress and that if she was a dancer, she could see that being something that Jennifer wouldn't have told her. So maybe Jennifer, if this is what happened, felt like her family wouldn't understand. Or if she wanted to get them to understand her leaving, she would have to tell them all this other stuff that she had never talked about before. Maybe she wasn't ready to open up that can of worms. But honestly, now, like, that is best case scenario to her mom, that she started a new life. She's just out there with her girls, happy. Worst case scenario is that she was promised something great but was met with foul play instead. So you can imagine how excited Jennifer's family is when a month or so after she and the girls vanish, this man calls Vicky's home in the middle of the night and says that Jennifer was in Lawrence, Kansas, like 25 miles east of Topeka. This sighting of Jennifer was at a different gentleman's club, though it's unclear who actually saw Jennifer there. And Vicki didn't know the man that was calling or how he even got her number to tell her about the sighting. Which is a little odd to me. And ultimately it doesn't end up leading anywhere. Because when whoever, like, looks at this club, there's no sign of Jennifer there. At least when they go to look, if it was her at all, right? Like, so either she left or it never was. I don't know. And we don't know who this guy was or how he got her number. So without anything solid for the family to go off of again, they're kind of just left with zero answers, zero leads, and just hope that Jennifer is out there somewhere. Then a few months after that, Vicky gets another. I don't even know if tip's the right word. Something happens that almost keeps this spark of hope going that Jennifer is out there. But what she gets that gives her that hope is super weird. So Vicky is checking her mail one day and she gets this thank you card and coupons in the mail from.
- [18:00]
Britt
Steak N Shake Midwest Classic.
- [18:02]
Ashley Flowers
Listen, no one's complaining when you get Steak and Shake coupons, but here's the rub where she's getting it from this Steak n Shake. She's never been to this Steak n Shake that is all the way out in St. Louis, Missouri. This is like four and a half hours from Topeka to the east. And the letter was addressed to Jennifer thanking her for the comment card that she left after dining there. So you better believe Vicki, like, runs to the phone, calls that Steak n Shake asking if they still have that comment card that Jennifer allegedly wrote. But they tell her no. Like, the way their system works is that once the card information goes into the database, the card is destroyed. And this breaks Vicky's heart because her one hope was getting her hands on that card to see the handwriting because she knows she would have been able to tell if it was truly Jennifer's or if it was, like, someone else and this was some kind of hoax. And they just, like, addressed it to Jennifer at Vicky's house.
- [19:01]
Britt
But that would be such a weird hoax. I know we've seen a lot, but I don't understand this one. And more than that, like, if it is a hoax, it would have had to have been someone that the family knew.
- [19:14]
Ashley Flowers
Like, how would they have her address?
- [19:16]
Britt
Her address? I know, like, her name.
- [19:17]
Ashley Flowers
And I could. I could spiral. I have spiraled. So she lived with her mom, right? Like, does someone have her driver's license? Is it someone that knew her? I mean, I know back in the day papers would often print home addresses, but I don't think the papers were even picking up this case really well.
- [19:34]
Britt
And, like, who is in St. Louis getting a Topeka newspaper you know, I.
- [19:38]
Ashley Flowers
Keep coming back to a couple of scenarios when it comes to this comment card. So, one, it was the person who did something to Jennifer, and this was like, a sick way to drop a line that wouldn't be traced back. Is this the same person that called? I don't know. I just don't think a stranger gets anything from a hoax like this.
- [19:56]
Britt
But because you can't even, like, follow it through and, like, strangers who do.
- [19:59]
Ashley Flowers
Hoaxes usually, like, want to see something.
- [20:01]
Britt
Yeah. Like, get something out of it. And they don't get anything out of this.
- [20:04]
Ashley Flowers
One, that's not to say people aren't sick and wouldn't. But unlikely to. Or two, it was Jennifer filling out the card. Now, I wonder if that is maybe the last permanent address that she had and maybe the last one that she remembered. And so she just, like, wrote that down. Never thinking that they would send a thank you card for a comment card. Like, I don't know who does that?
- [20:24]
Britt
People from the Midwest, but they don't.
