
Kyle Fleischmann - Missing /// Part 1 /// 782 Part 1 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com This week we feature a case that remains one of Charlotte, North Carolina’s best known unsolved mysteries. 24 year old Kyle Fleischmann was out with friends for a Thursday night celebration. The group ends up at the Buckhead Saloon in the Uptown area. Kyle’s friends start going home in the early morning hours of Friday, November 9, 2007. The cameras at the bar show Kyle walking out alone, coatless on a cold night. There is footage of Kyle walking at 2:20am. After that, everything is speculation. His movements that night are strange. His cellphone activity is unexplained and what happened to Kyle remains a mystery. Anyone with information about Kyle or that late night and early morning is asked to call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line 1-704-334-1600. Beer of the Week - Crank Yanker IPA by Eddyline Brewery Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps More True Crime Garage can be found on Patreon and...
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Ryan Reynolds
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Nick
Welcome to True Crime Garage wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me, as always, is a man that while the rest of us will be busy drafting our fantasy football teams, he will be sipping my ties with Bill Belichick. Here is the captain and I'll be
Captain
reminding him every day that he is the goat and Brady is nothing without him. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.
Nick
This week we are pleased to be bringing to you another fine featuring of a beer. We are drinking Crank Yanker IPA by the Mighty fine folks over at Eddie Line Brewery. Crank Yanker is an American India pale ale with four different hops. El Dorado, Cascade, Mosaic and Centennial, all smooth out nicely with some tropical fruit ABV 7% garage grade, four bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and praise and cheers to our friends that helped us fill up the old garage fridge for this week's set of shows. First up, it cheers to Crash Christie from Vancouver, Washington.
Captain
And a big we like your jib goes out to Jessica in Shelby, North Carolina.
Nick
Here's a long distance cheers to Dan Meekin and Bradford, United Kingdom. And last, but certainly not least, we have Trish D. A former Clevelander, now in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Everyone we just mentioned went to true crime garage.com and clicked on the pint glass, helped us out with the beer fund. And for that we thank you.
Captain
Yeah, BW double. Are you in Beer run? Want to thank everybody that has subscribed to us on Apple podcasts and Patreon. Can't thank you enough. Thanks for keeping the lights on. And Colonel, that's enough of the business.
Nick
All right, everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. This week we have a very perplexing missing persons case. A young man out with friends for a night out on the town. The group goes to a bar. They're having a great time. But as it gets later and later into the night, the friends start to head home. The young man stays at the bar alone. And this is where our mystery begins. Every detail after this moment is in question. We know some of his movements. He interacts with a few people that he doesn't know. But the young man's motives and the intentions of others around him are in question. Where did he go? How did he get there? Where is Kyle Flashman? This is true Crime Garage.
Ryan Reynolds
Foreign.
Nick
Today we go to Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte is the most populous city in the great state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department is the point on this investigation and they are encouraging anyone with information to use the Crime Stoppers tip line to submit that information at 704-334-1600 the population was 874,000 people at the 2020 census making Charlotte the 15th most populous city in the United States, the seventh most populous city in the south, and the Charlotte metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 3 million people as of last year. All of that is to say that this is a really big city. Charlotte is an exciting city as well. There is more than plenty to do there. Parts of Charlotte are known for a thriving nightlife. We will be honing in on the city center uptown area. Uptown is known for the NASCAR hall of Fame. Today's case is a missing persons case. It's been over 16 years gone by since the disappearance of 24 year old Kyle Fleischman. Kyle went missing in the small hours of Friday morning November 9th. He was last seen at the Buckhead Saloon in uptown Charlotte leaving on camera at approximately 2:20am this was back in 2007. To this day at the time of this recording, Kyle has not been in contact with any family or friends since he left his debit card and coat at the bar. It is believed that he was in possession of little to no cash at all and the report is that Kyle did not have any other credit cards. A missing persons report was filed Friday the 9th at 10pm with the police and we have a description here for you of Kyle, height six foot tall. He was about 180 pounds. That's a tall drink of water Caucasian with green eyes and brown hair and it looks like he most