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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.

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And missing person cases.

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Hello everyone and welcome back.

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Welcome back everyone.

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I'm Ali.

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And I am Eli.

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And it's Cold and Missing.

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We are on episode 42 this week.

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Mm-hmm.

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And I believe you have a cold case for us.

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Yep, we are on cold cases.

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Should we just go ahead and get into it?

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Yeah, let's do it.

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So today I have for you a cold case, but just as a content warning at the top, this case

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does involve a young person and there is mention of sexual assault.

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Today we are covering the cold case of Earl and Clarissa Gonzales.

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And this takes place in September of 1999 in Questa, New Mexico.

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But first a little bit about Earl and Clarissa.

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Earl is 51 years old in 1999 and his daughter Clarissa is nine years old.

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Together they live in the small village of Questa, New Mexico.

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The village has a population of around 1,500 at this time.

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The place is so small that the police department is made up of two people that take shifts

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being on call in the evening.

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Earl was born December 18th, 1947 and he would be 75 years old today.

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He had been drafted into the Vietnam War and had served his time for the army.

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His family had lived in Questa for generations and Earl was a beloved community member.

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He was part of the volunteer fire department.

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He worked as a handyman and as an educator for the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, which

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was a program designed to help young folks find work in the community.

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Earl taught construction.

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His boss, Carl Colonius, says, quote, he was enthusiastic and committed.

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He really gave a lot of thought to how to help his crews, how to provide more than just

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the practical education, end quote.

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He loved masonry work.

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His uncle, Joe Cisneros, says, quote, he was a great mason, a hell of a mason.

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It's terrible.

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I'm shocked.

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Everybody knew him, loved him.

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He's a quiet guy, end quote.

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Earl and Clarissa lived on Camino Sin Salina, which is street with no exit, on a house built

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on a hill above Cabresto Canyon.

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The home was also adjacent to an area often used by hikers and campers of the Kit Carson

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National Forest.

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Clarissa was born November 22, 1988, and she would be 34 years old today.

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In 1999, she was an energetic fifth grader at Alta Vista Elementary School, where she

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had won the top prize in the science fair the year before.

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She loved being with her dad and went with him everywhere.

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A resident of the town who asked to remain anonymous said, quote, she was a sweet little

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girl.

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She always smiled and she went everywhere with her dad, end quote.

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She often tagged along with her dad to work, and Earl's boss, Carl, said, quote, she

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was a little light.

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She was one of those kids that was absolutely a pleasure to have kicking around your office,

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end quote.

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Clarissa had just celebrated her first communion in May of 1999, and her family remembers how

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proud and excited she was.

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And now a timeline of events.

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Thursday, September 2, 1999.

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After being unable to get a hold of Earl, his girlfriend decides to drive over to his

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house.

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Earl's girlfriend has never publicly been named by police or the media, so I'm going

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to respect her privacy and not name her here.

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But she told police that she had been trying to reach Earl by phone since August 31, but

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she had not been able to get an answer.

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She arrived at the home around 4 p.m.

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She finds Earl dead and immediately calls the police.

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Police arrive and notice a note attached to the door that says, why?

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But there are no signs of forced entry.

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Earl often left his doors unlocked.

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Investigators find Earl dead on the couch of the living room.

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Earl died of a gunshot to the left temple from a pistol.

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And police are immediately able to rule out death by suicide since the gun of the correct

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caliber could not be located in the home.

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Investigators believe that he was shot in the head at close range and this likely happened

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while he was sleeping.

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At first, police are unable to find Clarissa in the home.

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They're hopeful that she heard the gunshot and ran out of the house to hide in the nearby

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woods.

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Just as police are beginning to plan their search, they find Clarissa upstairs next to

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the bed she was sleeping in.

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Clarissa had died from a ligature strangulation.

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Police begin processing the scene.

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Everyone there described the scene as horrid and disgusting.

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Investigators removed a telephone cord and an electric blanket cord as evidence from

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the home.

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The District Attorney, John Paterhoster, had this to say about the crime, quote, it's

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beyond horrible, end quote.

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The next day, Friday, September 3, Earl and Clarissa's autopsies are conducted.

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It's believed that they were killed between 4 and 6 a.m. on September 2.

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Investigators are able to confirm a sighting of Earl and Clarissa on September 1.

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Earl was shot in close range by either a.44 or.45 caliber pistol.

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The small village of Questa is shaken up by the double homicide, a neighbor who wished

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to remain anonymous for fear the killer would come back.

