Stolen: The Angie Housman Story /// Part 1 ///

Summary

True Crime Garage: "Stolen: The Angie Houseman Story /// Part 1 ///" – Detailed Summary

Introduction

In this gripping first part of the two-part series, hosts Nic and the Captain delve into the harrowing true crime case of Angie Houseman, a nine-year-old girl whose disappearance in 1993 sent shockwaves through the St. Louis community. The episode meticulously outlines the timeline of events, the investigation's complexities, and the lingering questions that continue to haunt the case.

Background of Angie Houseman

Angie Houseman was a bright and outgoing fourth-grader at Butter Elementary School in St. Ann, Missouri, a quiet suburb of St. Louis. Known for her cheerful demeanor and quick ability to make friends, Angie was considered a beloved member of her community. On November 18, 1993, Angie embarked on her usual routine of walking home from school, unaware that her life was about to take a tragic turn.

Timeline of Events

The day Angie disappeared began like any other. On a typical Thursday afternoon, Angie packed her backpack and boarded the school bus. She was dropped off at the usual bus stop on Wright Avenue around 3:50 to 3:52 PM. Normally, parents would watch the children walk home, but unusually, two parents were preoccupied and failed to supervise that day.

At approximately 5 PM, Angie's stepfather, Ron Bone, returned home from work to find Angie missing along with her backpack. According to Nick, "Kids in the neighborhood did not recall seeing where Angie went. And one thing they do recall when being asked that, I mean, she wasn't with anybody" (05:58).

Ron and Angie's mother, Diana, immediately began searching the neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking neighbors if they had seen her. By around 6 PM, after finding no trace of Angie, they flagged down a St. Ann patrol officer to report her missing. This swift response was crucial, but as Nick points out, "This was a small amount of time, but the abductor had some time to move" (14:29).

Details of the Crime Scene

Two days later, on November 27, 1993, Angie’s body was tragically discovered in the August Anheuser Busch Wildlife Area. A deer hunter found Angie tied to a tree about 90 feet from the road. Her body showed signs of severe abuse, including being handcuffed with duct tape covering most of her face, and she had a deep cut on her thigh and multiple cuts on her wrists. Notably, the duct tape was not her own, and the handcuffs were identified as novelty items, not standard police restraints.

The detective involved explained, “She was in bad shape when she was placed there,” emphasizing the brutality Angie endured (48:40). The autopsy revealed that Angie likely died of hypothermia, with additional injuries from sexual assault, beatings, and starvation.

Investigation Efforts

The investigation swiftly became a major case, involving local law enforcement and the FBI. Nick elaborates, “This was only the second time in history that the major case squad came in to work a case without a body. So this is all hands on deck situation” (35:13). The police canvassed the area, questioned neighbors, and followed up on numerous leads, including a prior attempted abduction in Maryland Heights a week before Angie’s disappearance.

Despite intensive efforts, the case remained unsolved for years. The presence of handcuffs and duct tape suggested that Angie was likely still alive when she was moved, but reconstruction of her injuries indicated prolonged abuse. Investigators explored various theories, including the possibility of the abductor following the bus route, given the brief window of time between her being dropped off and her disappearance.

Theories and Lingering Questions

One of the perplexing aspects discussed is the unusual nature of Angie's restraints. The use of novelty handcuffs and duct tape indicated a level of premeditation and cruelty. Nic pondered, “They wouldn't tie the jeans to the handcuffs like that. I think that that is more of an indicator that the person or persons knew that she was still alive” (52:33).

Another point of discussion was a 13-year-old boy who, during a Thanksgiving parade broadcast, claimed in a dream to have seen Angie tied to a tree. While this account was dismissed as a mere coincidence, it added another layer of mystery to the case.

Community Impact and Emotional Toll

The community’s reaction was one of fear and disbelief. Nick remarked on the tight-knit nature of the St. Ann neighborhood, highlighting how suddenly everything changed, transforming a place of safety into one marred by tragedy. The emotional toll on Angie’s family was palpable, with her parents enduring sleepless nights and relentless anguish over their missing daughter.

Conclusion

Part one of "Stolen: The Angie Houseman Story" sets the stage for a deep and disturbing exploration of a case that remains unsolved decades later. The hosts effectively convey the fear, frustration, and relentless pursuit of justice by those closest to Angie. With detailed timelines, investigative insights, and poignant quotes, the episode leaves listeners eager for part two, where they hope to uncover more clues and perhaps shed light on the mysterious disappearance and death of Angie Houseman.

Notable Quotes

• Investigator: “[04:06] I can't tell you where I was, but I can remember being just sick, just sick...”

• Nick: “[05:58] Kids in the neighborhood did not recall seeing where Angie went...”

• Detective: “[48:40] She was in bad shape when she was placed there...”

• Nic: “[52:33] They wouldn't tie the jeans to the handcuffs like that...”

This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the first part of the Angie Houseman case as discussed in the "True Crime Garage" podcast, providing listeners with a clear and engaging overview of the tragic events and ongoing mystery surrounding her disappearance.

Transcript

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[Nick]

Foreign welcome to True Crime Garage wherever you are, whatever you were doing. Thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and with me, as always, is a man with a friendly reminder that we all need to have longer fuses, especially this time of year. Here is the Captain.

[The Captain]

I should know, I once was arrested for punching a horse cop.

[Colonel]

It's good to be seen and good to see you.

[The Captain]

Thanks for listening listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick]

This week we are feeling very proud and honored to be featuring Brew Free or dye blood orange IPA by the good folks over at 21st Amendment Brewery. Not all IPAs are created equal. Brew free or dye blood orange IPA is different and better in large part because they used real fruit in this delightful offering. This beer has an abundance of fresh blood orange puree and a twist of citrusy dry hops ABV 7% garage grade four and a quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and praise to our good friends for helping us fill up the old garage fridge. First up, a cheers to Bretta and Louisville, Kentucky.

[The Captain]

And a big we like your Jeep goes out to Lark from Fayetteville, North Carolina.

[Nick]

Next we have a cheers to Ashley from Monks Corner, South Carolina and a.

[The Captain]

Big tall Cans in the Air to Cindy A and sand sp, Oklahoma.

[Nick]

And last but certainly not least, we have a long distance cheers that goes out to Claire Sinclair and Edinburgh, Scotland. Everybody we just mentioned went to truecrimegarage.com. they helped us out with this week's beer run by donating to the beer fund. And for that, we thank you.

[The Captain]

Yeah, BWWAN Beer Run. Hey, if you got a favorite local brewery, tell them to send the garage some beers and we'll. And we'll give him a little love in return. 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.

[Investigator]

I can't tell you where I was, but I can remember being just sick, just sick. Anytime a child is involved, it's the worst. So, you know, you hold your kids tighter, you look at people differently for a long time. You know, untrusting. And it's just. It was tough. I mean, you just feel horrible for the family and the community. So we knew she was based upon, you know, when she was found, where she was left some. She was held somewhere. There's no doubt about it. So I can't we just. What she went through. If you let your mind go too far open a rage it's hard to contain. It was actually the weather, I think, that gave them the clearest idea because she had snow and ice on her and it had snowed and you know, we'd had that winter weather overnight and she had that precipitation on her body, so we know she was there at least before then, but sure there was. And I'm sure the temperature had a lot to do with it because it was winter. But there was no decomposition per se, so she wasn't. We. They figured she wasn't out there very long because like I said, she had that snow on there. So we know she was there before that. But again, no decomposition or anything. So I don't know that they narrowed it down, but they figured she was held somewhere for several days.

[Nick]

This week we go out to St. Louis County, Missouri, for a true crime story that starts off in the late fall of 1993. To hone in a little closer, we will be in St. Ann, Missouri, and our coverage of this case, you're going to hear a lot of saints. St. Louis County, St. Charles County, City of St. Anne, and of course, we have the city of St. Louis. So my apologies in advance if the number of saints here makes this case more confusing than it needs to be. The real pisser is all of the saints in the world didn't stop the evil that invaded St. Anne in northwest St. Louis county in the late fall and early winter of 1993. Let's start with the late fall and work our way through. So we're going to talk about November 18, 1993. That is the day in question. This is one week before Thanksgiving 1993. November 18th should have been just another Thursday, just another ordinary day for the folks of St. Ann, Missouri. That day was a school day, of course, and just like she had done so many times before, little nine year old Angie Houseman packed up her backpack, walked out of her home on Wright Avenue. She walked about eight or so houses down to the bus stop where she met up with some of her schoolmates. They boarded the bus and it was off to school for another day of learning and hopefully a little fun as well. Angie was in the fourth grade at Butter Elementary School on Baltimore Avenue in St. Ann. This is a quiet blue collar suburb of St. Louis. Angie was a cheerful and kind hearted kid. She was regarded to be quite a gifted student. So very smart and she applied herself and worked hard in the classroom. She was outgoing and very quick to make people smile. To say she was outgoing I think is a bit of an understatement. She would regularly approach people that she may not have known and speak with them and talk with them and engage them in conversation. And I have seen several reports and many people say that if she met you once or twice, she considered you to be a friend. She was just that kind of person inviting you into her world. The school day on that Thursday came and went with all of the normal regularities, lunch, recess and book learning. And at the end of the school day, just a bit after 3pm, little 9 year old Angie Houseman packed up her blue and white book bag and joined a number of her schoolmates once again on the big yellow school bus, destination Right Avenue, back to her home. The bus pulled up to stop at Right Avenue at the normal time, the bus stop located just eight houses down from her home. Angie got off of the school bus just like she did each afternoon in her neighborhood. She's not the only kid at this stop. Typically two parents on the street would watch as the kids walk to their houses on Right Avenue. However, on this Thursday, those two parents were both busy and no one was watching the children as they walked home. Now, a short time later, Angie stepfather, his name is Ron Bone, he returned from work. Typically when Ron would arrive home on a school day, he would see Angie's backpack placed in its usual after school resting place between the back of the couch and the front door in the living room of the home. They lived in a duplex. On this Thursday when Ron came home, there was no backpack and Quickly, he learned that there was no Angie as well. Angie had to walk eight houses to her home from that bus stop. We have other school kids to tell us that, yes, Angie rode the bus that afternoon, and yes, she got off with the other kids as usual. In fact, some of the kids remember seeing her get off of the bus and walking in the direction of her home. But at some point, she seemed to just simply vanish. Eyewitnesses at the bus stop confirmed that Angie had gotten off the bus at the regular time. To be very specific, this bus stop was located at the corner of wright Avenue and St. Gregory Lane. Quote, she had four more houses to go to make it into the house, and she never made it, said Angie's stepdad, Ron. It sounds to me, Captain, like several of the other schoolmates must have seen her walking for some time, passing a few houses before they went on their way or made their way into their own homes, thus losing sight of the little girl. And what happened from that point is really up for debate and what is in question here.

