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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
ZONE 7: Stevie Bates Made It Back to New York, Then She Vanished
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Podcast Host
This is an I Heart podcast guaranteed
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Sheryl McCollum
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Health Expert
fivesides Google is a trademark of Google LLC.
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Sheryl McCollum
Sequences shortened and simulated there's a break
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Podcast Host
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Parent
With my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.
- [03:30]
Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either gonna be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster.
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Sheryl McCollum
Stevie Bates was reported missing in April of 2012. Now y', all, she disappeared after going on a cross country trip with friends. She was only 19 years old. Now the people in the group say they were trying to go to California and something happened that made them turn around. And Stevie got on a bus in Arkansas and then went back to New York City. So she got as far as Arkansas, turned around, was headed home. Now on April 27th, Stevie borrowed somebody's cell phone, called her mama, Vivian Jones and said, hey, I'm on a Greyhound bus. I've got a layover in Pittsburgh, but I'm headed home. I'm going to come and see you, but I'm going to stop by my boyfriend's house first. Now the good news is the New York Port Authority, the bus terminal, their security cameras picked her up. We know she made it. And that's where things kind of start to take a turn, y'. All, we are so lucky tonight that we have her cousin with Us and y' all know when you're trying to put together a victimology, it's really important to talk to somebody that knew the victim, not just somebody that took a report or remembered her maybe 20 years ago. This is somebody that grew up with her, Iris Janier. Iris, thank you so much for joining us and to talk to us about Stevie.
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Iris Janier
Oh, absolutely. It's a pleasure to be here.
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Sheryl McCollum
Well, you and I have gotten to talk a couple of times and I just want the audience to know. First of all, y', all, Iris is my kind of girl. She's funny, she's fearless, she's loyal to her family. And when she and I have had conversations outside of the podcast, she's been very clear. She's been clear about exactly who Stevie was, exactly what occurred. And we're going to get into all of that. But again, Iris, I just appreciate you being here so that we can get the victimology that we need to really look into this cold case. So why don't you tell us a little bit just overall about Stevie.
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Iris Janier
Stevie was a very bright, talented, creative 19 year old. She had attended one of the most prestigious schools in the New York City public school system, Bronx High School of Science. She graduated amongst the top of her class. Every college that Stevie had applied to her senior year, she was granted full rides to, much like her two older sisters who were also high achievers in school and academics. And that's really owed to my Aunt Vivian, who's, you know, Stevie's mother. Obviously she worked and I believe she continues to work to this day as a, as a school teacher. So, you know, Stevie really did have a really well rounded upbringing, you know, with her family and our family and her sisters. But she was an excellent student and a really good friend and certainly very precocious for, you know, her age and the kinds of pursuits that she wanted to explore as she was getting older. You know, after she graduated from high school, she, I remember she and my mom, my mother and I had run into Stevie at a, at a family barbecue and Stevie was with a friend of hers and she was explaining to my mother that she was just going to leave the venue for a bit and come right back. But she and my mother, you know, decided to catch up and my mother was asking her about school and her plans and Stevie was just like, yeah, you know, I got a full ride, you know, to, you know, every school. She was thinking about Arizona State, I believe, one of the school, she got a full ride too. And she was just explaining to my mother that she had decided, you know, basically at the last minute that she wanted to not go to school right away. She wanted to take a gap year, explore the world, maybe travel, whether it was locally or whatever, just make good use of the year between high school and college, and then apply herself fully to school. And that's what she did. So she took her gap year. During her gap year, she, of course, reapplied to college. She was accepted into Hunter College, I believe she was a studio arts major there or studying some sort of architectural art there. And while she was there, she became very much involved in the emerging Occupy Wall street movement taking place in New York City, and, you know, began to do that, was very involved in that.
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Sheryl McCollum
So this is a smart, active, you know, I'm in touch with the community. I know what I like, what I don't like. I want to be a part of it. Okay, so she's obviously bright. I mean, you mentioned her high school, which again, is accelerated at minimum. And, you know, she's got all of it. She's beautiful, she's smart, she's ready to take on the world.
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Parent
Okay.
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Sheryl McCollum
And I think that's really critical because, again, she's not somebody that doesn't have a plan. She's not somebody that doesn't see future goals and how to meet them. She knows how to do that. So when she says, I'm in New York, I'm going to head to Brooklyn to see Brandon, which at the time was her boyfriend. She supposedly never made it to his house, and she's never seen again. So she never makes it to visit her mama the next day after visiting with Brandon.
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Iris Janier
Yes.
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Sheryl McCollum
Okay, now this, y', all, is where. I mean, it's already tragic, but this, to me is one of those gut wrenching things. Eight years go by, y'.
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America 250 Promoter
All.
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Sheryl McCollum
Eight years. And on September 18, 2020, skeletal remains were found wrapped in a blanket when they were excavating this abandoned house area in Glendale, New York, on Cypress Avenue. And those skeletal remains turned out to be Stevie. Stevie Bates. So eight years of a homicide investigation are lost. Eight years of potential evidence and witnesses and etcetera, Gone. So at this point, Isis, what is the family doing? And what are y' all thinking? How are y' all regrouping now that she's not a missing person, she's a homicide victim.
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Iris Janier
It's really difficult to unpack that question because, you know, for a lot of us, we. We already knew years before her remains were discovered that she had to have been a victim of foul play. It just wasn't like you'll hear with many homicide victims from their families and loved ones. It's just. It wasn't in her character. I mean, to disappear. And anybody that knew Stevie knew that, you know, she was, you know, if she was close to anyone, it was with her mother. She and my Aunt Vivian spoke every day. They were extremely close for a mother and daughter, and they had a. They enjoyed an extremely healthy relationship.
- [12:31]
Sheryl McCollum
Isis, I preach on this podcast, patterns, patterns, patterns, good and bad, but this is a good one. She talked to her mama every day. She certainly isn't going to go eight years. That doesn't even make any sense to anybody.
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Iris Janier
Exactly.
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Sheryl McCollum
And this is not a kid. And I say 19. I mean, she was a young woman, but you know what I mean.
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Iris Janier
Yeah. To me, she's a kid. Yeah.
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Sheryl McCollum
And, you know, she's got that relationship that is solid. Her. Her mama supports her. She knows where she's at. It didn't like she ran off every six months. So when you're talking to law enforcement and they just don't have anything more to go on, she just vanished. But I agree with you. Y' all knew. You knew she wouldn't be gone. She wouldn't ditch all of you. She wouldn't ditch your mama, but she, Lord, ain't gonna ditch all of y'. All. So I think that's a valid point, and I like the way you said, it's hard to unpack that question because in your gut, you knew, but you didn't have proof of it.
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Iris Janier
Even still, you know, it's. Yeah, we have her remains. Her remains confirmed that she's, you know, deceased and that she was, of course, the victim of foul play. But unfortunately, like, as you put it so eloquently, eight years was missing to really get ahead of things and, you know, examine what was, you know, the crime scene before it was, you know, before it became a demolition site. You know, all of that evidence and just the passage of time, you know, her body, you know, succumbing to the, you know, the natural order of things and things like that, you know, with that, you lose absolutely crucial evidence of anything that could have transpired. And so, you know, it's just. It's just been very difficult because, you know, we all know. Yes, you know, she was certainly. She's certainly a homicide victim. But, you know, it's in that. With that, it's. There's an emotional side of things, too, where it's like. It's very difficult for me to talk about it with, you know, Stevie's older, two older sisters or her mom, my aunt, because, you know, they were closest to her. And although I know that they do feel that way, it's, you know, it's. It's just still a very much sore subject, you know, so as far as, like, speaking to, for instance, like, Stevie's dad, who's my uncle, you know, you know, he and I discussed this and, you know, he's, you know, like any father you would imagine who loses their daughter all too soon, you know, he just expresses his deepest anger and dissatisfaction with this whole situation. And just like any father would expresses a want for revenge on this person who took his daughter away from him. And so that's really the painful part. And also this feeling of helplessness from the local police department because for them, it just seems like it's a closed case. For them, it's like she may as well. I think I remember once they found the remains, something being floated by the police department, the NYPD saying that they. They suggested that she died of a drug overdose. And I'm just kind of like, I don't know, a person who wraps themselves in a blanket in an abandoned building and dies of a drug overdose.
