Your Next Listen: Who Took Misty Copsey?

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Your Next Listen: Who Took Misty Copsey?"

Podcast Title: Very Scary People
Host: ID
Episode: Your Next Listen: Who Took Misty Copsey?
Release Date: July 16, 2025

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Introduction

In the gripping episode titled "Your Next Listen: Who Took Misty Copsey?" from the podcast series Very Scary People, host Donnie Wahlberg delves deep into the mysterious disappearance of 14-year-old Misty Copsey at the Washington State Fair in 1992. Over the course of the episode, Wahlberg uncovers the dark layers of the case, highlighting the intense custody battles, police mishandling, and the family's relentless pursuit of answers.

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Misty Copsey's Disappearance

The episode begins with Sarah Kaelin narrating the unfortunate events of September 17, 1992:

[00:06] Sarah Kaelin: "On September 17, 1992, a 14-year-old girl named Misty Copsey went to the Washington State Fair with her best friend. By 10 pm, she had vanished into thin air, never to be seen again."

Misty and her friend Trina attended the fair in Puyallup, Washington. Their mother, Diana Smith, had reluctantly allowed them to attend without adult supervision for the first time, believing in their responsibility.

Diana Smith recounts:

[01:58] Diana Smith: "I told her, 'You better get that bus home.'... She said, 'I know, mom.'"

However, later that evening, Misty missed her bus home and contacted Diana for help.

[04:05] Diana Smith: "I told her I didn't want her to ride with him, to call grandma or somebody else and call me back... And I never heard from her again."

Despite Diana's attempts to locate Misty, including multiple phone calls and reaching out to friends, Misty was never found.

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Initial Police Response and Investigation

Sarah Kaelin highlights the shortcomings of the initial police response:

[04:21] Sarah Kaelin: "Diana's shift ends early the next morning. She heads straight home, hoping that, like most days, she'll see Misty before Misty leaves for school."

When Diana filed a missing persons report, she was initially misinformed by a 911 dispatcher that Misty's case would be treated as a runaway, delaying significant investigation efforts.

[05:11] Diana Smith: "I just knew. I just knew."

Kaelin cites Cloyd Steiger, a retired Seattle homicide detective, emphasizing the lack of physical evidence in the case:

[08:56] Cloyd Steiger: "Detectives never found Misty's remains or any evidence... It's been almost 20 years since."

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Diana Smith's Tireless Search

Diana tirelessly sought answers, often clashing with law enforcement:

[10:40] Diana Smith (News Clip): "She walked across the street... This was agonizing, just not knowing where she was."

Diana's relentless pursuit continued until her untimely death in 2020, after which her son, Colton Smith, took up the mantle to seek justice for his sister.

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Colton Smith Takes the Torch

In January 2025, Colton Smith collaborates with private investigator Sarah Kaelin to reopen the case. Colton provides critical insights into Misty's disappearance and the family's struggles:

[14:12] Cloyd Steiger: "For years, my mom felt like people thought she was crazy."

Colton reveals that Misty had a strong, positive relationship with her mother and no apparent motives for running away, challenging the runaway theory proposed by the police.

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Potential Leads and Theories

Kaelin explores various theories and potential leads, including:

1. Bus Driver's Testimony:

   The last known person to see Misty alive was a bus driver who reported seeing her asking about the next bus to Spanaway.

   [03:20] Sarah Kaelin: "To this day, that bus driver is the last known person to see Misty Copsey alive."

2. Eyewitness Accounts:

   A mysterious caller named Tammy claimed to have seen Misty looking distressed outside a 7-Eleven near the fairgrounds.

   [32:36] Sarah Kaelin: "She looked... totally distressed, like she was in trouble."

3. Family Members' Involvement:

   Misty's friend Reuben Schmidt became a person of interest, although his alibi remains shaky.

   [44:34] Colton Smith: "He was weird and he was a kind of a freakish guy too."

4. Serial Offenders in the Area:

   Kaelin discusses the prevalence of serial predators in Western Washington during the 80s and 90s, suggesting Misty could have fallen victim to one.

   [39:55] Sarah Kaelin: "It's like a dark forest full of predators..."

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Police Treatment and Misclassification

A significant focus of the episode is the police's initial misclassification of Misty's disappearance:

[16:46] Cloyd Steiger: "100%. Yep."

Diana's instincts about Misty's disappearance were dismissed, and the case languished without the urgency typically accorded to missing children, exacerbating the family's grief and frustration.

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Involvement of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe

An unexpected revelation in the case is Misty's heritage:

[21:12] Sarah Kaelin: "Misty, and Diana are all members of the Cowlitz Indian tribe in western Washington."

This aspect adds a layer of complexity, as cases involving Indigenous individuals have historically been overlooked. Washington State has since increased focus on missing and murdered Indigenous women, offering new avenues for investigation.

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Cloyd Steiger's Insights

Cloyd Steiger provides a seasoned perspective on the case, emphasizing the critical points of failure in the initial investigation and the need for renewed efforts:

[38:58] Colton Smith: "... a friend of mine at the Attorney General's office... what's going on with Misty's case?"