[The Captain]

So we have eyewitnesses in this case, but limited details.

[Nick]

Exactly. Kids in the neighborhood did not recall seeing where Angie went. And one thing they do recall when being asked that, I mean, she wasn't with anybody. At some point when she gets off of this bus, she is then at some point walking alone. So she is there one minute and simply gone the next. There are different reports on what time she got off of the bus. And this case has no shortage of Internet coverage over the years. I think a lot of that was spawned from the very extensive coverage that this received in the newspapers, a local, and even in the region. As far as Chicago, this case was heavily reported on. So over time, I think maybe that exact time has been lost. We'll get into that in just a second here. Captain. The key thing here is that all reports state that it was only a short time between the bus ride home and when Ron got home. This typically would be between 30 and 60 or so minutes. Ron's wife and Angie's mother, Diana, was home at this time as well. I asked the detectives who worked the case, and they said that the times that they had were pretty exact, and they broke it down for me like this. The bus dropped her off between 3:50 and 3:52pm that afternoon. That's pretty precise there. Ron gets home on this day around 5 or so. He works at Sears Auto, which was close to the home. So it's just a very short drive. When he gets home, Diana and the toddler. So Angie had a little brother and he was about 2. At this time, mom and her little brother are sleeping on the couch. When Ron gets home, the backpack, as we said, was not there. So he wakes up Diana, they go out in the neighborhood and they are looking for Little Angie around 6pm or maybe a few minutes after this. Again, according to detectives, this is when Diana and Ron flag down a St. Anne patrol officer. So there's an officer just driving in the area making their rounds. They see the officer flag them down and that is when a report is made saying, hey, our daughter is missing. She's nine years old. This is what she looks like, we can't find her. This is similar to. We've seen this in some other cases where parents are out looking for a child or children and happen to see a police officer and report it then and there without having to make a call or go to the police department. I believe it was in the West Memphis Three case when you had Mark Byers and his family out looking for Christopher Byers and they flagged down an officer.

[The Captain]

But I do think that's important in this case and in other cases because that's a definitive dot on the timeline where some other things could be speculation or you just have to take that person's word for it. This is at least something that is probably documented in the police records.

[Nick]

The detective stated that there was no hesitation from police. They sprung into action immediately looking for the little girl. So we do have to point out here, though, given this fairly exact timeline, very precise, within two minutes, 3:50 to 3:52 that afternoon when the bus dropped her off. Ron arrives home around five. They're out looking for her shirt shortly after and then reporting it to police around 6 or just after the abductor had time to move. It was a small amount of time, but the abductor had some time to move. Now, the St. Louis Post dispatch reported that one neighbor who usually stood guard at her window to watch children get off of the bus did not do so that day. And another neighbor who also watch the afternoon drop offs from her front porch, she just so happened to be away taking care of her sick father that day. So this is one of those weird scenarios. And we come across this in so many cases where things just line up to fail that day and, and it's all happenstance, it's no one's fault. But on this day, things that normally would happen did not occur. And so nobody saw where this little girl went, what happened to her. When Angie failed to return home after school, her mother and stepfather, as we said, became concerned. This is part of the story and it forever will be. But like I had talked about when we were going through some of her personality traits, her mother and stepfather were very upfront with this right away, saying that Angie was outgoing. And it was not uncommon for her to get engaged in conversation with other schoolmates when she's getting off the bus, maybe even follow them to their home briefly, and then she would make her way back to her house. It was also not uncommon for her to come home, drop the book bag, and then go back out into the neighborhood and look for somebody to hang out with or talk to or play with. She was always looking to hang out with some people, but their general stance on this, captain, was that she would rarely be gone for very long.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And so this is why they sprung into action very quickly. Part of it too, is her age. And this is a heavily populated area. Now, St. Ann's from my understanding, is, I don't know, three quarter mile, four quarter miles. But there's a lot of people that live here. St. Louis is a very heavily populated area and it is a very expansive area. And really what set this whole thing off was the book bag. No book bag. So mom and dad sprung into action. They began to search the neighborhood. No sign of Angie. They're knocking on doors during this time before they flagged down the police, asking the neighbors if they had seen her or maybe is she somewhere playing with your kid? This turned up a whole lot of nothing. The parents quickly reported the child missing, as we said. And very quickly a BOLO goes out to all the patrol officers in the area to be on the lookout for a small Caucasian girl with dark hair, likely carrying a backpack. And the search for a little girl began that evening.

[The Captain]

This is a heavily populated area, so I'm guessing with the neighbors having young kids and other school kids in the area, that a lot of individuals start searching for her and trying to help the family out.

[Nick]

Yeah, this, as said, is a blue collar neighborhood. It's a lot of nice homes, small homes, but it's a tight knit community and a lot of people know one another. And as you heard, we have a scenario where we have folks looking out for each other, right? Moms or dads watching as the bus pick up the children or the bus is dropping off the neighborhood kids at the end of the day. Now, when nighttime hits, that is when things really start to get scary, especially for the family and the parents in particular. By the next morning, you have a whole new set of concerns. Of course I'm going to try to stick to looking at this from the investigator side of things. The very first thing that you would be doing is to do a canvas of the area, confirm that she was in fact on the bus. Once you've confirmed this, now you're canvassing the neighborhood, her street, the surrounding streets, the bus route. It's a six or seven minute drive from Butter elementary to Angie's house. Of course you're going to question the parents, the parents, friends and extended family for your neighborhood canvas. You are doing a knock and talk. You're going to knock, somebody opens up the door and you are going to engage them in conversation and you are going to peek around them, see what you can see into their home. It would not be out of the realm of possibility that whatever happened to her, she may still be close even if she was abducted. You're going to also want to be set up for a trap and trace. At some point you have to set up for a trap and trace. We could get a ransom call. You are looking at a lot of these scenarios. You, as weird as it may sound, you are hoping for some kind of ransom call. If you cannot locate the missing individual and then ransom or no ransom, state lines or no state lines, you are contacting the FBI and informing them that you have a child, a missing child. And, and what you are seeing here is telling you that this child may have been abducted. And especially in this case. Right, because you have a great FBI field office right there in St. Louis that covers St. Louis in five counties and I don't know about 30 years ago, but today the FBI has three resident agencies in that area as well. The other thing you have here, and this is true for a lot of other heavily populated areas where you have expanding, an expanding populace sprawling across several jurisdictions like what we have here in St. Louis, the greater St. Louis area, they have a major case squad. This will be investigators from multiple agencies, oftentimes working together side by side or at least with regular open door communications with each department and agency. Of course we don't want a kidnapping case anywhere ever. But at least here you have resources at a very, very high level. It is only about a 15 minute drive or so from the FBI field office out to the abduction site. So the FBI joined the search for nine year old Angie Housman on that Friday. So just under 24 hours after Angie goes missing, we have the FBI involved now. Speaking of FBI because their agents typically investigate far more abduction cases, especially abduction cases involving children. One agent that worked a lot of these kinds of cases out in California is on record saying that often you are reminded the very sad, very grim and scary reminder of thirds when it comes to these types of cases. This agent said that a third of the kids are located and returned home. A third of the kids are found dead and a third are never found at all, ever. And another agent who worked the very well known, infamous case in California is on record saying that he out of all the child abduction cases that he worked, he only got two ransom calls. The rest, no ransom calls. And in those cases, the child was no longer alive once found.

[The Captain]

And obviously this could be just happenstance that somebody came across her. But you would, you would think it's maybe more likely that they understood the schedule. And so we were talking, I think last week about how these killers will go to a mall because their victim type is a teenage girl. Well, if your victim type is a elementary school girl, you can follow the bus.

[Nick]

Yeah, and that's the another sad, scary realization here that the short amount of time that would have taken her to walk the eight, maybe nine houses from that intersection, the corner bus stop, back to her home, it's such a short window of time that it would seem plausible that whoever took this kid may have followed the bus on that day.

[Investigator]

Foreign.

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[Nick]

Foreign.

[Colonel]

We are back.

[The Captain]

Cheers mates. And cheers to you, Colonel.

[Nick]

Cheers to you, Captain. Happy, happy, happy fourth of July and Independence Day to all of our great fellow Americans out there. Please celebrate responsibly. Have a great time, grill out, crank up some music, get together with friends and family and just, just have a great time. And, and this year it's awesome that it falls on a Friday so everybody gets a. Hopefully you're getting a big long weekend to spend with your friends and family. The victimology here and it gets a little trite and generic when we have such young victims and like we do in this case. You know, a lot of these children have very similar personalities or at least situations, right? Living situations. And here seems to be a very common situation. We have Angela Marie Angie Houseman who was born 2-18-1984. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri. As we had said. She is a fourth grader who lived in St. Anne. She lived with her parents in a two bedroom duplex on Wright Avenue. She was a big sister to her little brother. He was about 2 years old when Angie went missing. Her mother, Diana Houseman married her stepfather Ronald Bone when Angie was just a toddler. So he had been in the picture. They've been living together for quite some time leading up to this years later, years after she went missing. Ron described himself as a proud father. Angie's biological father wasn't much in the picture. He is known, he is somebody that police spoke with many times, but he wasn't somebody that was really playing much of a role at all in, in her life. Now I'm not saying this suggesting that there was a really good reason to, but the parents were looked at very strong in this case. The biological parents and Angie stepfather were all looked at very strong in this case. This was much, much more. It's difficult to say because I think that this case has so many complexities that I think the opinions and theories and thoughts of detectives that worked this case over the many, many years probably went in and out and changed their thoughts on this case and who looked suspicious, who sounds suspicious and who they should be looking at. But I think in large part mostly here, Captain, that this was just a matter of due diligence and conducting a proper and thorough investigation when it comes to the parents.

[The Captain]

Yeah, that'd be a tough situation. But again, it's like look at me, do the work that you need to do to rule me in or out so we can start looking in the right direction.

[Nick]

Yeah. And the stepfather, he complicates the case even further because he says weird stuff throughout the course of this investigation. Some of his statements are, are downright incriminating. But from my understanding, there's a. I hesitate to say this because I don't know that it to be fact, but I, I question if he has some disabilities and that maybe some of those statements come from. Stem from that. I don't want to linger on this too long because it's. I've not met the man. Where we go here now, though, we got Thursday night is over. Friday comes and goes, then the weekend passes all with Angie still gone.

[The Captain]

Not good.

[Nick]

No ransom call, no great leads. Early on, police and detectives are working around the clock. It's late in the year, the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and it's getting colder outside as the calendar works itself, closer and closer to the end of November.

[The Captain]

Now, obviously at this point they don't find her, but do they find any evidence of her? They find her book bag, do they find a notebook? Do they find anything?

[Nick]

No. And usually in these cases we have something like that right, where we have a. The start of a breadcrumb trail or somebody saw something or. Oh, I think I heard something. Right, you know, or, or even maybe blocks away or down the road somewhere, somebody goes. Yeah, I saw a guy in a vehicle that I've never seen before and there was, there was some kind of kid. Looked like there was a kid in the car. We don't have any of that here. It's, it's crickets. It's nothing.

[The Captain]

Yeah, or there's a. Some weirdo that was walking down the street and he was fugly as hell. Might be somebody we want to look into.

[Nick]

The city in the area was on high alert and people were afraid, openly afraid. Who would take a little girl and why? And where the hell is she?

[The Captain]

A sicko. We're looking for a sicko. I mean, that's what we know we're looking for. Do we do a pervert roundup? Pervert roundup.

[Nick]

They did the old pervert roundup.

[The Captain]

Old.

[Nick]

Mr. McSticky, three days after Angie vanished, we are now at November 21st on the timeline I mentioned the major K squad earlier. This is when they were brought in. So you have the FBI there on day two, and then by Monday you have the Major Case Squad that is brought in. This was no doubt a massive search effort for this little kid. The local media covered the case very well, Angie's face and last seen information were plastered everywhere. Police received hundreds of tips from all over the St. Louis area to emphasize just how well the local law enforcement fully understood the urgent nature of this case. This was only the second time in history that the major case squad came in to work a case without a body. So this is all hands on deck situation. Now one thing that was reported and the police learned about fairly early in their investigation here, Captain, there was an attempted abduction nearby that was reported just a little more than a week before Angie's disappearance.

[Investigator]

Wow.

[Nick]

But that girl was lucky. Somehow she managed to get away from the creep. Now here is what we know, right? This happened on November 8th in Maryland Heights in the 2800 block of Smiley Road. So this is about four miles from Angie's house, just a short ten minute drive away. The per was described as a white male, mid-40s, approximately 200 pounds, a mustache and glasses. He was driving a white car. A police sketch was produced of this perpetrator of the person attempting the abduction of this other little girl. And it was displayed on the evening and nighttime news as well as in the paper. So the sketch was in the paper, paper multiple times. But the sketch didn't really produce any leads that would direct police to a suspect or more importantly, to Angie.

[The Captain]

So I'm looking at the sketch now. It's pretty detailed. Guy has distinguishable hair, I would say, and looks like we got a double chin and a little, little bit of a chubby behemoth.

[Nick]

One week after Angie disappeared, it was Thanksgiving. And at the Bone Houseman family home, they had little if anything to be thankful for. The city was on high alert and people were very much afraid. Who would take a little girl and why? And where the hell is she? Thanksgiving 1993 was celebrated on Thursday, November 25th. Angie vanished on her way home from school. Exactly one week prior. On this Thanksgiving, people watched the 67th annual Macy's Day Parade featuring the great Stevie Wonder, one of my favorites, and actor Kelsey Grammer. Folks tuned in to see the Dallas Cowboys take on the Miami Dolphins at Texas Stadium in a game later called the Sleep bowl or the Snow bowl, as temperatures in Dallas never got above 35 degrees in that game. Meanwhile, at a house in a Neighboring County, a 13 year old boy was visiting friends on that Thanksgiving. There, the folks were sitting around watching the Thanksgiving day football game, during which an enticing preview for the later newscast came on the TV screen. The news person said something to the effect of Coming up tonight, the search for nine year Old Angie Housman continues. So after this news break, the 13 year old boy, the one visiting the home, he tells his friend in the grownups in the room, I know where they will find her. They'll find her tied to a tree in Bush wildlife area.

[The Captain]

That and then bizarre.

[Nick]

Then the kid mentioned something about a blue car. So he told the room that he saw it in a dream. No one really said much. The sad and scary subject was not brought up. Again, the commercial break was over and the football game resumed. Late in the game, Dallas Cowboy defensive player Leon Lett performed another in game mistake by slipping in the snow to accidentally touch the football after a blocked field goal attempt. This error gave the Dolphins the ball back deep in Cowboys territory. Miami would go on to win 16 to 14. So while America celebrated with food, family, friends and football, at Angie's house they cried, hugged one another and tried to keep it together. All while praying that the little girl would somehow return home safe. But that was not to be.

[The Captain]

Well, let's go. Hold on. Let's go back to this 13 year old boy. This with the weird dream. I mean, if you're at Thanksgiving and, and this news report came on TV and your little nephew said something strange, don't you think you're gonna do something with that information? Are you just gonna view it as well? I mean, we don't know the kids, so maybe he just says weird stuff all the time.

[Nick]

Yeah, I don't really know how to wrap my head around that situation.

[The Captain]

Yeah, it's very bizarre.

[Nick]

Two days later, on Saturday, November 27, 1993, just nine days after she disappeared, a deer hunter found something in a wooded area. This is in August, a Busch Wildlife Area. August Anheuser Busch Wildlife Area. I spoke with the officer that was first on the scene and the wounds of what he experienced have not healed. I, I'm saying that for him, this is not what he told me. Right.

[The Captain]

This is just the feeling that you got when you were speaking with him.

[Nick]

Yeah, and I've spoke with a lot of law enforcement personnel on many different matters. This one is one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had. So maybe I was in my feelings a bit, but it would be, it would be weird if he didn't feel. I mean, this man is scarred by what he witnessed that day. He's scarred by the whole investigation. That seems plain as day to me. I'll go through some of what's been reported online and try to weave in his description of the area. So while it's reported that A deer hunter was the, the person that found this gruesome site in this wooded area. The officer says, I didn't know 100%, but I was pretty convinced immediately that it was Angie Houseman. I knew she was missing. Everybody in the area knew she was missing. We didn't really have any other missing little kid cases at the time. And it was obvious that it was a child that they had found, not an adult. Now it's a complicated crime scene and you'll understand if you don't know this case, you'll understand very quickly why. So the, the deer hunter was actually out with somebody else. It was two hunters, let's call them. But they weren't out hunting that day. They, they had drove up to the area and they were scouting. A lot of times hunters will go out and scout an area because if there's no. An activity, if in fact they were hunting for deer, if there's no deer activity in the area, it's. It's pointless to go up and spend a whole day looking and waiting to, to find and hunt something. So they're up there kind of scouting out this area.

[The Captain]

But, you know, if there's no deer in the area, it gives you guys more time to talk about your feelings and hold hands.

[Nick]

Well, they had, they had checked in with a conservation officer earlier. I don't know if there was a check in process or if this was more happenstance. But anyway, they had spoke with a conservation officer. His name escapes me at the moment. They come across this horrific scene and they immediately contact the conservation officer. And then we have a domino effect of the conservation officer contacts the sheriff's department. Now we need to note here that this is while it's still relatively close to where Angie Houseman lived, it is in a neighboring county. So now we are talking about St. Charles County, Missouri. So this deputy, he was very nearby when. So he gets the call just because he's in close proximity. He arrives, he talks to the conservation officer who tells them, hey, I went in there and looked and I just to confirm that I was seeing what, what they thought they had seen right before calling you. And you know, I'm here to tell you that I'm pretty sure that, that what they were reporting is correct. So very astutely the officer, the deputy says, show me exactly how you walked in. Let's go, let's enter this area the way that you entered and let's exit the way that you exited. So there had been some snowfall, some light snowfall. And the deputy, he said that he could see the conservation officers footprints in the snow. So he, he knew way where to go in and how to leave. And he was already very mindful of the idea that there is going to be physical evidence here. We do not want to disturb the scene or create any kind of chaos at the scene. And he described this area as a heavily wooded area. But he said that even though the leaves had mostly fallen or all had fallen by this time of year, that it would still be very difficult to see back in to this space. However, she was found on the ground and he, he, he had said had she been standing up or maybe even sitting up, that he may have spotted her sooner on his own even without the report coming in, because he often patrolled that area. This was an area that people would go back and park. You might get teenagers that would go drink back there. There's a party spot. And this seemed very strange, but, but he said it so matter of factly that it doesn't seem strange at all to the people that live there. He had said that he would go back and check cars in this area of this wildlife preserve because it wasn't uncommon for someone to commit suicide in their car. Wow. Back in this area or. And I also wonder with, you know, this is the early 90s, but since then I also wonder if this is maybe an area where people accidentally overdose as well. So anyway, this, this was an area where, not too far from where she was found, they, he would go back there and check vehicles and, and snoop around and look around. And he patrolled this area regularly. He told me that she was found about 30 yards from the road. Again, heavily wooded area, difficult to see. Back in there I'll go off of what the Internet and newspaper reports are and then if needed, fill in some of the additional information that we received from the detectives. So eventually, of course, they will identify the body that was located as that of Angie Housman. She was found nude. And the short description is that she was tied to a tree about 90ft from the road. Her wrist had been handcuffed. She had duct tape covering most of her face except for her nose. Under the duct tape they found a cut piece of Barbie doll underwear which was confirmed to be hers. The rest of her clothing was found somewhat near the body in a Dollar General bag, you know, one of those thin plastic bags that you get from the, from the store when you pick up items. And the backpack was found as well. This was actually located on the other side of the street. So if you can kind of picture this, you Go back into this wooded area and on one side of the street you're going to have where you would walk in and find the body about 90ft from the road. And then on the other side of that road in a. Basically an adjacent location is where they find what, what would probably look like debris to just anybody that's passing by or like, oh great, somebody littered out here in this wildlife area. But it was actually evidence for their case because it was items belonging to the victim. So now we have a body, we have an absolutely horrific crime scene and a missing persons case that just turned into a homicide case. A little more description here. Tied to the tree. So she was tied to the tree with her own jeans. These would have been jeans that she was wearing when she went missing. Whoever placed her there. We had mentioned handcuffs. They had taken the legs of the jeans and tied it around a tree and then tied a knot to the handcuffs. And this is what secured her to that tree. Now the detective speculated that had she been in better shape when she was placed. So one of the most. This is one of the most difficult and horrific cases that we've ever had to cover.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

I think just because the nature of how this poor little girl was found. And so bear with me here as I struggle to, to go down this road here one more time and hopefully for the last, for me anyway, the handcuffs were not like a police grade. These were like novelty handcuffs that you would purchase at a store for.

[The Captain]

Think most kids own a pair of these when they're younger.

[Nick]

Well, I'm glad you pointed that out because these are not like the play handcuffs that are of, you know, for magic tricks or for the even plastic ones that are just straight up toy handcuffs. These are a little more novelty maybe that, that adults would purchase for bedroom activities. I guess you would say joy toys. The jeans were tied around these handcuffs or her hands were cuffed behind her back. The detective speculated that had she been, she was alive when she was placed there, they. They're absolutely certain of that because there is physical evidence telling them that at the scene right now what he said to me, had she been in better health when she was placed there, she might have been able to stand up. And if that were the case, like he said, he may have spotted her or somebody may have spotted her prior to this.

[The Captain]

Now just point out a couple things. I mean, one of the things that you said that you can just visually see. You almost said it perfectly. To put a picture in your mind is when the law, law enforcement officer is going out to the scene and he sees these footprints. So then obviously it's like you got to make this mental note that if somebody's leaving footprints, that could be other footprints, there could be other evidence at this scene. And also the placement of her. It's confusing because on one level you go, well, was she placed out here to die or did the person that attacked her thought. Did he think she was dead already and, and just left her thinking that she was already dead. Because obviously if she's not dead, that would give her some kind of a chance. Possibly. But like you said, law enforcement officer saying that she's so in a bad situation. But the imagery kind of reminds you of the first case in True Detective Season 1. Just the placement of the body around the tree and the hands behind the back. And then. Am I missing something? We have this 13 year old that basically tells his family that she's going to be found tied to a tree.

[Nick]

Yeah. That is just, I mean, one of many, many very strange and complicated parts to this case and investigation. The. So one thing that I struggled with early in this was the thought, like you had said, maybe. And I think shame on me because I think I gave the, the killer far too much credit when I had pondered the idea of, well, maybe he or they thought she was dead when they placed her there. But, but they wouldn't, they wouldn't tie the jeans to the handcuffs like that. I think that that is more of an indicator that the person or persons knew that she was still alive and they were just too big of cowards to do the job themselves and they left her out there in, in, in a very cruel, one of the most cruel acts I've ever, ever read about or talked about. And the.

[The Captain]

But then you also wonder if there's something that happened when the individual was out there. This is obviously not a heavily populated area, but if you look into the Delphi case, you know, there was some evidence that if the killer got disrupted that one of the victims we believe wasn't fully dead by the time that the killer left. So is it possible that there was supposed to be more that happened at this crime scene and didn't because of some kind of disturbance to the killer?

[Nick]

Yeah, I think that's always in consideration with, in regard to the Delphi case. I think he simply just didn't know that she was still clinging to life because he made some efforts. He did some things that are very common that other killers have done after, similar to when they're dumping a body right at some place. So with as far as the duct tape goes. So the, the duct tape was covering the. The Internet reports say almost all of her face and head. But the detective told me that it, other than her nostrils, those were the only. That was the only part that was not covered by duct tape. Again, a portion of the Internet says a cut piece of her Barbie underwear was stuffed in her mouth underneath the duct tape. But it was, it was a torn piece. And then the, the killer or the killers also duct tape around the. They duct taped around the, the handcuffs as well. And so I just see a lot of effort going into placing her there is. So she can't leave that. I think they were well aware that she was still alive, as the detective said, in very bad condition. But the other thing that, and this is speculative because, you know, there's no. All the reports that have made their way to the newspapers and the Internet over the years all say a very similar statement that she likely expired within just a very short time period, very, you know, just hours before she was found. And had the. Yeah. Had the weather conditions been better or had she been clothed that she may have survived long enough to be recovered and, and taken to a hospital? I don't think that that's the case based off of the information that I received that we received. It was. So remember, she is finally located on a Saturday on that Thanksgiving there was freezing rain. So when she was found, there was ice on her, freezing rain on her. And so that tells me that she probably. She was placed there before that freezing rain on Thanksgiving, which is a couple days before she was located. And Jesus, I, she, she wasn't doing a whole lot of moving right after that freezing rain situation. So the autopsy of course was conducted and the short of it was that they had confirmed that in the days that she had been missing that she was held somewhere before she was placed there in the woods. She had been brutally sexually assaulted, beaten, starved and denied fluids. Some reports state that her hair had been cut and, and maybe dyed to some different color. It seems. I don't know about the, the dying of the hair, but the, the hair seems to be cut. That seems to be a consistent statement through and through. Her autopsy determined that Angie likely died of exposure. Probably again, the reports out there are just hours before her body was found. I think it was probably a day or so. Most reports state that the cause of death is hypothermia. It was very, it was getting very cold and she wasn't, she wasn't clothed and she was in bad shape when she was Placed there whenever that was. She was in bad shape when she was placed there.

[The Captain]

Yeah, it's a. It's almost hard to hear. The cause of death is hypothermia. No, the cause of death is that.

[Nick]

She was abducted and.

[The Captain]

Exactly. Basically, she was abducted and tortured by a sick, sadistic psychopath. That. That's the cause of death.

[Nick]

There was a deep cut on one of her thighs, and then the. Her wrist had several cuts on them as well. And one thing that I had speculated was oftentimes when you see cuts on wrist and you find a victim handcuffed, a lot of times those cuts on the wrist come from the handcuffs. Right. Where they're struggling to get free, or they're being moved and controlled via the handcuffs, and it creates bruises or even cuts and injuries to the wrist. And so I had said to the detective, so that she clearly was handcuffed for quite some time. And they said, yes, that seems very likely. However, they could not. They tried to reconstruct those injuries to the wrist using handcuffs, and they couldn't do it.

[The Captain]

So they think she's bound somewhere else.

[Nick]

Well, they. Yeah, they don't know where those. Those cuts came from or how they were administered, but they feel confident that they didn't come from the handcuffs, especially from the handcuffs with her trying to. To break free. So she had. She had a lot of injury. Injury she wasn't cared for. And that also. I found that to be incredibly cruel. But also strange. Right. There's a lot of strange pieces to this case immediately when you look at the crime scene. One, handcuffs.

[The Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Two of the detectives that we spoke to have had careers where they worked 30 years and covered many homicides, many death investigations. I said to both of them, I said, how many of those death investigations or homicides did you find a pair of handcuffs on the victim? This was the only one. Damn near 60 years of experience. This is the only one.

[The Captain]

Or like you said, the amount of duct tape around the handcuffs and then the duct tape. Duct tape around the mouth, and then I think it's probably. And you know this better than I would, but you'd think on some level this individual, the victim's going to be tied up to a tree with a rope or something, not necessarily a item of their clothing.

[Nick]

Yeah, that's the other thing, too. There's very little items here that you would be finding, and I don't have a complete inventory because I know that they collected dozens and dozens and dozens of items. I don't want to go down this road again. Because we've covered it a lot of times here in the garage. If you're new to the garage, we got, we got two or three old episodes you could go back and listen to.

[The Captain]

We're new to the true crime space.

[Nick]

Yeah, we're new to the garage. They call us newbies. The, the complications with an outdoor crime scene. We've talked about that, but there's also an abundance of items that would need to be collected. Some of it's just straight up debris. Some of it could be physical evidence Here without having an inventory, I can see some things that very obviously seem to have belonged to the killer or killers. The duct tape was not hers. The handcuffs were not Angie's. And the. I would, I would guess that even the Dollar General bag where her clothing, some of her clothing was found was not hers as well. So as horrific as this crime scene is, you're looking at it going, okay, well, I would expect to find some physical evidence that may lead me to the person or persons respons. Duct tape is, is usually something that will lead you to a perpetrator. And we can get into that, but for. Because there's many reasons. It's, it's so the, the effort that it takes to tear it, to place it on someone, to use somebody, to buy. Bind them with it, it takes a lot of effort and a good amount of physicality.

[The Captain]

And even if you use gloves, there's a possibility for DNA or touch DNA or even some kind of fabric transfer.

[Nick]

Yes. And they did have fibers that were found and hairs that were found that were physical evidence that they were going to be using, and they did use quite a bit in this case. But the first piece of evidence that they thought may have been promising was a fingerprint that was found on the adhesive side of one of the pieces of duct tape. In fact, I think there's a chance that it may have been found on more than one piece of the duct tape because it was torn several times. This wasn't one or two or three pieces of duct tape. This was many tears of duct tape that was, were placed. And look, they. There were small bits of ice that formed all over her body. I believe some of that was from the, the, the frozen rain. And she suffered a terrible death that unfortunately did not come quick. The body was recovered in St. Charles County.

[Investigator]

Reading the case file and also we spent a lot of time at the scene. Just because it helps your mind or it helps me think. She just. The way she was left, it's like she was just, she was Just discarded and her cause of death when they doctor Case performed that autopsy and what they found was pretty horrific. Ed finding that, first of all, he's probably the biggest bulldog for kids. I can only imagine. I mean, I wasn't there with him then, but yeah, the right person was the first person on scene because there was no stopping him. And him and John worked this for plus 20 years. Over 20 years. So the pictures and having seeing her there and then with pictures and then having been there, it's just the one thing I couldn't wrap my mind around. It's again, what kind of person does this? And it was just if I had, I'm glad I didn't see it in person. I've seen plenty, but that had to be tough and I'm sure something that I still think about it. So I imagine anybody involved a hunter, bless his heart. I can only imagine him seeing something like that. Children were dying and not just, you know, from a sickness or something, which would be bad enough. These were horrific deaths and it was terrifying.

[The Captain]

I want to thank you so much for joining us here in the garage. So much more to get to in this case. Stick around for part two. Until then, be good, be kind and don't litter.

[Nick]

SAM.

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