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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.

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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.

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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.

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Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.

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I'm your host, Ali.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli.

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I just wanted to take a moment at the top to say thank you to all the people who have

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recently rated and reviewed our shows or have sent a kind message through our website.

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Thank you so much.

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I was just going to take a moment here to ask you to rate and review the podcast.

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I know we normally do it at the end, but while I got you here and while I'm saying thank

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you, it really helps others find this podcast and get more traction on stories like the

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one we're going to tell today.

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Should we get into it?

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Yeah, let's just jump right in.

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Let's do it.

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So today we're covering a missing person case and we are covering the case of Ella Beth

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Mae Lodermeier.

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And this takes place in March of 1974 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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But first a little bit about Ella Beth.

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So Ella Beth, or Ellie, you'll hear me refer to her as both throughout the podcast today.

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She was 25 years old in 1974.

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She was in the process of getting divorced from her soon to be ex-husband, Gene Lodermeier.

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Everyone described Gene as her estranged ex-husband at this point in her life.

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She had filed for divorce a year earlier in 1973.

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Ella Beth's family never approved of their relationship.

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Gene was controlling of Ellie, even going as far as disabling the brakes in her car

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so she couldn't attend college classes.

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When she filed for divorce, she said under oath that Gene was abusive to her, something

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that he later denied also under oath.

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Ella Beth was moving forward with her life.

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She had graduated from Augustana University with a degree in social work.

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Lodermeier and friends of Ellie said she was so easy to talk to and they thought that she

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would excel as a social worker.

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She was living on Indiana Avenue by herself.

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She had a new boyfriend that also lived in Sioux Falls.

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She met her new boyfriend, Jerry, the night she filed for divorce from Gene, and the two

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quickly became enamored with each other.

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Jerry said years later, quote,

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She has a personality like you can't believe.

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We hit it off.

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I mean, we just flat hit it off.

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We liked each other immediately, end quote.

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Friends and family said that Ella Beth was a fun and carefree person.

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She had a caring spirit and a way of making others feel seen.

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And now a timeline of events.

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So on March 6th, 1974, Ella Beth is last seen at her home on Indiana Avenue in the early

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evening hours.

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The home I believe was owned by Gene.

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At this time in 1974, he owned lots of rental properties around the area.

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The home was a two flat house and Ella was staying on the first floor and somebody else

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was renting the second floor.

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The end of her divorce was finally in sight and she had a court date set in three weeks

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for it to be finalized.

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Ella Beth's boyfriend Jerry was out of town that evening, but he agreed to call her between

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nine and 930 p.m.

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He called three times between that time frame and each time the phone was picked up by the

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person who was renting the upstairs apartment.

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There was a shared phone at the home that both the neighbor and Ella Beth had access

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to so it wasn't unusual that the neighbor would pick up the phone.

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She was last seen at her house wearing a blue peacoat, blue shirt and blue jeans.

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She was five foot one and 105 pounds with light brown hair and green eyes.

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The next day, March 7th, Ella Beth was working at the community services office in Sioux

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Falls as a social worker when she failed to show up for work and she didn't call in sick,

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which was unusual for her.

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Her coworkers became worried and they called Gene as he was still legally her husband.

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Gene and a few coworkers go over to Ella Beth's home.

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They find the doors locked and her car is still in the driveway.

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gene was able to enter the home.

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It's unclear how he did if he had to break in or if he had a spare key or access.

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It's unclear, but he is able to get in.

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When he enters the home, he finds a pizza with a single slice missing.

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Bread was left rising on the countertop and there was spilled flour on the floor.

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Ella Beth was nowhere in the apartment.

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The only two things missing were her purse and her jacket.

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Gene will report her missing to the police that day.

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One of Ella Beth's friends will get a hold of Jerry to tell him that she was missing.

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Jerry said his first reaction was fear.

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He says, quote, I got in the car and headed straight to Sioux Falls.

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To me, it was obvious that she didn't just leave.

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There's no way it wouldn't happen.

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End quote.

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Years later, after he retired from the force, one of the original investigators of Ellie's

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case said, quote, it appears that she didn't disappear of her own volition.

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End quote.

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Jerry arrived back in town.

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It's unclear if it was on the seventh or the eighth.

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He went straight to the police station where they immediately gave him a polygraph test.

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Police cleared Jerry immediately.

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He said, quote, when I walked out of the polygraph test, the guy that administered it said, this

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guy didn't have a damn thing to do with this.

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End quote.

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Police continue to search for Ella Beth over the next few days.

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And a week after her disappearance on March 14, the police asked the community to check

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abandoned farm buildings on their properties or areas where a body could be concealed to

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help assist them in their search for Ella Beth.

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In April of 1974, Ellie's parents write a statement for the local paper begging the

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community for information about their daughter and to ask that the community talk to their

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public officials and the police so that way Ellie's case continues to get resources for

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the investigation.

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In June of 1974, Ellie has been missing for three months at this point.

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Gene is treated for a gunshot wound in his left hand.

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He told police that a man followed him home and pulled out a gun.

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The man put the gun into Gene's stomach and the two started to scuffle.

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During that scuffle, Gene is shot in the hand.

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It's unclear, but it doesn't ever seem that anyone is arrested for this incident.

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As the months continue to drag on, in September of 1974, Ella Beth has been missing for six

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months now.

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A woman using the bathroom at the Canadian National Railway in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada,

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the woman found three of Ella Beth's credit cards in the restroom.

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Police scurry to try to find any evidence that Ella Beth was ever there, but they come

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up short.

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Police have no idea how her credit cards ended up 10 hours away in Canada.

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Years later, the current investigator, Detective Pat Martez, says, quote, it appears it was

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probably a red herring to throw investigators off, end quote.

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Ellie's family and friends believe that the worst has happened.

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From the beginning of her disappearance, they believed that Gene had a hand in it.

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Nobody thinks that she got up and left on her own accord.

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It's unclear exactly when it happens, but police ultimately classified this case as a

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homicide.

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In 1978, so Ella has been missing for around four years now, Gene finally finishes the

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divorce from Ella Beth and it becomes legal.

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Gene also during this year files a lawsuit against the city of Sioux Falls, claiming

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that he was harassed and followed by police during their investigation of Ellie's disappearance.

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Gene claims that in March of 1974, that's when Ellie disappeared, that police held him

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for questioning for 21 hours without being allowed to eat, sleep, or use a phone.

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He also claims that he was held in the Minnehaha County Jail for nine days.

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It'll take until 1980 for this lawsuit to finally go to trial and be presented in front

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of a jury, and in the end, the police were found not guilty of harassment.

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I'm unclear exactly when it became official, but by 1986, Ella Beth was officially declared

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legally dead.

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She had been missing for 12 years at that point.

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In 1992, so it's been 18 years since Ella Beth vanished, a farmer was walking on the

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banks of the Big Sioux River, just east of Sioux Falls.

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The farmer found Ella Beth's purse, wallet, and checkbook on the banks of the river.

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According to reports, the purse and wallet were found in a hole along the banks of the

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river.

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Investigators swarmed the area searching for Ella Beth's body, convinced that she must

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be nearby, but no other sign of her is found.

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In October of 2000, so it's been 26 years since Ella Beth vanished, and Gene takes out

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an advertisement in the local paper, but he just publishes a long letter asking for a

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fair trial.

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At this point in his life, he had been given a 45-year sentence for what he says is possession

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of stolen property.

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However, local media describes his case as part of a grand theft case.

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In this published letter, he also claims that Ella Beth's disappearance, quote, was directly

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connected to a police officer she worked with, and the fraudulent investigation that followed

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should no longer be kept secret, that a retired Sioux Falls detective supplemented that evidence,

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named persons involved, offered to supervise excavation by the police clubhouse where her

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purse was found, and pay expenses if her remains are not recovered, end quote.

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Now, that statement didn't make a ton of sense to me, for example, he says offered to supervise

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excavation by the police clubhouse where her purse was found, but we know that her purse

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was found by a river.

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I don't believe it was by a police headquarters.

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I thought that maybe there was a typo.

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Since this was an advertisement, the newspaper wasn't proofreading, they just printed what

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he wrote.

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But that is his statement.

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And then he goes further into describing his mistreatment by police over the years and

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his unfair sentence.

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But as of 2002, Gene is paroled from prison.

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Ultimately, he'll pass away in April of 2013.

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In 2016, police announced that they desperately want to close the case.

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Detective Pat Mertes says, quote, the main goal in this is to give the family closure,

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end quote.

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Police confirmed that the only person of interest in this case was Elibeth's estranged husband,

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Gene.

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But as he died in 2013, he can't answer any more questions for police.

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Detective Mertes says, quote, he was never able to be 100% cleared, end quote.

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Other people of interest were investigated and cleared over the years.

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But the renewed energy around Ellie's case brings in 17 new tips.

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However, they all end up fizzling out.

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In 2018, so it's been 44 years now since Elibeth disappeared, her niece, Elizabeth Crowe, still

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wants to find answers to what happened for herself and for her mother, Elibeth's sister.

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She says, quote, it's disappointing.

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Somebody has to know, I feel, but it's just getting them to come forward and say it.

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End quote.

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Jerry, that's Ellie's boyfriend at the time she disappeared, hopes that Ellie can

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be put to rest by her parents.

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He says he goes to visit her parents' graves and leaves flowers and prayers once a year,

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quote, there's no place for Elibeth.

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It's like she didn't exist.

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But she did exist, and she was a beautiful person, end quote.

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In November of 2019, so it's been 45 years since Ellie disappeared, police bring in two

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cadaver dogs to search the area where her wallet was found for around three hours.

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Police tell the paper that Gene had connection with the area where the wallet was found,

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but they don't elaborate on what that connection is.

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But Gene did own a lot of property in Sioux Falls when Ellie disappeared.

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The search resulted in some areas of interest for investigators, but as of 2024, it does

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not appear that any additional information was uncovered as a result of this search.

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So March 2024, just this past month at the time of recording, it's been 50 years since

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Elibeth went missing.

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Police still want to bring Elibeth home and give answers to her family.

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Detective Pat Mertes is still working the case and asked that anyone with information

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about Elibeth or about any unusual habits or activity Gene may have had in the past

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to please come forward.

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You can reach Detective Pat Mertes directly at 605-978-6797.

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Or if you want to submit a tip anonymously, you can call Crime Stoppers Sioux Empire at

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1-877-367-7007 and the sources for the timeline today come from Argus Leader, The Sioux City

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Journal, SDPB Radio, and The Charlie Project.

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So that is the case of Ellabeth Lodermeier.

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When I was listening to you tell Ellie's story and the details started to unfold, my

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heart sank a little bit because of the time period that it takes place in.

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And I think if you have an interest in true crime or have been engaging with true crime

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stories in the way that maybe Ellie and I have, you know that the 70s was a particularly

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violent time in, I'm sure, world history, but more locally, American history.

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You know, a lot of serial killers came out of that time period.

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So my heart just like breaks for that time and including in this case and not to disparage

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the dead.

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But in these cases, you always look at the husband.

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I say that as a husband.

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You always look at the husband or the boyfriend and his track record wasn't great.

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Then just sounded like a scuzzball.

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I guess we know he was abusive, so maybe I don't need to be as eloquent in speaking about

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him.

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The guy was a piece of shit.

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I can't even feel myself getting sweaty talking about this because I'm just angry that there's

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just another case like this of another woman who is just lost to history and time.

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It's really, it's just really sad.

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I'd love to just hear your thoughts and feelings.

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Well, one thing I just kind of wanted to say at the top is I was really conflicted about

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using her last name as Lodermeier because at the time of her disappearance, she was

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three weeks away from finalizing her divorce.

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She was thinking of herself already as a divorced woman, as a single woman.

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I really kind of struggled with if I should use that name, but that's what all of her

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information is linked to.

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So if other people want to look into her case or talk about it or submit a tip, it is under

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the last name Lodermeier.

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That is ultimately why I chose to do that.

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I did kind of wrestle with that, especially because she says under oath that he was abusive.

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I'm not defending Gene at all.

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I agree with you.

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I definitely think that he is a scumbag and was not a good guy.

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But there's also this part of me that wouldn't be surprised as he claims, oh, the police

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were involved and they railroaded me.

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That wouldn't surprise me either for that time period.

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If it came out in a Netflix documentary, this is what happens.

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Can you believe?

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It's like, yes, I can.

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We've seen it happen in other jurisdictions.

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But ultimately, I just really feel for her family.

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Her parents were writing letters in the newspaper begging for information and her sisters never

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gave up searching for them.

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A lot of them have passed away and now her nieces and nephews have all taken up the mission

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of finding out what happened to her and try to bring her home and give answers not just

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for themselves, but also to honor all that time spent of their loved ones who have already

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passed on.

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Yeah, I'd also love an opportunity to change my tone just a little bit and not necessarily

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to oppose myself.

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But I did have that thought about Gene of, yeah, cops have been known to do that, especially

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in that time period when you could get away with more wild behavior that was monitored

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or not monitored, but certainly acceptable.

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So I did think about that and feel for him.

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But I've also heard a lot of cases where, you know, we listen to a lot of true crime

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podcasts where people are interviewed, people who have been railroaded.

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And I would say almost every time those people say, like, yes, this was terrible for me to

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go through, especially to be treated like a criminal or like the accused by law enforcement.

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But I can't imagine what the family is going through.

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And his continued pursuit, even like with the where he took out the thing in the paper,

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I just I mean, it was self serving.

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It wasn't about her.

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It was about him.

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Yeah, I totally agree with you.

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The ad was really self serving.

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It's a really long read with really tiny font.

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And he does he mentions Ellie's case kind of at the beginning, like basically that quote

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that I read is the long and short of it.

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And then it gets into, you know, the harassment he says he faced by police, which a jury later

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says, you know, the police were not guilty.

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So it it was self serving.

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And I didn't mention this in the timeline because I wanted to stay focused on Ellie.

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But, you know, he kind of had a string of things follow him.

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For example, he was seen smashing windows at a department store by an officer.

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And a year later, that officer had a car bomb placed in his car.

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And Gene was a main suspect in that he was never charged with the car bombing.

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And he was never charged in Ellie's case, just to be clear.

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But he was heavily suspected in both of them.

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And you know, the the detective that's on the case currently, Detective Mertes, seems

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very dedicated to Ellie's case and getting answers.

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I can't speak much to like the investigators at the time.

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I don't really know what they did and didn't do.

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If it was talked about in the paper, I couldn't find them or those.

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I just didn't have access to them, but I couldn't really find much along the lines of searches

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in the neighborhood.

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Or you know, obviously, they weren't collecting evidence or doing crime scene evidence collection

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like they do today.

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So, you know, police later talk about DNA and if that had been a thing or something

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that they had thought about when collecting evidence, if they could have solved the case

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with DNA.

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But it's pretty clear that they don't have DNA based off of those comments, I presume.

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Some of my like burning questions in this case.

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If I could have one thing answered for me, it would be what was the condition of like

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her wallet, her purse, like those items that were found, I believe it was 19 years later

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after she had disappeared in the hole by the river.

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I wonder what like what condition were those in?

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Do police think that those have been there since 1974?

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Or were they maybe put there more recently?

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I just would be so curious as to know the condition of what those items were.

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Yeah, the sudden appearance or finding of those items was very interesting to me.

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And you know, it could be a bunch of different things.

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But to me, you know, the first like couple things I thought of those discarded items

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is they they were placed there or discarded there by someone who was on the run or in

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a hurry to get rid of stuff.

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Yeah, because I kind of took those items as like somebody took the time to bury it.

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So like, not necessarily somebody that was on the run, but like, I do see that as well.

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But it's like this is, to me, my first knee jerk was like, Oh, somebody took the time

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to bury this.

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But it's not near her body.

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We know that like police searched that area and she wasn't there.

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So it's like, why that spot?

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Why that area?

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Why not throw it in the river that's right there?

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Like, there's so many questions.

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Why bury it?

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And yeah, there's a lot of questions around that.

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There is always the I mean, the age old they they walked away and started a new life.

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And I would say that I mean that in like, you know, sometimes with these cases, people

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will say, well, maybe they just ran away and they were never seen from again.

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And in this case, I do think there is argument for that possibility, except for the boyfriend

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that she seemed to be very like, excited about this, you know, nice new man in her life that

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was loving her in the way that you should.

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And that her divorce was done like there she was excited.

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And you don't walk away from a life that you are excited about.

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So that's I don't know if that ever came up.

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I hope that's what happened in this case.

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I hope that she just planned it out, figured out a plan.

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She was going to put her credit cards in Canada and her wallet near a river and walk away

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and completely start over, start a new life.

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She was 25.

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Let's go.

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I really hope that's what happened.

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And she's lived a very long and meaningful and purposeful life.

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But if that's not what happens, then I really do hope that we can get her home.

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We may never have satisfactory answers as to what happened to her.

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But I think that kind of quote that her boyfriend said, you know, years later, he was in his

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seventies when he was being interviewed by the paper.

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But I've just, you know, she mattered.

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She was here, you know, just a place for other people to come and leave flowers and prayers

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for her.

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I really hope that the family gets that and they get that closure to this chapter that

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it seems like they are seeking.

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And maybe closure is not the right word, but they just get to bring her home.

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Yeah, the way that her family has continued to both love and search for her is, I mean,

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it is, it's so beautiful, but it's also just, it's always so heartbreaking.

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And I can't help but think about the familial trauma that that is in that family of, you

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know, you said the nieces and nephews of like, what's born into those people of what I

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imagine a natural sorrow that is very much a part of their like family tree now.

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And it's really sad, like that, that missing part of that family tree, like deserves to

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be in full bloom again.

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And I think that full bloom means some answers that are very possible in a case like this,

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at least I really hope so.

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Again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Ella Beth in March of 1974, or her whereabouts

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today, you're encouraged to call Detective Pat Mertes directly at 605-978-6797.

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Or to submit a tip anonymously, please call the Crime Stopper Sue Empire at 1-877-367-7007.

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My lovely wife hit you guys with this when we started in the beginning, but please, please,

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if you could while you are here in whatever your podcast app, rate, review, Apple podcasts,

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00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:49,600
a five star written review is always appreciated.

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We hope that if you are here and are listening and have been listening that you are one of

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the folks who hopefully this week leaves us a written and rated review, we would love

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to hear from you.

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You can also access our show notes and the show transcribed itself at coldandmissing.com.

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And of course, we'll have photos of Ella Beth posted on our Instagram.

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So please follow us there.

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And we also post in our stories about current cases that are happening, current missing

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people.

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It's a great resource.

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And I hope you follow us there.

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Also if there's any updates or changes in the show, kind of last minute, those are all

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announced on our Instagram as well.

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So make sure you're following us to be up to date.

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Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.

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I'm your host, Allie.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli.

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Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.

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Stay safe, y'all.