WEBVTT 00:00:08.269 --> 00:00:10.789 The views and opinions expressed in Cold and 00:00:10.789 --> 00:00:13.710 Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All 00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:16.129 parties mentioned are considered innocent until 00:00:16.129 --> 00:00:18.929 proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing 00:00:18.929 --> 00:00:22.390 also contains adult themes and languages. Listener 00:00:22.390 --> 00:00:26.230 discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin 00:00:26.230 --> 00:00:28.989 -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:31.289 And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover 00:00:31.289 --> 00:00:35.030 cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone, 00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:37.109 and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your 00:00:37.109 --> 00:00:40.079 host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:43.259 back, everyone, and welcome back to me. I'm back 00:00:43.259 --> 00:00:47.759 this week to co -host with my lovely, intelligent, 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:53.060 incredible wife, and we've got a new case for 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:55.840 you this week. That's right. I am back from my 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:58.640 work travel, so we're in the same space, in the 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.119 same house again, and we're ready to bring you 00:01:02.119 --> 00:01:04.739 this new case. That's right. We are on a missing 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:07.549 person case this week. And this is going to be 00:01:07.549 --> 00:01:12.069 episode 147. All right, let's get into it. Let's 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:15.849 do it. Today, we are talking about the missing 00:01:15.849 --> 00:01:19.750 person case of Willie Ann Rucker. And this takes 00:01:19.750 --> 00:01:24.750 place in April of 1979 in Waterloo, Iowa. But 00:01:24.750 --> 00:01:27.709 first, a little bit about Willie Ann. Willie 00:01:27.709 --> 00:01:30.629 Ann Rucker was just 27 years old when she disappeared. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:33.659 By all accounts, it seems like she mostly went 00:01:33.659 --> 00:01:35.879 by her middle name Ann, so you'll hear me kind 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:37.700 of flip back and forth between those two names. 00:01:38.219 --> 00:01:41.159 She was a young mother of three, two daughters, 00:01:41.379 --> 00:01:44.480 ages 10 and 9, and a baby boy who was just over 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.400 a year old in 1979. Her loved ones described 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:51.659 her as kind and hardworking, someone who always 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:54.780 put her children first. She was a wonderful mother. 00:01:55.370 --> 00:01:57.829 At the time, Ann had recently gone through a 00:01:57.829 --> 00:02:00.109 divorce and was doing her best to rebuild her 00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:03.750 life on her own. She stood about 5 '3 and weighed 00:02:03.750 --> 00:02:07.950 around 110 pounds. Small in stature, but strong. 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:11.949 She worked long hours to provide for her family. 00:02:12.750 --> 00:02:15.810 Willie Ann worked as a cocktail waitress at Riddell's 00:02:15.810 --> 00:02:19.810 Living Room Lounge, located at 1428 East 4th 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:23.280 Street in Waterloo, Iowa. Today, the building 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.960 still stands, but it's vacant. She lived in an 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.460 apartment at 429 West Donald Street, apartment 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:33.680 103, which was only about five minutes away from 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.379 where she worked. In the days leading up to her 00:02:37.379 --> 00:02:40.180 disappearance, Ann had reached out to police. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:43.360 She told them that her ex had been frightening 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.699 her and that he was stalking her. She was scared, 00:02:46.699 --> 00:02:50.509 but she reached out and asked for help. And now 00:02:50.509 --> 00:02:55.650 a timeline of events. Sunday, April 8th, 1979. 00:02:57.069 --> 00:03:00.229 That Sunday, Ann had spent part of the day with 00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:02.990 her sister, Mary Lee, as she got ready for work. 00:03:03.349 --> 00:03:06.189 It was a regular shift for Willie Ann at Riddell's 00:03:06.189 --> 00:03:09.270 Lounge. There aren't any reports about anything 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:13.270 unusual happening during her shift. After the 00:03:13.270 --> 00:03:15.949 bar closed, she called Mary Lee from a grocery 00:03:15.949 --> 00:03:18.840 store. and asked if their brother could pick 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:21.000 up the kids and bring them back to her apartment. 00:03:21.819 --> 00:03:24.379 Now, from here, there are a couple of different 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:27.599 things that are reported over the years. There 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.219 is one mention that a few minutes later, Willie 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:35.259 Ann calls her sister again. In this report, it 00:03:35.259 --> 00:03:38.360 says that Willie Ann called her sister Mary Lee 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:40.819 again, but this time she was actually at her 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:43.560 apartment, and she called to ask where the kids 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:46.699 were at. her sister told her that her brother 00:03:46.699 --> 00:03:48.539 was still bringing them over to her apartment. 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:51.979 But during that call, Ann said something that 00:03:51.979 --> 00:03:54.919 was terrifying. She told her sister that her 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:58.360 ex was trying to break into the apartment. Now, 00:03:58.379 --> 00:04:00.680 over the years, that second phone call where 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:03.300 she says that her ex is breaking into the apartment 00:04:03.300 --> 00:04:07.360 has dropped out of the reporting. The story that's 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.620 told today and most often in the reports is that 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:13.990 the children arrived at the apartment. but their 00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:17.410 mother never did. That was the last time that 00:04:17.410 --> 00:04:20.149 anyone in Ann's family ever heard from her. 00:04:21.269 --> 00:04:24.850 It's unclear exactly what was done searching 00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:27.509 for Willie Ann over the next couple days. We 00:04:27.509 --> 00:04:30.050 know that her family noticed right away. Of course, 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:32.810 her sister did, and her children, of course, 00:04:32.810 --> 00:04:35.569 noticed that she was missing. But it's not until 00:04:35.569 --> 00:04:38.990 four days later, on Thursday, April 12th, that 00:04:38.990 --> 00:04:41.269 she's officially reported missing to the police. 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:44.860 It's unclear if this is when the family wanted 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:47.019 to report it or if this is the first time the 00:04:47.019 --> 00:04:49.000 police would take the report, because it does 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:52.000 seem like the family was aware she was missing 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.519 and was worried about it right away. On Sunday, 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:59.199 April 15th, so it's a full week now since anybody 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:03.000 has seen Willian, and police began actively searching 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.379 for her, so they're a week behind. Her family 00:05:06.379 --> 00:05:08.819 told investigators that it was completely out 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:10.800 of character for her to leave without a word. 00:05:11.310 --> 00:05:13.930 She loved her children deeply. There was no way 00:05:13.930 --> 00:05:16.430 she would abandon them. And it didn't really 00:05:16.430 --> 00:05:19.889 add up. Why would Willie Ann call and ask for 00:05:19.889 --> 00:05:21.670 her children to be brought to her apartment if 00:05:21.670 --> 00:05:24.350 she was just going to leave suddenly and unexpectedly? 00:05:24.930 --> 00:05:28.009 Why would she do that? Police begin looking into 00:05:28.009 --> 00:05:30.970 it, but pretty quickly, they run into dead ends. 00:05:31.750 --> 00:05:35.649 On Tuesday, April 17th, so this is nine days 00:05:35.649 --> 00:05:38.360 after Willie Ann was last heard from, Police 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:40.839 ask the public for help in finding the young 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:44.379 mother. Police say they don't have any leads 00:05:44.379 --> 00:05:48.240 at this point. The next week, on Sunday, April 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.720 22nd, so this has now been two weeks since Willie 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:54.660 Ann vanished, and police learned that someone 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:58.899 had broken into her apartment. Police say that 00:05:58.899 --> 00:06:01.540 the lock had been picked and that the only thing 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:04.600 stolen from the apartment was one of Ann's warm 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:07.629 -up suits. Nothing else was reported missing. 00:06:09.509 --> 00:06:11.870 Investigators publicly stated that they didn't 00:06:11.870 --> 00:06:14.089 believe the break -in was related to her disappearance. 00:06:15.550 --> 00:06:18.970 By early May, approaching a month since Willie 00:06:18.970 --> 00:06:23.069 Ann vanished, police had very few clues. They 00:06:23.069 --> 00:06:25.750 suspected foul play and revealed that they were 00:06:25.750 --> 00:06:29.449 looking for a man. However, detectives fear that 00:06:29.449 --> 00:06:31.970 this man that they're looking for has fled the 00:06:31.970 --> 00:06:35.449 state. Police never publicly name him in the 00:06:35.449 --> 00:06:38.649 paper he's just kind of referred to as an ex 00:06:38.649 --> 00:06:42.730 of hers. Ann's family still holds out hope that 00:06:42.730 --> 00:06:45.470 she's alive and that maybe she had gone to Arkansas, 00:06:45.589 --> 00:06:49.029 where her mother and father lived. The family 00:06:49.029 --> 00:06:51.129 thought that maybe she had gone out there to 00:06:51.129 --> 00:06:53.529 