Episode 283

Summary

Sword and Scale - Episode 283 Summary

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Case Overview: The Disappearance and Murder of Adam Chase

Release Date: March 3, 2025
Host: Adam J. Chase

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1. Introduction

Episode 283 of Sword and Scale delves into the harrowing true crime case of Adam Chase, a 31-year-old father who mysteriously disappeared in Stanley, New York, in June 2012. The episode meticulously chronicles the events leading up to his disappearance, the subsequent investigation, and the eventual revelation of his wife's involvement in his murder.

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2. Background of Adam Chase

Adam J. Chase, born in October 1980 in Gorham, New York, led a relatively ordinary life. An introverted individual with a passion for computer games and Renaissance fairs, Adam married Rose Chase shortly after high school. The couple moved from low-paying jobs into a modest trailer in Bristol, New York, eventually purchasing a farmhouse in Stanley. Adam became a stay-at-home dad after their son, Tristan, was born in 2007.

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3. The Disappearance

On the evening of June 14, 2012, after a heated argument with Rose about infidelity and the paternity of their son, Tristan, Adam left the family home around 11 AM. Rose reported his disappearance to Adam's mother, Sylvia, citing that Adam had stormed out during their fight and hadn't returned despite leaving his cell phone behind.

Notable Quote:

Rodney G. Miller (08:41): "The Sheriff's department called her on Friday night and wanted to ask her questions instead of going to the house and asking if they could walk around and make sure that he wasn't hiding her in someplace in the house."

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4. Initial Investigation by Law Enforcement

The Ontario County Sheriff's Department treated Adam's disappearance as a missing persons case. Rose provided inconsistent information, mentioning marital issues and potential infidelity. Search efforts included canine units scouring the property, but no substantial evidence was found. However, two suspicious text messages were sent from Adam's phone to his parents on June 19, claiming he was "staying with a friend in Kenya, Canandaigua" and needed "time to think."

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5. Rodney Miller’s Involvement

Rodney G. Miller, a 73-year-old former Ontario County deputy turned private investigator, learned of Adam's disappearance through local publicity. Knowing Adam personally and recognizing him as someone unlikely to vanish without reason, Miller took a proactive role in the investigation.

Notable Quote:

Rodney G. Miller (15:04): "Well, my name is Rodney G. Miller. I'm 73 years old. But years ago, in 1980, I got hired by Ontario county as a deputy."

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6. Confrontation and Confession

Determined to uncover the truth, Miller approached Rose Chase multiple times. His persistent questioning and psychological tactics eventually led Rose to confess to Adam's murder. On December 13, 2012, with the assistance of Rose's babysitter, Sandy, Miller orchestrated a situation that prompted Rose to admit to pushing Adam down the stairs, leading to his death. Rose further confessed to dismembering and disposing of Adam's remains in a burn barrel at her mother's house.

Notable Quote:

Rodney G. Miller (37:15): "I said, Rose, I've had enough. You gotta give them up. You're never gonna be at peace till you tell me what you did with him and I wanna know where you buried him."

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7. Aftermath and Trial

Following Rose's confession, authorities located Adam's remains scattered across multiple sites, including a burn barrel containing skeletal bones and burned materials. Rose was charged with second-degree murder, evidence tampering, and endangering the welfare of a child. During the trial, Rodney Miller testified, providing crucial evidence that led to Rose's conviction.

Notable Quote:

District Attorney Michael Tantillo (68:37): "Figuring it out though, the jury actually deliberated a total of only just about four hours or a little bit more than four hours. So that suggests to us that they felt the case was pretty strong and probably moved toward a verdict."

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8. Continued Developments

Rose Chase was sentenced to 24 and a half years to life in prison in January 2014. Despite the conviction, questions lingered regarding the effectiveness of the initial investigation, particularly concerning the use of non-cadaver canine units that failed to detect Adam's remains in the basement. Additionally, Rose's statements hinted at possible complicity from her mother, Patty Mooney, although no charges were filed against her.

Notable Quote:

Rodney G. Miller (76:51): "I think two reasons. The dogs weren't worth what they paid for them and the trainers weren't worth a."

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9. Reflection and Impact

The episode highlights Rodney Miller's unwavering dedication to solving the case, emphasizing the significant role of independent investigators in complementing official law enforcement efforts. Miller's actions not only brought closure to the Chase family but also underscored systemic shortcomings within the Sheriff's Department.

Notable Quote:

Rodney G. Miller (74:41): "Anybody that has love for law enforcement, your dream is to always solve a major case. And to me, this was a major case."

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10. Conclusion

Episode 283 of Sword and Scale provides a comprehensive and gripping account of Adam Chase's tragic disappearance and murder. Through meticulous storytelling, the podcast sheds light on the complexities of criminal investigations, the impact of personal relationships on criminal behavior, and the relentless pursuit of justice by individuals like Rodney Miller.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Adam J. Chase]

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

[Rodney G. Miller]

He asked me not to talk to the media. I told him, I don't need to talk to the media. I want to talk to you. And he quote, unquote, said, rodney, we honestly thought he'd be home by Christmas. I said, well, you can't come home if you're fucking dead.

[Adam J. Chase]

Final Sword and Scale until April. So this is 283 season 12. Let's go. All right, no reason to further delay. Let's get right into it. Make sure to subscribe to this doesn't happen to people Like Me on Apple and Spotify. And we'll see you back here in April. Here's the show. Adam J. Chase was born in October of 1980 to his parents, Lyndon and Sylvia, in Gorham, New York. Growing up, Adam wasn't exactly the outdoorsy type. He spent most of his days inside playing computer games on his PC while his peers sped past his bedroom window on their BMX bikes, enjoying the beautiful nature that the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York has to offer. By high school, Adam's introverted personality hadn't changed much. In short, he was a nerd. Not in a bad way. But you were more likely to catch him at the local Renaissance fair dressed up in costume and festering on a fried turkey leg. Then you were to spot him at, let's say, a sporting event or a party.

[Rodney G. Miller]

He's a private person. There was nothing wrong with Adam, except Adam was Adam. He wasn't a real socio person other than around family. He loved his family.

[Adam J. Chase]

So when he met Rose, a girl one year younger than him, while attending Marcus Whitman High, Adam welcomed the attention from the opposite sex, something he hadn't exactly known prior. Adam was by no means the popular kid in school, but he did have a few core gaming buddies he hung around with. Rose, on the other hand, was much more of an outcast and struggled in school due to her dyslexia. As a result, she was subjected to more than her fair share of bullying. Adam came to her rescue on more than one occasion, and after learning that they shared an interest in sci fi movies in particular, it wasn't long before the two began dating. It seemed as though he'd found his fair maiden. Rose was just as eager to dress up in ornamental attire and accompany her new Prince Charming to his favorite historical events celebrating the days of yesteryear. Just a couple of geeks, young and in love. How sweet. But in terms of academics, Adam wasn't quite the stereotypical bookworm. In fact, he was pretty much the opposite and ended up dropping out right before his senior year. He eventually earned his GED before bouncing from one menial job to the next while his girlfriend Rose remained in high school. To the frustration of Rose's mother Patty, Adam tried to convince his girlfriend to drop out along with him, hoping to jumpstart their new life together. Unfortunately for Adam, Rose's mother wasn't having it and insisted she finish school. Shortly after graduation, the now 19 year old rose and 20 year old Adam wasted no time trying to tie the knot and got married. In 2001. They moved into Patty's house while saving up to get a place of their own. By this point, Adam worked more low paying jobs than anyone would care to admit, selling anything from windows to used cars. Meanwhile, Rose secured a position working at a local factory. Between their two incomes, the newlyweds eventually managed to squirrel away enough cash to buy a small trailer in the nearby town of Bristol, New York. It wasn't much, but you know, it was theirs. And after years of trying, Rose became pregnant with their first child. Their son Tristan was born in 2007. From that moment on, Adam dedicated his life to fatherhood and quit his job to become a stay at home dad full time. As for Rose, she was eventually given a promotion at the factory and soon became the sole breadwinner. A few years later, the couple was finally able to put a down payment on their first home in Stanley, New York. A big white colonial farmhouse with an oversized porch overlooking half an acre of remote land. Adam's mother and father also lived in Stanley, which meant baby Tristan got to spend quality time with his grandparents whenever Adam needed a break from his duties as Mr. Mom. Linden and Sylvia Chase were happy to take Tristan whenever they had the chance. This was helpful because Adam and Rose now had a hefty mortgage payment to take care of. As a result, Adam was forced to look for a job, but struggled to lock down anything full time. Even so, he and his wife Rose found a way as life does and around the time their son was about to start kindergarten, Adam finally landed a low paying gig working as a student loan debt collector. The kind of guy I'm sure we all love. From the outside looking in, things seemed to be fine for Adam Rose Chase. That is until midsummer of 2012 rolled around. On the evening of June 14, 2012, Rose Chase showed up at Adam's parents home to pick up their son Tristan.