- [15:58]
Sheryl McCollum
So because of the state of decomp, they don't know how she died. They don't know if she was strangled or stabbed. They don't have that. So this theory that she was in another location and had a drug overdose, she was still moved by someone to that place. Because let's. Let's talk about, you know, the boyfriend a little more. Brandon had addiction issues, and I'm assuming that's where this theory came from.
- [16:29]
Iris Janier
Yes.
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Sheryl McCollum
Okay, so if she got off the bus and made it to his house and they were partying and he gave her something and she OD'd. He had that moment where, I gotta get her out of here because they're gonna blame me.
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Iris Janier
Yeah. And you know, the interesting thing is just to mention about Stevie very quickly, she had never been involved with drugs. And in fact, it was a major point of contention for a lot of the people who were around her and cared about her deeply at the time was the fact that she had gotten into a relationship with Brandon Klosterman to begin with. I mean, he was significantly older than her, and he did have a very visible, obvious drug substance use problem, which something that Stevie had never been exposed to. But Stevie being the caring, attentive, kind person that she was, Stevie had just lost a friend of hers from childhood due to drug use, you know, and so it had been suggested that Stevie had perhaps engaged in this relationship with Brandon, maybe as a part of her grief journey after having lost her friend. But, you know, Stevie had never been involved in drugs. If anything, a lot of Brandon's friends who were recovering addicts. Brandon, however, was not a recovering addict. He was actively into his addiction. But Brandon did have friends who were recovering addicts who had met Stevie through him. And they would often always report that Stevie had never engaged in drugs with him. If anything, they would see Stevie accompany Brandon to the methadone clinic to make sure that he was staying accountable to getting weaned off of his substance use problems. So if anything, she, she was his anchor. She was the one trying to ensure that he could recover from his addiction. And Stevie had not engaged in any drugs. I mean, she was. Not to say, I mean, functioning addicts are absolutely a thing for sure, don't get me wrong. But you know, at the end of the day, we have to look at the hard, cold facts. I mean, Stevie was 19, she was a freshman in college, top of her class. And again, it's not to, you know, take anything away from people who. There's people every day who, you know, are actively in addiction, but they pay their bills, they, they get to work on time and they do what they need to do. But this just isn't the case with Stevie. I mean, again, this is a teenager. She's a teenager who, you know, is actively in school and she's actively engaged in a political, sociopolitical movement. She's finding times to stay actively engaged in extra, extracurricular activities with her friends in and outside of school. So that's just not. There's no time really for her or no incentive for her to become engaged in drugs. And truth be told, the relationship that she had with Brandon Klosterman was somewhat short lived. It was really only a few months and it was like it really wrapped up around the time that she left the Occupy Wall street movement, or rather that the movement was dismantled by the city. And that's what leads us to her murder. Right, because when she had left on her cross country trip with her friends, she had actually already broken things off with Brandon and she had. So her objective was when she came back from the trip, like she said to my aunt Vivian, her mother, she said that she was gonna stop at Brandon's to gather some of her things from his apartment and then go to back home with where she was. She would stay occasionally between her sister Sharina's house in Brooklyn and her mother's house in Yonkers with her stepfather. So she really lived between those two places because it was convenient for her to get to campus at Hunter College in the city. But on occasion, like you would, if you have a relation, maybe you'd spend a night or two at your boyfriend's house, and that was the relationship she had with him. So she was really going back to get the last of her things. And so that's why the theory has always been that when she contacted Brandon to coordinate getting her things after she. As soon as she got back from her trip, something must have went wrong, maybe an argument. Maybe he didn't like that, the finality of her leaving or that she was serious and he snapped and, you know, murdered her.
- [20:59]
Health Expert
I'm.
- [21:00]
Iris Janier
That's. It's really the only plausible working, you know, scenario there.
- [21:05]
Sheryl McCollum
Well, Brandon had a criminal record. Now it was petty crimes, but still he was not unknown to law enforcement. And one of the things that bothers me the most is he not only was a drug user and older than her, but my understanding is he was squatting at that apartment he was at.
- [21:27]
Iris Janier
Okay, squatter, yes.
- [21:29]
Sheryl McCollum
So when you look at these two people, they are living completely opposite lives.
- [21:36]
Iris Janier
Absolutely.
- [21:37]
Sheryl McCollum
Okay. And this is the part where flags start just going like a parade for me. After police came to him and said, hey, you know, she hadn't shown up at her mom's. And he goes, you know, I hadn't seen her. That's his first statement. I hadn't seen her at all. But he deleted the entire Facebook chat thread between the two of them. Now, why would you do that, isis, if your ex girlfriend, and I mean ex by a few hours, a couple of days, that you probably still care about on some level, because I can tell you from what I understand about Stevie, she cared about him on some level. Still wanted to be sure he was okay, wanted to be sure I'm going to go see him, etc. Why would you get rid of the last communication you had with her?
- [22:28]
Iris Janier
Exactly.
- [22:29]
Sheryl McCollum
Because he doesn't have a phone, you know, so this is how he was talking to her. Like, yeah, come see me. I'm at this address still. I'll see at 9 o' clock or whatever the time was. She was supposed to be there, but, you know, that's gone now.
- [22:45]
Iris Janier
And that in addition to the fact that before the police encountered Brandon and performed a sort of cursory investigation with him, my Aunt Vivian had actually taken up her own sort of, you know, impromptu investigation herself, just looking for Stevie in places that she knew Stevie would Often frequent, particularly with Brandon and, you know, the community that he and she would hang, hang around or, you know, socialize within. And one of the places was 14th Street, Union Square. So my aunt Vivian had gone down to the park over there in that area and she had actually come across Brandon. This is before the police had, you know, contacted him and asked him to come in for an investigation or a, you know, a talk down at the precinct. And you know, my aunt has always said, has always maintained that, you know, that moment that she came across Brandon, that he looked visibly spooked and was just quick to shoot down anything. Like before my aunt could even ask him anything about Stevie, it was like he automatically knew all of the, his body language. Just the way he, you know, kind of shriveled up and, you know, froze and just immediately went on the defense before my aunt could really say anything to him. And just spoke to my aunt in a way that was just apart from that totally uncharacteristic. Right, right.
- [24:21]
Sheryl McCollum
He ain't out looking for her, let's just say it. He's not like, oh my gosh, Vivian, I'm going to get all our friends, we're going to go out, we're going to look at all the normal places. She would be.
- [24:31]
Iris Janier
No, no, he was literally, you know, just, you know, very curt and short and you know, like putting distance between he and Stevie, like almost as if like, what are you talking about? Was basically the tone of the conversation.
- [24:50]
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Podcast Host
at america250.org LA There's a break in every 26 seconds. In the US most security systems alert you after a break in has already started. That's too late. Simplisafe is changing that. Using advanced AI alerts, SimpliSafe's US based live agents identify threats on your property and help deter them. And here's what I love most about it. No long term contracts. And the setup is so easy. The SimpliSafe system was delivered to our door and. And in just 30 minutes, our home is more secure with monitoring and deterrence plans Starting around a dollar a day everyone can enjoy the benefits of SimpliSafe. I want you to experience the same peace of mind we do. That's why I've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer an exclusive discount to our listeners. Right now you get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com Nancy I believe in it so much I have given it to two of the LOL's little old ladies back in my home church in Macon, Georgia. That's half off@simplisafe.com Nancy There really is no safe like SimpliSafe.
- [26:37]
Health Expert
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- [27:38]
Podcast Host
Crime Stories is so proud to be supported by Grand Canyon University, an affordable, private, non profit Christian university based in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. GCU doesn't settle for the status quo, they shatter it at gcu. Academically rigorous, industry driven programs are built to move at the speed of relevance with practical skills, career readiness and opportunity for every learner. And GCU believes education should not be a privilege, but an affordable path forward for all. In fact, they've kept tuition at the same rate on their traditional campus for the past 17 years and they're continuing that into the 2026-2027 academic year. Grounded in Christian faith, GCU works to empower the next generation to lead with integrity, serve with purpose, and help transform their communities, Building a future that matters. GCU is Purpose Driven Education. Take action. Find your purpose at gcu. Private, Christian, affordable, nonprofit Visit GCU Edu to learn more.
- [28:56]
Parent
With my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.
- [29:04]
Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster.
- [29:12]
Which is why we load up the iPads with Lingokids before we even pull out of the driveway.
- [29:17]
It's what dreams are made of. Lingokids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over 4000 interactive games, songs, and shows that kids simply cannot get enough of.
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You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but Lingokids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car
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ride or really any ride, plane, train, hovercraft, whatever.
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Download Lingokids for free today or unlock
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- [29:51]
Sheryl McCollum
So let me ask you, what is the distance, if you know, from his apartment to that construction site?
- [29:58]
Iris Janier
So it's interesting. As far as what I know, it seems what I was. The impression that I was under was that Stevie's remains were actually found at the building where Brandon had been squatting.
- [30:19]
Sheryl McCollum
That's what I'm getting at. Okay. That's what I'm getting at. So that was in Queens, but her mama lived in Yonkers. And, and for those of y' all that maybe have never been to New York City, let me tell you something, that's a trip between those two places. It's not like it's a mile and a half, so they're nowhere near each other and it would take a good amount of time. So not only do we have. Hey, he's right there. When he finds out where her body is, again, he's not freaking out, saying, you're telling me she was right at my house and I didn't know it then, who could have possibly done this? If he lives in that neighborhood and he's an active drug user and he's a squatter, that means there are other people that know the principal players. You know who the pimps are, you know who the drug dealers are, you know who the hookers are. So why is he not giving law enforcement a possible suspect?
- [31:21]
Iris Janier
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I think that's the million dollar question. I. It just, it is always felt very apparent that you know, something transpired between he and Stevie when she came to gather the last of her things from where he had been squatting. And yeah, like, just according to everyone who knew Stevie at the time, she was, you know, very staunch in her decision to end things with Brandon. It was, it seemed like it was amicable, but just more so. Like she, you know, she had given what she could and it had really only been a few months that they had been dating anyway. And again, you know, Stevie being the studious person that she was, you know, just, you know, she's actively involved in her studies. And I'm sure at some point, you know, for a 19 year old, or even if you were a 30 year old, dealing with someone who, a partner who struggles with substance abuse, it just gets to a point where, you know, everyone has their limitations. But I would only imagine that to be even more so the case for a teenager like herself. So, you know, she found herself in a very mature situation and she was trying to take the equally mature steps to navigate herself out of that. And unfortunately, him just being far more older and, you know, impulsive and, you know, not as, you know, not unfortunately not mature or anywhere, you know, near, you know, Stevie, as far as, you know, being compassionate and just, you know, having the ability to, you know, say to each other as two adults, hey, you know, this isn't working. Let's walk away.
- [33:08]
Sheryl McCollum
Well, Isis, you and I are grown. And I'll tell you, Stevie ain't the first woman that thought she could love a man through some issue he was having. And, you know, unfortunately, again, something bad happened within walking distance of the apartment he was squatting at. And that's the issue I have. The other issue I have seems to be a common thread lately with some of the cold cases that I've worked on, and that is law enforcement didn't want to take a report. They didn't think she was missing. They just thought, oh, this kid's gone off, she'll show up. You know, she had this senior picture. Well, now she's got blonde dreadlocks. So they made an assumption about her. And a fashion choice does not indicate anything about you. You could have a mohawk. That doesn't mean you love punk rock music. Both things can be true, you know, and I just think, you know, when you're talking about, again, that pattern of constant communication, Vivian could show them her phone. Look where she calls me every day, sometimes multiple times. And, you know, when you, you hear the construction workers talk about how she was in that embankment and five feet down and the Excavator, actually is what pulled her up. I mean, this was. You have. Okay, let me just say it this way, y', all, because my mind, you know, it works almost like a movie reel. But there's three crime scenes here. There's where she died, there's the transport, however that happened, over somebody's shoulder being dragged in a wheelbarrow in a grocery cart, however that happened. And then the body disposal site, that's at least three, and they only looked at one. And so a lot of evidence was lost. A lot of time was lost. I mean, not just trace evidence, but again, witnesses. There are people that were in that lifestyle. Somebody somewhere was shooting up and they know what happened. Someone knows. And that's the reason this is important. And it's important that you're coming out and you're saying, hey, we're not going to forget her. You know, they lost all these years the first time. Let's not lose 20 more.