- [20:26]
Ashley Flowers
Call it who's yous Hospitality for nothing, even though it is St. Louis. Whatever. But, like, you. You get me. The problem with this scenario, though, is she's alive and well. She left on her own. But what I know is that in all this time since Jennifer and the girls, their Social Security numbers have never gotten any hit since they disappeared. Which feels like it wouldn't be the case if they were out there just, like, freely living their lives and just didn't want to be contacted. And, like, that's what makes her family the most nervous.
- [20:56]
Britt
What if it's both? But, like, not in the way you've laid out. Like, what if foul play is involved? So there is someone else. But Jennifer really did write the card and say she's with someone, like a trafficker or a kidnapper.
- [21:08]
Ashley Flowers
And she's like, I know where you're going. Right?
- [21:09]
Britt
Like, help me. So she writes this comment card with her old address to, like, signal to her mom that she's still out there.
- [21:16]
Ashley Flowers
So this is like an option three that I keep, like, playing with in my mind. And actually, that option that you laid out is one that I think Vicky, her mom, like, believes most to be true. Because a huge fear for her and for her whole family is that Jennifer could have been trafficked.
- [21:35]
Britt
And if that's what actually happened, there's a huge possibility that the girls, I mean, they could have been taken away from Jennifer, given new names, different fake socials, ended up somewhere else, not even knowing who they are. They were so tiny when they disappeared, they were literally babies. I mean, my mind honestly even goes to, like, adoption fraud situation. Like, has anyone looked at what the motive would be if it were foul play? Like, who is the intended target? We keep talking about Jennifer because she's the one who had time to have a story around her, but maybe the target was actually the kids. The kids.
- [22:08]
Ashley Flowers
It's totally possible. And like you said, I mean, the wild part is they're so young that they would have absolutely no memory of where they came from other than, like, what they were told by someone. Like, the problem we have here is I don't think anyone has enough information to say what, what the motive is, because I don't think you can talk motive without knowing what really happened. Right. But I will say, I mean, there's been some online chatter. Like, one of the things I came across that I found really interesting is this kind of fringe theory that maybe this serial killer, a guy named John Robinson, could have something to do with Jennifer's disappearance. So according to something I read on investigation discovery, John was a serial killer that operated in the Midwest, but specifically the Kansas and Missouri areas around the time of Jennifer's disappearance. And I mean, listen, I would love to know if John was a patron of baby dolls, but, like, everything I found about him online is that, like, he tried to maintain this facade of this super upstanding citizen. I mean, he was a Sunday school teacher. Doesn't mean he didn't, but, like, doesn't fit the, like, Persona he was trying to put off. But he ultimately got arrested on a sexual battery complaint in June of 2000. This is just a month after Jennifer and the girls vanished. And from there, detectives discovered human remains on his property. The thing that's wild is he was known, forget this. Allegedly promising women a new life before murdering them. And he wasn't above selling their children in the process, which he did in at least one case that he is tied to, like, a murder conviction. And law enforcement has said they do think he has more victims that just haven't been ID'd.
- [23:48]
Britt
Okay. Have they looked into him specifically for Jennifer's case?
- [23:52]
Ashley Flowers
I couldn't tell you because police stonewalled us. I mean, he's certainly someone I find very interesting.
- [23:58]
Britt
Well, yeah, it literally fits square into one of the first theories the family brought up. Like, offered a new life and takes it.
- [24:06]
Ashley Flowers
And like, to me, it's like the Kansas and Missouri connection. But again, I don't know, like, when he was like, locked up. Is it. Is the postcard come after he's already in jail. Like, I'm still, like, looking into this guy. I don't know. And listen, those two places are right next to each other. Like, it's not a one in a zillion coincidence, but yes. She goes missing in Kansas. The comment card comes from Missouri. I don't know. What I know is that sadly, that comment card was the last tangible lead the family had in over a decade. And I don't even know how seriously police took this or if they even looked into it at all. I mean, they definitely didn't collect the card as evidence or anything, because Vicky still has that card today. Not that it would be evidence. Right. Like, I know, but it's. She didn't write it, but they didn't copy it. Keep it in the file, whatever. Now, throughout this time, the original detective assigned to this case, Detective Terry Harris, would check in with Vicki every so often. It'd be the usual. No updates, but she felt like he was putting in real effort into looking for her daughter and grandchildren. So at some point, it kind of felt like this turned into an investigation, right?