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And as a side note, every person who asked to remain anonymous in this case mentioned

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that they had the fear that the killer was going to come to find them.

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But this woman was a neighbor and she had a daughter around Clarissa's age and they

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would often play together.

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And she says, quote, I didn't sleep last night after I heard it happened.

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It's shocking to think that something like this happened here in such a small, quiet

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town, end quote.

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Police say that at this time they have no suspects but are following up on leads.

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The D.A., John Patterhoster, says, quote, we're working the case as quickly as we can.

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Based on the outstanding police work that has been done at this point, we have confidence

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that we are going to solve it, end quote.

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Over the weekend, police continue to work the scene and to follow up on leads.

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And they tell the media that they have turned up several strange combinations of facts in

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the case, but don't go into detail about what any of those strange combinations are.

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On Tuesday, September 7th, 1999, so this is five days after the murder, Earl is laid to

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rest.

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Clarissa's body is sent to Colorado, where her mother lived at the time, and she is ultimately

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laid to rest in Los Animas, Colorado.

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At Earl's funeral, the community turned out to show their respect.

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It was noted that several of the youth that Earl had mentored over the years turned up

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to pay homage.

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Earl's boss, Carl, said, quote, that's pretty extraordinary in this day and age for

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young people to go and pay their respects to an employer.

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That says a lot about the connection and the impact Earl had, end quote.

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When asked about the investigation, the media is told that the police are still chasing

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down leads, and D.A.

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Patterhoster says, quote, we are drawing the dragnet tight, end quote.

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On Wednesday, September 8th, police continue to search for a possible motive in the murders.

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Please note that nothing of monetary value was taken from the home, but do ask for the

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public's help with any information about Earl's truck.

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Earl's full-sized 1994 Black Ford pickup truck was reported missing four days before

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the murder.

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The truck had been stolen late on the evening of August 27th or early on the morning hours

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of August 28th.

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On October 9th and 10th, so this is just over a month since the murders, two high schoolers

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are taken into custody and questioned about the stolen truck.

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Police also questioned the boys about the murder, but ultimately they're not charged

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with Earl and Clarice's murder.

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Police say the teens just took the truck out joyriding and then hid it at a drug dealer's

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house in the mountains.

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They are only charged with the theft of the truck.

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Earl and Clarice's family during this time have been raising money for the reward fund

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for information leading to the arrest of the killers.

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On Sunday, November 28th, so this is 12 weeks since the murder, police confirmed that they

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have not been able to find the gun used in the murder or the ligature that was used.

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Local residents are still on edge after the murder.

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Josie Gonzales, this is Earl's mom and Clarice's grandmother, says, quote, I just feel sometimes

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we're going crazy just waiting.

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It's been very hard on us.

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Ideally, we would like to know at least who did it.

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I'm not out for revenge or have any bad feelings, but they destroyed a whole home, end quote.

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And then the next update comes from September of 2000.

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As the one year anniversary of Earl and Clarissa's murder comes and passes, police say they have

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no suspects and no leads.

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They also say the tips just aren't coming in anymore.

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There's nothing to follow up on.

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In April of 2003, so this would be three and a half years since the murder, police received

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the results of evidence that was sent to the lab one and a half years prior.

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So this would have been sent around October of 2001.

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The reason for the delay is because the lab prioritizes evidence by trial date.

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And since there weren't any arrests and therefore no trial, the evidence kept getting pushed

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back in Earl and Clarissa's case.

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Investigators are not specific about what was sent in or the test results, but it gives

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police a new direction.

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Personally, I believe that the test results that came back are DNA related.

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As state police agent Chad Davis says, quote, this case will come down to DNA evidence and

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quote agent Davis also says that the test results reaffirm his suspicion of the perpetrators,

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but there is still no motive in the case.

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He says, quote, I have been re interviewing some people and have found conflicting stories.

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I am actively working on this case.

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I feel there are people out there that may have been giving false information, but no

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more.

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The case has never been closed.

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It's a terrible crime and the case will never be closed until the day we find the person

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or persons responsible and bring them to justice.

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End quote.

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Police confirmed that there were no witnesses to the crime and that the note left on the

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door, the one that just said why had nothing to do with the crime.

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And then the last update that I could find on this case, as far as media goes, comes

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from May of 2004.

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So this would be around four and a half years after the murders.

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And this comes during the election for district attorney.

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Jeffrey Shannon of the Green Party was running for district attorney and he was asked a series

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of questions.