- [35:26]
Iris Janier
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- [35:30]
Sheryl McCollum
So once Vivian got the police to take the case, and once they started looking at it, it didn't really go anywhere. But then she got a new detective that she thought, hey, this is might be the answer. They're going to actually run with this thing and maybe get some things done. But yet they're not getting a lot of cooperation with people. So here's, I think, what we need to focus on. We need to focus on somebody at the time that is maybe clean. Now, some of those people from the clinic, some of those people in their world, some of the people that were sober that knew Stevie then and said, yeah, she came here, she hung around, or did Brandon make any statements after? How did he talk to these people about why he's not looking for her, what happened? You know, the idea to me that somebody's coming to see you and they die within four feet of your house and somebody rolls them up in a rug and puts them in a construction site and you don't know it for years. Seems like you'd be more involved with making sure that person goes to jail.
- [36:47]
Iris Janier
Yeah, absolutely.
- [36:48]
Sheryl McCollum
And he wasn't at the funeral either, was he, isis?
- [36:51]
Iris Janier
No, he was not. He was not there.
- [36:53]
Sheryl McCollum
Okay, well, I'm gonna be very clear. That does not make you guilty of anything, but it sure puts you on my suspect list, baby.
- [37:02]
Iris Janier
Yeah. You know, and just the fact that, you know, right after the police had interrogated him, which was only days after my Aunt Vivian had found. Stumbled upon him in, you know, 14th Street, Union Square, he had, you know, taken off from New York City. To never be seen again. There's like no reports or sightings of him in New York, I believe. I remember hearing, you know, briefly, maybe several years ago, back when I was a kid myself, that he may have been in Ohio for some time. But yeah, he took off right after like the same week that, you know, Stevie had not been seen or heard from.
- [37:48]
Sheryl McCollum
We need a timeline and we need a confirmed alibi where he was, who he was with and what he was doing. And we need an explanation about the Facebook page. We need an explanation about why you bounced. We need all of that. So we got some work to do. But Isis, this won't be the last time we talk. This is just the first string and we will go forward and we will talk to law enforcement, we'll talk to some other folks and maybe this podcast, maybe your voice will assure that somebody calls and say, hey, you know, I was in that life. I was in that neighborhood. I hung out at that very apartment. I knew Stevie and this is what I heard on the street. This is what Brandon said, pre and post behavior matters. I mean, if not Brandon, then who? Who outside of his apartment? Again, living in that community, he should know who are the violent people, who's somebody that would snatch her and hurt her, who also had a rug and blanket with them, you know, so, Isis, again, I appreciate you, so sorry for all of this and you know, we're going to continue to keep up with you and let's go to work.
- [39:13]
Iris Janier
Thank you so much, Cheryl, as always.
- [39:16]
Sheryl McCollum
Y', all. I'm going to end Zone seven the way that I always do, with a quote. Still, I've heard it said that all love stories are basically love stories and mine is no exception. This is a love story too. And like a lot of love stories, it doesn't have a happy ending. O.J. simpson, I'm Sheryl McCollum and this is Zone.
- [39:51]
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- [41:22]
Sheryl McCollum
Mom, can I have Lingokids?
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Iris Janier
Dad? Lingokids, please.
- [41:26]
Parent
When did we become the Lingokids house?
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Iris Janier
No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs.
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America 250 Promoter
This week it's Lingokids.
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Iris Janier
Why Lingokids?
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Sheryl McCollum
Because it's the best thing ever.
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Iris Janier
You can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.
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With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs and shows, LingoKids is the number one
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Sheryl McCollum
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Iris Janier
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Sheryl McCollum
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