[Rose Chase]

Solid mother's intuition, but I knew something was definitely wrong.

[Adam J. Chase]

Before Sylvia could even open her mouth, Rose explained that she and Adam had gotten into a fight earlier that day and that she hadn't seen him since. Rose claimed that in the midst of a heated argument, Adam punched a hole in the upstairs wall before storming down the steps and out of the house. Rose said that she was certain Adam would be back in no time, thinking he'd simply be gone for a walk around the neighborhood to cool off. According to Rose, that was around 11am roughly seven hours before. In addition, he'd left his cell phone behind after night fell over Stanley, New York, and Adam still hadn't returned home. It was at that point that Rose said she drove to Sylvia's to inform her that her son had disappeared. After delivering this troubling news, Rose quickly gathered up her own son and was out the door. Sylvia's head was spinning. She tried to convince herself that her son was somewhere safe. But when morning came and there was still no sign of Adam, that anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach began to tighten.

[Rose Chase]

My son always called me when something was up. Always either me or his dad.

[Adam J. Chase]

After a sleepless night, Sylvia was forced to begin her shift at the local public school where she worked with no indication of where her son had gone. Shortly after arriving, she spoke with a resource officer at the school to express her concerns, given the fact that it had been roughly 24 hours since Adam was last seen or heard from. The officer encouraged Adam's mother to file a missing persons report right away, which is exactly what Sylvia Chase did on the morning of June 15, 2012. Later that same day, a deputy with the Ontario County Sheriff's Department called up Adam's wife, Rose on the phone, provided that she was the last one to have seen Adam. Naturally, Rose was the person authorities wanted to speak with.

[Rodney G. Miller]

The Sheriff's department called her on Friday night and wanted to ask her questions instead of going to the house and asking if they could walk around and make sure that he wasn't hiding her in someplace in the house.

[Adam J. Chase]

During that telephone conversation, Rose told officers that the day Adam went missing, their 4 year old son was staying with Adam's mother, Sylvia. Which was true. But Rose expanded on the original story she'd told Adam's mother by informing police that before Adam walked off, he'd called out of work. Adam's boss later confirmed to police that he had called in sick, but that it was hours after his shift had already begun, which, according to his employer, was uncharacteristic of him. Rose went on to explain to the officer that Adam wasn't actually sick, but had taken the day off so that he could discuss some marital issues they'd been having. Rose alluded to the deputy over the phone that there had been some infidelity going on in their relationship. This was obviously a red flag, or at least it should have been. Without going into further detail at the time, Rose told the officer about the argument that broke out, Causing Adam to punch the wall and angrily walk out of the house. A few days later, on June 18, investigators arrived at Rose's residence on stanley to meet with her in person for the first time since Adam mysteriously disappeared. During that visit, Rose consented to a search of her and Adam's property, At which time police dogs began scouring the woods surrounding the farmhouse. While all of that was going on, Investigators sat down to chat with Rose face to face. She reiterated that the last time she saw her husband was four days prior, on June 14. While in the home, Rose was kind enough to lead officers upstairs to show them the hole that Adam had allegedly punched his fist through. While K9s circled in the backyard, Rose suddenly produced a typewritten note to police that she claimed Adam had left behind. The exact contents of this note are unknown, but it was something to the effect of. I'm never coming back. Good riddance. After hours of searching outside, the dogs ultimately failed to pick up any trace of Adam outdoors. Authorities then asked Rose if the dogs could search inside the home. At first, she was hesitant. She told officers she was worried about the canines dragging mud inside. She also said that her dogs don't play well with others. But after some brief hesitation, Rose eventually complied. The dogs proceeded to lead authorities through the second story of the home. But when it came time to check the basement, Rose became even more apprehensive. She told police that the basement was somewhat of a mess Due to the rodent infestation, and there was also some flooding caused by a bad sewer pump. But despite her reluctance, she eventually gave in to authorities once more and allowed them to continue the search. When they asked Rose if there was a light to the basement, she told them that there was, but that it had been broken. As officers walked down the cellar steps with their two canines leading the way, they found a light switch on the wall. And weirdly enough, it worked. It worked just fine. In addition, the basement wasn't flooded at all. The one thing Rose was right about, though, is that the basement was disgusting. The dogs proceeded to roam through the bottom dwelling of the residence, which was filled with piles of junk, including kids toys, Rotten pieces of wood, an old door, and, you know, other crap. While there was a slight musk in the air, the canines made no significant hit in the basement whatsoever. And all that they found were some dead rodents. After returning back upstairs, Rose delivered some alarming news. She told police that she believed Adam had returned to the house in days following his disappearance to retrieve his cell phone, which was now missing. That was all the information Rose had to offer during this particular visit. And after the canines and deputies alike came up empty handed, they eventually left the home, seemingly no closer to solving the disappearance of the young father. The following day, Adam's family began receiving some strange text messages sent from Adam's phone. Chase's sisters say there were two texts on June 19, one to each of their parents.

[Rose Chase]

It said, staying with a friend in Kenya, Canandaigua. Need time to think.

[Adam J. Chase]

These texts were sent to both Adam's father, Linden, and his mother, Sylvia. At the time, Sylvia tried to call Adam's phone back immediately, but by the time she did, it had already been turned off, and Sylvia's call went directly to voicemail. After notifying the police about the texts, investigators were able to ping Adam's device to an area in Canandaigua as its last known location, just like the text message said. But after searching the area roughly 12 miles north of where Adam was last seen, there was no trace of him or his phone. Adam's face was seen on virtually every telephone pole and corner store window in upstate New York. At the footer of his missing persons flyer was an address to a Facebook page, help bring Adam Chase home. It had been created by his sisters as a public space dedicated to any updates or developments regarding his whereabouts. Eventually, the overwhelming publicity of this case caught the eye of Rodney Miller, a former Ontario county deputy turned private investigator.

[Rodney G. Miller]

Well, my name is Rodney G. Miller. I'm 73 years old. But years ago, in 1980, I got hired by Ontario county as a deputy.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rodney doesn't do zoom interviews. Some people are very particular about very random things. So we sent one of our producers to Stanley, New York to interview him in person. Back in the 1980s, Rodney Miller was a patrol cop for the better part of the decade and led the county in DUI arrests.

[Rodney G. Miller]

When I went to work, I went to work to work. I didn't go to work to goof off. I did my job. My record would speak for itself.

[Adam J. Chase]

But despite years of dedication to serving his community, the veteran officer was fired after refusing to go back to working overnight shifts.

[Rodney G. Miller]

It was about shift change he told me when I come back to work after my two days were off, I'd be going back on the night shift. And I said, that's not gonna happen. They came the next morning and told me that they wanted my cars, my gunner badge, and my keys. Then I was terminated.

[Adam J. Chase]

After he was let go from the force in 1986, Rodney began working mostly on insurance fraud cases as an independent P.I. fast forward years later to the summer of 2012. After returning home from a case he'd been tackling out in Pennsylvania. Rodney learned that the person who'd been missing for more than two weeks by that Point Point was a local man he'd known personally for quite some time.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I knew there was a boy missing, but I did not know it was Adam until I came home from Pennsylvania from a trip. And then my wife said, well, do you know who the boy is missing from, Stanley? And I said, no. And she goes, it's Adam Chase. And all I said to her was, well, where's he gonna go? He doesn't have that many friends to go anyplace.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rodney's son went to high school with Adam. He's known the Chase family for years. Rodney also knew what kind of person Adam was. An introvert. So when he heard that the Sheriff's Department was treating the case like a missing persons investigation, it didn't make sense. Already with a bad taste in his mouth and grievances towards the Ontario County Sheriff's Department, he decided to drop by the Chase family home on July 4, 2012.

[Rodney G. Miller]

When I went to see them, Lyndon asked me, what's up? And I said, well, I come to help you find your son.

[Adam J. Chase]

During that first meeting with Adam's family, Sylvia showed Rodney a photo. It was a picture of Adam's wife, Rose, and she was with another man. The picture was taken in a local park roughly one week before Adam disappeared. Rodney also learned that Adam had long suspected. Suspected Rose of cheating before he went missing and had expressed those suspicions to his loved ones. In turn, Adam's sisters Jessica and Becky decided to follow Rose that day, only to find their brother's wife cozying up to another guy on a park bench. They quickly snapped the photo without being seen before running home, printing out the image and giving it to Adam.

[Rose Chase]

When they first showed Adam the picture, I told him, it's just me on the park bench talking, because that's, to me, what it looked like. And I tried to convince Adam otherwise.

[Rodney G. Miller]

When she got confronted with that photo, that was her gay friend. There were little things that were being Told that raised a lot of suspicion.

[Adam J. Chase]

But Adam's mother was worried and had already reported all this to the police. But Adam's family didn't feel like they were treating this investigative lead with any sense of urgency. Before Rodney left the Chase family home that day, he promised Adam's parents that he would find out what happened to their son. And from that moment on, he began working the case independently free of charge.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I wasn't asking for any financial money or nothing. I just went there to tell him that I thought I could help him find Adam.

[Adam J. Chase]

Ontario county sheriff's deputies are asking for your help tonight finding a missing man. They say 31 year old Adam Chase went missing on June 4th 14th following a heated argument with his wife. In June of 2012, 31 year old Adam Chase walked off his front porch in Stanley, New York and never returned. But when Rodney Miller, a former deputy turned private investigator heard the news, it didn't sit right with him. He was close to the family and knew that Adam wasn't the type of guy to just disappear. Not sure if I know the type of guy that just disappears though. Anyway, that's when he began an investigation of his own, working on the case pro bono and without the help of police. Several weeks after Adam went missing, Rodney Miller drove to the place where he was last seen to speak with his wife Rose.

[Rodney G. Miller]

The day I went to see her, when I pulled in and I went up and introduced myself, we were at the side of the house by, there were two porches on that house, there was a side porch and then there was a front porch. When I was a youngster in school, that was one of my hangouts, that house. The family that used to live there at Lippincotts were very good friends of mine and still are to this day. So I knew that house almost like the back of my hand.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rodney never stepped foot inside of Rose's house that day. But he wasn't shy in letting her know that he was fairly certain she had something to do with her husband's disappearance.

[Rodney G. Miller]

She's sitting on this back porch, she's facing towards the house and she's looking right into the window of the cellar. She's sitting on the steps. And I used an old trick that I was taught. I got close to her and I touched her on her shoulder and she shook like a leaf and I got right down and I'm right beside her face. And in a whisper I say to her, rose, I know about the fight that you had upstairs in the hole in the wall. And she trembled for maybe five or 15 seconds and all of a sudden she springs right up, turns around and stands right in front of me and says, I'm sorry. He walked out of the house and I didn't see which way he went. And I looked right at her and told her to her face, I think you killed him.

[Adam J. Chase]

Naturally, to Rose, these allegations were outlandish and she just denied being involved in anything of the sort. But that was all it took for her to opt out of the conversation altogether. Rose said her goodbyes to Rodney Miller before shuffling back inside her house. After departing from Rose, Rodney was on his way back to pay someone else a visit. A former colleague of his, Ontario County Sheriff, Phil Pavero.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I left her house and went to the sheriff's house, sat on his porch with him and told him that I don't believe he ever left the house.

[Adam J. Chase]

Imagine having good reason to believe that something is true, screaming it from the rooftops only to have your words fall on deaf ears. I can relate. But that's exactly how Rodney Miller felt working this case. Even so, he chose to push forward and urged the sheriff to start looking at Adam Chase's disappearance from a different angle. But according to what Rodney told us, the sheriff wasn't interested.

[Rodney G. Miller]

He couldn't tell me what they'd done or were doing because that was none of my business, which I understood. I wasn't asking him for that, I was telling him what I felt. And he said, off the record, we think he committed suicide. We're going to find him out in the woods or the fields. And that was the summer we were having two to 100 and some degree days. And if he was in the fields of the woods, the buzzards would have told us where he was. And I disagreed with him and told him that I don't think he ever left the house.

[Adam J. Chase]

By this point, investigators had already visited over 10 hotels in the area, as well as a local cemetery where one of Adam's friends had recently been buried. Thinking maybe the missing 31 year old father had been distraught and took his own life in that very location. But just like the searches of his home, nothing was found at the cemetery. Despite his suspicions of Adam's wife, Rose, the sheriff essentially ignored Rodney and told him to let the police handle it. In the eyes of law enforcement, Rose had been cooperative up to that point and there was reason to consider her a suspect. With that being said, authorities did stop by Rose's residence a second time that July. When Rose invited the deputies in, they noticed a man sitting on the couch, and it sure as hell wasn't Adam.

[Rodney G. Miller]

The gay friend moved in two days after Adam went missing.

[Adam J. Chase]

It took a moment for authorities to realize that the man sitting there had a striking resemblance to the individual seen in the photo from the park weeks before, AKA Rose's gay friend, Mark. During that police visit, Rose started to vent more openly to the officers. She told him that Adam had stopped paying attention to her romantically in the days leading up to his disappearance. She went on to say that all he ever wanted to do was play video games on his computer, that she was fed up with him and if Adam were to walk through the front door at that very moment, she wouldn't take him back. Rose then asked the deputies something rather strange when she inquired about the process of filing for divorce. Rose also said she was going to sell Adam's motorcycle, almost inferring that he wouldn't be coming back to get it. The officer then flat out asked Rose if she killed her husband, to which she said no. The deputy then suggested she call a lawyer regarding the divorce. Before leaving the residence on July 10, 2012, Rose was interviewed by the Daily Messenger, a local publication in town, and was quoted in the paper stating the.

[Rose Chase]

I just want to make sure he's safe and that he knows people miss him. We do miss him. I just hope it ends on a happy note.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose Chase began popping up on virtually every local news station in Ontario county and never seemed to pass up an opportunity when it came to press. During almost all of these televised appearances, Rose pleaded for her husband Adam to come home in hopes that he might be out there somewhere watching Adam.

[Rose Chase]

If you are seeing this, can you please come home to your family? They really do miss you. And if anybody knows where Adam is, please contact the Ontario County Sheriffs so this way the family can know how he is and that he's okay.

[Adam J. Chase]

While Rose was seemingly reveling in the local media spotlight behind the scenes, she continued to speak with law enforcement on several occasions, but to the frustration of Adam's family, nothing seemed to come out of it. As a result, then on Saturday, July 28, Rodney Miller drove back to Rose's house for another visit, at which point he asked her if he could search Adam's car that hadn't left the driveway since the day he disappeared.

[Rodney G. Miller]

She was outside again when I pulled in, walking around with her and her son. I introduced myself again. She remembered. She said she remembered me and I asked her if she'd pop the trunk of the car and I could make sure that Adam wasn't In there. She did that, and then I asked her if we could go inside and walk through the house. And she told me I could.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose took Rodney upstairs first, and the two proceeded to walk every square inch of the second floor.

[Rodney G. Miller]

She showed me the hole in the wall, and she showed me where he played his games and stuff. And the house was literally a mess. They weren't the best of housekeepers. As we're walking back down, the boyfriend's sitting on the couch about 15ft from me. That was Mark Broadhurst.

[Adam J. Chase]

Before leaving the house that day, Rodney had one last request for Rose, and that was to look around the basement.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I asked Rose, can I look, go down the basement? She said, no, it's flooded. And I said, well, at least let me look. And she opened the door and turned on the light, and the basement floor was as dry as could be. And I said, do you mind if I go down? And on the third step, I smelled.

[Adam J. Chase]

Him before Rodney even got halfway down the basement stairs. The foul odor of decay hit him like a ton of bricks. When he asked Rose about the smell, she pointed out several dead animals scattered among the concrete floor.

[Rodney G. Miller]

They were like a dead squirrel, and I forget what was there, but there was a couple of carcasses laying on the floor, and she said, I have a lot of road problems in the house.

[Adam J. Chase]

He couldn't see much. It was extremely dark. Though there was one light working in the basement, an entire corner remained unlit.

[Rodney G. Miller]

The back part of the basement, she taken all the lights out, and that did have a little water on the floor, enough to wet your shoe.

[Adam J. Chase]

Just then, Rodney stumbled upon an oversized freezer, the kind big enough for a body.

[Rodney G. Miller]

There was a chest freezer in the one corner of the basement, and I asked her to open it so I could look in there that just, I think, relatively was empty.

[Adam J. Chase]

After failing to find anything when it comes to physical evidence, Rose walked Rodney out to his car.

[Rodney G. Miller]

We walked back up, and she came back out. And she's walking in the yard with me, and she's walking beside me, and I have a specific question I want to ask her. I'm looking for an answer. I said to Rose, what are you gonna do if one of these nights Adam comes home, walks in the house, and you're in bed with another man? And she says to me, she starts to say, he ain't. And she caught herself, and she goes, I'm not taking him back. But she said what I wanted her to. He ain't coming back.

[Adam J. Chase]

And that was that. From there, Rodney drove to Sheriff Povero's house, just like last time, except now he had new information. That information was that he was fairly certain something was rotting inside Rose's basement.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I went to Sheriff Pablo's house again, sat right on the porch beside him and I said, I can't prove that he's in the basement, but I know he was in the basement. I said, phil, I smelled him on the third step, but I couldn't find him. I could smell him, but I couldn't find him.

[Adam J. Chase]

The sheriff thanked Rodney before telling him that they'd already been in the basement with the dogs and Adam wasn't there. Disappointed, Rodney Miller then drove back to his wife across town feeling a bit more hopeless than he had before. Several months would pass and as the leaves begin to change, there's still no sign of Adam. His 32nd birthday eventually came and went that October. On the fifth month anniversary of his disappearance, the Ontario Sheriff's Department held a press conference. On Wednesday, November 14, 2012. Adam's mother Sylvia and his sister Jessica were seen sitting at a long table to the right of the sheriff and the lead investigator at the opposite end of the table was Adams wife Rose Chase. Unlike her prior on camera appearances, Rose sat silently for the majority of the press conference with her eyes glued to the floor. During the broadcast, authorities urged anyone with information regarding Adam's whereabouts to come forward. But these press conferences and news headlines were becoming redundant. Regardless, the sheriff expressed his optimism, stating his personal belief that Adam was out there still alive and the investigation remained in full swing. Out of the family members present that day, Adam's mother was the only one to speak. Sylvia scanned her eyes across the sea of local journalists and begged her son to come home just like she had countless times before.

[Rose Chase]

Adam, if you can hear this, you have a place to come home to. Call me, email me, whichever. Just come home.

[Adam J. Chase]

Meanwhile, Rodney Miller was working around the clock on his own without the help of law enforcement. He never once believed Adam walked off on his own accord. In his gut, there was only one person responsible for whatever happened to him and that was Adam's wife, Rose Chase. But he had to prove it. In the eyes of the local Sheriff's department, any evidence Rodney brought them was circumstantial. Eventually, the independent investigation into the disappearance of his family friend began to weigh on him. And for his own sanity, Rodney had to step away.

[Rodney G. Miller]

There came a point when I walked away from it. I had the things to do around the farm. I burned wood for my heat. I knew winter was coming. I had to get Some of my stuff done, and I'd actually got burned out about Adam.

[Adam J. Chase]

As the winter frost began to settle in that year, for the first time since getting involved, Rodney Miller began to fear that Adam might never be found.

[Rodney G. Miller]

It was a snowy, cold day, and when I come home, my wife said. I sat in the lounge chair and my wife said, what are you gonna do? And I said, I don't know. I'm running out of things to do, and if the weather changes, we're not gonna find them.

[Adam J. Chase]

But that feeling of defeat shifted when Rodney got a call from an old friend.

[Rodney G. Miller]

But then I got a phone call. It was Adam's father, Lyndon. And his father said, the sheriff's department fucked us, and if you don't help us find our son, we ain't gonna find him. That hurt. He said, why'd you give up? I said, you never give up. And I said, I didn't give up. I said, I just had to get away from it for a while because I walked a lot of miles looking for Adam.

[Adam J. Chase]

That was all it took for Rodney to pick himself up and dive back into the case, remembering the promise he'd made to the Chase family.

[Rodney G. Miller]

After that conversation, it kind of fired me up and I. I went back in it a lot harder than I did in the beginning.

[Adam J. Chase]

With a newfound rejuvenation, the former deputy turned private detective, Rodney Miller decided to play his last hand and executed a final trick that he had up his sleeve. In mid December of 2012, he devised a plan. A plan that involved a little help from Rose's new babysitter.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I called Sandy and I said, will you help me? She wanted to know what I wanted. And I said, well, when Rose comes to pick up her son tonight, I want you to tell her so that you don't get in trouble, that you heard it from another one of your customers, that there's a break in the case and they're gonna make an arrest and charge somebody with murder.

[Adam J. Chase]

Essentially, Rodney came up with the idea to have the babysitter tell Rose that she'd heard rumblings around town, rumors that authorities were ramping up to make an arrest regarding her husband's disappearance in the coming days, which in actuality was bullshit.

[Rodney G. Miller]

There was nothing there to make an arrest on my end other than the plough.

[Adam J. Chase]

When Rose came to pick up her son from Sandy's house just after 5pm the evening of December 13, the babysitter followed through with her end of the plan as instructed, but unfortunately, no dice. In terms of a confession from Rose Chase, she Appeared nervous when Sandy made mention of an arrest. But ultimately, Rose kept her mouth shut, picked up her son and was soon on her way back home in Stanley. As soon as Rose left, Sandy texted Rodney to let him know she'd planted a seed of fear in Rose. But if we've learned anything from our communications with Rodney Miller, it's that he's great at a lot of things, but texting isn't one of them.

[Rodney G. Miller]

And she didn't call me. I told her not to text me because I don't read texts, but anyway, she texted me, but it came quarter after five and I knew she picked him up at five o'clock. She didn't call me, so I called her and I said, sandy, did she pick up? Yeah. She goes, didn't you get my text? I said, I told you not to text me. But anyways, she said, you should go. She said when she left here, she was as white as a sheet and all she could say was, oh, shit. Oh, shit.

[Adam J. Chase]

After getting off the phone with Sandy, Rodney Miller rushed over to his number one suspect's residence, located just a few miles away.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I was all ready to go. I'd had my coat on and I was ready to go to her house. And that's what I did that evening.

[Adam J. Chase]

He confronted Rose and he informed her that for her, this was the end of the road.

[Rodney G. Miller]

When I went there that night, she came out on the front porch and sat down and I said, rose, I've had enough. You gotta give them up. You're never gonna be at peace till you tell me what you did with him and I wanna know where you buried him. And just like that, she took her hands away from her face and looked right at me and said, I didn't bury him. I said, well, then, where is he? I took him to my mother's where he's in the burn barrel. Where are the bones? They're in the barrel. Then when I asked her who helped you take him out of the house, she just said, I took him out by myself. I said, how?

[Adam J. Chase]

Piece by piece, before Rodney Miller called the sheriff to let him know Rose Chase had just confessed to murder. She walked back inside to say goodbye to her new boyfriend, Mark.

[Rodney G. Miller]

It was a cool night. She wanted to go and get her coat and cigarettes and I walked back into the house with her. She walks over into the side of the house again to the couch where the boyfriend, Mark Settin, and he gets up and he's standing in front of her and she puts her hands out like she's looking for a hug. And she says to the boyfriend, I killed Adam. And his jaw dropped about down to his belt buckle.

[Adam J. Chase]

It didn't take long after that for the local authorities to come knocking on Rose's door with a search warrant in hand. Rose was in tears. When police showed up, she knew it was over. While a team of investigators searched the property once more, Rose broke down to one of the detectives and told him exactly what she'd just told Rodney Miller. That she had killed Adam and burned his remains. Before she was placed into handcuffs, Rose knelt down to her son Tristan, who had been playing with his toys on the carpet.

[Rodney G. Miller]

He was down on the floor playing with something, and she squatted down, gave him a hug, and said, mommy's gotta go away for a while.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose was then transported to the Ontario county Sheriff's office for questioning, where she'd reveal all of the shocking details surrounding what really happened to her husband of 11 years, Adam Chase.

[Investigator Durgan]

So when we were in there the night that we came over, me and investigator Durgan. Where in the basement was he?

[Rose Chase]

The part that I told you the light wouldn't work.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose was questioned for nearly two and a half hours, but it wasn't much of an interrogation. Just like she had to Rodney Miller, hours before Rose began confessing to the murder of her husband Adam. Almost as soon as she sat down.

[Rose Chase]

I had been along the wall, and he was underneath all that stuff that was in that corner.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay. All right.

[Adam J. Chase]

The more she continued to speak, the detectives began to pick up on two main aspects. Number one, the end result of this tragedy was much more grotesque than they could have anticipated. And number two, they up. Rose was quick to tell detectives that on the morning of June 14, her husband Adam confronted her about having an affair. This was warranted considering the fact that Mark, the man who was photographed with Rose in the park, wasn't her gay friend at all, but instead her new boyfriend. Well, one of them, anyway. By now, investigators had already seized Rose's computer back at her residence. And it didn't take long for them to find several romantic emails she'd been sending to various men behind Adam's back.

[Investigator Durgan]

I mean, let's be perfectly honest, we have your tower computer.

[Rose Chase]

Yeah.

[Investigator Durgan]

And I found emails in there from three, four years ago that you're talking to other men saying that I'm. Yeah, I'm married, technically, but we don't really have anything to do with each other. I mean, I'm sure in your mind, it was. It was over long ago.

[Rose Chase]

And part of it then, you know, back then it was true. We barely talked to each other, and then I didn't realize Adam put a key water in. So he was watching, typing, or seeing what I was wrong.

[Adam J. Chase]

Right.

[Investigator Durgan]

Oh, because he was probably suspicious of what was going on.

[Rose Chase]

But that person, that segment with. I never did anything with that person.

[Investigator Durgan]

Right.

[Adam J. Chase]

During that fatal argument, Rose admitted to Adam that she'd been cheating on him. Adding insult to injury, she told him that it was his fault. Why, you ask? Well, because all that Adam ever wanted to do was play video games. Clearly, Rose is an extremely reasonable woman. But what really sent Adam over the edge was when his wife told him that their four year old son Tristan wasn't his.