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All the candidates were.

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And one of the questions was, what would you like to comment on that you're not being asked?

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And Jeffrey Shannon's answer was, quote, the cold case investigator recently hired

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by Gallagos can start with one of Gallagos's former clients, a young man from Questa who

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was a victim in two separate cases I defended.

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The victim was stabbed New Year's 2003 and stabbed again New Year's 2004.

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An investigator at the DA office said the victim is a person of interest in the double

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homicide of Earl Gonzales and his nine year old daughter.

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End quote.

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That is all we know about the cold case of Earl and Clarissa.

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Now when I was searching this case just in Google, I did come across some rumors that

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I just wanted to address.

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So that way, if any listeners out there who want to look up this case later, if they come

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across this, we've addressed it here.

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So the first one is that Earl was shot with his own gun, a 45 ruger Blackhawk that was

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missing from the home.

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I couldn't find any media reports that Earl was shot with his own gun or the police saying

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that.

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But I did find the one quote where police say that nothing of value of monetary value

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was taken from the home.

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So maybe he was maybe he wasn't.

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But that's one.

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The second rumor is that Clarissa was sexually assaulted during the attack.

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Again, police never mentioned this, but we do know that they have DNA in the case.

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We do not know the source of the DNA or where the DNA came from, but we do know we have

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DNA.

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But again, police have never said that Clarissa was sexually assaulted.

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And the third rumor that I had found was that Earl had confronted and threatened people

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about the theft of his truck, including the two teens who were ultimately arrested for

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it.

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Again, no mention of this by police or local media.

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On the other hand, I kept reading about how mellow of a guy Earl was, and he was someone

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who kept his house unlocked for his friends and family.

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So again, I don't know if he did or didn't, but there I just could not find any other

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evidence to say that he did.

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None of these rumors have been confirmed by police.

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But again, I just wanted to address them since if you look this case up online, the little

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information that is out there, these rumors will pop up about it.

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But if you know anything about the murder of Earl Gonzalez and Clarissa Gonzales in

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September of 1999, please call the New Mexico Cold Case Homicide Unit at 505-827-9066.

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And the sources for today's timeline come from the Albuquerque Journal, the Santa Fe

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New Mexican, and the Taos News.

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So that is the case of Earl and Clarissa Gonzales.

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Thank you so much for finding this and for bringing it to our podcast.

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I definitely feel like it was a necessary case to cover.

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And again, I know we've mentioned various times before, but it's just shocking to me

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that we didn't know about this, you know.

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And pretty instantly, you know, Clarissa and I are only a few days apart in age.

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So I would say instantly, I was just because of that mention, the age and, you know, near

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my own birthday, I was able to align myself with, you know, where I was at, at her age

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then and to now.

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And to think about how much time I've had, the gift of time.

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And that was taken from her and from Earl.

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And it's just, it's a heartbreaking case.

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But I think I don't, I don't have like specific questions.

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I may be more for you, you might be able to answer.

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I just don't understand how there is evidence and information, but it's all like stuck

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or has dead ends or maybe you can expand on it a little bit more.

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Yeah, it does seem like there were a couple of times in this investigation where it seems

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like it was heating up and that maybe charges were going to be brought.

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At one point, this would have been in the fall of 1999, so not too long after the murders

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took place.

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But the state police meets with the district attorney's office to discuss the case.

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And the media says that it's ramping up and, you know, there's heat coming, but then it

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just all fizzles.

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You know, arrests are made.

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The only person of interest that has not even publicly been named just mentioned in this

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election interview that I found for the district attorney's office.

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So there is evidence in 2003, they get those test results back that at the time the person

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working the case said, you know, this reaffirms my suspicion of the perpetrator.

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So it sounds like police have an idea of maybe who it was, but they just can't quite pin

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it on them.

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And I don't know, there's the comments about conflicting stories, where in my experience

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in doing this and just in learning about investigations, if there's conflicting stories, like you

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really need to go back in and hammer out those details, because somebody's story shouldn't

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change if they're telling the truth.

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So if their story is changing, there's lies.

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So yeah, I mean, you hear that time and time again, especially with cases that stay open

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for a really long time.

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It's like, you know, when they're pretty sure someone is not the perpetrator, but it's being

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pointed in their direction, they usually say, well, I know, we think it's possibly them.

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But again, their story has never changed.

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Like you hear that quite a bit.

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Like, so I agree with you, the fact that there are stories and that they're changing and

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many years have passed now, like, I think it just echoes the sentiment of like, you

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don't forget a story like that, when it's true about someone dying or having information

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about being murdered.

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I mean, yeah.

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I mean, if you tell the truth, it never changes, because you're telling the truth, you don't

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have to remember exactly what you said, or, oh, maybe they're not believing me.

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So let me add a little bit extra take away a little bit.

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Yeah.

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Like if you're telling the truth, you just tell the truth, there's nothing else for you

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to say.

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So that particular comment stuck out to me, I think if I was an investigator, like getting

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handed this case today, the first thing I would do is go back and re-interview everybody.

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And if their stories didn't match what they said in 1999, you know, with some wiggle room,

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because people might not remember every single detail they said in 1999.

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But yeah, but for the most part, again, unless you've like, you know, some traumatic like

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injury, it shouldn't change.

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It shouldn't change.

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So that's where I would start.

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And anybody whose story had changed, I would want to look at them more.

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And depending on what those test results are, I do think they are DNA based off of the comments

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of police, you know, trying to get the subpoenas to get DNA tests from the people who you needed,

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especially if you have an idea or a person of interest, at least to eliminate them if

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it's not them just to get them out of the way.

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Do you think that there's possibility that people's stories would change specifically

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surrounding this case, because fear was mentioned so often, like maybe people are changing their

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stories because they're like, that the bad person got wind that I had said something.

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So now I'm changing it this time, even if it's five years later, it's because I'm still

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scared.

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Totally.

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I think that is something that could be happening in this case.

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And again, from like, just an investigator standpoint, so like if the story is changing,

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then what's that?

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Why is it changing?

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What's that information?

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Who has a reason to lie?

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And being scared in this small town, you know, in 1999, they had around 1500.

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And I think the most recent census had it around 1700.

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So really a small town that everybody probably does know everybody's business.

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And here's everything.

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Because every person in the paper who wished to remain anonymous specifically said, I do

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not want the killers to come looking for me or my family.

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Like they were genuinely worried about their safety.

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So I think there is reason for that.

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And a good investigator would be able to pick up on that and then also get the truth of

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what happened and the truth as to like, why you're scared now and who you're scared of

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now.

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Mm hmm.

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It's sad.

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I mean, like, especially if it is fear based, I imagine that if you have information and

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you feel the necessity, like the need to lie or cover up, like, I would imagine that you've

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got to be pretty scared and have been dictating your entire life around this like fear and

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why for a really long time, you know.

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It's just it's unfortunate.

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In this case, like, like how much time and space in between everything.

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I feel that one pretty strongly with Earl and Clarissa.

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Yeah, as soon as I saw this case, I knew that it was one that we had to cover.

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And again, if you know anything about the murder of Earl Gonzales or Clarissa Gonzales

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in September of 1999, please call the New Mexico Cold Case Homicide Unit at 505-827-9066.

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And this week we've had a flood of positive reviews on the podcast.

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It was really cool waking up almost every single day to a new review.

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So thank you so much if you've reviewed the podcast.

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If you haven't had time yet, well, today's a new day.

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So if you could leave us a review, five stars, thumbs up.

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If you can write us a review on Apple, if you're able to do that, it really helps boost

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us and give credibility and lets other people find us and listen to us, which ultimately

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gets more people hearing about these cases, which is the ultimate goal.

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You can find us on the internet at Coldandmissing.com.

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You can review us there.

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You can listen to the episodes.

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Everything you need is all up on the website.

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Or you can follow us at Instagram, where we post pictures of the cases that we follow

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all throughout the week.

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So if you're not following us there, please do.

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We also post active missing person cases in our story that are happening in real time.

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So lots of good information over there too.

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If you or someone you know has a case that you maybe want us to take a look at, please

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feel free to reach out to us via our Instagram DMs or our email.

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Coldandmissing at gmail.com.

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We've had others reach out, so we have some cases coming up in the next few weeks that

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our listeners suggested.

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So please suggest cases to us.

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I love covering cases that mean a lot to our listeners.

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All these cases mean a lot to me.

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So one that's extra special to a listener is extra special to me.

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And happy pride out there.

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Yeah, from us to you.

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Happy pride.

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Happy pride.

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We are an LGBTQIA plus podcast all year round.

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So we cover stories from our beautiful community year round 24 7 3 6 5 pride.

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So with that, have a good week and stay safe, y'all.

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Stay safe, y'all.