- [25:11]
Britt
Yeah, but did they ever check the car for evidence then? Like, go back and do that?
- [25:15]
Ashley Flowers
I didn't say a good investigation. No. So according to Vicky, the car, you know, she tried to keep it as long as she could in case Jennifer came back, but it got repossessed at some point, though she can't remember exactly when. So whatever happened inside that car, if anything, whoever was in it or if it held any clues as to where to look for Jennifer and the girls, that remains a mystery. Even in spite of that, Vicki had at least an ounce of confidence in Topeka PD until 2011. That's when she gets a call from a new investigator in charge of the case asking her to submit DNA. The investigator won't give a reason why. And Vicky is living in Houston at the time, so she's like, sure, you know, the next time I'm passing through Topeka, I'll give you guys my DNA. But the detective is like, no, you need to go to the nearest police station as soon as possible and give them your DNA. Like, please hang up now.
- [26:07]
Britt
What do the police know that we don't know?
- [26:09]
Ashley Flowers
Well, what do they know that even Vicky doesn't know because they won't even tell her why. So she goes to the Houston Police Department to give her DNA, and she asks the detective there, like, do you know what's going on?
- [26:20]
Britt
Yeah.
- [26:20]
Ashley Flowers
And he tells her what police in Kansas wouldn't, that police found female remains in Illinois that they think might be Jennifer. Immediately, Vicki goes home and Googles female remains in Illinois. But what she finds, like, she's not seeing any connection to the details. Like on Jennifer's case. Like, she doesn't see whatever it is police see, but, you know, like, is there something police know that we don't know?
- [26:47]
Britt
Right.
- [26:47]
Ashley Flowers
So she tries going to the police to see how they're tying them together. She calls Topeka PD back. Basically, everyone's saying, like, no one has the details except for this one new investigator, and she isn't sharing. So Vicky just gets left in the dark, waiting to see if her DNA is a match to this Doe. When the results finally come back, it turns out not to be Jennifer. And Vicky is relieved, but also upset by how detectives handled the whole situation. Because, listen, it doesn't matter if it's been 25 years or 25 days. The pain of a missing child never goes away. So, like, a bit more empathy from police would have gone a long way with her. And when Vicky shares her anger with the detective's boss, she believes that may have been the catalyst for what happens next. Or rather, what doesn't happen. Because after the DNA results are in, Vicki says she never gets an update on Jennifer's case ever again.
- [27:51]
Britt
My hopeful little butt thought the boss was gonna be upset with how the detective handled it.
- [27:55]
Ashley Flowers
But no, the blue wall is firm. Like, stand by your own. This is, like, so disheartening. I've seen this over and over. Like, the more cases we've done, the more families I've worked with. Families really have no rights when it comes to, like, how they're treated or what they have access to, information wise. But listen, if law enforcement is going to protect their own, we can do the same, right? And people do show up for Vicky and really show up for Jennifer. In 2015, Rich, the club manager, takes it upon himself to start asking around to see if anyone knew anything about Jennifer's disappearance or if they'd heard any updates. And his interest in Jennifer's case rubs some people the wrong way. I mean, police perk up when they hear that he's asking around, because they immediately call him in and start questioning him, Almost like he has something to do with that. And he's like, listen, I didn't have anything to do with this. I just feel like it's wrong. There wasn't a bigger investigation and you guys seem to have no interest. So I'm just asking questions because no one else is. But all the questions he was asking, it didn't go anywhere. Rich says that no one at his club was ever interviewed.
- [29:02]
Britt
The club, which is, like, the one place that could have held so many answers in this case.
- [29:06]
Ashley Flowers
Exactly. I mean, it shows you what he's talking about. Like, the lack of investigation, of not even, like, trying to get to the people who might have have answers. Even after Rich left Babydolls, he could never shake that sad feeling he'd get for her mom, who had to go all those years with no answers. And the fact that two little girls just vanished, too. It just doesn't make sense to him. But despite even his asking him, hitting the pavement, nobody knows anything now. In 2021, a cold case investigator for the Shawnee County DA's office takes over the case, and a local reporter, Tim Rencher, reports again on Jennifer's disappearance. He had done some in the past. It's in his update article that Vicki sees this line that doesn't make sense to her, Right? Like, she's, like, reading about her own daughter's case, like, but it says that the family didn't want to be contacted.