lay low if she was experiencing trouble with 00:06:53.529 --> 00:06:57.009 this ex, but none of the family in Arkansas had 00:06:57.009 --> 00:07:00.269 heard from her in the month or seen her. Pretty 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:04.370 quickly, After this, the case goes cold. It doesn't 00:07:04.370 --> 00:07:06.250 seem like police ever find the person who broke 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:08.370 into her apartment, and they certainly don't 00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:11.129 find Willie Ann or the person responsible for 00:07:11.129 --> 00:07:16.310 her vanishing. In 1992, so 13 years had passed, 00:07:16.310 --> 00:07:20.149 and there were still no answers. Police admitted 00:07:20.149 --> 00:07:23.790 that they still had no leads. They said at this 00:07:23.790 --> 00:07:26.350 point, they have entered her information into 00:07:26.350 --> 00:07:29.660 national databases. hoping that if she ever was 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:32.980 pulled over or identified anywhere in the country, 00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:35.920 it would alert law enforcement that this person 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.899 was missing and they could get back to Waterloo 00:07:38.899 --> 00:07:43.259 police. But that never happened. Willie Ann never 00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:46.839 requested a driver's license. Her social security 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:49.220 was never active. There was no movement on any 00:07:49.220 --> 00:07:53.620 of her information. Sergeant Paul Fitzgerald 00:07:53.620 --> 00:08:00.160 told the press, quote, And by this time, 13 years 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:03.439 later, Willie Ann's three children were either 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.720 grown adults or they had moved in with her mother 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:11.240 in Arkansas. Decades will continue to pass. In 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:14.720 2001, so more than two decades after her disappearance, 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:18.689 Willie Ann's name would resurface from time to 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:20.550 time in the media whenever they were talking 00:08:20.550 --> 00:08:23.050 about other missing person cases in the area, 00:08:23.230 --> 00:08:25.769 but there were never any leads or new information 00:08:25.769 --> 00:08:30.170 in her case. Her family accepted what their hearts 00:08:30.170 --> 00:08:33.070 felt, that there was a chance that Willie Ann 00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:37.169 was never coming home alive. Her cousin, Corla 00:08:37.169 --> 00:08:39.889 Rucker, who was just seven or eight when Willie 00:08:39.889 --> 00:08:43.490 Ann vanished, told the paper, quote, I thought 00:08:43.490 --> 00:08:46.360 the same thing I think with Ann. that she's dead. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.480 She has kids and she hasn't tried to make any 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.460 kind of contact with them. If she was alive, 00:08:52.700 --> 00:08:54.519 she would have tried to make contact with her 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:58.360 children. Over the years, Willie Ann's children 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:01.960 grew up. Her daughters shielded their little 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:04.759 brother from the truth, telling him that their 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:08.700 mother had died in a car accident. Her son, David 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:11.019 Barrett, didn't learn what had actually happened 00:09:11.019 --> 00:09:14.759 until he was in his 20s. It was at a family reunion 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:19.039 around the year 2000, an uncle accidentally let 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:21.419 it slip that his mother had actually disappeared 00:09:21.419 --> 00:09:25.379 and that no one knew what happened to her. David 00:09:25.379 --> 00:09:28.820 later said, quote, it was a shocker. I had gone 00:09:28.820 --> 00:09:30.860 all my life trying to figure out what actually 00:09:30.860 --> 00:09:33.840 happened. Every time I'd ask somebody, they'd 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.100 be like, go ask him, go ask her. They kept pushing 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:40.889 it around. David and his sisters had been raised 00:09:40.889 --> 00:09:43.309 by their grandparents, Willie Ann's parents. 00:09:44.269 --> 00:09:46.850 When his older sister finished her undergraduate 00:09:46.850 --> 00:09:50.370 degree, she became David's legal guardian and 00:09:50.370 --> 00:09:53.710 moved him to her house. It was there that David 00:09:53.710 --> 00:09:56.070 met his high school football coach, Clinton Gore, 00:09:56.309 --> 00:09:59.470 the man who would help launch his career. David 00:09:59.470 --> 00:10:01.870 Barrett would go on to be drafted by the Arizona 00:10:01.870 --> 00:10:04.690 Cardinals in the fourth round of the NFL draft. 00:10:05.610 --> 00:10:08.269 He later became a starting cornerback for the 00:10:08.269 --> 00:10:11.409 New York Jets. As he traveled across the country, 00:10:11.549 --> 00:10:13.690 playing in stadiums packed with thousands of 00:10:13.690 --> 00:10:16.409 people, he said he had always hoped that maybe 00:10:16.409 --> 00:10:18.570 one day his mother would show up at one of his 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:23.789 games. In 2007, nearly three decades after she 00:10:23.789 --> 00:10:27.509 vanished, Ann's family is still searching for 00:10:27.509 --> 00:10:30.669 the truth. Her daughter Kim told reporters, quote, 00:10:30.870 --> 00:10:33.629 We've had private investigators work on the case. 00:10:34.190 --> 00:10:36.269 We think it was an ex -boyfriend who killed her, 00:10:36.409 --> 00:10:39.669 but we've never been able to prove it. As of 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:43.409 2025, it's been 46 years since Willie Ann Rucker 00:10:43.409 --> 00:10:47.110 disappeared. She was a young mother, a sister, 00:10:47.250 --> 00:10:50.330 and a daughter, a woman doing her best to raise 00:10:50.330 --> 00:10:52.970 her kids and move forward after a difficult divorce. 00:10:53.929 --> 00:10:56.789 She asked for help when she was scared, and she 00:10:56.789 --> 00:11:00.250 deserved protection and safety. Her children 00:11:00.250 --> 00:11:02.590 grew up without answers and her family has spent 00:11:02.590 --> 00:11:05.049 nearly five decades wondering what happened to 00:11:05.049 --> 00:11:09.909 her that night in April of 1979. So if you have 00:11:09.909 --> 00:11:12.429 any information about the disappearance of Willie 00:11:12.429 --> 00:11:16.149 Ann Rucker or her whereabouts today, please call 00:11:16.149 --> 00:11:21.529 the Waterloo Police Department at 319 -291 -2515. 00:11:22.590 --> 00:11:25.490 or the Missing Person Information Clearinghouse, 00:11:25.710 --> 00:11:28.990 Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at 515 00:11:28.990 --> 00:11:35.909 -725 -6036. So that is the missing person case 00:11:35.909 --> 00:11:39.870 of Willie Ann Rucker. Um, first of all, I just 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:45.570 love her name. It's such a cool name and such 00:11:45.570 --> 00:11:48.129 a unique name that I'm sad I didn't hear it until 00:11:48.129 --> 00:11:52.059 today. There's so much behind this case. There's 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:55.200 a lot of missing pieces. It goes back and forth, 00:11:55.259 --> 00:11:59.519 the timeline. I have a lot of clarifying questions. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:06.940 But first, just to speak on Willie Ann, the description 00:12:06.940 --> 00:12:12.080 of her being small but mighty or brave. I definitely 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:16.820 align with that. I'm a small guy. I still feel 00:12:16.820 --> 00:12:20.039 very powerful and empowered even in my size. 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.779 So it always feels comforting to hear someone 00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:28.399 else described like that. But all the more heartbreaking 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:33.299 to know her size and that maybe in this case 00:12:33.299 --> 00:12:38.080 she was harmed or taken advantage of or much 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:41.740 worse. And I'm just really looking forward to 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:45.799 talking about this case with you. Yeah. Willie 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:49.480 Ann seems like a very tough woman. You know, 00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:52.559 she's 27 years old. She has these three young 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.019 kids that she's taking care of by herself. And 00:12:55.019 --> 00:12:59.600 she's working as a cocktail waitress, which is 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:03.480 a tough job. Working as a cocktail waitress, 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:05.440 I personally have never done it, but I know my 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:09.019 mother has. And I know it's tough work and you 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:12.440 got to be tough to do it. Yeah, I mean, statistically 00:13:12.440 --> 00:13:17.370 and especially during that time, Not that a ton 00:13:17.370 --> 00:13:23.009 has changed in behaviors everywhere, but I think 00:13:23.009 --> 00:13:25.330 being a woman in that environment while you're 00:13:25.330 --> 00:13:27.610 trying to do your job and being surrounded by 00:13:27.610 --> 00:13:32.970 people who have been drinking, mostly men, you're 00:13:32.970 --> 00:13:36.169 putting up with a lot, a lot of what I imagine 00:13:36.169 --> 00:13:42.899 bullshit and misogyny. Just not easy shifts. 00:13:42.899 --> 00:13:46.399 So it was very easy for me to picture her. And 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:50.639 especially after I did look at her picture, I 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:53.279 could picture her in that environment and like 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.480 running it the way that she was described. So, 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.519 yeah, I totally agree. She sounded tough and 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:03.659 like a badass. Completely agree. Yeah. I do want 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:07.559 to move into the timeline a little bit and particularly 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:13.970 starting with. Her fear surrounding her ex, either 00:14:13.970 --> 00:14:18.490 it's her husband or ex -boyfriend. Maybe we can 00:14:18.490 --> 00:14:21.789 get some clarity on that, but I also know that 00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:24.169 maybe you might not be sure with the information 00:14:24.169 --> 00:14:27.990 out there. Yes, it is very thin. You know, the 00:14:27.990 --> 00:14:30.970 reports back in 1979, the media coverage is very 00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:34.289 thin in Willian's case. So there were reports 00:14:34.289 --> 00:14:36.090 that she had gone through a divorce recently. 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:39.100 But then, you know, her family talks about an 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:42.139 ex -boyfriend. Maybe it wasn't a divorce per 00:14:42.139 --> 00:14:45.220 se. Maybe it was, you know, a breakup where they 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.259 had lived together for a long time and it just 00:14:47.259 --> 00:14:50.159 felt more like a divorce. But it does seem like 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:53.639 she had separated from somebody recently and 00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:59.080 that was causing issues in her life. Yeah. Hearing 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:04.559 that instantly, my body was shaking. I just was 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:09.700 so... angry because time and time again, we have 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:15.679 heard cases like this and almost always women 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:21.159 and specifically women of color are failed in 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:25.419 these instances over and over again. Like the 00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:29.200 fact that there is mismatching information around 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:35.090 this case is unforgivable. And just heartbreaking 00:15:35.090 --> 00:15:37.950 because she did reach out. She did say something. 00:15:38.049 --> 00:15:41.570 And for it to not be taken seriously, for it 00:15:41.570 --> 00:15:45.789 to not be looked at more closely. Yeah, I mean, 00:15:45.809 --> 00:15:48.149 I know I could maybe be maybe I'm speaking in 00:15:48.149 --> 00:15:51.789 an echo chamber right now, but it was painful, 00:15:51.889 --> 00:15:54.470 painful to listen to because instantly I knew 00:15:54.470 --> 00:15:58.970 that the system was failing her. Yeah, it is. 00:15:59.250 --> 00:16:04.080 It is really frustrating that. Here she is raising 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.700 the alarm days before she disappears that, you 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:08.799 know, somebody is stalking her, somebody is harassing 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.299 her. She has these three young kids. She's by 00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:14.379 herself. It's really frustrating to think that 00:16:14.379 --> 00:16:17.159 she raised this alarm, had these concerns, her 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:19.700 family knew about these concerns, and yet police 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:24.259 don't know who did this to her. You know, to 00:16:24.259 --> 00:16:26.799 me, it seems, you know, what the family thinks, 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.940 you know, that an ex -boyfriend is involved. 00:16:31.690 --> 00:16:33.929 You know, a lot of evidence seems to point that 00:16:33.929 --> 00:16:37.629 way with her sounding the alarm, being stalked, 00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:40.470 being harassed. Like, that's all a recipe for 00:16:40.470 --> 00:16:42.669 disaster. And it's painful to think that she 00:16:42.669 --> 00:16:48.149 was trying to stop it from happening and nothing 00:16:48.149 --> 00:16:52.049 she did, you know, prevented it. Nobody, you 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:54.629 know, the police didn't step in and stop it. 00:16:54.830 --> 00:16:58.649 And not to mention just, you know, prior to her 00:16:58.649 --> 00:17:01.740 disappearance. or foul play with her disappearance, 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:11.819 the toll that that takes on a person of constantly 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:14.880 worrying and looking over your shoulder and living 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:19.839 life in survival mode and in pure fear is exhausting. 00:17:20.059 --> 00:17:23.700 And she was doing this as a single parent to 00:17:23.700 --> 00:17:30.390 not one, not two, but three kids. And I know 00:17:30.390 --> 00:17:32.470 I've said it before, but like for the love of 00:17:32.470 --> 00:17:35.910 God, like why did no one help her? I'm really 00:17:35.910 --> 00:17:38.109 glad that you brought this case here today because 00:17:38.109 --> 00:17:41.930 it feels like we can maybe be even just a little 00:17:41.930 --> 00:17:44.990 bit helpful with getting her name back out there. 00:17:45.309 --> 00:17:50.190 And I do want to circle back to the first 72 00:17:50.190 --> 00:17:54.089 hours or the way. Her being reported missing 00:17:54.089 --> 00:17:57.890 happened and how law enforcement handled it. 00:17:57.970 --> 00:18:01.789 We know if you're interested in true crime or 00:18:01.789 --> 00:18:04.349 engage with it, that the first 72 hours are critical 00:18:04.349 --> 00:18:07.430 in a missing person case. And that window of 00:18:07.430 --> 00:18:12.289 time just fucking flew by. And it was a week, 00:18:12.289 --> 00:18:14.630 I think you said, until they started looking 00:18:14.630 --> 00:18:17.630 for her. And it's like, I never want to say it's 00:18:17.630 --> 00:18:21.720 too late, but the ball was dropped. And again, 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:27.359 this woman, Willie Ann, was failed. Yeah. So 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:30.160 she officially gets reported four days after 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:33.799 she went missing. So she goes missing late Sunday, 00:18:34.059 --> 00:18:36.039 early Monday morning. She's reported missing 00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:39.839 that Thursday. But police don't start looking 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.519 for her officially, it seems like, until that 00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:45.859 Sunday. I don't know for sure the reasoning. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.180 You know, they never came out and said this is 00:18:48.180 --> 00:18:52.420 why we waited. I imagine they assumed that, you 00:18:52.420 --> 00:18:54.539 know, she would show up, she would turn up, she'd 00:18:54.539 --> 00:18:56.619 call somebody, she just needs to get away. You 00:18:56.619 --> 00:18:58.500 know, we see that again and again, and especially 00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:02.099 in older missing person cases. But it seems like 00:19:02.099 --> 00:19:04.279 at one week when nobody had heard from her, when 00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:07.119 her family insists how strange that is, that's 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:08.839 when they finally start to take her disappearance 00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:11.680 seriously. But like you said, they're a week 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:16.039 behind, you know, the trails. already cold at 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:18.000 that point. They're not hot on the trail. They're 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.420 a week behind it. So it's difficult to come back 00:19:21.420 --> 00:19:26.460 from that. Well, you bringing this case to us 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:29.240 means that we are taking it seriously. So I do 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.960 want to get into some of the details and just 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:37.619 clarify some of them. I want to just recap or 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:40.559 go back to the section of the phone calls and 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.839 what happened, what was said about the kids. 00:19:43.589 --> 00:19:47.869 So the phone calls. So these all take place late 00:19:47.869 --> 00:19:50.509 Sunday, early Monday morning. We don't have exact 00:19:50.509 --> 00:19:52.970 times of them, but it's after she works her shift 00:19:52.970 --> 00:19:57.670 at Riddell's lounge, living room lounge. So after 00:19:57.670 --> 00:20:01.029 she works her shift, we know for sure she calls 00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:04.089 her sister from a grocery store and asks that 00:20:04.089 --> 00:20:06.869 the kids be brought to her apartment. You know, 00:20:06.869 --> 00:20:09.390 she's headed that way. Go ahead and bring the 00:20:09.390 --> 00:20:13.000 kids home. So that phone call. for sure has happened. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:17.180 The second phone call is the one that I question. 00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:21.160 It's only mentioned once in newspaper reports 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:24.500 that Willian called again. And this time she 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:26.799 was at her apartment, not at the grocery store, 00:20:26.940 --> 00:20:29.339 at her apartment asking where the kids were. 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:32.380 And her sister says that, you know, her brother 00:20:32.380 --> 00:20:34.259 is bringing them. They're not there yet. They're 00:20:34.259 --> 00:20:37.859 still there. And Willian says that somebody's 00:20:37.859 --> 00:20:39.819 breaking into the apartment. She says her ex 00:20:39.819 --> 00:20:42.420 -boyfriend. Again, he's not named, but I assume 00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:44.460 she knows who it is and names the person to her 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:47.619 sister. So that phone call, that second phone 00:20:47.619 --> 00:20:52.660 call, drops out of the timeline later. And when 00:20:52.660 --> 00:20:54.740 this case is reported today, when it's talked 00:20:54.740 --> 00:20:57.200 about today, that second phone call is not mentioned. 00:20:57.259 --> 00:20:59.900 So I don't know if it didn't happen, but it seems 00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:03.960 so specific for it not to have happened, for 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:06.779 it to be reported on, or if it just kind of got 00:21:06.779 --> 00:21:09.599 brought out of the timeline. in the official 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:11.559 media report because police wanted to keep that 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:14.880 detail closer to the vest. I'm not sure about 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:18.259 the second phone call. But today when we talk 00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:21.539 about Willie Ann's case, they say the phone call 00:21:21.539 --> 00:21:24.339 at the grocery store happened and then the kids 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:26.720 arrive at the apartment, but Willie Ann never 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:30.920 shows up. So that is the official statement of 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:36.019 events today. Okay, thank you for compiling that. 00:21:36.140 --> 00:21:39.730 I know it's hard for it to be. because it's just 00:21:39.730 --> 00:21:43.710 not, but I have a much greater understanding 00:21:43.710 --> 00:21:47.829 of what happened during that section of the timeline, 00:21:48.130 --> 00:21:53.950 which begs the question, I don't understand how 00:21:53.950 --> 00:21:57.670 that conclusion wasn't drawn, that the break 00:21:57.670 --> 00:22:01.029 -in that did actually happen, whether she said 00:22:01.029 --> 00:22:03.490 it in a phone call or not, we can confirm that 00:22:03.490 --> 00:22:08.750 that did happen. How the robbery... And her disappearance 00:22:08.750 --> 00:22:13.549 were not linked at all or wasn't even looked 00:22:13.549 --> 00:22:18.970 at. I don't know what to say on that. I was baffled. 00:22:19.329 --> 00:22:22.269 The break -in is a very strange detail in this 00:22:22.269 --> 00:22:24.309 case and one that I don't think is talked about 00:22:24.309 --> 00:22:28.150 enough. So the break -in seems to happen weeks 00:22:28.150 --> 00:22:31.630 after Willie Ann goes missing, maybe a week and 00:22:31.630 --> 00:22:33.690 a half, two weeks after she goes missing in the 00:22:33.690 --> 00:22:39.700 timeline. That maybe second phone call where 00:22:39.700 --> 00:22:41.619 she says an ex is trying to break in. In that 00:22:41.619 --> 00:22:44.339 scenario, she's in the apartment while it's happening. 00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:48.319 This, however, police discover it later. And 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.460 the only thing missing, they say, is a warm -up 00:22:51.460 --> 00:22:53.880 suit. So I interpret that as like a track suit. 00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:58.099 Why is that the only thing missing? Why is that 00:22:58.099 --> 00:23:02.299 the thing missing? No money, no cash. A jogging 00:23:02.299 --> 00:23:06.339 suit? Why? I have so many questions around that, 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:11.559 and I agree. To me, it seems so strange for this 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:14.920 woman to go missing and then an article of clothing 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:18.460 be stolen from her apartment and nothing else. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:21.740 It seems very suspicious to me and strange that 00:23:21.740 --> 00:23:23.940 they wouldn't be connected. And if they're not 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:26.559 connected, show me the math on how they're not. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:29.160 Like, who did the break -in? And why did they 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:31.140 do it? And how do you know they had nothing to 00:23:31.140 --> 00:23:33.480 do with the disappearance? Like show me how that 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.299 all works out. Because to me, I have huge questions 00:23:36.299 --> 00:23:39.440 around the break -in. Thank you again for clarifying 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:44.059 that the two are separate and that one may be 00:23:44.059 --> 00:23:47.160 conflated and kind of does and does not exist 00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:51.920 in the timeline. Certainly not confirmed. I do 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:55.160 understand that the two are separate and that 00:23:55.160 --> 00:24:00.660 one may not have happened. Even still, after 00:24:00.660 --> 00:24:02.819 a woman goes missing and someone breaks into 00:24:02.819 --> 00:24:07.319 the house and steals something personal, there's 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:17.440 no link? Come on. What? Like, what? And again, 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:20.359 where the math doesn't make sense here, with 00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:22.839 how you described her, the way her family described 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:26.730 her, She does not seem like someone who would 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:30.369 leave her children behind unprotected with no 00:24:30.369 --> 00:24:35.769 plan. I think in these instances where you are 00:24:35.769 --> 00:24:38.369 maybe trying to run from someone who is causing 00:24:38.369 --> 00:24:42.450 you great harm and or fear, there is often, if 00:24:42.450 --> 00:24:44.750 there can be, a plan in place. Maybe someone 00:24:44.750 --> 00:24:47.390 in your family also knows about it and is helping 00:24:47.390 --> 00:24:52.089 you. I that does not seem like what was happening 00:24:52.089 --> 00:24:54.369 here. And the family, you know, never says anything 00:24:54.369 --> 00:24:57.289 about that. All they say over and over again 00:24:57.289 --> 00:25:00.390 is this is odd. This is outside of her behavior. 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:04.970 So a lot of things don't add up here. And I really 00:25:04.970 --> 00:25:08.190 hope that with people hearing this case, some 00:25:08.190 --> 00:25:13.250 things start to come to the forefront and we 00:25:13.250 --> 00:25:16.809 can make sense of some of the timeline and just 00:25:16.809 --> 00:25:19.630 justice for her. Yeah, I really hope that we 00:25:19.630 --> 00:25:22.630 can get some energy in Willie -Ann's case and 00:25:22.630 --> 00:25:24.650 get answers for her children, get answers for 00:25:24.650 --> 00:25:28.029 her family. I know her children, you know, they've 00:25:28.029 --> 00:25:29.849 talked about it. They've hired a private investigator 00:25:29.849 --> 00:25:31.509 over the years. They've spent their own money 00:25:31.509 --> 00:25:33.309 trying to figure out what happened to their mother. 00:25:33.369 --> 00:25:38.930 And they still don't have answers. And I agree 00:25:38.930 --> 00:25:43.809 with what you said. And from everything the family 00:25:43.809 --> 00:25:46.930 said, that was... The thing that was most concerning 00:25:46.930 --> 00:25:49.650 is that she would never leave her children. She 00:25:49.650 --> 00:25:51.930 would never abandon them. She would never run 00:25:51.930 --> 00:25:54.569 away without contacting them. Like, so the fact 00:25:54.569 --> 00:25:56.609 that after all these years, she has never reached 00:25:56.609 --> 00:25:59.650 out to her children. She had a son who was in 00:25:59.650 --> 00:26:02.130 the NFL and never reached out, never tried to 00:26:02.130 --> 00:26:06.069 contact. It makes me believe that she's unable 00:26:06.069 --> 00:26:09.069 to contact them. Like, Willie Ann would have 00:26:09.069 --> 00:26:11.269 found a way to get to her children if she could. 00:26:11.789 --> 00:26:14.230 And the fact that she hasn't. after all these 00:26:14.230 --> 00:26:19.369 years is not OK. And somebody needs to answer 00:26:19.369 --> 00:26:22.569 for what happened here. Somebody knows. Somebody 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:24.730 did something. Somebody made it so that way this 00:26:24.730 --> 00:26:26.750 mother could not get back to her children. And 00:26:26.750 --> 00:26:28.670 they should have to answer for that and have 00:26:28.670 --> 00:26:31.130 to tell her children what happened if they want 00:26:31.130 --> 00:26:33.950 to know what happened. So I really hope we can 00:26:33.950 --> 00:26:36.970 get energy in William's case because it feels 00:26:36.970 --> 00:26:39.750 solvable. It feels like there's some really good 00:26:39.750 --> 00:26:41.750 leads. Police say they don't have any. And it's 00:26:41.750 --> 00:26:43.609 like their feet. There feels like there's some 00:26:43.609 --> 00:26:46.269 good ones here, some good suspects to look into. 00:26:46.569 --> 00:26:50.329 And if police have, let's get that out there. 00:26:50.369 --> 00:26:53.049 Let's say ex -husband, ex -boyfriends have all 00:26:53.049 --> 00:26:55.990 been ruled out. So that way, more people can 00:26:55.990 --> 00:26:58.410 rack their brains and focus somewhere else. Because 00:26:58.410 --> 00:27:01.309 we need answers here. Willie Ann deserves justice. 00:27:01.710 --> 00:27:04.309 And more people should be talking about her case, 00:27:04.349 --> 00:27:07.990 I feel like. So again, if you have any information 00:27:07.990 --> 00:27:10.230 about the disappearance of Willie Ann Rucker, 00:27:30.089 --> 00:27:35.710 As always, I will be providing graphics for Willian's 00:27:35.710 --> 00:27:39.730 case and those will be... on our Instagram at 00:27:39.730 --> 00:27:42.890 Cold and Missing. If you are not following us 00:27:42.890 --> 00:27:45.910 there, please go ahead and give us a follow. 00:27:46.029 --> 00:27:49.230 You can engage with our posts. We post other 00:27:49.230 --> 00:27:53.710 missing person cases, cold cases. We really use 00:27:53.710 --> 00:27:57.609 the platform to do what Cold and Missing is meant 00:27:57.609 --> 00:28:01.130 to do, which is uplift and bring these cases 00:28:01.130 --> 00:28:04.440 to the forefront. And thank you if you have left 00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:07.519 us a review, a comment, if you've shared, gone 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:10.299 on our website, www .coldandmissing .com to leave 00:28:10.299 --> 00:28:12.420 us a review. We've had so many kind, wonderful, 00:28:12.660 --> 00:28:15.440 generous reviews come in. And I know I've said 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:17.480 it before, I'm a broken record on this, but those 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:20.509 five stars. Make somebody who has never listened 00:28:20.509 --> 00:28:23.009 to this podcast before give us a shot, and that 00:28:23.009 --> 00:28:25.769 gets cases like Willie Ann's out there. So thank 00:28:25.769 --> 00:28:28.789 you for doing that. If you haven't, please, I 00:28:28.789 --> 00:28:30.789 hope you consider giving us five stars, leaving 00:28:30.789 --> 00:28:33.650 us a review. It would really help us and these 00:28:33.650 --> 00:28:36.519 cases. so much. So if you have the time today, 00:28:36.660 --> 00:28:39.539 thank you so much. Appreciate it. And if you 00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:41.519 or someone you love is hard of hearing, we do 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:43.740 have official transcripts on our website, www 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:46.740 .coldandmissing .com. So if you need those, you 00:28:46.740 --> 00:28:49.220 can follow along there. And it has all of our 00:28:49.220 --> 00:28:51.319 old episodes. If you're looking for the backlog, 00:28:51.500 --> 00:28:54.900 you can find it all there. That is all I have 00:28:54.900 --> 00:28:56.900 for you this week, though. Thank you so much 00:28:56.900 --> 00:28:59.079 for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:02.460 Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have a good 00:29:02.460 --> 00:29:05.000 week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe y 'all.