[Investigator Durgan]

The day that he called into work. Is that when this happened?

[Rose Chase]

Yes.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay. What happened?

[Rose Chase]

Him and I called into work so this way we could work things out.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Rose Chase]

He went back to sleep after he called up his boss.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Rose Chase]

I tried waking him up. It took me a while, but he finally got up. He went upstairs to grab his smoke. Then I. He started to go on the computer. And I go, I thought we were going to talk about this. Started arguing again about the fact that Mark Chesney. And I go, yes, it was only a kiss. And he goes, well, you told me last night that we're gonna get a DNA test done on Tristan. I told him. I told him then, no need. Tristan's not yours. He got serious, punched the wall.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay. And that was the hole that we saw.

[Rose Chase]

I went to grab him. He did push me away. I went to grandma again, and I don't know how if he tried to push me away again or if I tried to grab. Grabbed him wrong, but his foot caught the stairs and he tumbled down the stairs.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose called out to Adam, but he didn't respond and he wasn't moving. According to her statements to police, it's quite possible that he broke his neck.

[Investigator Durgan]

Then what happened?

[Rose Chase]

When I saw him there, I paused. I go, Adam, you. Hey. Hesitated, shook him a little bit, waited a few more minutes, still wasn't moving. I shook him again, still wasn't moving. Look to see if he had a pulse. Didn't really.

[Investigator Durgan]

Where did you check?

[Rose Chase]

I checked his first.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay. Did you check his neck at all to see if he had one there?

[Rodney G. Miller]

No.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Adam J. Chase]

All right, keep going.

[Rose Chase]

Then I just wait a few more minutes and. And he started to wet himself.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Adam J. Chase]

It's unclear how long Adam was alive following the traumatic injury, but in all likelihood, he could have been saved. Instead, Rose made the decision to leave him there at the bottom of the steps to Die. She didn't call 911. She didn't render any aid to her husband. She just left him there.

[Rose Chase]

I panicked. I didn't want. I didn't know if any of the neighbors heard anything. I really panicked. Dragged him. It was a struggle, but I dragged him.

[Investigator Durgan]

Was he. Was he moving at all? Was he fighting back at all?

[Rose Chase]

No.

[Investigator Durgan]

Any muscle movement at all? How long from the time that he fell down the stairs till you moved him, do you figure?

[Rose Chase]

About five minutes.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Rose Chase]

He wasn't over there at all.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Rose Chase]

After he got himself, I accidentally was dead.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose then described what happened the following day. She told investigators that she originally planned to hide Adam's body in the crawl space, but he was too big and.

[Rose Chase]

Went to the bank. Sylvia called me and said that she talked to the sheriff, that he wanted to talk to me. So I went back to the house in a panic. So I'm just laying there, and I didn't want the sheriff to see him there because I knew he would arrest me right on the spot. So that little corner cut out of the wall. I thought about putting him in there. I went in there, checked it out. Was gonna put him in an area in the dirt, but when I went to move him, he just couldn't really lift him that far.

[Adam J. Chase]

When authorities first called Rose on the phone the day that Adam's mother reported him missing, he was still in plain sight at the bottom of the stairs. And more likely, he was still alive. After hanging up the phone, Rose realized she needed to get moving and moving quickly to hide the body.

[Rose Chase]

Grabbed a bag out from the kitchen, wiggled the bag underneath him. Still wasn't doing anything. Got him on that bag. I mean, it was one of those heavy duty cars, almost like what you use for lining of a waterbed.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay. Big, thick, heavy.

[Rose Chase]

Yeah. That made it a little bit easier to drag them into. After I got him to the stairwell in the right in front of the basement. Still wasn't moving anything. I actually cleared all those doors and stuff out of the stairwell, giving myself some more room. Grabbed him. He's still not moving. Got him right there. He's right there on the platform. And I gave him another shove into the basement. I couldn't carry him. I just let gravity just let him slide out of the stairs. I just let gravity do its work.

[Investigator Durgan]

Did he tumble there?

[Rose Chase]

He tumbled there. He hit his head.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose can be seen in the interrogation footage getting out of her seat to demonstrate how she folded Adam's body up like a pretzel into a fetal position.

[Rose Chase]

I actually Dragged him by his feet into the lower part of the basement, got him to this way. He was his cross legged like this. And I struggled to get him into this position.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Rose Chase]

And that's when I put this harp. That's when I put everything on top again.

[Adam J. Chase]

Again, it's unclear exactly when Adam died, but from what Rose was saying, it was a long and excruciating process. Rigor mortis sets in within a couple of hours of death and lasts up to four days. If Adam's body was able to be manipulated in the way Rose had demonstrated for detectives, he was likely still breathing helplessly in the basement. It may be hard to believe, but Adam having been left paralyzed potentially for days before he took his last breath, is only the beginning of the horrific manner in which he lost his life.

[Rose Chase]

The sons kiddie pool that was originally over top of him had all the skids of stuff surrounding him. Then I put long pieces of board over top of that and I made it look like a table.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose told authorities she left Adam in the basement for about two weeks before she dragged various pieces of lumber from her backyard down through the bulkhead. Those pieces of wood were ultimately used to conceal Adam's body along with the other items. But according to Rodney Miller, law enforcement should have already known this. That's because they interviewed Rose's neighbor who saw her doing this. But for some reason, they never took down his statement or made any sort of official report.

[Rodney G. Miller]

Timmy, Mark's watches are on that Saturday carry this old barn door back down into the basement. He can't figure out what she's doing, and he's gonna go help her. But his phone rings. But when he comes back out, he notices that she got the door in the basement somehow. Now she's carrying all this rotten wood.

[Adam J. Chase]

Weeks after Adam went missing In June of 2012, Rose's neighbor Timmy noticed her doing some landscaping. Approximately five days after that, the neighbor was interviewed by police.

[Rodney G. Miller]

The same deputy, John Peck, goes to Timmy Marks's house. What can you tell us about your neighbor, Adam Chase? Well, why? John tells him he's missing. Oh. Timmy Marks says to John Peck, you ought to check the basement where she carried that door in wood. And what they did was nothing.

[Adam J. Chase]

One would think that this is pretty important information, but to law enforcement, it apparently wasn't. This crucial investigative lead which would have led to recovering Adam's body early on was essentially thrown to the wayside. Bad police work.

[Investigator Durgan]

The house smell. Only the basement does anybody.

[Rose Chase]

And I've had people in the house. They, I, you Know, I. I like to burn candle. So they didn't really smell anything out of the ordinary.

[Investigator Durgan]

So Jason never wandered down into the basement or anything?

[Rose Chase]

No, I tried to keep people out of the basement.

[Adam J. Chase]

After telling investigators how she simply lit candles in the home to cover up the stench of her decomposing husband, investigators went on to ask her a pretty obvious and simple question. If Adam's death really was an accident, why didn't she call for help? Her answer? Well, it's pretty remarkable.

[Investigator Durgan]

I guess what I'm having trouble with is if this was him falling down the stairs, why do we go through all this? I mean, what do we go through all this part? I'm Just help me figure this out.

[Rose Chase]

Because at first, I thought everyone was gonna think it was a murder, that I, you know, that I offed him on purpose.

[Adam J. Chase]

No. You think?

[Rose Chase]

After I hid a body and the dogs came in, I thought I got pretty lucky. I was gonna turn myself in several times. But the thing that kept shying me away from turning myself in was how his family acted.

[Investigator Durgan]

So what do you mean by that?

[Rose Chase]

As in, what they were doing was, you know, making. Pissing me off? How about they were, you know, saying that I did all this stuff without physical evidence, and it really tipped me off, and I just wanted.

[Investigator Durgan]

So this drags on mostly because of their treatment of you after this happens?

[Rose Chase]

Correct?

[Investigator Durgan]

Is that okay? All right.

[Adam J. Chase]

If you didn't catch that, Rose Chase just said that the reason why she didn't turn herself in was because the family of the man she killed treated her poorly in the six months that followed. So she sure does know how to take accountability, doesn't she?

[Investigator Durgan]

And he shoved you?

[Rose Chase]

Yeah. Then I went to grab him again to get his attention again. At that point where after he shoved.

[Adam J. Chase]

You, did he turn around and start.

[Investigator Durgan]

To go back down the stairs again?

[Rose Chase]

Yes, because he shoved me right about in this location.

[Adam J. Chase]

Unfortunately, Adam was long gone and unable to provide his side of the story. Given the fact that Rose destroyed his body, determining an official cause of death was virtually impossible. With all that being said, it was at this point in the interview when Rose Chase really began to tread a thin line. And that line, of course, was whether or not she'd eventually be charged with second or first degree murder.

[Rodney G. Miller]

Well, hang on.

[Investigator Durgan]

The first natural reaction from anybody. I don't care if it's your mortal enemy. It's gonna be trying to get this guy for some help. The thing that I keep hearing is that you're going to turn yourself in. That if the first deputy that shows up, saw him, you were going to get arrested.

[Rodney G. Miller]

This was an accident.

[Investigator Durgan]

And none of that happens that way. That just tells me that if Adam doesn't perish from his injuries, that maybe he tells us a different story about what happened on that stairwell.

[Rose Chase]

I was afraid of if Adam didn't perish on that stairwell, was that the truth about Tristan's DNA was gonna come out. It came out anyway. But the first thing that was going through my head was, okay, Adam died. I wanted to keep Tristan in a loving family as long as I could. His parents were great grandparents.

[Investigator Durgan]

So you're sitting there, you're seeing him on the ground, you're thinking, screw him. I'm not getting him help. Screwed me too many times. He's bringing our son into this whole mess. It's going to be a hell of a lot easier if he just dies right there. That if we. Then, if I get him help, he lives. Then we got to go through all the fighting again and custody and all that. Right?

[Rose Chase]

And I think there's probably pretty much what was going through my head.

[Investigator Durgan]

But you wanted him dead at that point, you wanted him dead.

[Rose Chase]

I thought I was never awesome. I'm dead. I was trying to cover my ass. But then I think subconsciously I did want to push him.

[Rodney G. Miller]

Okay.

[Investigator Durgan]

So did you?

[Rose Chase]

I'm gonna have to say yes.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Rose Chase]

SA.

[Adam J. Chase]

It had been almost six months to the day since 31 year old Adam Chase went missing after allegedly storming out of his home in Stanley, New York, following an argument with his wife Rose. In the public eye, Adam was considered a missing person from the very beginning, aside from some internal dialogue theorizing that he may have committed suicide. But when former local deputy turned PI Rodney Miller caught wind of the story, he knew Adam wasn't missing. That's because he knew him personally. Rodney Miller also knew that Adam was somewhat of a loner, and chances of him just taking off and starting a new life were slim to none. Over the next several months, there were almost no substantial developments in this case until the evening of December 13, 2012. With the help of Sandy the babysitter, Rodney Miller managed to get the so called grieving wife to confess not only to pushing her husband down the stairs and killing him, but to destroying his remains as well. During her interrogation, Rose told detectives about a conversation Adam had with their son when he recorded four year old Tristan talking about mommy's new boyfriend.

[Rose Chase]

He was asking him about Mark. How many times did Mark kiss mom? Did Mark ever come to the house? Did. How many times did you see Mommy and Mark together.

[Investigator Durgan]

So that pissed you off.

[Rose Chase]

Obviously, that's because that. So he just pissed me off because.

[Adam J. Chase]

I didn't think it was right for.

[Rose Chase]

Him to bring truth.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose eventually got to describing what you're surely all dying to know. What happened to Adam's body? Well, after allowing him to rot away in the sweltering basement, Rose specified that she didn't need tools to dismember her husband. Instead, she decided to let the summer heat do the work for her.

[Investigator Durgan]

When you were taking him out of the house, did you cut him up or anything? Did you need any tools or anything or.

[Rodney G. Miller]

No.

[Investigator Durgan]

Cause if you did, where would those be?

[Rose Chase]

He just fell apart.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay. All right. How long had he been there?

[Rose Chase]

He'd been there about six to eight weeks.

[Investigator Durgan]

Okay.

[Adam J. Chase]

Despite police, dogs, sheriff's deputies, and even Rodney Miller himself having stepped into the basement, Adam was never found. Thankfully, Rose couldn't keep her secret to herself forever. And after Rodney convinced her to give it up from her interrogation chair, she seemed eager to finally get things off her chest. About midway through her police interview, Rose explained what happened after those two months of decomposition and what she did next with her husband's remains. The callous nature in which she lays it all out is astounding.

[Investigator Durgan]

It was your car that you were taking her down to your mom's house in?

[Rose Chase]

Correct?

[Investigator Durgan]

His car used at all for any of it? Okay.

[Rose Chase]

No, I just moved it.

[Investigator Durgan]

Were you using blankets, rock rugs? What were you. What were you rolling them up in? I mean, what was the biggest piece that you had to get out of there by yourself? In his torso.

[Rose Chase]

I mean, the torso part. Oh, God.

[Investigator Durgan]

Something about it.

[Rose Chase]

Well, all right. Head, arms, leg came off. No problem.

[Investigator Durgan]

All right, now it came off.

[Rodney G. Miller]

You mean fell off?

[Rose Chase]

I mean, the legs fell off right about the knees.

[Adam J. Chase]

Okay.

[Rose Chase]

The real creepy part, the torso itself. I went to lift it up once. I put it on a trash bag, wrapped it up, took a blanket, lifted it up to where the sub pump was. I went upstairs, opened up the car door, and catch. And as I'm lifting up the torso part, it hits my keys, and the car alarm is going off.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rose's neighbor across the street heard the commotion. She came over to see if she needed help. While holding the bags of Adam's remains in her hands.

[Rose Chase]

One of my neighbors came out. I shut the door, and, you know, they were like, hey, was that your car alarm? I thought, yeah, I hit the button by mistake. I thought when I was carrying him down the ramp that I was gonna. He was Gonna slip out of me. But he didn't.

[Adam J. Chase]

I made it to the car long after Adam had inevitably separated into human soup. A bouillon of sorts. A hearty meal, definitely chunky. Rose came up with the idea of scooping what was left of him into her car before picking up her four year old son from the babysitter and transporting three clear trash bags of flesh and bones to her mother's house in the nearby town of Potter, New York.

[Rose Chase]

Picked up Tristan from the babysitters.

[Investigator Durgan]

So you're driving around with Tristan, Adam.

[Adam J. Chase]

In the back of the car.

[Rose Chase]

Yeah. And he stunk.

[Investigator Durgan]

Did Tristan say anything about smelling so bad?

[Rose Chase]

No. He asked, why is the windows down? I go, mommy's trying to air out the car.

[Adam J. Chase]

After spending the night at her mother's, Rose then dumped Adam's torso, limbs and rotted tissue into the woods to be burned at a later date. All the while, her four year old son Tristan followed close behind.

[Rose Chase]

So I figure, what the hell, I'll take Tristan. I packed up some stuff. We spent the night at my mom's house. I got Chestnut out of the car. He walks around. I take Adam to the boys. He did follow me briefly and like, it's okay, you can walk with mom. He's like, I made sure he was burning up the voice. So that's why he really didn't see what he was doing.

[Rodney G. Miller]

They had to make a phone call to Yates county to make sure they had a search warrant, but my understanding is that they went to her mother's house that night to secure the scene.

[Adam J. Chase]

After Rose Chase was arrested for the murder and mutilation of her husband's body, she agreed to take investigators to his final resting place at her mother's home, just 12 miles south of where the victim was killed. During the search, investigators were led to three separate locations, all of which were dump sites containing Adam Chase's remains. The first and perhaps the most obvious sight was a burn barrel in Rose's mother's backyard. Upon peering down into this metal garbage can, sitting directly on the surface atop a mound of soot and ash, were two distinct foot bones. Rose's mother, Patty, was home at the time and tried to suggest that the bones could be that of a deer and not of her son in law. While Patty was uttering this insane theory to police, Rose cut her off mid sentence and said, if it was just.

[Rose Chase]

Deer bones, I wouldn't be here confessing.

[Adam J. Chase]

As forensics teams continued to sift through the burn barrel, they collected an additional section of human vertebrae. More unidentified skeletal Remains and partial remnants of soft tissue. When questioned about the burn barrel specifically, Rose informed investigators that she cremated Adam there because that's what he would have wanted, to be cremated in a burn barrel in her mother's backyard.

[Rose Chase]

He always wanted to be cremated. That's the one thing he wanted, was to be cremated. He didn't want a sappy funeral. He didn't want anybody to play those sad songs. He just wanted to be cremated.

[Adam J. Chase]

The second burn site Rose showed investigators was just several yards away. On top of a section of grass were approximately nine trash bags, Most of which contained burned leaves, but several contained human bones as well. The bones inside the trash bags were eventually determined to be a human pelvic bone, A shoulder blade, as well as the partial skeleton of a cat. Whether or not Rose Chase was responsible for the death of said cat is unknown. During her interrogation, she claimed the cat had somehow died inside her mother's house and that she disposed of it as a favor. But again, Rose just very rarely tells the truth, you know, so who knows? Rest in peace, kitty. Lastly, authorities examined an area A bit further away from Rose's mother's home in a nearby field. There, authorities located approximately six human arm bones that were damaged but had not been burned. Forensic anthropologists would later determine that not one of the bones found on the property had been severed by the means of a cutting instrument such as a blade or saw. Criminal analysts ultimately theorized that damage to the arm bones specifically had more likely been the result of local wildlife. As if Adam's remains couldn't be desecrated any further, his body ultimately became a snack for raccoons and coyotes and upstate New York, While the rest of him was burnt in a crude metal trash can in his mother in law's backyard. What a way to go. In February of 2013, Rose Chase was formally charged with second degree murder evidence, tampering and endangering the welfare of a child concerning her and Adam's four year old son. When her murder trial began a few months later in October, Rodney Miller was there to testify. He took the stand and told the jury everything he saw and smelled before getting Rose to confess to murder. And after a two week trial, Rose Chase was convicted of second degree murder. She was also found guilty of tampering with evidence and endangering the welfare of a child. After she was found guilty, Adam Chase's mother, Sylvia, met with the media outside of the courtroom where she spoke of just how instrumental Rodney Miller was in bringing her son's killer to justice.

[Rose Chase]

Without Rodney, we wouldn't be here today because he's the one who found him. He never gave up. Been a long time coming. Yes. Very difficult to get through. But Mr. Tantilo and Mrs. Hines did an awesome job. Awesome. My son can rest.

[Adam J. Chase]

The state's District Attorney Michael Tantillo apparently agreed with the sentiment that without Rodney Miller, Adam Chase may have never been found and that Rose may very well have gotten away with it.

[District Attorney Michael Tantillo]

Figuring it out though, the jury actually deliberated a total of only just about four hours or a little bit more than four hours. So that suggests to us that they felt the case was pretty strong and probably moved toward a verdict. The verdict that they returned pretty quickly. Obviously the work of Rodney Miller was fantastic. And I think Sylvia is right. This case may not be have been solved without his doggedness. A lot of that is also due to the Chase family because they are the people that kept the pressure up on Rose Chase and I think set up her state of mind when she actually gave this all up in December. And I don't that would have happened without the Chase family keeping the pressure on the way that they did.

[Adam J. Chase]

Rodney was also interviewed by local journalists where he shared his general thoughts on the finality of this bizarre and ruthless case before getting a little emotional on camera.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I'm happy she was convicted. We worried when some of the testimony was replayed. It always puts in lump in your throat but in in my heart I knew God was going to take care of me. He helped me find him and I'm happy she's going where she belongs.

[Adam J. Chase]

Roughly one year after Rose Chase was convicted, the now 36 year old woman was sentenced to 24 and a half years to life in prison in January of 2014. Following the proceedings, Adam's mother and his sister Jessica spoke with the local report porters where they expressed their relief that it was finally over.

[Rose Chase]

Couldn't done it without the community support and the media we might. And of course where's Rodney? Rodney Miller? Adam might never have been brought home if it wasn't for everybody pulling together. It sickens me to be honest with you, to go through memories of my brother. We know she's a good person. You don't have to, she doesn't have to sit there and reiterate it to us. Fact of the matter is is she wants to sit there and say he was a good person. Well why'd you kill him? I mean it makes no sense to me.

[Adam J. Chase]

District Attorney Michael Tantillo offered his thoughts as well.

[District Attorney Michael Tantillo]

I'm generally pleased with the sentencing to be Perfectly honest, I would have, I would have liked to have seen the maximum sentence, but what the judge Coker gave her was pretty close to the max. So I, I have no quarrels with that. Every case is unique. Unique. And this case certainly had a lot of unique aspects to it, particularly including how long the, the body was hidden by the defendant and what she did to ultimately destroy the body and try to cover her tracks on this thing. To me, I think the crime, the homicide, the murder itself is awful and it's heinous and it deserves everything that the judge gave her. But to put the family of Adam Chase through what she did for six months, solid months after that just makes it that much worse. So there really is a lot of depravity involved.

[Adam J. Chase]

Her statements to the court, did you.

[Rodney G. Miller]

Understand perhaps where they were coming from?

[District Attorney Michael Tantillo]

Not in the slightest. I thought that was one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard a defendant say to a judge at sentencing. It's remarkable for the fact that there was certainly no apology in there, certainly no acknowledgement of what she has done to this family.

[Adam J. Chase]

What both the DA and Adam's family are referring to here is what Rose said when she was provided the opportunity to speak in court, which was essentially an awkward tangent where she reflected on the good times she had with Adam before she killed him, such as the day he proposed. Here's a verbatim quote from Rose before she learned her fate from the judge.

[Rose Chase]

I'm not a bad person. I cherish his memory, despite what people make me out to be.

[Adam J. Chase]

Clearly she hasn't lost any sleep after murdering her husband. Regardless, now that Rose was no longer allowed to do interviews as a free citizen, her family figured they'd carry the torch of embarrassment for her. Shortly after Rose was taken away in shackles, Patricia Mooney, her class act of a mother, got busy online commenting on a dead man's Facebook page.

[Rose Chase]

Found the picture. If you with other men people souls know about your secret life too.

[Adam J. Chase]

Poor Patty misspelled the word of in her post and typed the word if happens to the best of us. Spellcheck can be a real bitch. But you know, it's funny, to her credit at least she managed to use the correct form of the word with two O's. Whether Patty's claims of her son in law being a closeted homosexual were true or not, it seems irrelevant. Seems almost childish. What? I'm mad at you, so I'm going to call you gay. It's just weird, you know, Especially when you consider that he was left to liquefy in his own basement during the summer heat for two months. Not sure we're really concerned with his sexual preferences anymore. Patty. What is relevant, though, and perhaps most noteworthy in this case, is the fact that Rodney Miller, the former Ontario county deputy, solved Adam Chase's murder without ever receiving a dime for his services. Not only was it a win for the victim's family now that Rose Chase was behind bars, but it was a gratifying win for Rodney as well, proving to his former colleagues that he's not such a bad cop after all.

[Rodney G. Miller]

Anybody that has love for law enforcement, your dream is to always solve a major case. And to me, this was a major case. But I can honestly tell you, in the end, it's a gutless feeling because you know you solved it. But it's not a good ending. And unfortunately, it sticks with you. I don't hold any animosities. This wasn't a vindictive thing to come at the sheriff's department to get even with. All I wanted to do was their freaking job, and they didn't. We never blamed the sheriff's department for Adam's death. We blame the sheriff's department for that family not being able to bury their son.

[Adam J. Chase]

The same year that Rose was sentenced, Rodney Miller ran against Phil Pavero to take his spot as the Ontario county sheriff. Unfortunately, Rodney got swept in the polls, but it was never political power that he was after. Rodney ran for sheriff based on principle and to make a point.

[Rodney G. Miller]

The only reason I ran against Philip Alvrel was I asked him one thing, and that was to go and apologize for the Chase family for not doing his job. And quote, unquote, he says to me, I don't have to do anything you tell me. And he did. And he never. To my knowledge, he never apologized. I can tell you that the night that I found Adam, he called me, asked me not to talk to the media. I don't. I don't need to talk to the media. I want to talk to you. I want to know why you didn't believe me when I told you what I knew. And he, quote, unquote, said, rodney, we honestly thought he'd be home by Christmas. I said, well, you can't come home if you're fucking dead. And I hung up.

[Adam J. Chase]

You gotta love Rodney. Now. He spends his days tending to his farm and enjoying retirement. I look forward to that, too. Anyway, he is, unfortunately, battling cancer, the real killer. One thing we just had to ask him about this case was how the hell did the canines not Hit on Adam's dead body when they searched the basement. I mean, they're, they're freaking dogs.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I think two reasons. The dogs weren't worth what they paid for them and the trainers weren't worth a. According to the sheriff, he did not know they were not certified dogs, but dogs in training. I was told that they'd walk by his body within two feet. That was told to me by Tantillo, the da.

[Adam J. Chase]

Apparently the dogs used to search the basement weren't cadaver dogs. Instead, they were tracking dogs, which was just one of the many mistakes investigators made during this case. People do fuck up. We are human, even cops. Speaking of mistakes, the courts made some pretty questionable decisions of their own when Rose Chase's child endangerment conviction was overturned in February of 2018. Rose Chase, the Ontario county woman convicted of killing, dismembering and burning her husband body in 2012, had a misdemeanor conviction reversed last week. Court documents say Chase was not guilty of endangering the welfare of a child. That charge had stemmed from her then 4 year old child riding in the car with her as she transported remains of her late husband from Ontario county to Yates County. Her convictions of second degree murder and tampering with evidence both stand and she's currently serving a sentence of 24 years to life. Despite Rose openly admitting to driving her son with her husband's dead body in the car, the Supreme Court ultimately decided to throw out the misdemeanor charge upon appeal. A few days after the ruling was amended. Adam's father, Lyndon passed away on February 19, 2018, adding yet another layer of topsoil to the pile of shit that the Chase family had been forced to trudge through over the years. We reached out to Adam's immediate family members, but they declined to be interviewed. Something we can certainly appreciate. With that said, Adam's loved ones have since gone on record to say that they're convinced Rose's mother played some sort of role in the murder, or at the very least, was complicit in destroying his remains. As for Mark, the new boyfriend, Rose told investigators that he never knew about the killing, nor did he know that Adam's body was in the basement. Rose also said that Mark was actually with her at the time she lit Adam's body ablaze at the bonfire in her mother's backyard. But somehow he didn't know Adam was in the burn pit. Huh? She must be really strong.

[Rodney G. Miller]

You know, I would have to say from what I saw, his reaction, I don't think he did but it's hard to believe that he couldn't in the time that Adam was in the basement, that he couldn't smell it. I mean, that's a question that lingers on, and I don't think you're ever going to get an answer to it. But supposedly, from what I heard, secondhand. And they did give him a lie detector test, and he passed that.

[Adam J. Chase]

Let's agree to disagree on that one. But who knows? During her interrogation, Rose did say that she smashed Adam's skull in the fire while it was burning with a shovel before her boyfriend Mark could catch a glimpse of it. But forget about Marky Mark for a second. What about Rose's mother, Patty Mooney, and her potential culpability in this crime?

[Rodney G. Miller]

Loony Mooney. That's what we called her. Loony Mooney. Nutting her fruitcake. I think the mom knew, too.

[Adam J. Chase]

It's important to note that neither Rose's sweetheart of a mother, Patty, nor Mark the boyfriend, was ever charged with a crime, despite all of our suspicions. As for Rose Chase, she'll be eligible for parole as early as 2037. Whether or not Mark will be waiting for inmate 14G0057. I. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. All right. We hope you'll check out our new show. This doesn't happen to people like me. It's kind coming out this coming month in March. It's gonna take over the whole channel, the whole. The whole website, the whole thing. That's all we're working on in March. So check it out if you can. We've, you know, we've put a lot of work into it, and I think it's pretty good. So. Yeah, I know some of you are gonna complain. Some of you always complain. It's almost like a hobby. You're like, why am I not getting.

[Investigator Durgan]

Enough sword and scale?

[Adam J. Chase]

Well, this is kind of sword and scale, too. Well, it's not my kind of sword and scale. Yeah, I know, but we're not just gonna do what you want. It's not the Joe Show. The Joe and Tammy show from Iowa. It's not that. It's sword and scale. So it's gonna be whatever the fuck I want. And it's for now, it's this show, so check it out. It's available to you whether you're a subscriber or not. The only difference is you hear ads or you don't. And that's all there is to it. If you don't like it, I don't know Vote me out or something. Oh, right, you can't, you can't. So I'm just here to stay, aren't I? Alright, bye. Hi.

[Rodney G. Miller]

I have been a long time sorting scale listener and I just finished episode 282.

[Adam J. Chase]

In light of the political turmoil that's.

[Rodney G. Miller]

Currently happening in this world, the last thing I want to do is tune.

[Adam J. Chase]

In to a podcast to hear your feedback on politics.

[Rodney G. Miller]

It's sort of an escape for me.

[Rose Chase]

So I will be canceling my subscription.

[Adam J. Chase]

Good riddance. Hey Susan, I want to tell you something and I want you to hear me with all of your ear holes. Listen to me very carefully, Susan. Suck my big old Cuban floppy ass. I will say whatever the hell I want to say on this show, the show that I built 10 years ago. And there's not a God damn motherfucking thing you or any other cunt like you can do to stop me. So bye. Bye. On December 12, 2021, a 77 year old woman was rushed to Hannibal Regional Hospital in Hannibal, Missouri. Her name was Tina. Tina was a kind, generous and smart woman. Alongside her husband, she owned and operated a successful business. But what was most important to Tina was her family. Tina had four children, 14 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. This is Tina's granddaughter, Carly.

[Tina's Granddaughter Carly]

December 12, 2021. It was a Sunday evening, it's all a blur. My aunt Elsa called me and she was very, very short and frantic and she just said, get to the hospital.

[Adam J. Chase]

All of Tina's children and grandchildren loved Tina dearly. And when they got the news that she was in the hospital, many of them immediately began making their way to see her. This included Tina's daughter Ilsa.

[Rose Chase]

My mom's husband called me and told me that my mom was headed to the hospital and I went ahead and got him my my vehicle and started driving to Hannibal. I didn't know what was going on. I was standing at the hospital waiting and then they took me to the family waiting room which and then handed me her jewelry and said that it will be some time.

[Adam J. Chase]

Unfortunately, not all of Tina's loved ones could go to her because In December of 2021 the COVID pandemic had just started to wane.

[Tina's Granddaughter Carly]

On the way to the hospital, I talked to my mom. My mom actually had Covid at that time and was unable to come, which was awful. They wouldn't let her in the hospital. My mom basically said all she knew was that she had collapsed and that she was unresponsive and that they had taken her to the hospital. All we knew at that point was they were still working on her.

[Adam J. Chase]

Tina's family waited for the hospital staff to give them more information about Tina's condition. And when a doctor came to see them, the news was all bad.

[Tina's Granddaughter Carly]

The doctor came in and told us that there's really not much more that they could do for her and that we need to go say goodbye. That was the first time I had seen her when they told us that she wasn't going to make it. And it was awful. She was hooked up to all these machines and she was breathing, but she was only breathing because of the machine, like, stuck in her throat.

[Adam J. Chase]

Tina's family was devastated, and they were caught off guard. As far as they knew, Tina was a healthy woman. When she last spoke to her daughter Heidi, the day before, Tina seemed completely fine.

[Rose Chase]

She was doing great, though, and she'd been to the doctor, and the doctors all gave her a clean bill health, and she was doing great. She had called me the day before wanting to know what I wanted for.

[Adam J. Chase]

For Christmas. Tina's family gathered around the hospital bed to say their goodbyes. They found themselves in a situation that, unfortunately, many have experienced. Their eldest family member was dying. From the outside looking in, this likely seemed like a common occurrence. Tragic, yes, but common. Old people die every day and their loved ones have to say goodbye. That's just how life goes sometimes. Though this situation with Tina and her family was anything but common. The doctor told the family that Tina was dying from heart failure. But they all knew better. They all knew that this wasn't a case where an elderly woman's life was simply coming to an end. They knew that Tina didn't just end up in a hospital bed. She was put there.

[Tina's Granddaughter Carly]

Just remember sitting in the waiting room, just not knowing what was going on, but also, like, there's no way that she's gonna die. Like, she just went through this terrible situation. Like, there's no way that that's gonna happen one after the other. And I just felt so bad for her because she had survived this terrible tragedy and she can't even, like, see it through.

[Adam J. Chase]

About a month before this tragic day at the hospital, Tina had been assaulted. And there's no word in the English language to describe just how horrific that assault was. Putting it mildly. What Tina experienced was beyond brutal and extremely cruel.

[Investigator Durgan]

What happened to her that night was something that doesn't happen in Adams Count.

[Rodney G. Miller]

That's a movie, you, Honor.

[Investigator Durgan]

That's something you watch on Halloween to scare you. That's not real life.

[Adam J. Chase]

But it was real life for Tina.

[Investigator Durgan]

Lohman on November 9, 2021.

[Adam J. Chase]

Tina and her family were traumatized by what had happened to her. The depravity of what Tina endured was more than any of them could bear. This is Tina's oldest grandson, Joshua. She helped me, raised me. She was like my second mom. We had a very close bond. She always tell me how much she loved me. She adored my four children. She made sure they were spoiled on every birthday and Christmas. She loved Christmas and she loved giving gifts. However, as I watched the trial and learned the gruesome details, I became physically sick. How could you have done that to my grandma? The evil that Tina saw and experienced was beyond comprehension and her family knew why her heart was failing. Tina was dying because she was brutally assaulted. Tina was dying from a brutal broken heart. The assault she endured was killing her. And Tina's family wanted the people responsible to pay. They wanted justice. Unfortunately, Tina's family would come to find that the justice they were seeking was elusive. And the struggle to get it became a never ending battle.

[Tina's Granddaughter Carly]

I don't think anything can prepare you for what we went through. I think it's just still. We're still not even over it. I don't know if we ever will be.

[Adam J. Chase]

Many of you know, or at least you can imagine the pain and the grief that comes with losing a parent or a grandparent. It can be the most tragic thing that a family can experience. This was the case for Tina's family, but for them, things were much worse. They were saddled with the burden of fighting for justice and the fight became another tragedy. All on its what you've just heard is an excerpt from our new 10 part true crime serialized show called this Doesn't Happen to People Like Me. The show is available right now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Please make sure to subscribe right now so that you get every episode. The series kicks off March 3rd. If you want to get a version of it that's ad free, head on over to soar and scale.com/ and sign up for any tier. Thanks.