Steiger underscores the importance of revisiting cold cases with fresh eyes and the challenges posed by the lack of physical evidence.

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Discoveries and Additional Evidence

In February 1993, a search party discovered Misty's jeans, the only physical evidence in the case:

[45:18] Sarah Kaelin: "A pair of jeans with socks and underwear stuffed into one of the pant legs... These are Misty's."

This discovery solidified the grim reality that Misty had likely been harmed, yet no further evidence has been found.

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Conclusion and Ongoing Investigation

The episode concludes with a somber reflection on the enduring pain of unresolved disappearances and the critical responsibility of investigators to honor the memories of lost individuals. Colton Smith remains hopeful that with renewed attention and dedicated effort, Misty's case can finally be solved.

[48:10] Cloyd Steiger: "The mind-blowing thing to me is that she was with a friend the night she disappeared... That's the biggest concern with the original investigation."

Host Donnie Wahlberg (through Sarah Kaelin's narration) emphasizes the importance of persistent and compassionate investigation efforts in bringing closure to families.

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Notable Quotes

• Diana Smith on letting Misty go:
  [01:58] "You better get that bus home."

• Diana Smith's anguish after realizing Misty is missing:
  [05:11] "I just knew. I just knew."

• Cloyd Steiger on the lack of evidence:
  [08:56] "Detectives never found Misty's remains or any evidence... It's been almost 20 years since."

• Colton Smith on police perception of his mother:
  [14:16] "She felt like people thought she was crazy."

• Tammy's eyewitness account to Diana:
  [32:36] "She looked... totally distressed, like she was in trouble."

• Cloyd Steiger on the initial investigation concerns:
  [48:07] "Department leadership decided, whoa, we need to do something about this."

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Key Takeaways

1. Investigative Failures: The initial misclassification of Misty's disappearance severely hindered the search efforts, delaying critical actions that might have led to her discovery.

2. Family's Persistence: Diana Smith's unwavering determination and Colton Smith's commitment highlight the often underappreciated role families play in seeking justice for their loved ones.

3. Potential Leads Remain Unexplored: Eyewitness accounts and suspicious individuals like Reuben Schmidt offer potential avenues that remain insufficiently investigated.

4. Impact of Misty's Heritage: Recognizing Misty's Native American heritage adds urgency and depth to the case, considering the broader issues surrounding missing Indigenous women.

5. Ongoing Hope: Despite decades passing without resolution, the episode underscores the enduring hope that fresh investigations can finally uncover the truth behind Misty's disappearance.

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Produced by ARC Media for ID.
Follow the series on your preferred podcast platform and consider leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts to support the show.

Transcript

[Sarah Kaelin]

On September 17, 1992, a 14 year old girl named Misty Copsey went to the Washington State Fair with her best friend. By 10pm she had vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. More than 30 years later, no one knows what happened to Misty that night. From I D and ARC Media, I'm Sarah Kaelin and this is who took Misty Copsey. Every fall since the year 1900, the Washington State Fair roars to life in Puyallup, Washington. Puyallup sits 10 miles southeast of Tacoma. In the other direction lie thousands of acres of dense forest and mountains with Mount Rainier looming on the horizon, the whole region resting under its watchful eye. During the fair, the city of about 40,000 swells to many times that size as kids, families and visitors from all over flock to the area. When Diana Smith drops off her 14 year old daughter Misty and Misty's best friend Trina at the fair's gates on a Thursday afternoon in September 1992, it feels like any other night. Misty and Trina are giddy with excitement. Two young teenagers getting their first taste of independence. This is the first time Diana let them go somewhere like this without her or another adult. Diana told the story in a news segment.

[Diana Smith]

I told her she wasn't going to go because I was a caregiver and I took care of an elderly lady all night long and I wouldn't be able to pick her up. Her and her friend Trina got on the phone and figured out the bus routes and the times and stuff. And she said, Mom, I'm 14. I'm responsible, you know, let me go. And I said, you okay? I said, I'll let you go. You better get that bus home. And I said, last thing I said to her when I dropped her off, I said, misty, I love you. She goes, I love you, Mommy. I said, and if you screw up, I said, you won't do anything like this again. She said, I know, mom. Okay, bye. And she was walking away. She just looked so little and vulnerable and stuff. I just.

[Colton Smith]

Oh God.

[Diana Smith]

Just like. I just felt like something was going to happen. I wanted to grab her and I should have.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Diana starts up her car to head to her job as an overnight caregiver and takes one last look at Misty as she walks into the fairgrounds. Misty is wearing a pair of Diana's stonewashed jeans. They're baggy on her. Just the look she's going for. Hours later, around 8:45pm Diana gets a call at work. It's from Misty. She says she's Missed the bus home. Diana is upset. Misty, always a responsible, well behaved kid, had promised to catch the bus. She knew Diana took care of an elderly patient with Alzheimer's and could not leave to pick her up. Diana and Misty lived in a town called Spanaway, about 11 miles from the fair. Much too far for Misty to walk home. As the minutes tick by, the last of twilight fades into darkness. Misty tells Diana she can get a ride home with a friend, an 18 year old named Reuben Schmidt. Here again is Diana describing this moment.

[Diana Smith]

I told her I didn't want her to ride with him, to call grandma or somebody else and call me back and let me know how she was going to get home. She said, okay, Mom. And I said, promise? And she said I promise. And I never heard from her again.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Diana tells Misty to call her back and let her know for sure that she has a ride home. Misty promises that she'll call. Diana waits by the phone. An hour passes, then two. But Misty never calls. Diana tells herself that Misty must have gotten a ride home and forgotten to call. She calls their house, but no one answers. Diana tells herself that when she gets home in the morning, she'll find Misty asleep in her bed. She's sure of it. Diana's shift ends early the next morning. She she heads straight home, hoping that, like most days, she'll see Misty before Misty leaves for school. Years later, in a news report, Diana describes that day.

[Diana Smith]

I figured when I got home she'd be there thinking she's in trouble. And when I opened the door and no one was there, my heart just dropped. I just knew. I just knew.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Misty's room is untouched from how she had left it the day before. Diana starts making calls. Diana calls 911, according to a local newspaper report. The dispatcher tells her this sounds like a case of a runaway call back if she's still missing in 30 days. 30 days. The dispatcher says nothing can be done for 30 days. Luckily, Diana doesn't listen to the dispatcher. She calls the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, which handles runaway cases for the county. The person who takes the call tells DIANA that the 911 dispatcher had been mistaken, that there is no reason to wait 30 days and that this is not standard protocol. Diana files a missing persons report with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office. The timestamp on the report is 1:42pm According to a local newspaper. She calls Trina, Misty's best friend who was with her at the fair. There's no answer. Trina is at school, so Diana leaves a frantic message on the answering machine. Years later, Diana would have a hard time remembering who else she called. She may have called Misty's school and Trina's school. She calls Reuben, the friend Misty had said she could call for a ride. He says Misty called but he didn't have enough gas to go pick her up. Diana's last resort, the person who was going to potentially pick up Misty didn't. Misty's best friend who was with her hasn't gotten in touch with Diana. Everything she tries leads to a dead end. Diana goes to Trina's and leaves a note. Finally, at the end of the school day, Trina calls back. The last time she saw Misty, Misty was at a bus stop hoping to catch a later bus home. Again, Diana calls Reuben. This time Reuben's roommate picks up and the roommate has a different story. Yes, he says, Reuben did go to pick up Misty. Diana calls again later. Reuben answers. He says his roommate was confused, that he did leave the house, but only to go to a party. It wasn't to pick up Misty and he didn't pick up pick her up. A person from the Sheriff's department speaks with Diana and assigns a deputy to the case. Days pass with no sign of Misty. Diana's 14 year old daughter is still missing. Six days in, Diana calls and files a report with the Puyallup Police Department. Diana also tracks down a bus driver. She shows him a photo of misty who at 14 years old was already 5 foot 9 inches tall with shoulder length blonde hair. He says he's seen her. He tells DIANA that around 9:20pm last Thursday night, a tall blonde girl had asked him about the next bus to Spanaway. The driver says he told the girl that there were no more buses to Spanaway that night. He started to tell her to take a bus to Tacoma and transfer to another route. But the girl wasn't interested. She started walking away before he finished explaining the route. To this day, that bus driver is the last known person to see Misty Copsey alive.

[Cloyd Steiger]

Detectives never found Misty's remains or any evidence to any stuff. It's been almost 20 years since a.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Teen girl got the okay to go to the Puyallup Fair. But she never came back. 32.

[Cloyd Steiger]

That's how long it's been since 14 year old Misty Copsey disappeared while attending.

[Sarah Kaelin]

The Washington State Fair. I first entered law enforcement in 1998, eventually settling in as a patrol officer with a department in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. I left uniform and cruiser Police work in 2011 to pursue a master's degree in criminal behavior with a concentration on serial predation. But in 1992, I was a teenager, just a few years older than Misty. So much of what I've read and heard about her could just as easily have been about me or countless other teenage girls in the late 80s and early 90s. I've heard that the night of the fair, Misty was in those stonewashed jeans of Diana's and had paired them with a baggy blue sweatshirt and oversized, bunchy blue socks. I know those types of socks. I had those socks. I've heard her favorite music that year was all Vanilla Ice and New kids on the block. Same Misty, same. So when I first heard about Misty's case more than five years ago, I couldn't get her story out of my head, Nor could I stop thinking about her mom. Here's how Diana described Misty in an episode of a show called Crime Stoppers.

[Diana Smith]

She got great, great grades, mostly a's. Into sports. She loved baseball, volleyball. She broke both of her arms one time playing volleyball.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Diana told Misty's story at every opportunity. Here she is again in several news clips.

[Diana Smith]

She walked across the street. She had my pair of jeans, and they were baggy on her. I told her if something goes wrong, I wouldn't let her do anything like that again. This was agonizing, just not knowing where she was. She needs to come home. She's been gone 24 years. Just have her home so I could go be with her and comfort her, and that means the world to me. That would be, you know, all I could ask. I know there's a few people that know what happened that night, and this is their perfect opportunity to unburden themselves and call in anonymously and tell what happened so we can bring Misty home.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Diana worked tirelessly to find her daughter, or to at least find out what happened to her. For 28 years, right up until the day she died in 2020, Diana passed away in her sleep. No one in local law enforcement, as far as I can tell, really took her seriously. And when she died, Diana's son, Colton Smith, would carry the torch, vowing to not let the search for the truth end before someone at long last takes their family tragedy seriously and runs a proper investigation. In January 2025, I spoke with Colton Smith. I always try to start any case I work by talking to the victim's family and loved ones. With cold cases in particular, there is an inherent risk of ripping open wounds covered over with only the thin, thinnest layer of scar tissue, no matter how Hard I try or how long I stick with it. I can never promise a case will definitely be solved. So before I start really digging into it, I want to make sure they know what's involved and what it might take. In this case, I know of two close relatives of Misty's. Her father, Paul Copsey, who goes by Buck, and her half brother, Colton Smith. Diana and Misty's dad separated when Misty was still a baby. In everything I've read and heard about the case, it seemed that Buck asked the investigators years ago to respect his privacy, to update him only if there was a major development. Misty's brother Colton seemed to have more actively carried the torch after Diana passed away. I reached out to Colton on Facebook in late 2024 and heard back just a few days later. He was clearly cautious about saying too much, but did say that he'd be happy to have at least one conversation on the phone or over zoom. When we had our first in depth talk in early January 2025, he gave me a significantly clearer understanding of the case, his mom's efforts to solve it, and how Diana was treated along the way.

[Cloyd Steiger]

You know, for years, my mom felt like people thought she was crazy.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Colton is 27, but he seems wise and mature far beyond his years professionally. This holds true as well. He heads up a whole team of logistics and fulfillment crew for a major grocery chain. He was born several years after Misty's disappearance, so he didn't know his sister personally. But her memory loomed large over his childhood as his mother, Diana, continued her fight to find out what happened to Misty.

[Cloyd Steiger]

I mean, every time she would even talk to the Puyall Police Department, it was like, you guys think I'm crazy and I'm not crazy. And to grow up with that and then have her explain everything to me, it's like you're making so much sense. I don't understand how you're being perceived this way, but you can see it.

[Sarah Kaelin]

It's true. Reading about the case, you can see that investigators treated Diana like she was overreacting or even lying from day one, from the moment she arrived home the morning after Misty went to the fair, all of Diana's instincts told her that something had gone terribly wrong. Misty wouldn't just take off into the night. Diana knew it. She insisted that she and her daughter had a great relationship. Police insisted Misty had run away, and that would go on for months, years, even. A battle began between Diana and the local police officers, who, for reasons I can't yet understand, seemed completely unwilling to consider the possibility that Misty was anything other than a runaway. This all started with that very first phone call in which the 911 dispatcher told Diana the police were couldn't take action on misty's disappearance for 30 days, which, as I expressed to Colton, strikes me as utterly insane. I wasn't a cop yet in 1992, but I would go through my first academy just six years later, and I did not believe that was true even then. I've since asked some of the people I know who were in law enforcement at the time, in departments from different parts of the country, and every single one of them said the same thing. No way. It just wasn't possible that it was a real policy. The thing that boggles the mind is, okay, but even if they're a runaway, this is still a child in danger. You have to go find them.

[Cloyd Steiger]

100%. Yep.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I mean, I went into law enforcement in 98, and certainly everything I was trained from jumping was a missing child. There's no 24 hour. There's no five minutes. It becomes all hands on deck immediately, regardless of the circumstances, and it remains that way until a child is located. Like, I truly. I don't understand. It's difficult to nail down numbers on teen disappearances in any window of time, but especially during this era, we're focused on here year. A number of studies have been done, and there are some interesting statistics separating out true runaways from what are known as, quote, missing, lost, or discarded. They are also compared to data on the number of kids abducted by family members. And of course, we do ultimately end up with numbers of young children and teens who are victims of homicide if their remains are eventually recovered. But when attempting to understand how often kids were classified by police as runaways but later determined to have been abducted or murdered, we have only anecdotal evidence the terrible stories that made the headlines. Thankfully, in Misty's case, the county sheriff's department corrected this 30 days nonsense. The person who took the call also took a report from Diana and then advised her to file a missing person report with the Puyallup Police Department. Because Misty was last seen in Puyallup, the sheriff's department assigned a deputy who often handled runaway cases. The deputy reached out to Misty's friend Trena and said something along the lines of, if you hear from her, let us know. You won't get in trouble. Six days after Misty's disappearance, Diana calls and files the report with the Puyallup Police Department. I don't know why she waited six days, but we know she Was following her own leads during that time, calling Trina, Reuben and anyone else who she thought might know something. Once she files the report with the Puyallup pd, Diana keeps calling, begging for help. According to a local newspaper, Pierce county reaches out to Puyallup PD with the following personal note. Quote, this is one of those just don't feel right reports. There is nothing here that points positively to foul play. It just don't feel right. It's been a week and nobody has heard from the girl. Mom is contacting the media, complaining that the cops aren't doing anything. End quote. Mom is complaining. With good reason. With every minute that passes, memories start to fade. And the more likely it is that evidence can be hidden or destroyed, Disappear permanently. Puyallup assigns a detective, but things don't move any more quickly than they had beforehand. Luckily, Colton tells me, Diana refuses to sit back and do nothing.

[Cloyd Steiger]

She waits a couple days, starts to do her own own investigation. She goes down to the fair. She asks everybody she can. Have you seen Misty? She somehow finds the bus driver.

[Sarah Kaelin]

The bus driver. The last known person to see Misty alive. Remember, it wasn't a police officer who tracked down that bus driver. It was Diana. I've got to tell you what, man. The moms are always literally the best detectives I've ever. Matt.

[Cloyd Steiger]

I agree.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Colton tells me that a few years ago, Puyallup PD released an age progression photo showing what Misty would look like as an adult. Diana was still alive at that point, and Colton remembers that she was furious. After 25 years, the police were still suggesting that Misty was simply a runaway, A woman now in her 40s, living under a fake identity somewhere else.

[Cloyd Steiger]

I asked them, like, why are we still labeling her a missing person after? I understand there's no remains, but why can't we bump this up to, like, a no body homicide? I mean, it's pretty evident she's not coming back.

[Sarah Kaelin]

But the police said they couldn't reclassify the case since your mom passed. How communicative have they been with you?

[Cloyd Steiger]

Here and there. They didn't reach out to me. I want to see it for the first two years. And then actually, the tribe that were a part of. Cowlitz Indian tribe.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Wait, what's the tribe?

[Cloyd Steiger]

Cowlitz.

[Sarah Kaelin]

This is a part of Misty's story I hadn't heard before, in large part because Misty presents very Caucasian with blonde curls, blue eyes, and fair skin. But Colton tells me that he, Misty, and Diana are all members of the Cowlitz Indian tribe in western Washington. I don't know if that got much recognition in the original case, but in recent years, the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls has gained a lot of awareness, especially in areas out west. Some states have started designating significant resources to unsolved cases of missing and murdered Native American women. Cases that have historically been overlooked or even outright dismissed. Today, Washington is one of those states.

[Cloyd Steiger]

The tribe wanted her to be labeled as both Caucasian and Native American. And they explained it to me, hey, you know, we've got people from Washington State Patrol that can help and we can use these resources because she is Native American. Yeah, would you be interested in that? And I said, absolutely. Anything helps.

[Sarah Kaelin]

You know, the police's response?

[Cloyd Steiger]

Well, we don't want to label her Native American because it could be misleading. If we find her, you know, we can't label her as both Caucasian and Native American. We can't. Yeah, exactly.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I reached out to PPD to confirm and they insisted that they had worked with the tribe and thought labeling her Native American may have made it harder to identify her because of her Caucasian looks. I also found a 2022 report on Washington missing and murdered indigenous women and people, and it includes Misty. So at some point this was updated. Still, for now, all Colton can hope is that Puyallupd will somehow stumble into an answer. But based on his experience with the PPD detective, he's been talking to a guy named Ken Lewis. Colton's not holding his breath.

[Cloyd Steiger]

The current detective on her case. It almost seems like he's so open minded. He's closed minded. It's got to be some mystery suspect that's out there lurking in the shadows somewhere. It couldn't be anybody she knew. It's got to be a deathbed confession. It's got to be. I mean, these are all things he's told me. And it's just like, I don't think it's that complicated.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I don't either. I mean, statistically, overwhelmingly, people are unfortunately killed by people they know. You know, and while western Washington in the 80s and 90s did seem to have its own flavor of offenders that were running rampant. And that absolutely can't be ruled out. I think both things can be true. According to the Department of Justice, a significant number, 54% of all homicide victims are, are killed by someone they know. A friend, a lover, a neighbor, a co worker. But when we isolate the victim pool to women and girls, the figures jump dramatically. Nearly 90% of women and girls killed in the United States are murdered by someone they knew. This makes it that much More important, to really get to know a victim, to understand what her everyday life looked like like, and who the people in it were. But there is another factor that would be impossible to ignore in the context of Misty's disappearance and likely death. The time and the location combine to paint us a blurry, rain soaked image of a special breed of monster, one devouring its prey in the Pacific northwest of the 80s and 90s with a silver staggering rate of what can only be called success. The sheer number of unapprehended offenders committing rape and murder in this area, specifically those targeting little girls, teens and young women, made it a uniquely dangerous time to be Misty Copsey alone on that September night. Of course, two things can be true at the same time. Someone she knew and trusted could also have been one of these monsters hiding in plain sight, while at the same time lurking in the fog and the evergreens. With what I've learned from Colton already, I think there's a lot I can do to start unraveling the knots in Misty's case. I don't think it's impossible. I think it's probably the hardest one I've tackled in a while. Really well, without remains or a. And of course, like everybody else, just from my cursory looks, I have some thoughts. I have. Like, my instincts go one way, but I'm. I'm always very open to those instincts being completely wrong. Now that I've spoken with Colton and he has given his blessing to me in taking on his sister's case, I want to get a grip on what's been reported in the case so far. I believe every cold case should be reinvestigated from square one. I dive in as though no one has ever worked it before. But knowing what the early days looked like, what has and hasn't been done in previous iterations of the investigation is still helpful in establishing a baseline. Whenever I take on a new case, I like to keep an open mind. To that end, the first thing I need to examine is the possibility that Misty was a runaway, if for no other reason than to put it to bed once and for all. I mean, the police were clearly convinced that Misty had taken off deliberately and on her own. My question is why? This case is different from any other I've worked in the last six years. I don't have access to the police's case files. Unlike my cases in Mobile, Alabama and Baxter Springs, Kansas. I don't have an existing relationship with any local detectives or sheriffs. I've reached out to Puyallupd And I'm going to work on them. I hope I can get them to at least talk to me. But for now I'm working only with what's out in the public record. Fortunately, in 2009, a local reporter named Sean Robinson published a very thorough account of this case for Tacom News Tribune. It paints a detailed picture of the case and even of Misty and Diana's life. In May 1992, Misty and Diana moved from a trailer park in Puyallup to a duplex in nearby Spanaway. Diana had separated from Misty's father when Misty was a baby, and though Misty still saw her dad regularly, she lived with Diana. By all accounts, Misty and Diana had a great relationship. They were super close. Misty was in eighth grade and though she was very popular, she was known as a bit of a goody two shoes. She didn't smoke or drink and she definitely didn't have sex. She was a class clown too, and like most of the rest of the of us in the early 90s, she loved 90210. Among her teen heartthrob posters was of course Jason Priestley. I myself was more of a Dylan girl than a Brandon, but I certainly recognize and respect the impulse. Everything I've read makes it sound like Misty was a pretty happy, well adjusted 14 year old. Absolutely nothing fits the profile of a kid likely to pack up and take off without telling anyone, never returning or ever even making contact again. Here's the most generous explanation I can come up with for the police's insistence that Misty was a runaway. According to Sean Robinson's reporting, something slightly odd or at least oddly coincidental had happened about a month before Misty disappeared. According to a newspaper report from the time, on August 24, 1992, Diana and Misty got into an argument. Diana went out. When she came back, Misty didn't seem to be there. I asked Colton about this. He said that Misty was home but Diana didn't see her. He added that their mom suffered from pretty severe anxiety. In her panic, she had filed the missing persons report. After filing the report, Diana found Misty safe and sound in her bedroom. Colton told me that Diana had been too embarrassed to call the police and revoke her missing persons report. So when Diana calls the police again a month later, that previous so called runaway report is still showing up in their system. Here's the thing with these runaway reports I don't understand. If the police were never notified it was a false alarm and the report remained on file, then that means they also never once followed up or attempted to locate the child, the missing child. And yet when she goes missing again, they blame the mother for not following up previously. But what were they doing? How were they working to bring this girl home safely? Doesn't seem like they were as far as I can tell. So that means we're left with the Misty's last reported sighting. The bus driver who told her there were no more buses to Spanaway around 9:20pm at least that was Misty's last confirmed sighting. There actually was another person who claimed to see Misty the night of her disappearance. A few months after Misty's disappearance, another possibility arises when Diana goes on a local call in TV show to see if they can generate any tips.

[Diana Smith]

We're talking about the unsolved case of Misty Copsey.

[Sarah Kaelin]

During the show a woman calls in.

[Diana Smith]

Hi.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Hi, my name is Tammy. The woman never gives a last name, but she claims that on the night Misty disappeared she saw a girl matching Misty's description around 10pm outside a 711 on Puyallup's main thoroughfare, Meridian Avenue, almost directly across from the fairgrounds and just 300 yards from the on ramp to a major state highway. She just looked totally distressed, you know, like she was in trouble. She. She looked like she was. In the footage from the network we see Diana as she was in those first few months after Misty vanished. Her hair is sandy blonde, big curls, big feathered bangs. She's put together beautifully in a crisp white top, light colored jeans, bright white sneakers to go with her blouse. You can see how mother and daughter both loved the fashion of the day. And though she's seated, you can also see where Misty got her, her height. Diana sits up tall, her long legs crossed at the knees. We also see Diana's face close up as the caller is speaking. She is calm but clearly focused on every word this mysterious Tammy is sharing. As though Diana knows this will be her only chance. Unfortunately, it is her only chance. Producers try to keep the caller on the line, but the line disconnects before Tammy speaks to police or gives her contact information. It's very difficult to determine what, if anything, should be done with tips like these. Singular, anonymous, no way of verifying or dismissing their authenticity. The caller sounds sincere. There's nothing to grab hold of that might lead me to believe it's a prank or even a misdirect. But my skepticism of eyewitness accounts of anything holds me back from just straightforwardly accepting this information as a building block for the investigation. If I can get on the ground, if I can see the 7 11, see the highways and the bus stops, see the entrance to the fairgrounds. Maybe I can begin to piece together a picture of what that window of time might have looked like and what might have happened to Misty there on Meridian. There's another thing that stands out to me from the News Tribune series, some excerpts from Diana's journal that she gave Sean Robinson permission to publish. In an entry from 1996, she writes, I was cleaning an apartment. It was evening. I got done cleaning the bathroom and turned the corner to go to the living room. It was pretty dark, but I saw someone sitting on the couch. As soon as I saw her, I knew it was Misty. She opened her arms and said, mommy. I grabbed her and just held her forever. In another entry, grief. I never thought the pain would go away or get any less. And when it started to lessen, I felt overwhelming guilt, as if I were a cold, uncaring person, a really bad mother, as if I were being untrue to Misty's memory. To keep getting by in this mortal life, I had to put that memory in a very special spot in my soul and hold it dear. Because it's not supposed to stay foremost while I am still living. It needs to be kept in that special spot to be protected. I love you, Misty.

[Colton Smith]

Mom.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Reading these entries, these deeply personal thoughts of Diana's doesn't bring me a lot of actionable information or give me leads to chase down, but it drives home something else I've learned. This sort of intimate, up close view of the very specific kind of pain and loss felt by loved ones who have never been given an answer, an explanation, or even any real hope of an end to their suffering. This brings with it a unique responsibility borne by the investigators, a commitment that doesn't just end when it gets hard or when other distractions come along. I'm keenly aware that Diana Smith never felt her daughter's case was treated with that kind of devotion. She may have been right at times. In fact, it seems pretty clear that there was nothing but callous disregard in the beginning. And she may have been mistaken at points in the process, as there are times in the history of this case that some detectives took the case to heart, tried to treat it accordingly, and have never really let it go. But I'm in it now for the long haul, whatever that looks like. And so, with Colton's blessing, I make another call to the person who first told me about Misty Copsey.

[Colton Smith]

I mean, the problem with this is she could be anywhere and you don't have anything. You have a bunch of Weirdos. But, you know, there's bottom feeders all over that area.

[Sarah Kaelin]

A million years ago, you told me about the Misty cops. I call Cloyd Steiger in December 2024, right as I start on the case. Cloyd's a retired Seattle homicide detective who reviewed the case a few years back for the Attorney General's office. I first met Cloyd years back through a colleague who was working on a Ted Bundy project. She'd been in touch with him, and when I told her I was interested in examining cases from the 80s and 90s in the Pacific Northwest, she connected me with Cloyd. The first time we spoke, he pointed me to Misty's case, saying he thought I might be able to bring some much needed fresh eyes to it.

[Colton Smith]

You know, it's kind of funny you mentioned, because I just got called from a friend of mine at the Attorney General's office last week. Hey, what do you know about the Misty Copsey case? I said you did a thing on it.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Well, that's interesting. Sounds like there might be some wheels turning on this case in the background. If so, I'd like to understand why. And more importantly, why now.

[Colton Smith]

Just a small world, though, because I just got that call and then, boom, there you are.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Boom, there I was. For now, my main reason for calling Cloyd is to get the lay of the land. I ask about other cases in the area and if they offer any clues.

[Colton Smith]

Yeah, there was one that was very similar that disappeared from up by the river, which is the opposite side of town. But Puyallup's not a big town, so when I say the opposite side of town, I mean three miles away. Yeah, they were looking at that one really hard, too.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Were they?

[Colton Smith]

Yeah. And then there's others in the region.

[Sarah Kaelin]

It's like shooting fish in a barrel to find serial sexual offenders in Washington.

[Colton Smith]

Oh, it is? Yeah. And the other thing is, it's right by Puyallup. It's very close up to the mountains and the deep forest and stuff, and you can hide a body very easily.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Okay.

[Colton Smith]

And it may never be found. I mean, unless a hunter comes across skeleton or something.

[Sarah Kaelin]

So we've got, figuratively speaking, a dark forest full of predators, and we've got quite literally a heavily wooded area where it's all too easy to dispose of a body and leave behind very little evidence. I asked Cloyd if anything stood out to him when he reviewed the case files a few years ago. Any tips or leads that seem worth pursuing?

[Colton Smith]

Well, there was a report of her being seen getting it, possibly getting into a car down by the fairgrounds. And that's the Western Washington State Fair. So it's a big event. It attracts hundreds of thousands of people. It's not a little town fair. Yeah, during fair season, there's a lot of traffic in that area, a lot of people. And there were some reports of possibly getting into a car. And I forgot what the car looked like. But you know those. You never know those.

[Sarah Kaelin]

It's true, you don't. But as an investigator, you should run down every remotely credible tip. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like the original investigators did. So this reported sighting of Misty getting into a car, it's unverified, but it's certainly intriguing. I write it down as a thread to tug on later. What did the car look like? Did the person who reported that tip give a description of the driver? Then Cloyd says something that prompts another line of questions in my head.

[Colton Smith]

He was actually last seen live at the Puyallup police station.

[Sarah Kaelin]

What? Yeah, I thought the bus driver saw.

[Colton Smith]

Her, the bus driver saw her, but he was right. The stop is right by the police station. It's right there.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Would it be remotely possible that an officer might have offered her a ride home? And we've got a Michelle bus, say Buet situation where the cops.

[Colton Smith]

I mean everything. Anything's possible, but. But I don't know.

[Sarah Kaelin]

In the spring of 1980, an 18 year old Texan girl named Michelle Boucher was traveling the country when she disappeared. She'd last been spotted walking along an interstate in Minnesota by a state trooper. Years later, it would come to light that that trooper had picked Michelle up, then raped and tortured her before strangling her to death, all while on duty. Michelle Boucher is on my mind as Cloyd is speaking mainly. Could something similar have happened to Misty? Cloyd tells me he doesn't suspect it.

[Colton Smith]

Puyalla Police Department would be incredibly busy during this time. I mean, they bring in, they bring all the other regional officers in.

[Sarah Kaelin]

So they're not giving kids rides home because.

[Colton Smith]

No, they're not giving kids rights.

[Sarah Kaelin]

This is a double edged sword. Of course, what he's saying makes sense that they're all so busy no one would have offered or agreed to give a teenager a ride home. But the fact that the cops are so busy working the fair could also be seen as just as much an argument that a wolf in sheep's uniform could pounce on just such an opportunity to snatch a trusting girl off the street. It's worth Noting I have not heard any suggestion of corruption or nefarious activity in the Puyallup Police Department. There is nothing to suggest this is what happened, but at this stage I'm considering all possibilities. And if it wasn't a cop, the general chaos of this massive state fair and the local police having all their attention turned towards the hundreds of thousands of people flooding the town. Well, it sure sounds like the perfect opportunity for someone to do so.

[Colton Smith]

There's a couple of people around here that were involved in child abduction type stuff or suspected. Some of them sound good for this, but I don't know.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Without a body, it's awfully hard to know anything. But not impossible. I asked Cloyd about someone who was high on my list of potential suspects. Reuben Schmidt, the 18 year old friend who Misty called for a ride home.

[Colton Smith]

That was hinky. I mean, he could be the guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was weird and he was a. He was a kind of a freakish guy too. He was supposedly asleep in the apartment or something. I don't remember.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Cloyd's memory of the details is understandably not 100%. It's been years since he reviewed the case. But I've definitely got some leads to pursue. The call is certainly useful, but at this point I've done about as much advanced research on Misty's case as I can. It's time to put boots on the ground. I tell him I'll be out in the Tacoma area for two weeks in January and I'd love to take him to dinner to talk more about this case.

[Colton Smith]

Let me know. I mean, I'll be glad to help you.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I feel certain this will be one of the hardest cases I've ever worked. For starters, there is so little physical evidence, maybe even none at all. What does exist was found in February 1993 when a group of volunteers joined Misty's mom, Diana to search along Highway 410 about a half hour drive from Puyallup. Deep in the mountains outside the little logging town of Enumclaw, the search party made a shocking and devastating discovery. A pair of jeans with socks and underwear stuffed into one of the pant legs. According to Sean Robinson's reporting, Diana burst into tears. Her face contorted in a way everyone struggled to describe. Staring at the jeans, Diana realized they were her own. They're the ones Misty borrowed to wear to the fair. To date, this clothing is the only physical evidence ever recovered in this case. King County Sheriff's Department officers arrived at the scene by 3:30pm the light was already fading in and the officers decided it would be best to come back the next day with search dogs. Everyone knew the significance of the location. A few hundred yards away, the bodies of two teenage girls have been found within the last four years, murdered and dumped in a small clearing in the woods. Teenage girls who were last seen in downtown Puyallup, just down the street from where Misty vanished the night of the fair. Three girls, all about the same age, all disappeared from the same main drag in Puyallup. Evidence of their disappearance found in the same patch of woods down Highway 410, about 25 miles from town. This was the dumping ground, the territory of an active killer. Could Misty have died at the hands of a serial killer? Coming up on this season of who took Misty Copsey? Western Washington was a veritable killing field for young women. I don't think people can even wrap their brains around how many serial rapists and predators were out running around. It's insane.

[Colton Smith]

That's the biggest case in Puyallup. The 14 year old just disappears, never seen again. And that's a serious case.

[Cloyd Steiger]

This is a real thing. Like this is, this is my family that we're talking about, not just like a TV story or something like that. This is real. Department leadership decided, whoa, we need to do something about this.

[Sarah Kaelin]

She didn't run away.

[Colton Smith]

Something happened to her.

[Cloyd Steiger]

The mind blowing thing to me is that she was with a friend the night she disappeared on September 17, 1992. Nobody talked to that friend until February of 1993. That is the biggest, biggest concern with the original investigation, in my opinion.

[Sarah Kaelin]

He was creepy, very sketch.

[Cloyd Steiger]

I never felt comfortable with him.

[Sarah Kaelin]

He was very creepy.

[Cloyd Steiger]

Did he give her a ride? We do not know. Did he tell the cops? I drove up to an area that is not that far from where these jeans were discovered. Yes, he did. Did they polygraph him about his statements about, oh, they've got it wrong. She's buried six and a half miles away. Yes, they did. I swear. She said he was all dirty.

[Sarah Kaelin]

He was like covered in dirt and it was late and then he went.

[Cloyd Steiger]

To sleep or something. And so she's like, I think that girl's here on the property somewhere.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Who took Misty Copsey is produced by ARC Media for I D. You can follow our show wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love it if you could take a second to leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts.