Ep.2: Killing Fields

Summary

Who Took Misty Copsey? - Episode 2: Killing Fields

Release Date: July 23, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 2 of "Who Took Misty Copsey?", host Sarah Kaelin delves deeper into the chilling circumstances surrounding the disappearance of 14-year-old Misty Copsey at the Washington State Fair in September 1992. Thirty-two years later, the cold case remains unsolved, shrouded in mystery and overshadowed by a history of serial crimes in Western Washington. This episode, titled "Killing Fields," explores the region's dark past, the complexities of the investigation, and the relentless pursuit of justice by those determined to uncover the truth.

The Washington Killing Fields Context

Western Washington has long been notorious for its high concentration of serial predators. Sarah Kaelin paints a grim picture of the region's history, highlighting the presence of infamous killers such as Ted Bundy and Warren Forrest before the notorious Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, emerged in the 1980s.

Lindsay Wade, a former homicide detective with the Tacoma Police Department, provides critical insights into the proliferation of serial offenders in the area. At [04:54], she states:

"Western Washington was a veritable killing field for young women. Like, I don't think people can even wrap their brains around how many serial rapists and predators were out running around. It's insane."

This environment of fear and rampant predatory behavior sets the backdrop for Misty's tragic disappearance, raising questions about whether her case is intertwined with the region's broader pattern of violence.

Misty Copsey's Disappearance

Misty Copsey vanished after attending the Washington State Fair, an event that should have been a joyful memory but instead became the starting point of an enduring mystery. Her mother, Diana Copsey, vehemently opposed the initial police assessment that labeled Misty as a runaway, insisting that her daughter was in distress.

At [02:16], Diana expresses her frustration:

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

Five months later, a search party discovered a pair of jeans, socks, and underwear near Highway 410, which Diana recognized as Misty's. However, skepticism from authorities has left the case unresolved for decades.

Lindsay Wade's Insights

Detective Lindsay Wade becomes a pivotal figure in the investigation. With over two decades of experience in the Tacoma Police Department and a tenure leading the cold case unit, Lindsay brings a wealth of knowledge and a personal connection to the case.

At [06:23], she outlines the prevalence of serial killers in the region during the 1970s and 1980s:

"In the 1970s, when Ted Bundy was operating in western Washington, there were several other serial killers operating at the same time. You had Bundy, who was abducting young women, but at that same time, there was a guy named Warren Forrest who was also abducting and killing young women in Washington state and picking them up in his creepy van and then disposing of them."

Lindsay's firsthand experience underscores the challenges faced by law enforcement in distinguishing and apprehending multiple offenders operating concurrently.

DNA and Cold Cases

Advancements in DNA technology have revolutionized cold case investigations. Lindsay Wade shares her significant achievement in solving cases through genetic evidence. In [15:55], she recounts the breakthrough in identifying the Green River Killer:

"In 2001, authorities identified the Green River Killer as Gary Ridgway."

Later, she discusses using genetic genealogy to solve the murders of Jennifer Bastien and Michella Welch, two young girls killed in Point Defiance Park in the 1980s. This technique allowed Lindsay to narrow down suspects from over 2,300 individuals to key names, ultimately leading to convictions.

Relevance to Misty's Case

Sarah Kaelin and Lindsay Wade explore the potential connections between Misty's disappearance and known serial offenders. While Gary Ridgway and Robert Washburn have been convicted for other murders, their involvement in Misty's case remains speculative.

At [09:23], Lindsay reflects on the unique criminal landscape:

"I've never seen a region where there are so many active within the same era, specifically targeting girls and young women. That's what feels different here."

Despite the brutal nature of previous crimes, the lack of concrete evidence in Misty's case makes direct links to these known killers tenuous at best.

The Confusion Over the Clothing Evidence

A significant point of contention is the discovery of Misty's jeans and undergarments years after her disappearance. At [40:39], former Seattle Police Department homicide detective Cloyd Steiger casts doubt on the connection between the found clothing and Misty:

"These were like size 16 clothes and Misty was like a size 4."

Cloyd argues that the disparity in sizes suggests that the clothes may not belong to Misty, challenging the foundation of the initial investigation and casting further uncertainty over the case.

Challenges in Solving the Case

The release of Misty's case files to journalist Sean Robinson has complicated the investigation. Cloyd Steiger expresses frustration over public disclosure, emphasizing the potential risks to ongoing investigations. Meanwhile, Sarah Kaelin highlights the difficulties of being an outsider in a tightly-knit law enforcement community, striving to piece together fragmented information without access to complete case files.

At [41:10], Cloyd shares his skepticism about solving the case:

"Somebody who happens to be a sexual predator sees this little girl looking lost, offers her a ride, she's desperate, she gets in the car with him and then he does what he is going to do and then he kills her... you put a body out in the mountains, the animals are going to scatter it and you never, ever find it."

This bleak outlook underscores the slim chances of resolving Misty's disappearance, given the deteriorated evidence and the passage of time.

Emotional Impact

The emotional toll of Misty's disappearance is palpable throughout the episode. Diana Copsey's anguish is evident when she confronts the questionable evidence:

"Those are my jeans that Misty borrowed to go to the fair."

Sarah empathizes with Diana, recognizing the profound pain and unresolved grief that has haunted the family for over three decades. The episode highlights the human cost of cold cases, emphasizing the importance of closure for the victims' loved ones.

Conclusion and Future Directions

As the episode concludes, Sarah Kaelin reflects on the complexities of the Misty Copsey case and the broader implications of serial violence in Western Washington. While significant progress has been made in solving other cold cases through DNA evidence and genetic genealogy, Misty's disappearance remains an enigma. Sarah remains committed to uncovering new leads and hopes to bring justice not only to Misty but also to her family and the community affected by her loss.

The episode leaves listeners pondering the daunting challenges of cold case investigations and the enduring hope that, despite the odds, truth and resolution are still attainable.

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Notable Quotes:

• Lindsay Wade [04:54]: "Western Washington was a veritable killing field for young women. Like, I don't think people can even wrap their brains around how many serial rapists and predators were out running around. It's insane."

• Diana Copsey [02:16]: "You know, for years my mom felt like people thought she was crazy. 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."

• Cloyd Steiger [40:46]: "These were like size 16 clothes and Misty was like a size 4."

• Cloyd Steiger [41:10]: "Somebody who happens to be a sexual predator sees this little girl looking lost, offers her a ride, she's desperate, she gets in the car with him and then he does what he is going to do and then he kills her... you put a body out in the mountains, the animals are going to scatter it and you never, ever find it."

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Stay Tuned:

In the next episode, Sarah Kaelin will continue her investigation by meeting with Misty's brother, Colton, and exploring new leads that could shed light on the enduring mystery of Misty Copsey's disappearance.

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Produced by ARC Media for ID.

Transcript

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[Sarah Kaelin]

Previously on who took Misty Copsey? 32 years that's how long it's been since 14 year old Misty Copsey disappeared while attending the Washington State Fair.

[Diana Copsey]

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

[Cloyd Steiger]

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]

She just looked totally distressed, you know, like she was in trouble. She. She looked like she was crying from I D&ARC Media I'm Sarah Kaelin, and this is who Took Misty Copsey. When I book my flight to Washington, I deliberately choose a window seat. I usually prefer the aisle, but I've never been to the Pacific Northwest, and I have a feeling I'll want to see the view. As we approach the Seattle Tacoma airport, I slide open the window blind and honestly, I gasp out loud. Mount Rainier looms over everything as far as I can see. Even from that high up, it's January. The mountain is completely white, and against an unusually bright blue sky, the stark contrast is truly like nothing I've ever seen. An hour later, as I head out to i5, Mount Rainier's presence seems even more intense. It's just there, everywhere I look, raining over a sea of evergreens. We're in the Pacific Northwest now, baby, that's for sure. It strikes me that this is how it would have looked in 1992 when Misty Copsey went missing. Misty's mom, Diana, searched through this landscape for nearly 30 years until she passed in 2020. In some of these woods and in the shadow of Mount Rainier, a pair of jeans was found along Highway 410, the only evidence ever recovered in this very cold case. I spend my first afternoon exploring the area. Gray skies and patchy fog roll in mist snaking between the Douglas fir and red cedar trees. This is the atmosphere so bound up in all the legends and myths of the Pacific Northwest, I will come to understand much more deeply how this area could feel like a hunting ground for anyone or anything that prefers to h hide in the shadows. With a setting like this, I can't help wondering, is this really the serial killer capital of the world? We outsiders are certainly not the only ones who think this.

[Lindsay Wade]

It's funny, after I got your message yesterday, I started just running through cases in my head from that time frame, both solved and unsolved. And basically, what I have come to the conclusion of is that Western Washington was a veritable killing field for young women. Like, I don't think people can even wrap their brains around how many serial rapists and predators were out running around. It's insane.

[Sarah Kaelin]

This is Lindsey Wade. She grew up in Tacoma, Washington. She worked with the Tacoma Police Department for 21 years, first as a patrol officer and then as a homicide detective. By the time she retired, she was in charge of the department's cold case unit, and she did some incredible work in that role. I originally met Lindsay through a mutual colleague and quickly realized we have almost parallel histories. On my first full day In Tacoma, I head over to see Lindsay. I need a lay of the land and I need real context. She's the perfect person to help me sort fact from fiction. Hi. Hi.

[Advertiser 1]

How are you?

[Lindsay Wade]

How are you?

[Sarah Kaelin]

Lindsay opens the door wearing a sweatshirt with a picture of a 70s style van and the words Vans are creepy on it. Now I'm sure that we're kindred spirits. We settle on some couches in Lindsay's office and get right down to business.

[Lindsay Wade]

So just to give you some context, in the 1970s, when Ted Bundy was operating in western Washington, there were several other serial killers operating at the same time. You had Bundy, who was abducting young women, but at that same time, there was a guy named Warren Forrest who was also abducting and killing young women in Washington state and picking them up in his creepy van and then disposing of them.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Now that sweatshirt is starting to make even more sense.

[Lindsay Wade]

And then you fast forward to the 80s and then you get into Green River. You know, I think pretty much everybody's heard of the Green River Killer, pretty much.

[Sarah Kaelin]

But for those who haven't, In July of 1982, the body of a missing 16 year old girl was found in the Green river in Kent, Washington, about midway between Seattle and Tacoma. Over the next three months, four more bodies were found in almost the exact same place, and a fifth was found near the airport. Investigators believed all six had been killed by the same offender. Authorities formed the Green River Task Force, the FBI, the King County Sheriff's Office, Washington State Patrol, Seattle and Kent police departments, and Port of Seattle authorities all working together to try to stop this predator. Over the next 19 years, more than 40 girls and women vanished, only to turn up murdered, seemingly by the same killer. The task force interviewed countless suspects. Even Ted Bundy was contacted to advise the investigation. Careers were started and finished in the time the Green River Killer stalked the streets of Seattle and Tacoma, callously dumping the remains of at least 49 girls and women all over western Washington, including a spot off Highway 410 in the woods just east of a little town called Enumclaw. In 2001, authorities identified the Green River Killer as Gary Ridgeway. I've often wondered if he could be responsible for Misty's disappearance as well. I have the same question about many other murderers who have been convicted in this region. Lindsay and I are less than a year apart in age, like me. And like Misty, she was a teen in the early 90s with the green River Killer looming over her childhood. I've never seen A region where there are so many active within the same era, specifically targeting girls and young women. I mean, like underage women, like little kids and teenage girls. That I think might be special to this region. That's what feels different here.

[Lindsay Wade]

Yeah. And I don't know why that is. I've had people ask me, like, what's the causal factor? You know, like, there's not just one. There are lots of things that people speculate about. One of those has been the weather and the fact that it's gloomy and gray here. And, you know, is there like a seasonal affective disorder or lack of sunset psychosis? I don't know. But, you know, there's that discussion about the weather.

[Sarah Kaelin]

There are a few other potential factors. Port cities with quick access to entry and exit points are appealing locales for serial offenders. These cities are often transient. They offer anonymity, the ability to strike and disappear quickly. Lindsay lists a few more potential explanations.

[Lindsay Wade]

Military bases, mental health facilities that back in the 80s especially, it was not uncommon for a lot of these guys to walk away from mental health facilities and just sort of be out and about and unsupervised.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Not to mention the landscape. Heavily populated cities and towns full of potential victims surrounded by miles of woodlands in three directions and an ocean of water in the fourth. Then, of course, there's the timing. The 1980s and 1990s were quite simply a different time.

[Lindsay Wade]

I mean, today it would be absurd for a young girl to be seen walking down the street hitchhiking or for a van to pull up and a woman to say, yeah, I'll take a ride with you, you know, but at that time, that was normal. It was commonplace. And so I just think there was so much more of an opportunity for predators to come across victims and so.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Many more reasons why a person might trust a stranger or at least take a chance on trusting a stranger. With Misty, for example, if a stranger offered her a ride, could it have seemed like a better option than walking the 11 miles home? I don't know if anyone offered her a ride. I don't know of anyone seeing her after a bus driver near the fairgrounds who told her she'd missed the last bus to Spanaway. But I do know that if Misty missed the last bus, she couldn't have pulled out a smartphone and requested an Uber. She couldn't text a bunch of friends. She'd have to have made a call from a payphone. I know she called her mom and told her mom she'd call a friend for a ride. Could she have instead taken a ride from a stranger, maybe even the Green river killer himself.

[Lindsay Wade]

I think it's so hard to try to even make sense, you know, looking at a lot of the unsolved cases because there are so many predators to choose from. There's like a whole list of serial killers who were operating. You know, I've got a friend who's also in this business and we joke that there's like the B list serial killers that no one's ever heard of because they got eliminated on the big serial killer case and they got kicked to the side because they weren't the guy. They didn't turn out to be the Green river killer or they didn't turn out to be Ted Bundy. So they got kicked to the side because the detectives had to move on to continue with the investigation. On their current series. However, those guys were in the case file for a reason. They were in the file because they did something really bad.

[Sarah Kaelin]

It's important to note things have changed in Washington state. In 1990, the state legislature passed the Community Protection Act. This created one of the first sex offender registries in the country. The act also offered new sentencing guidelines for violent sex offenses. And this worked to curtail predatory behavior in the area. It seems to have made a lasting change in the area with the help of modern technology and improved investigative techniques. It's also harder to get away with murder. Perpetrators have less of an opportunity to become serial killers because they are caught and convicted before they have a chance to strike repeatedly. They serve longer sentences and are often beyond the age of peak criminality by the time they are released, if ever. So yes, things have changed. Washington state's reputation as a killing field is becoming outdated. But in the 70s, 80s and 90s, it was accurate. And that's what makes me wonder if the Green river killer, or maybe one of these so called B list serial offenders is responsible for Misty's disappearance. There is so little evidence in her case. If a well known killer is responsible here, it's possible we just don't know it because no one has been able to link him to any evidence. If Misty is an unknown victim of one of these killers, her case is certainly not the only one that remains to be solved.

[Lindsay Wade]

There are a lot, there are a lot of still today unsolved cases. Whether they be abduction, rape cases or murder cases or just missing, they're just gone, right? Nobody knows what happened to them. Young girls and young women. And I think people would be shocked if they knew that number and they knew how many of Those cases exist, especially from that time frame.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Lindsay's work on these cases is one of the primary reasons I wanted to speak with her. In 2012, Lindsay was the one staring at a cold case file, hoping to find shreds of evidence that might help her solve the murder of two young girls.

[Lindsay Wade]

Everybody knew about the girls in the.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Parks, the girls in the parks, Jennifer Bastien and Michella Welch, those two girls.

[Lindsay Wade]

Were murdered in 1986, actually in that park that you can see right there.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Lindsay gestures towards Point Defiance park, visible through her office window. It's a city park in that. It's within the city limits of Tacoma, but this is Washington state, so even a city park is actually a 700 acre, densely wooded area with dramatic sheer cliffs jutting into Puget Sound. It's gorgeous even from here, but it's also a little scary.

[Lindsay Wade]

I'm sorry. Jennifer was killed in the park here. Michelle was killed in another park not too far from here. And the cases were so similar. A 12 year old and a 13 year old, four and a half months apart, out riding their bicycles, broad daylight. Just what every kid would do. What I did, you know, what we all did. And they both ended up being abducted. Michella was found the same day that she went missing. And she had been brutally sexually assaulted and murdered. Jennifer, who went missing four and a half months later. She was not found for 24 days.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Lindsay again points towards the park.

[Lindsay Wade]

It is a forest. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Basically, when searchers found Jennifer's body, they learned that she too had been sexually assaulted and murdered.

[Lindsay Wade]

And because of the similarities, it was just sort of almost like a no brainer, like, of course it's the same guy because this is very unusual.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Lindsey was just a kid, but she remembers these cases clearly.

[Lindsay Wade]

They really were cases that affected me as a child. I mean, they were close by. I can think back to having to walk to school and walking by this gulch area and crossing the street to the other side. Because I was thinking, gosh, is some guy gonna jump out of there and grab me?

[Sarah Kaelin]

As Lindsay tells me the details of the story, I'm thinking of Misty. She's around the same age as these girls. She lived within a half hour. They were all bubbly, bright students, known to be friendly, clever and kind. The biggest difference in these cases is that investigators ultimately found the bodies of Michella and Jennifer. There is no proof that Misty was sexually assaulted, except that her underwear was found balled up in, the jeans found by the side of Highway 410. And yet my instinct tells me these cases could all be connected. The question is how.

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[Sarah Kaelin]

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[Podcast Host 1]

Picture yourself alone in the middle of nowhere and there's somebody following you.

[Advertiser 1]

He went on his way, we so thought, and then we went on ours. But in reality, he really followed us up there.

[Podcast Host 1]

On Deadly Nightmares, the true crime podcast from id, listen to real stories of ordinary people stalked by serial killers and attackers.

[Advertiser 2]

Please tell me we're not going to die.

[Podcast Host 1]

Listen to Deadly Nightmares on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Investigators handled the deaths of Michella and Jennifer with appropriate gravity. And still, despite thorough investigations, both cases eventually went cold. The looming threat of this unknown killer, along with many other serial predators operating in the area throughout her childhood inspired Lindsay to pursue a career as a detective. She wanted to solve murders. Lindsay joins the Tacoma PD in 1997 and gets promoted to detective in 2003. In her new role, she decides to take a fresh look at the case that that haunted her childhood. She meets with Michella and Jennifer's families. In the case files, she sees that detectives had been able to get a DNA profile from Michella's case, but never in Jennifer's.

[Lindsay Wade]

And then in 2013, my former partner, who was the cold case detective before me, he actually was able to obtain a DNA profile from the suspect in Jennifer's case for the very first time. It was entered into the DNA database, and it was not the same offender as the offender in Michella's case.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Despite the similarities in the cases and the long held belief that a single culprit had abducted, assaulted, and killed both girls, DNA evidence revealed that law enforcement had the case all wrong.

[Lindsay Wade]

So that really kind of completely turned these two cases on their sides, because all this time, for about 28 years, the two cases were investigated as if they were the work of the same serial offender. Now, all of a sudden, we had to go back to the drawing board.

[Sarah Kaelin]

People who had previously been eliminated from the suspect pool because they were not available for both attacks, they were back on the table.

[Lindsay Wade]

I had over 2,300 guys to go through. It was like, okay, well, this is a lot of work.

[Sarah Kaelin]

As a former cop, I can assure you that plenty of detectives would have looked at that list of 2,300 names and said, well, we tried, but not Lindsay Wade. She starts whittling down the list, eliminating people who couldn't have committed either crime. It's slow going. Then in 2015, she hears about detectives in Arizona solving a case using genetic genealogy.

[Lindsay Wade]

And so I was like, really? Because I have DNA in my cases, Let me have the phone number for this genealogist. I'm going to call her.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Based on the DNA profiles, the genealogist gives Lindsay a handful of potential last names for the perpetrators. In both cases, one of the names stood out.

[Lindsay Wade]

The last name was Washburn.

[Sarah Kaelin]

There was one man, a Robert Washburn, but oddly, his name didn't come up in Jennifer's case file. He was in Michella's and not a suspect either, but just one of many people who'd called in a tip before Jennifer was killed.

[Lindsay Wade]

I read it, and I was like, okay, well, that's interesting. I'll add him to my list of people to get DNA from.

[Sarah Kaelin]

In 2016, Lindsay gives a press conference sharing details about both cases publicly for the very first time. Tips start streaming in.

[Lindsay Wade]

And then while we were getting new information coming in on the cases, we were sending groups of FBI agents and detectives out to go collect voluntary DNA samples from those guys on our list. I mean, I literally would show up at somebody's door, knock on their door, and be like, hey, I'm investigating a cold case. I want to eliminate you. Will you give me your DNA? I mean, I was finding people living in a van down by the river Carney's at the Fiola fair. I mean, you name it, we did it. It was insane.

[Sarah Kaelin]

She ends up with 160 DNA samples, including a sample from Robert Washburn. She starts sending them to the state crime lab in batches of about 20 at a time. Everything comes back negative. She sends the final batch of 18 samples to the lab in January 2018. A few months later, Lindsay retires from the Tacoma Police Department and takes a job with the Attorney general's office.

[Lindsay Wade]

And 25 days later, I got a phone call from the detective who replaced me in the Cold case unit. And he said, are you sitting down? I said, yes. And he said, we have a match on Jennifer Bastian. And I was stunned. And I asked who the name was, and he said, it's Robert Washburn.

[Sarah Kaelin]

The name Lindsay had gotten from the genetic genealogist. Tacoma PD Officers start preparing to head to Illinois, where Washburn was then living, to take him into custody.

[Lindsay Wade]

We were having conversations about should I go for the arrest? Which I really wanted to, but then, you know, it's like, well, but you know, you're not a detective anymore. You know, you're not commissioned anymore. And someone needs to tell Patty. Jennifer's mom, and I honestly would have rather been the person to tell her that there was an arrest in the case. So as soon as he was in handcuffs, I went from the police station to her house and knocked on her door at 8 o' clock in the morning and woke her up and got to share the news with her that she'd been waiting for for almost 32 years by that point. And I'd like run through like all these things I was gonna say to her. And of course, you know, I'd get there and I was just like, like a deer in the headlights. Like I couldn't remember anything. I was just a hot mess, you know, and she knew, I mean, as soon as she saw me on her doorstep, like, what are you doing? I'm at doorstep at 8 o' clock in the Morning. And who is this tall police officer in a uniform that I'd never seen before? It was one of the assistant chiefs that was with me. And, yeah, it was just. It was amazing. It was the most amazing day of my career.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I cannot express how much I wish I could give Misty's mom, Diana, this moment. I didn't get here in time, but at the very least, I'm hoping to be able to solve this case for her brother Colton, and for all those who love and miss her. In June 2018, authorities got a match on the DNA profile in Michella's case. A man named Gary Hartman. Again, Lindsay offered the family resolution.

[Lindsay Wade]

I think with a lot of cases that I've worked on, sometimes it was more important for, like, a victim to just know that somebody hadn't forgotten them and that they actually cared and were trying to do something. Even if I never solved the case or arrested somebody, there were certainly times where, you know, a victim would just be so thankful that they hadn't been basically just left behind. Like somebody actually cares about what happened to you and is trying to do something about it.

[Sarah Kaelin]

This I know I will provide to Misty's loved ones. Building a relationship with the loved ones of a victim is, to me, one of the most important elements of Cold Case Investigation. It's important for many reasons, including investigative purposes. For my entire career, I've studied and trained in the school of thought first pioneered in the 1960s and 70s by Dr. Anne Burgess. Dr. Burgess introduced the idea that solutions to violent crime are more often than not bound up in knowing and deeply understanding who the victim was as a person. Not just the bullet points, not just where they worked, how old they were, or what they were wearing when they disappeared or died. But what books did they like? Were they early risers or night owls? What secrets did they share with their closest friends? These types of questions can only be answered by those who knew and loved them best. This is why it was so important to me to reach out to Misty's brother, Colton, before ever setting foot in the Pacific Northwest. I'm planning to see him shortly after meeting with Lindsay. First, I want to gather anything else I can on Misty's case. I want to bring Colton new information or have specific questions to ask him when we meet. And I'm hoping Lindsay can help me answer others before I turn to Colton. Given the similar ages between Misty, Michella and Jennifer, I can't stop wondering if there is any change, chance that Gary Hartman or Robert Washburn could have abducted Misty the night she disappeared. Gary Hartman and Robert Washburn have been convicted and are serving more than 25 year sentences for the respective murders of Michella and Jennifer. Neither has been charged with another crime. But based on the brutality of their attacks on Michelle and Jennifer, I think it's highly possible that either or both of these men are serial predators. However, the more Lindsay and I discuss the details of those cases, I realize that the odds of either of these men having abducted Misty are low. The way the girls bodies were disposed of and the fact that Misty's body was never found paint pictures of different criminal minds. Jennifer and Michella's killers disposed of the girls bodies in essentially the same place where they attacked them. This indicates the killers acted on impulse. Misty's body has never been found, which at the very least indicates that a potential killer made an effort to hide her body and that what happened to her was likely an escalation of violence rather than an impulse. So again, these cases are different without having a crime scene to review. In Misty's case though, I can't completely rule out the possibility that Hartman or Washburn could have abducted Misty. Neither was in prison when Misty disappeared. Lindsey Wade would help close those cases years later. And even if neither is responsible in this case, I can't rule out the possibility that Misty's disappearance and likely death is the work of a known murderer, a known serial killer, such as the Green River Killer, or even an unknown serial killer. Misty's genes were found close to the location where the bodies of Anna Chabetnoy and Kim delang, two girls close to Misty's age, were found in the four years before Misty disappeared. And the entire region really was just crawling with serial rapists and killers targeting very young girls. So many more than most people have ever heard of. So many more than even I knew before getting here. Lindsay is familiar with Misty's case, but not on more than a surface level. She has never read the case files or spent time on the case. And the day I met with her was her first official day in a new role as an investigator with the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's office. It's an exciting role for her, but unfortunate for me because it means Lindsay can't discuss any active investigations, including Misty's. She can't discuss any details at all because if an arrest is ever made, this office will be responsible for the prosecution. So I can't get Lindsay's investigative thoughts on the case. But there is someone who used to be in law enforcement who I can try to connect with again. Cloyd Steiger the man who first told me about this case, who has offered to help in any way he can. He has been generous with his time so far, but since landing in Tacoma, I've been wrestling with something Cloyd is a former Seattle Police Department homicide detective. After leaving Seattle pd, he became the Chief Criminal Investigator with the Attorney General's Homicide Investigation Tracking System. Cloyd is no longer in law enforcement because of a very public event in 2020, in the midst of Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Cloyd made a scene at a local restaurant. The waiter was wearing a BLM pin and on his receipt Cloyd wrote, quote BLM button equals no tip. End quote. When the media called him out, he doubled down on his views. Soon after, he was put on administrative leave and in October 2020 he was fired from his position at the Attorney General's office. I learned the full details of this only after arriving in Tacoma. I now have no interest in meeting with him, but I'm still waiting to hear back from Puyallup pd. That means Cloyd is currently the only law enforcement official who has both looked at the case and is willing to speak with me. I'm an outsider here. Access is everything in cold cases and misty is my priority, so I need to get whatever information I can out of whoever I can. I set aside Cloyd's personal political views and arrange a meeting. And ultimately it's a good thing because Cloyd would soon make me question the one thing I thought I knew solidly about the case.

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[Sarah Kaelin]

In 2018, Cloyd was working as the lead investigator for the AG's office. Part of his job was reviewing unsolved cases from smaller jurisdictions, seeing if he might be able to help local police by bringing in some outside expertise. The Misty Copsey case came across his desk.

[Cloyd Steiger]

It's a biggest case in Puyallup. I mean, that's what they consider their biggest case. Little 14 year old just disappears, never seen again. And that's a serious case.

[Sarah Kaelin]

By the time Cloyd got Puyallup's case file, the case had been unsolved for 26 years. But it wasn't dormant.

[Cloyd Steiger]

I mean, it wasn't like it hadn't been touched in 10 years. No, it was like within two months or they'd done this or done that or talked to this person. Talked to that person. The problem is they had very little to go on. Some room would come up, they'd chase it down, but it's like swinging at ghosts. That's the problem.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I asked Cloyd about some of the key suspects I'm interested in, starting with Green River Killer. But Cloyd doesn't think that checks out.

[Cloyd Steiger]

First of all, I don't think he'd have been down in the Puyallup area during the fair with so many people around, you know. And the other thing is, he was soliciting prostitutes. Would he mistake her for prostitute? Maybe, but I doubt it. Could it be him? Yes, but I don't know that either. That's the thing. You have no evidence to point one way or the other. That's the problem with this.

[Sarah Kaelin]

The first time I ever spoke with Cloyd, this was the case he suggested without hesitation. But with the total lack of evidence or direction, I'm kind of at a loss as to why. What exactly am I supposed to do with it?

[Cloyd Steiger]

She did call a friend of hers and asked him to pick her up. And he said, I can't, I don't have any gas. But he did leave and then came back. And so people were looking at him. Did he go get her and do something to her? I don't know and I don't know.

[Sarah Kaelin]

This friend Cloyd's remembering is Reuben Schmidt. Reuben is the friend Misty told her mom she could call to ask for a ride home. The friend that Diana wasn't a big fan of and told Misty to get a ride from someone else. Rubin met Misty through a mutual friend at her school before she and her mom moved to Spanaway. According to a 2009 investigative series in the News Tribune, Diana once picked up the home phone and overheard 18 year old Rubin telling her 14 year old daughter, quote, I get horny just looking at you, Misty. I reached out to Rubin to verify this. He did not respond. According to Colton and Sean Robinson, the reporter who wrote the investigative series, when Diana couldn't find Misty the morning after the fair, she called Reuben. He said that Misty had called him looking for a ride home, but he didn't have enough gas in his car car. So he told Misty he couldn't pick her up. At the time, Reuben was staying with the family of one of his friends. Diana called the house again a few hours after she spoke to Reuben. This time the friend answered. He told Diana that Reuben had gone to pick up Misty. Diana called a third time. This time she spoke to Reuben. He said that he had gone out, but not to pick up Misty. He'd gone to a party. It seemed that Reuben couldn't get his story straight. Mere hours after Misty went missing. I haven't had a chance to read the complete case file, but Cloyd has. And more than 30 years after the initial investigation, Cloyd says Reuben struck him as a solid suspect.

[Cloyd Steiger]

He had a criminal history. He was just your typical low life.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Ultimately, the police have largely dismissed Reuben as a suspect. Cloyd stands by their work, so he doesn't think highly of Reuben. But he is not saying Reuben is responsible. And after thoroughly reviewing the police case files, Cloyd felt he had a pretty good guess about what most likely happened to Misty that night.

[Cloyd Steiger]

Somebody who happens to be a sexual predator sees this little girl looking lost, offers her a ride, she's desperate, she gets in the car with him and then he does what he is going to do and then he kills her. I mean, yeah, that happens all the time. I think that's the most likely answer to this is that it was just some person that came across her randomly, and then he dumps her body. You know, there's mountains all over here. You put a body out in the mountains, the animals are going to scatter it and you never, ever find it. From Puyallup, if you left where the fair is in 40 minutes, you'd be in the middle of the forest.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I ask what he thinks are the odds Misty's case will ever be solved.

[Cloyd Steiger]

I would say like 15% is pretty low, but you never know. Something could come up. You never know what will pop out. And then this whole thing about finding the clothes out by the Mud Mountain dam or what are the odds? What are the odds? They're infinitesimal that you would just be walking in some rural area out in the woods and come across, oh, look, here they are, you know, but no body there. I don't believe she was wearing those clothes.

[Sarah Kaelin]

By the clothes, Cloyd means the jeans and the socks and underpants stuffed inside them. The only pieces of physical evidence in the case. And he's telling me that he thinks they actually have no connection whatsoever to Misty or her disappearance.

[Cloyd Steiger]

No, no. These were like size 16 clothes and Misty was like a size 4.

[Sarah Kaelin]

This doesn't make sense to me. Up to this point. My understanding has been that the clothes were found about five months after Misty vanished. In February 1993, a small civilian led search party found a pair of stonewashed jeans balled up in a ditch near mile marker 30 on Highway 410. Diana said they were definitely the jeans she had bought herself and loaned Misty to wear to the fair. She also recognized the socks and underwear stuffed in the pant leg as her daughter's. Now, to be clear, Cloyd isn't suggesting that Diana was lying. Maybe something more like wishful thinking.

[Cloyd Steiger]

She was desperate to find anything and she just glommed onto that and was convinced again that it was Misty's clothing. Even though Misty was a very small girl and these were like size 16 clothing. And the other thing is, if you're going to kill her, why would you take her clothes and put them. You could throw her clothes in a dumpster. They will never be seen again. One of the things I suggested to the Puhal people is M vac the clothing and see if Misty's or her mother's DNA is on it. If it's not, it's not hers.

[Sarah Kaelin]

The M vac is basically a microscopic wet vac used to suck up tiny bits of touch DNA off almost any surface. The MVAC really started to revolutionize criminal and cold case investigations around 2016. Question is, has Puyallup ever M vaccine, as far as you know, they did not respond immediately with that or in the years that you were there, you never heard?

[Cloyd Steiger]

I don't think so. I don't know for a fact. And we talked about those clothes and how. How unlikely they were to be hers. I don't know if they ever submitted them. I know Washington State has 8M vacs now. They could do it.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I ask for clarification because I want to be completely certain I'm understanding correctly. I ask him, are you saying the Puyallup police did not believe these jeans were Misty's?

[Cloyd Steiger]

Yes. I know that because we talked about that.

[Sarah Kaelin]

This bombshell from Cloyd is really throwing me. I'm just barely starting my investigation on the ground here, and it feels like the rug was just pulled out from under. I don't have access to the files. There's no crime scene to analyze. And now maybe the only place we could possibly have started is vanishing into the mist. My head is spinning. Cloyd pulls me back to reality.

[Cloyd Steiger]

A reporter from the Tacoma News Tribune newspaper made a public disclosure request to the Puyallup Police Department for the case file about Misty Copsey and their city attorney at the time for Puyallup. I don't know where the hell he got his law degree, but he said they had to release it. They released the entire case file.

[Sarah Kaelin]

I actually understand Cloyd's frustration here. I don't begrudge a journalist for trying to get access to as much as possible, but I think there's a significant risk of compromising any investigation or potential prosecution if you allow every single piece of information in into the public discourse. Still, I'm not as frustrated as Cloyd.

[Cloyd Steiger]

The detectives that I talked to were very upset that that was released, and I said I couldn't believe that. I've never heard that in my life. I mean, what the hell?

[Sarah Kaelin]

His eyes still get big when he talks about it. I get it. But me, right now in this situation, I'm delighted by the decision. The city granted journalist Sean Robinson eight hours to review the file in its entirety. He published the stories that have helped me so far, and now I'm hoping he'll help me in a bigger way. Maybe, just maybe, Sean Robinson will. Let me see that case file. Coming up on who took Misty Copsey?

[Diana Copsey]

Diana starts having a breakdown as she looks at these jeans and says, those are my jeans that Misty borrowed. To go to the fair. My mom gets in touch with Ruben's roommate, who claims that he did in fact go pick Misty up that night with his uncle. The jeans are like a metaphorical crossroads. If they're hers, then it's something. If they're not, you know, what is it?

[Sarah Kaelin]

Who Took Misty Copsey is produced by ARC Media for id. 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. Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.

[I]

Hey, we're the Adam, Wild and Jack Show. You can find us wherever you get your podcasts every Wednesday. And Jax, we talk about what?

[Lindsay Wade]

Well, we're just two best pals talking.

[Sarah Kaelin]

About pop culture dating and also exposing each other's deepest, darkest secrets.

[I]

And if you've ever been ghosted, we have a little segment called Left on Red where we call the person who ghosted you and say, hey, why'd you do that?

[Sarah Kaelin]

And usually it leads to some pretty embarrassing and explosive things. Yeah.

[I]

Yeah. So check out the Adam and Wild and Jack show, available every Wednesday. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sarah Kaelin]

Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast. Com.