often wore his hair short. He was last seen wearing a black T shirt, jeans and black dress shoes. His hair was gelled and probably looked a little darker than his natural color. So this is the description provided that I have seen the most. And I do want to point out here that photos of Kyle at the Buckhead Saloon where he was last seen or known to have been are pretty readily available on the Internet. And the shirt that he is wearing in those photos is not black. So I don't know why this description is the one that remains and is the most used description of him. It appears to be a green shirt to me. In fact, the photos, while quite blurry and not great if that is Kyle in those photos, to the best that I can tell, it is. He appears to be standing by himself right up to the bar with a bottle of beer sitting on the bar in front of him. And he occasionally is checking his, what looks to be a flip phone. There is a fifty thousand dollar reward for information regarding the whereabouts of Kyle or what happened on the night of his disappearance. So some quick information before we dive into the details here. I want to lay out a few things before we get into the muck in the mire of that night because there's a lot of movement that night. All of it I see as questionable after that 2:20am time marker. And there has been a lot of speculation regarding that movement or perceived movements of Kyle's that night. So to lay the foundation here, Captain, after taking in a comedy show, 24 year old Kyle Fleischman and some friends head out for drinks at the Buckhead Saloon at fifth and College streets. Now, this bar has changed names several times since then. Kyle worked for a health care recruiting agency. He was smart, very outgoing. His parents, Dick and Barbara, moved Kyle and his two siblings to Charlotte in the year 2000 for Dick's job with Fidelity Investments. Kyle graduated from Charlotte Catholic High School and later Elon University. After college, he moved into a south Charlotte condo. His father says Kyle was a social person who liked to go out and have fun. He didn't have a girlfriend at the time, but he had a lot of friends.
Captain
So Kyle goes out with some friends to see a comedy show and who does he go to see? Dane Cook, probably one of the most popular comedians around that time.
Nick
One key bit of information in a key detail to this case is the group chose to take a cab that night and Kyle parked his vehicle at his friend's house. So they all meet up at the friend's house, they all hop in a cab together and they go off to the Dane Cook comedy show in uptown Charlotte. And the persons that Kyle is traveling with, this is his best friend, Dan or Daniel we also have Dan's wife, Christina. We have good friend of Dan and Kyle's, Dom and Dom's girlfriend. So we got a five pack of people going out that night for a comedy show. From my understanding here, Captain, there was a lot of celebration to be had that night. So these are very close individuals. Kyle and Dan are very tight. It's Dan's wife, and they're also tight with Dom. I believe at one time he was a roommate with Dan and Kyle. The celebration, it was somebody's birthday. Somebody else had got a new job. So within that group of five, there was a lot of excitement to be had that night. They were all looking forward to a very good night out. After the show, they choose to walk to a nearby bar. So this is a place that none of them were. Were regulars at. In fact, one person in the group says that it was their first time ever going there, and they weren't even sure if Kyle had ever been to this bar before. This is really just. Hey, this is in close proximity to where we already are, this hustling, bustling area of excitement of Charlotte. Let's go to the comedy show. And where should we go next? Let's. We don't want to end the night now. Oh, here's this place right over here. So really just going to a place that's nearby. This is the Buckhead Saloon.
Captain
Heck, yeah.
Nick
Can't stop, won't stop at the Buckhead Saloon. Of course they're having drinks because of the celebration with the birthday and the changing of careers, the promotion. It sounds to me like they're. They are doing shots. This isn't just, you know, casually sipping on a beer and looking at each other and. And chatting. This is a night of excitement. We're doing shots. We're having a great time.
Captain
Well, this case is fascinating to me because we do have a lot of surveillance footage. And one of the questions becomes, how intoxicated was Kyle during this evening?
Nick
Yes, that's a great question. Now, what we do know is that we have several people that knew him well on record saying that, yes, he was very likely drunk that night. But what we're going to see, Captain, is friends are going to start to leave, and Kyle's going to choose to stay. And the friends that leave would go on to say he didn't seem to be extremely intoxicated when we left, which makes the mystery all that more confusing for his friends.
Captain
Yeah, most definitely.
Nick
So he's out drinking. They've been drinking for most of the night by this time. But where we're going to pick up here is his group of friends. They begin heading home. So this is all going to start around midnight. Kyle chose to stay and he was going to continue on that night without them.
Captain
Well, I know nobody wants to be a party pooper, but don't leave your friends behind, especially in an area that they don't know, they're not familiar with and it's not close to their, their home.
Nick
Now we're getting close to closing time for Buckhead Saloon. At some point, Kyle is going to get up and leave the bar. Now, like the captain pointed out, we have some surveillance footage. What we don't have is audio, right? We don't have him telling anybody or if he did say why he was leaving, that information is not known. Has not made its way to the public. Because one thing that gets very confusing here is it's a cold November night. He gets up and leaves and he leaves his debit card or credit card with the bartender and he leaves his jacket there as well. So now we're in the small hours of Friday, November 9, 2007, approximately 12:15, 12:30am this is when good friend Dan closes out his bar tab. He tells Kyle that he and his wife are going home. Kyle says that he's staying and that he would call a cab later to get over to Dan's to retrieve his vehicle. Now, at about 1am to 2:15am and I apologize for not being able to narrow that down better for you, but 1am to about 2:15am Kyle chats and he's seen dancing with a young lady at the bar. We do know from an interview with Kyle's Uncle Stephen, that he says that there may have been some words exchanged or it's his understanding, Captain, that maybe one of the guys there with this young lady didn't, didn't really appreciate Kyle dancing with her.
Captain
And we don't have great details about this confrontation, which kind of bothers me because we have surveillance footage. So we should have some kind of knowledge about what happened. And we do know, or what we've been told is it didn't get physical. But I don't think the confrontation was just between this girl's boyfriend or whoever he was in relationship to her, but it was also some of his friends. So it's like a group of guys coming up to a guy going, hey, probably saying, why are you dancing with my girlfriend? You know, or because you weren't.
Nick
Ladies like to dance and sometimes the boyfriend don't like the dance, Right? But no, you're right, Captain. The report is that there were four people in this group. And I don't have a breakdown of number of males or females, but the vibe I was getting from the report was that she might have been the only. The only lady in the group. The rest of the group might have been a boyfriend, husband or somebody sweet on her and one or two other guys.
Captain
But to me, this seems like a typical night out at a bar. And at many bars there's little confrontations, but we don't have any physical altercation. So it could be nothing. It could be a nothing burger. But the problem is Kyle went missing that night and hasn't been seen again. So it's something that you have to put on the radar.
Nick
Yes, you're right. You cannot dismiss this because it happens in such short proximity to when we last see Kyle and know that he's perfectly fine. So here's where we start to get a little detailed. 2:17am Is the report where the female that he was dancing with or seen dancing with leaves the buckhead Saloon at 2:19. So two minutes after she leaves, Kyle's device places a call to his sister. So this is a cell phone. And this call goes unanswered at 2:19. Then shortly after placing this call. So that's key, too, I think here he's making that call. All reports say he's still in the bar at the time when he makes that call. Why do I think that's key? Because he's going to make a whole bunch of other phone calls. But this one is the only one that he's making while he's still in the bar. And the captain had a great thing that he was telling me off microphone about this call that I found intriguing.
Captain
Normally when we have a missing person case, we have maybe some surveillance footage, and sometimes we have a call log and you have to kind of piece these together. But what's fascinating with Kyle's case is this call that he makes to his sister. Well, we have it not only in a call log, but we have it on surveillance footage as well. So we can actually see his actions and him making the call in that early. I think he said it was like
Nick
2:19am okay, so what's different about this compared to other missing persons cases where we have a phone attempting to connect with other people? One problem we run into in those cases is not knowing who's making that action. Here, as the captain's pointing out, we have him on camera making that call. We know that Kyle was the one that made this Call. The call goes unanswered. And then Kyle is seen on camera leaving the Buckhead Saloon. And now we know that he does leave his jacket and his bank card behind. So, 2007, I imagine this is one of those busy bars. You get youngsters or people have too much to drink, they forget to pay their tab. So what do you do? You collect a credit card or a bank card. When somebody sits down and orders their first round, I'm sure there's a listener or two out there that have left a bank card or a credit card behind. I'm a little shocked, though, given the. The very chilly night that they were experiencing, that something didn't tip him off as soon as he stepped out into the cold of the night, that he had left his jacket behind. Because that. That surveillance footage, to me, he appears to be wearing a T shirt.
Captain
Yeah, this brings up a lot of questions for me. I don't think ever left a card, a debit card, or a credit card behind unless I was pretty intoxicated. But we're not sitting around wondering if he was intoxicated or not. We know that he was.
Nick
To what level? Seems to be the debate. But the general consensus is, yes, he's. Yeah, he's intoxicated. By that point. He's already told his friend he's taken a cab back to retrieve his car at some point.
Captain
Hold on a second. I want to stay with this credit card. So him leaving the credit card to me, not that big of a deal because he was drinking too much, and maybe he just totally forgot the jacket seems a little more important. Like you said, he goes out in the cold weather, and he's like, well, he should have at that point went, I left my jacket behind. So that makes you question. Is he concerned about getting out of there quickly after this altercation? Or some people think that he was trying to catch up to one of the girls that left the bar.
Nick
Which would make sense because we know that the girl did leave the bar. Right, Young lady, We should say. And then we do know that a very short time after Kyle. So as soon as he walks out, there's a brief exchange of words with several guys who were standing outside with the female that he had danced with earlier that night. The report is that there was some shouting that was going on outside, but. But again, it never gets to any level of physical altercation. These are just words at this point.
Captain
Well, and that makes me wonder, too, because let's say I'm a little intoxicated. I was just dancing with this Girl on the dance floor. Some jackasses come up to me and tell me who I can and can't dance with. But there's a bunch of them. So maybe I just shut up. Now I'm at the bar and I'm drinking. Call my sister. She doesn't answer the phone. But then I start thinking to myself, why did I shut up? Why did I shut up? Why didn't I just give him a piece of the captain's mind? So then I decided to go outside to razz it up a little bit. You know, nobody's going to sass me, my friend. So then I go outside, a couple shouts come back and forth, and then it gets broken up again.
Nick
And you can dance if you want to, Captain, but the thing here is I think all of us, or I shouldn't say all of us, but I bet you a good percentage of us have found ourselves in a situation. I know I have. I got a. I got a very. A face that.
Captain
That punchable face.
Nick
A punchable face, as they say.
Captain
Yeah.
Nick
I found myself in a situation more than once where I. A group of guys has. They've decided that they're going. They want. They're looking for a fight. And there's no, nothing that I can say to deter that from happening. Right. I could, I could be defiant and say, you guys, you guys suck. You're losers. We're going to fight. Or I could go, I'm sorry, my bad. You guys are awesome. I. I don't want anything to do with you. Can I buy you a drink? And they still want to fight. So we don't know. All we know is that there was some shouting going on. We don't know how much Kyle was involved in a back and forth or if it was simply, oh, hey, there's that that jerk again. Oh, he's outside again. This part of the timeline is very weird and strange to me, right? Because I look at the call 2:19 to his sister. Fast forward to today. I know that as of a couple years ago, his sister was living in Charlotte in this uptown area. Okay. What I don't know is was she living there at that time? Is there a reason why he's calling his sister at 2:19? Does he feel threatened? Does he feel like he's in trouble and needs to get somewhere where somebody knows him soon to a safe place?
Captain
Or does he just want somebody to be aware that, hey, I got in this altercation just in case something happens.
Nick
The other thing too, and I know that we're, we're Spinning our tires here already, Captain.
Captain
But I'm telling you, I'll speculate if I want to. Speculate.
Nick
You could dance if you want to. But the thing is, I also have to wonder, like, you know, when, when, when some people start a little beef with you and then, then it breaks up and you just, you know, you go your, your separate ways. You sit back down at the bar, they're back in a corner somewhere, but you still feel them like looking at you, looking at you. Isn't it kind of like naturally human behavior to pick up your phone and maybe I'll pretend I'm talking to somebody or looking at something on my phone so it looks like I'm. I don't. I want them to think I don't know that they're looking at me.
Captain
Yeah, or poss. Possible he just wants to vent to somebody.
Nick
True.
Captain
Hey, this, this shit happened and nobody was here or tell somebody or could
Nick
you come and get me?
Captain
Right?
Nick
So anyway, that questions, though, but, but see, that's what I'm saying is that I feel like the actions to me don't add up, right? If, if, if I'm calling for help or want to get in touch with somebody because I feel threatened at 219, I'm probably not leaving the bar, considering that they've just left the bar and now I bump into them. If you go outside because you're like, I better get out of here. Fight or flight, I better fly. I'm going to get out of here. Oh, I see them on the street. If you're attempting to flee, then you want to go back into the bar at this point, and you've left your jacket and your bank card.
Captain
So many things in this case don't make sense.
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Captain
All right, we are back. Cheers mates. Dance if you want to. Tall cans in the air.
Nick
Is it safe to dance?
Captain
You can do the safety dance.
Nick
At 2:20am Kyle is seen on camera walking on North College street at 2:22 to 2:45am Approximately there's reports that Kyle goes into a business called Fuel Pizza. Okay, I want to be clear here. There is some debate if this actually happened. It seems like most people believe that this did happen. An employee there says that he saw Kyle come in and remembers Kyle ordering two slices of pizza. We get a little bit of a problem here because we know that he doesn't have his debit card or credit card with him. He's left that at the bar. And what we are told from his parents when they do a check on their son, phone records, financial records, they don't see him having in possessing any other credit card or debit Card. So this is his only card for paying for things. And his friends will tell us they don't remember Kyle being the type of person to carry cash.
Ryan Reynolds
Right.
Nick
So this is where we say he either had little to no cash on him at all, because he may not have had any cash, but if he purchased the pizza, he must have had some cash on him that night to do so.
Captain
Pizza shops are not in the business to just go, hey, drunk guy, you don't have any money. Here's a slice of pizza.
Nick
True, but I would say that at closing time, we might be throwing these away. Anyway, this guy comes stumbling in, he's starving. Oh, here, take this, and we'll see you later.
Captain
I think I saw one report where they thought maybe he had roughly six bucks on him.
Nick
Yeah. So the reports that I've seen state that he had $6. Other reports say he may have had $9 on him. I don't know how they're getting to that very exact amount, but I think part of that they're basing off of what. What it said that he purchased at the pizza shop and what it would have cost. Right now, his father, Kyle's father, believes, as do many other people, that this Kyle going into fuel pizza is reality. And he says based off of witness statements and off of what the employee says that Kyle ordered, he's like, yeah, that's exactly the kind of pizza that Kyle would order all the time.
Captain
That's another thing that's so fascinating with this missing person case is we don't have just one piece of evidence. We have other pieces of evidence that back up those pieces of evidence. Like we have, we roughly know the direction Kyle went when he left the bar. Then that's confirmed by other surveillance footage. And so then you go, well, he's headed in the direction to the pizza shop. He goes into the pizza shop. We have people at the pizza shop claiming, well, we think that this missing person, Kyle was in there that night. And by the way, this is what he ordered. And then the family goes, yep, that was him. He was everything on my pizza Supreme. Pizza guy.
Nick
Yeah. And so the thing here is, what I like to call this is. This is very much to me like a collage of potential evidence.
Captain
Right.
Nick
And movements of this young man just before he disappears. And we all know how collages work.
Captain
You, you.
Nick
You cut and paste, and you pull things from. From all different sources, and you put them together all in one location, and you step back and you look at it, and sometimes it makes perfect sense. And other Times it makes no sense at all. So with some of this stuff, it seems to be lining up. There are people that are connected with this fuel pizza that say we never saw Kyle that night. One key thing here, though, is the employee that says to have seen Kyle that night, that Kyle ordered two pieces of pizza and then he must have gone to the restroom area because this employee says, I got busy working and I lost track of him. I don't remember seeing Kyle leave that night. I remember him coming in, getting the pizza and then I don't see him leave that night. Now we're going to go to 2:42am this is when his phone places a call to. This is reported this way. So forgive me, it's reported he places a call to a business he went to earlier that night and the call is unanswered. There's been a lot of speculation about this. I do not know why. We know all of the other places and people that he attempted to call that night. The parents, his parents and family have his phone records. They've been shared with police, which has been valuable to their investigation. But for some reason, this line item, they don't want to tell us the name of the place. They just simply say he called a business that he had went to earlier that night at 2:42am there's been great speculation that he probably called the Buckhead
Captain
Saloon because he realized he left his debit card.
Nick
Yeah, went to pay for pizza. Oh, snap. No card.
Captain
Snip.
Nick
Oh, wait a second. It's frigid out here. I don't have my coat either. 2:30, the bar closes. He's worried. He, he. He likely wants to make contact with somebody. Hey, bartender, I left my card in my, my jacket. If I'm going to walk right back to you, if you could let me in, I'll leave a nice tip and be on my way and get my, my coat.
Captain
But this is also why it's sad to me, because you just wonder if he had no cash on him and he orders the pizza and they go, sorry, man, and he realizes sooner he doesn't have his debit card. If he would have had to turn around to get his debit card so he could buy the pizza, would that alter the outcome of Kyle's situation?
Nick
Shortly after this unanswered call to a business that he went to earlier that night, Kyle places a call to his own voicemail. Then, between the minutes of 2:42am and 2:57am Kyle's device again, we want to make sure we're saying it this way, right? Because the only call we confirm, can confirm 100% that he physically placed was the one from the bar earlier where he's on camera. These other calls, he likely did place these calls, but we can't say definitively that it was him that made these calls, Just that the calls came from his phone. So between the minutes of 2:42am and 2:57am his phone calls his father three times. Kyle called his dad's cell phone and his dad's work number. So business landline.
Captain
Again, this is why these cases fascinate the shit enemy. Why would he call his father's business? He knows his father's not going to be there, right?
Nick
Burning the Midnight Oil at 2:57am so Kyle's father explains this, and it's actually terrifying to hear Kyle's father explain this because he says that his conversation with people that are dialed into this sort of thing that. That are in law enforcement and dialed into this investigation, they've told him that this type of. These type of actions and them happening so quickly and all the calls going unanswered. Their fear is that by this point, he. He already feels like he's in trouble. And it could be they've seen this type of stuff when somebody's in a vehicle that they don't want to be in, that they're being moved to a location that they don't want to go to, and they can't put the phone up to their ear or to their face because it's a. It's a dead giveaway. But they. They can hit buttons on their phone and attempt to call people to. To raise the flag.
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Yeah.
Nick
And so his father, in speculation, says it could be as simple as in his phone, there's a dad work, dad phone. Dad work, dad cell phone.
OpportunityAtWork Announcer
But.
Captain
Or it's the same contact.
Nick
Right.
Captain
With just two numbers saved. So, unfortunately, calling dad, but he might not even have known that he's calling dad work.
Nick
And again, the call place to the place to the business that he was at earlier that night or day, same thing. He could just be hitting a redial button.
Captain
Yeah.
Nick
In a panic. So, unfortunately, none of these calls go answered, which. Which could have completely altered the set of events or whatever happened to Kyle afterwards. So then at 3am his device places yet another call to his sister. Unanswered. At 3:28am Kyle's device places a call to Dan. Okay, so this is Dan, his buddy, good friend, where he parked his car. This call, these calls are seconds long. This one's reported to be 4 seconds long. This calls unanswered as well. 3:29am Kyle's device places a call to Bruce. This is one of his roommates at the time. The calls five or six seconds long, no answer. 4am Kyle cellular device is now seemingly dead or turned off or destroyed by 4am it's no longer pinging. It's no longer no more activity from Kyle's cell phone at 4am and it seems like there was no activity between the minutes of 3:30am and 4:00am Yeah,
Captain
I would think as far as law enforcement goes, you could go, well, possibly something has happened to Kyle by this point, But I would lean more towards the idea, well, this is probably just when his phone battery is dead.
Nick
Since that night, his cell phone has been turned off. There's never been any more activity on that phone Nor has there been any activity on his bank accounts as well. And we do know that he left a debit card or credit card and his coat at the bar. We do know that he left his car parked at his friend's home. And it's believed that at the time that he went missing that he would have had on his person T shirt, jeans, dress shoes, black leather wallet that he always carried and his car keys, his cell phone, car keys, wallet. Those items have not been found. One thing here, that is. Look, whatever happened to Kyle that night, a lot of bad luck. Again, if. If somebody would have been awake and could have answered one of those calls, it could have dramatically altered the outcome of that evening.
Captain
Well, I'm not going to victim blame,
Nick
but look, it's not that no one's fault that they didn't answer. They're probably not even awake.
Captain
No, I totally understand that. What I'm saying is Kyle was in a situation, he was in a location that he wasn't super familiar with.
Nick
Yep.
Captain
And he was intoxicated and. And he was alone. And I think that is just not a position that you want to be in. And I think a lot of times maybe people assume because he's 6 foot tall, he's a man, he can take care of himself. But anytime you're by yourself, you're making yourself a lot more vulnerable.
Nick
One thing we should probably address here because there will be persons out there that say, well, maybe he just stepped out, maybe he took off, wanted to start a whole new life elsewhere. And let's not completely close that door. Let's. I like to think of myself as an optimist and so I don't want to completely close that door, however, the problem with that is you talk to his family, friends, and law enforcement. None of them seem to think that that's a likely possibility here. A lot of that has to do with his close personal relationships with his family and friends, his personality. He's got a career at this point. He's 24. He's got a career, a condo, a car. There's not a person in that group that says, this guy, he might have taken off. Maybe he's living on a beach somewhere. Maybe he started a whole new life again.
Captain
This is like the Shaffer case. A lot of people think that Brian Schaefer decided that night when he was heavily in intoxicated, to leave town and start a new life. We have no evidence that Kyle makes it back to his apartment. We have no evidence that he makes it back to his car.
Nick
Right.
Captain
And that doesn't even have his debit card.
Nick
And while all of that stuff is bad luck for him, the one thing that is good luck for the case, for the investigation, is that he left his car at his friend's house. Had that not happened, I don't know how long it would have been before he would have been reported as missing.
Captain
Well, he didn't show up to work the next day, Right?
Nick
Correct. But people don't show up to work all the time. Like, so really, what sparks this whole thing from. Into a missing person's case and being reported missing is his car still being at his friend's house.
Captain
Yeah, but that's what's. Again, I feel like a broken record. That's what's so fascinating with Kyle's case is now we have. We have two pieces of evidence. He doesn't show up for work and all, by the way, his car is still at his friend's house.
Nick
Yeah.
Captain
And there's always. There's always something that is confirming the other thing. Does that make any sense? And Kyle's thing we have.
Nick
Well, yeah, there would be. Naturally, there would be three places for him to go. Okay. No matter what adventure he goes on that night, if he were alive and well, naturally there would be three places that he would. One of three places that he would go next. He would go home, he would go get his car, or he would go to work. He would turn up at one of those three places. He. He does none of those. So what I'm pointing out here is that car is what propels this into attempting to get police involved. Because the friend is like, wait a second, Kyle. He wakes up, he's like, kyle never came. And Got his car last night. I hope he's okay. Friend goes off to work, has a normal day, comes home, Kyle's car still there. So his buddy Dan is like, he says he knows somebody that Kyle works with, and he's concerned about his friend. So he calls that person that works with Kyle and says, look, man, I don't know what's going on. I have an uneasy feeling. Kyle's car still here. We went out last night. We had a great time.
Captain
And I know he was drinking heavily.
Nick
Did Kyle go to work today?
Ryan Reynolds
Right.
Nick
That person says, no, Kyle was absent. So you're trying to call him on his cell phone, you're trying to get in touch with him. The. The friend then calls Kyle's roommate. Did he ever come home? Is he just sleeping one off? No, he never came home. So then the friend has to do what he did not want to do. He had to call Kyle's parents and say, look, we all went out last night, we came home, he stayed behind. Now we don't know where the hell he is. And the parents say, would you please call the police and notify them that he is missing at this time.
Captain
So a lot of what happens during this timeline that we know of to me is it's not that strange. It's not strange for somebody to be having a good time and decide, well, you guys are leaving, I'm going to stay behind. It's not that strange to be flirtatious with a girl or dance with a girl, and then for that to be a conflict again, no physical conflict. It's not that strange to be intoxicated. So you leave the bar and you forget your debit card and you forget your coat. Not that strange to me that you're going to walk from that bar to find something to eat. Because I'm the type, once I have a couple drinks, give me that slice of pizza. Those things I do not find super odd. The thing that I find super odd, and I wish I had more information on, is the amount of phone calls he was making. Again, if you now told me that this was 6pm at night or 8pm at night, and he's making all these calls to his friends and family, not that strange. But to make that many calls that late at night, to me, that's a big red flag.
Nick
Exactly. And that's what the experts were telling his family, that this to them appeared to be. Maybe he is already in the company of somebody that he doesn't trust. He feels threatened, or he's being moved somewhere that he doesn't want to go. And this is just a an SOS trying to get help from anyone to alert someone that, hey, something's going on here and I might not be able to put the phone to my face and talk, but if somebody could pick up, maybe they could hear me and this person talking or this person talking to me or hear that there is actually something going on. We have to really red flag and underline for those of you out there that are not familiar with this case, while each of those movements on their own don't seem that big of a mystery, truly, after everything after 2:20am when he is last seen on surveillance, on security camera footage at 2:20am walking in front of the bar on North College street, everything beyond that, all those phone calls potentially going into Fuel Pizza, those are all items that are up for debate. We can't say rock solid 100% that that one or any of those actions actually took place. We can say that the phone calls were made, but why? We don't know. We can say that the phone calls were made, but by who? We can't say for certain that it was Kyle, although it seems most likely that it would have been Kyle.
Captain
Well, we have proof of some of the calls, but not of the other calls. And then again, it's like, was there a purpose for him to be calling his father's work or did he just not know that he was calling his father's work and he was trying to call his father's cell phone? It's just very strange and really sad. So much more to get to what a weird and fascinating case this is. Stick around for part two. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter. Sa.
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Release Date: August 27, 2024
Hosts: Nic and the Captain
Part one of this two-part series examines the perplexing 2007 disappearance of Kyle Fleischmann from uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. The hosts, Nic and the Captain, break down the timeline of Kyle’s last known movements after a routine night out with friends took a confounding and tragic turn. The episode explores factual developments, witness statements, speculation about key moments, as well as recurring patterns the hosts see in the actions of missing persons.
The Comedy Show & Night Out (09:54–13:24)
Scene at Buckhead Saloon (12:00–16:18)
Confrontation on Dance Floor (13:24–16:40)
Critical Timeline (16:40–19:32)
Speculation on Intent & Safety (19:32–25:09)
Post-Bar Activity (31:57–40:18)
The Phone Calls (from 2:19am onwards)
On the Dance Floor Altercation:
“Ladies like to dance and sometimes the boyfriend don’t like the dance.” – Nick (15:50)
On Leaving Possessions:
“I don’t think I’ve ever left a card, a debit card, or a credit card behind unless I was pretty intoxicated.” – Captain (19:32)
On the Sequence of Calls:
“Why would he call his father’s business? He knows his father’s not going to be there, right?” – Captain (39:06)
On Unanswered Calls as Possible SOS:
“If somebody could pick up, maybe they could hear me and this person talking or hear that there is actually something going on.” – Nick (49:01)
| Timestamp | Topic/Insight | |-------------|------------------------------------------------------| | 04:55–09:54 | Introduction to Kyle & Charlotte, personal details | | 09:54–13:24 | Comedy show & bar plans, the group dynamics | | 13:24–16:40 | Bar activity, drinking, dance floor tension | | 16:40–19:32 | Timeline: last seen, first suspicious calls | | 19:32–25:09 | Analysis of forgotten items, urgency, speculation | | 31:57–40:18 | Possible Fuel Pizza visit, witness statements, cash | | 39:06–40:55 | Phone call sequences, law enforcement speculation | | 42:00–43:52 | Phone pings end, aftermath, missing possessions | | 44:49–47:45 | Reporting as missing, friends/family intervention | | 47:45–49:01 | Multiple calls highlighted as primary red flag | | 49:01–50:38 | After 2:20am: evidence is mostly circumstantial |
The episode closes with emphasis on the many unanswered questions. Kyle Fleischmann’s disappearance remains unsolved, and his actions—especially a flurry of unanswered calls in the early morning after a night of typical, if rowdy, socializing—create a patchwork of clues that are suggestive but still inconclusive. The hosts urge listeners to apply empathy, avoid victim-blaming, and stay tuned for part two.
If you have information on Kyle Fleischmann’s disappearance, contact Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
Part 2: Previewed as a deeper dive into theories, further investigation, and ongoing mysteries.