- [30:01]
Britt
And she's like, the family?
- [30:02]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah. She's like, well, I know that's not true. Nobody called to ask me. So she calls up the investigator and asks where that statement came from, and they tell her that no one has reached out to her for the past decade because of a note in her file.
- [30:18]
Britt
I'm sorry, what note?
- [30:20]
Ashley Flowers
A note that says the family doesn't want to be contacted about Jennifer's case. What? Vicky says that the detective who kept her in the dark about the Illinois remains is the one who put that note in there. And she doesn't know exactly why, but Vicky thinks the detective may have done it out of spite after she called the detective's boss in complaint.
- [30:42]
Britt
So she was, like, punishing her.
- [30:43]
Ashley Flowers
Mm. So she has been in the dark, not knowing anything for years because of this little note sitting in Jennifer's case file, which, to her is heartbreaking for me, is rage inducing.
- [30:55]
Britt
Yeah.
- [30:56]
Ashley Flowers
And I would like to remind everyone again that we tried to reach out to police for. For records and for an interview and records, which, by the way, it seems like they gave other journalists, but they would not talk to us. So I can't tell you why. That note was put there at the detriment of Jennifer, of her girls, and of their family. Add to that heartbreak are the tips that come in that the family has little way of verifying, but only adds to their terror. Jessica told us that sometime in 2022, a friend of a friend Told her there was a man who was known to traffic women out of baby dolls specifically, and he operated. Wait for this. Between Topeka and St. Louis. This man allegedly spent time in prison for trafficking women. And the tipster who shared this information with Jessica was so scared that she wouldn't tell her what the man's name actually was. So without more information to go off of, I can't really say if this is a theory that that could be checked out. That was checked out. And we couldn't confirm if Jessica ever shared this information with police. So we don't know if it's something that they've looked into. And it's not like they're sharing anything with the family either. At the end of the day, Vicki and Jessica just want answers. It has been 25 years, and there has been very little. Only a few blips of hope, including one that came as well. We were writing this episode April 2025. Jessica reached out to us after we had interviewed her to tell us that someone had contacted them. And this woman who contacted them believes she's Monique, Jennifer's youngest daughter who disappeared when she was just five weeks old.
- [32:42]
Britt
Oh, my God.
- [32:42]
Ashley Flowers
And listen, her story is harrowing. This woman, who I'm going to call Nora, is living in Ontario, Canada. Now, Nora heard some rumors around town that her parents may not be who she thinks they are and that maybe she should look into it. And after some of her own research, she somehow came across this missing persons case from Kansas. Now, even after our team talked to Nora ourselves, it's not super clear how she specifically came across Jennifer's case. But it could all be about timing. You see, her date of birth is the same as Monique's, at least what she told April 6, 2000. Which is bananas, I know, especially because Jennifer's family says that they have never had anyone reach out claiming to be one of the girls before in 25 years. So when this was going on, I mean, Jessica and Vicki are feeling all of the emotions. They are nervous. They are, of course, hopeful that this could be the thing they have waited decades for. And Nora's got her own story to tell. She says that she had been trafficked by the man she believed to be her father. And so even she wants answers. And when Jessica sees what Nora looks like, she says it looks a lot like her own daughter. So there could be something there.
- [33:57]
Britt
So what now, like, DNA testing? Are you looking into her parents?
- [34:01]
Ashley Flowers
Okay, well, so Jessica went to the Topeka PD to try and get Nora set up for a DNA Test. You're never going to believe this, but they weren't super helpful. Her next step was to call the FBI, hoping that they could get something going. And listen, they didn't have anything more than recommendations to offer, like, there's nothing they can do. But Jessica was determined, so she suggests that Nora go ahead. Submits her DNA to the nearest police station, which we were able to confirm with Canadian police that they received her sample and are preparing to send it to Topeka pd. But that's where their involvement ends. And it becomes up to law enforcement in Kansas to do something with it, and we have no idea how long that will take. Topeka PD told Jessica initially that once the DNA comes through, it'll likely have to be sent over to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. They'll be charged with the actual DNA testing. And that could take weeks, it could take longer. And you have to imagine trust between Jennifer's family and Topeka PD is, like, virtually non existent by this point. Like, if it gets tested, they don't even feel confident that they're gonna, like, get updates on the results. But then we had an idea. We know the wheels of justice move slow. I hate moving slow. I don't know if you've met me.
- [35:18]
Britt
Understatement.
- [35:19]
Ashley Flowers
We're not looking to test evidence here. Right. Like, when I started thinking about it, I wanna know if person A is related to person B.
- [35:25]
Britt
That's actually pretty easy.
- [35:27]
Ashley Flowers
Mm. If both people are, you know, readily willing to give their DNA, you just gotta go to a lab. Private labs do this all the time. All you need is a home kit. So we had kits sent to Canada and to Kansas. Vicky got the kit, sent back her sample, and we got confirmation from Nora that she received her kit. But then a few days passed and it was radio silence. We tried contacting her multiple times, and she just went dark on us. And Jessica hasn't heard from her since either. So now Jennifer's family is left with more questions than answers. And processing that, what reignited a bit of hope in the case is now shattered.
- [36:11]
Britt
I'm, like, floored by this story.
- [36:13]
Ashley Flowers
I know.
- [36:13]
Britt
So was all of it. Any of it real? Like the trafficking, her parents?
- [36:19]
Ashley Flowers
I don't know, man. She. She submitted the DNA to Canadian authorities. Right. It's like. It's not like she backed out then. Like, why now? It's the timing that I think is so weird. Like I said, not to get a single call resembling this in 25 years. And then we show up, and all of a sudden, this. I mean, I Could get real conspiratorial, right? Like, we're asking around, we're submitting requests, we're ruffling feathers. But, like, what if it was just some cosmic blessing, maybe, right? Like that we're at the right place at the right time not to take away any pain that this caused. Maybe just help expedite the truth, weed out any lies. I don't know, because I don't know what is truth and what is lies. Still. Hey, guys, I'm jumping in here really quick because there has been a development over the weekend from the time that we released this episode in our fan club to when you're hearing it. Why? After the fan club episode went out, Nora did reach back out to us. She said that she had to leave the place that she was at before, the one that we sent the DNA test to, and now she's in a new place and asked us to send a new test. This is all developing as we speak. So we are currently trying to figure out what's what, figure out if that's possible and what the best next step is. If there are more developments, we'll update you. This is, like, the perfect thing to make sure you're following us on social for, because we'll make sure we get any updates there and in the fan club. Okay, back to the original story. Vicki says that she wishes she would have shared a little bit less about Jennifer and her behavior with police when she first reported her daughter and granddaughters missing. Like, maybe they would have taken it all the more seriously from the beginning. But hindsight is 20 20, and she still holds out hope that her granddaughters are out there somewhere, whether they know who they are or not. So she has submitted her DNA to law enforcement, and her granddaughter Jessica's child has submitted her DNA to Ancestry.com they're waiting for the day that a match pops up and leads them to some answers once and for all. Vicki has a message for Jennifer herself. If she's still out there.
- [38:32]
C
I would just like to say to Jennifer that, you know, I hope they are, and I pray that they are safe. I really wish that someday I would be able to hear from Jennifer and know that they're okay. I'm not upset. I understand that things happen sometimes and you just have to get away. I just hope and pray that day that she and the girls are happy and healthy and together and they have a support system together.
- [39:03]
Ashley Flowers
Jennifer would be 45 today. She had blond hair and blue eyes. She had multiple piercings on her eyebrow, tongue, and ears, plus a tattoo of Lowrider on her left upper arm in green and black and another green and black tattoo on her lower back. Sydney would be 26 years old. She had black hair and brown eyes. Her sister Monique was only a month old and she'd be 25 today. She also had black hair and brown eyes. We're going to include their photos, including age progressed ones for the girls in the show Notes and if you're listening to this episode and you have any information on what happened to Jennifer or her daughters, please reach out to Topeka PD at 785-368-9551. You can also submit a tip to KBI directly online or by calling 1-800-572-7463. And if you want to reach out to us, you can email tipsodiochuck.com you can find all the source material for this episode on our website crimejunkiepodcast.com and.
- [40:21]
Britt
You can follow us on Instagram crimejunkiepodcast.
- [40:24]
Ashley Flowers
We'll be back next week with a brand new story. Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve.