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Contiguous Us Only hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell. Oatmeal so long, you strange soggy.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much as always for joining me today and if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. Now today guys, I am going to be covering a case that happened very, very close to me. I'm going to be talking about the disappearance of Nathaniel Holmes, and this occurred very shortly after I lived in the area where it occurred and it was quite shocking to me to hear about this case because I never heard about it through word of mouth or through our local media. I had no idea Nathaniel was missing, which is just so frustrating because I've also asked people in my life if they have heard of Nathaniel and none of them had. And this is one of those cases where I truly believe that Nathaniel is out there. I think it's quite possible he could still be in Colorado or in a state close by. So hopefully talking about it today will raise some more awareness and more people will be able to recognize what he looks like and know his name and spread the word. And now let's go ahead and get into Nathaniel's case, starting with some background information on him. So Nathaniel James Holmes was born on November 5, 2000 to his parents, Wendy Keitel and Ben Holmes, and he was raised in our Nevada, Colorado with two sisters and one younger brother. I couldn't find that much information about his earlier years, but I did learn about an important life event that happened at a young age. When he was eight years old. His Parents got divorced and his father, Ben, was granted sole custody of all of the kids. Wendy still did have a role in their lives and would have the kids to her place every Monday night for a family dinner. But aside from that, Ben took full care of them. And as you can imagine, this was a pretty tumultuous time for everyone in the family, as it normally is when parents get divorced. It can be very, very difficult on the kids, of course, but through it all, the siblings bond really seemed to remain strong. And a lot of that was actually thanks to Nathaniel. His older sister Hannah, said that he would put all of them first and always made sure that they were okay. And after a while, it seems like the dust sort of settled and everyone kind of got used to their new arrangement, how life was at this point in time. And even though it was a lot of responsibility for one parent, Ben absolutely loved it and he called it the best deal. And I just got to say, Ben seems like a very good dad who really treated them all so well and truly loves his children. And over the years, Ben was even able to take them on some really, really cool trips to places like Canada and Mexico, Scotland, and then even a month long safari in Africa, which is just about the coolest trip I can even imagine going on. And not only were these trips a ton of fun, obviously, and a great way for them all to bond, but Nathaniel especially loved them because he was really into aviation. So I imagine flying to all these different places was just fascinating for him and really exciting. Nathaniel also liked to play video games, and one of his favorites was a crowd favorite, World of Warcraft. And he also had some other hobbies like hunting and fishing. But his biggest interest of all over aviation and the video games and all of his other hobbies was was actually playing the bagpipes, which is super cool and unique. You almost never hear of anyone playing the bagpipes, especially at this age nowadays. And I've seen videos and pictures of Nathaniel playing, and it just seemed like he was super, super passionate about the bagpipes. And he really sort of came alive while he was playing them. And he was a normally pretty quiet kid. He was kind of known for being shy, so it was super cool to see him sort of come out of his shell while he was performing. And actually, Ben, his dad, plays the bagpipes as well, and he actually plays in a local band called Celtic Legacy. And I guess Nathaniel really wanted to play with them, but of course these are professional musicians. And just because his dad was in the band, didn't mean he could meet their standards. So Ben made him a deal. If he could get his abilities to where they needed to be, he could join in. And he said Nathaniel really took it very seriously and quickly went from an intermediate player to an advanced one very, very fast, which was really impressive. And so his dad held up his end of the deal and in the summer of 2017, the two of them performed with the band at Colorado Renaissance Festival, which I don't know if Renaissance festivals are in every state. I'm pretty sure most states have them, but here in Colorado it's a big deal. I've actually never been. I've always wanted to go, but I know a ton of people who go every year and are super into it. And Ben later said that playing there with his son alongside him was one of the best times of his life. But what's really trag tragic is just a few short months later, everything would change. And first, let me tell you a little bit more of what happened leading up to that, so it makes a bit more sense. There are so many situations in life where therapy can be extremely helpful. Maybe during a tough breakup, during a period of burnout, or when anxiety and stress are just piling up. 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He told his parents that he had a lot of trouble focusing in class because the pacing was just too slow for him. So it was actually his idea to try online schooling instead because he would be able to set the pacing himself, set it at his own rate, and they agreed to let him try that out. Unfortunately, after trying it for a little bit of time, it wasn't working. He was struggling with that as well. So his mom just said that he didn't have the self motivation really required to make something like online schooling work. So instead they ended up enrolling him at Hidden Lake, which is an alternative high school in the nearby town of Westminster. And the school promised that they could get Nathaniel on the right track to graduate on time. So Ben and Wendy had faith that this would be a positive change. But unfortunately, it wasn't a quick fix. And on top of that, he was going through some other struggles at the time. First, he got in a minor fender bender, which happens, of course, but after that, his car privileges were taken away, which, of course, as a teenager sucks. And then something else that sucks as a teenager happened. His phone broke, which is like the end of the world. So at this time, he didn't have a cell phone because it was too expensive to replace it. And so Ben was going to get him a new one as a Christmas present. So he was waiting for Christmas to come along. So all of these things combined, you know, having trouble in school and changing schools and then not having a phone, not having access to a car, these things are really hard on a teenager. And his family noticed that during this time, he was just seemed pretty off compared to his regular self. His personality seemed to go from being pretty happy to drained all the time. And his sister Hannah also said that he had completely changed and just seemed more overall down or depressed. But I'm sure they never could have imagined what would end up happening because only five weeks after starting at his new school, Nathaniel completely vanished, which takes us to just days before Christmas. December 18, 2017. And afternoon, Ben picked up Nathaniel from school. And right away he just noticed that he was very out of it. He was nodding off, he was slurring his words. He was just not making any Sense. So, of course, Ben questioned his son. And Nathaniel eventually admitted that he smoked weed and took Xanax while at school. But he said it was the first time that he had ever done it and never wanted to again. And as you could probably guess, his father was not happy about this. He was very upset, actually. And he told Nathaniel that he would have to be grounded and also receive some sort of other punishment. Didn't have time to figure that out, though. They had to pause the conversation for that moment because Ben actually worked evenings. He worked nights, and it was almost time for him to go to work. He had to go soon. So he obviously didn't want to leave Nathaniel alone in that state. So that's when he called over his mother, Wendy, so that she could, you know, look after him that night. And she agreed. And since it was a Monday night, Hannah came over as well to have their weekly family dinner. And while they were eating together, Wendy described Nathaniel as being in a different zone. So because of this, after dinner, she decided to look through his things, and that's when she found more pills hidden in his wallet. And she obviously took them away. And then she confronted Nathaniel about it, and he was absolutely terrified. And not because his mom found his drugs, but because she took them. Because he tried to explain to her that they belonged to someone at school, and whoever that person was would be really upset if he didn't bring them back. But she wasn't swayed by this, and she kept the pills. And even though he was really scared, he would still have to go to school the following day, especially because it was the last day before winter break. So the next morning rolls around, and Wendy takes him back over to his dad's house, his main home, to pick up his math folder that he needed for the day. And when he's there, he sees Ben, and he tells him, you know, the two of us are going to finish our conversation that we didn't finish yesterday when you get out of school. And it sounds like he wasn't super resistant to this. In fact, according to his parents, he seemed relatively okay that morning. Also, his sister Hannah recalls that he didn't seem too stressed or upset, just really in a hurry to grab that math folder and get off to school. So they exchanged their I love yous and wished each other good day before Nathaniel left his home for the last time. And then Wendy dropped him off at Hidden Lake, watched him enter the school, and then went about what I'm sure she thought was going to be an average day. But unfortunately, that would not be the case. If you guys have been listening to my show for a while, you know how much I love today's sponsor, Rocket Money. Oh, my gosh. Rocket Money has completely changed the financial game for me. For a long time, I was being quite lazy about my subscriptions. I knew that I had active trials and subscriptions that I wasn't using anymore, things that I forgot to cancel, but I didn't want to deal with customer service. But once I started using Rocket Money, I was able to see just how much money I was wasting on subscriptions and trials that I forgot to cancel. And they made it easy for me to cancel all of them. And I didn't have to really do anything because Rocket Money took care of that customer service for me. 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So cancel your UNW subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Just go to Rocket Money.com Kendall Ray today, that's RocketMoney.com Kendall Ray once again, RocketMoney.com Kendall Rae now, Nathaniel was already late when he got to school, but instead of just going straight to class, he started acting odd. And I've seen what happened, explained or reported two different ways. So I'm just going to share them both with you because I'm not quite sure which way it actually. So in one version, once Nathaniel got into the school, he went to the school office to speak with the principal. And then in the other version, he was outside of a classroom waving his hands to try to get the attention of his friend Anthony, who was already in there. And that's when the principal saw him and came up to him. And even though that small part is Unclear. There aren't any conflicting reports about what they discussed. Apparently Nathaniel told him that it was urgent, that he talked to Anthony, but the principal said that he would have to wait until lunch to speak with him. Then. Then he told Nathaniel to go to class, but he replied that he didn't have to because he was switching schools anyway. And just to pause for a second, Ben and Wendy have both said that that was never a plan and they have no idea what he was talking about. And I'm not sure if the school principal questioned him about this at all after he said that, but after that, Nathaniel just simply walked out of the school. Now, you may be wondering what I was wondering at first, which is, does this school have cameras? Well, there's some conflicting reports on that too. I've read that there were no cameras, but I've also seen that there were and they just didn't capture him leaving for whatever reason. I don't know if they're pointing a different way or he somehow avoided them or the classic they weren't working is possible. Who knows? Either way, really, really frustrating. And it seems like no answers could be found there. And it's really, really frustrating when this happens in any case, but especially at a school that is so disappointing. I've also read that there was a school security guard, but apparently he just didn't see anything, which I guess makes sense. If there's only one security guard for the school, they can't see everything that's happening at all times. But some of his friends did actually say that they saw him leaving, but they didn't think much of it at the time, which apparently none of the school staff saw him either because no one from Hidden Lake contacted his parents and let them know that he left, which is frustrating, really confusing. But at the same time, my high school was set up in a way where you could just straight up walk off campus at any time. Now, I haven't been in school in quite a long time. I graduated in 2011, so I don't know how it is now. It's really frustrating given the circumstances here for Nathaniel, because things probably, I mean, very well could be different if his parents were alerted right away when he left the school. And it's frustrating that he had just had this conversation with the school's principal, who is definitely the person who is most in charge of student welfare. I also don't know if their school had an open campus policy, because at my school you could just come and go at any time if you had an off period or a Lunch break, you could walk across the street and go to the grocery store and pick something up or go to a restaurant or whatever. I don't know how things were set up at Hidden Lake, but cases like this definitely make you rethink when schools are set up that way. Obviously, it's very convenient as a teenager to be able to just walk off campus whenever you want. I loved it. But clearly, in Nathaniel's case, there just aren't enough measures to keep the students safe. And again, if they had enough safety measures, maybe I wouldn't even be telling you about this case today. But unfortunately, we'll never know. Here's the thing, though. Someone did end up hearing from Nathaniel after all of this, and it was actually his mom, Wendy. Now, after leaving the school, turns out he walked for about 10 minutes down the street to a park right outside of the Irving street library. And while he was there, he approached a woman who was walking her dog and asked her to borrow a phone, because as a reminder, Nathaniel didn't have a phone. So he uses this woman's phone to call his mom, Wendy, and he tells her that she wouldn't need to pick him up from school that day because his dad's friend Michelle would actually be taking him out to get some ice cream. Wendy said that she would check in with her to make sure that that was the plan to which Nathaniel just said okay, and that he loved her before he hung up. And sadly, this is the confirmed last time that anyone spoke to Nathaniel. Now, Wendy is definitely questioning whether or not Nathaniel is telling her the truth. So after she hangs up with him, she calls Michelle herself and asks if she's picking up Nathaniel to bring him to get some ice cream. And she said that she was definitely not planning on picking him up and hadn't even talked to him in weeks. So that's when Wendy decides to go to the school herself and just sit outside of the school about an hour before class ended so that she could keep an eye on the door in case he was trying to sneak off somewhere. And she waited out there until school got out and then watched the kids leave the school. But she never saw Nathaniel leave. So at that point, she went inside to the office, and this is when they inform her that he didn't attend any of his classes that day, that he had left the school. And even then, they didn't disclose everything. She wasn't even told about the conversation that Nathaniel had with the principal, which is pretty important information. And the school wouldn't even inform their family about that. Until much later. And I'm really curious why they withheld that or if they didn't think to communicate it or. I don't know what happened there, but it is really important context.