(ELEVATOR DINGS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-BUTCH BARR: Stephen. -STEPHEN PANDOS: Hey, Butch.
-How are you? -STEPHEN: Good. How are you?
-Yeah. Good seeing you again. -STEPHEN: Good to see you too.
BUTCH: So tell me what's going on.
The last time you and I spoke about your situation...
-Mm-hmm. -...with your sister,
things were more than a little unsettled.
Can you bring me up-to-date?
Yeah. The police department lost the original case file.
Turns out that they found it. Don't know what's in it.
They said there was some new stuff
that they were following up on.
Is there a way for us to get access to that--
to the new case file?
If it's an ongoing investigation,
they will not release any information
that would affect the present investigation.
-Sure. -After 31 years,
it is rare for a police department
to reopen a file,
a case investigation, unless they have...
very good reason to do so.
-Now, have you... -Okay.
...reconciled with your parents?
No, no.
-No? -No.
BUTCH: I keep coming back to this idea
of you getting your life back together,
and-- and one of the ways
to do that is if there's a result,
but it's not the one you anticipate.
What impact is that gonna have on you?
I don't know.
(ELEVATOR DINGS)
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
INTERVIEWER: So, Jennifer Pandos,
you knew her, correct?
Yes, I went to high school with Jennifer Pandos,
we were in the same classes in school.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember when she went missing?
JAKE RICE: I can't say that I remember the exact time.
I knew her a lot more when we were in middle school
and grade school.
When she went missing,
everything that I knew of at the time from school,
was that she had ran away.
Oh, okay.
Okay. (CHUCKLES)
INTERVIEWER: So can you start out
by just telling us a little bit about Jennifer
and your friendship, and who she was...
-(CHUCKLES) -...you know, just describe her.
SHARON ROSE STEWARD: She was like a firecracker.
She didn't have fear.
She sometimes didn't have a filter. (CHUCKLING)
She would just say whatever was on her mind.
INTERVIEWER: So, if you don't mind
tell me your name and your relationship
to the Pandos family.
My name is Kerrie Campbell, and I was Jennifer's friend.
So we'd always hangout at school together.
She would go with the popular kids,
or with those who weren't so popular
and I was definitely not one in the popular ones
so it was nice to have a friendship
with somebody who didn't really care
if you were with the in crowd or not.
And if you were having a bad day,
one way or another,
she would get you to laugh or smile about something.
I kinda miss that.
Jenny is somebody I knew from high school days.
We had a good friendship.
We talked most days on the phone.
You know, she was usually happy.
I know that sometimes though, she... she struggled.
She didn't get angry often but when she did,
you could kinda see that little temper flare.
While Jenny and I weren't a thing,
I'd be a fool to say that I didn't have a little bit
of a crush on her, you know? So part of my conversations
were always looking for that "in."
(LAUGHS)
JEFF SEIBERT: But it mostly centered around...
No way. We did not.
...the clowning around. I mean,
it was one of the reasons I liked talking to her,
you know? She'd make me laugh.
KERRIE CAMPBELL VALDEZ: We did talk about the cars
that we liked at the time
and who we thought we would marry.
Well, for a long time,
she thought she was gonna marry Tony Tobler.
JENNIFER PANDOS, ACTOR: "A confession.
A confession from my heart.
I've really become greatly inspired
by caring for you. You're my fantasy.
One in which I've always dreamed would come true.
You're my shining star,
my guiding light."
"Carrying me through the bad times,
through day and night.
You're someone I can count on, rely on and confide in.
You're my special friend.
What I've said, of course, is all true.
There never will be, or ever was,
anyone quite as wonderful as you."
♪ (MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TONY TOBLER: I lived in Newport News
and my mother lived in Williamsburg and I
came to live with her, and started high school
at Lafayette.
SHARON: And the girls were, like, crazy over Tony.
I remember that-- everybody like--
plus, he was a new guy, and he was cute.
But the girls went nuts over him.
CORI TOBLER: We dated for a short time
and then stopped for...
-months. -TONY: Hmm.
-And that's when he dated her. -Yeah.
RON PANDOS: Infatuation. Boyfriend-girlfriend type deal.
I think that's the way she looked at it.
Um... I don't know how he looked at it.
MARGIE PANDOS: He was two years older than she was,
and they didn't date like we dated.
There were no Saturday night movies,
or Friday night football games.
I just thought it was hanging out at school.
As far as a physical relationship,
I had no clue.
No clue.
MARGIE: They were home from school, 2:30, 3:30,
somewhere in that neighborhood. And I didn't get home
from work until 5:00.
He had gotten her pregnant, and we had a-- had an abortion.
She just came out and told me
what she and Tony had decided that they wanted to do about it.
RON: How did I react to it?
Shocked.
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪ -Pissed off.
Um...
Wanting to know what in the world was going on
with both of them.
I did not want her to see Tony. I did not want Tony to see her.
I knew that that was something
that was an embarrassment for them.
Like, a major embarrassment for them.
But...
I don't really think he liked our relationship
before that happened.
A lot of it has--
the community that they lived in,
like I said, was at the time,
was the premiere gated community in Williamsburg.
And I lived in a trailer park.
Her parents did not like that.
Her dad was a very controlling person.
Like, with the whole family.
♪ (MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-Hey, Wen. I'm Stephen, how are you? -Hey, Stephen.
-I'm doing good. -STEPHEN: Good to see you. Give me a hug.
STEPHEN: You guys didn't spend a lot of time at our house.
Right?
-WENDY JUEDE: No... -STEPHEN: Yeah.
...not really. I don't know, there's been a few people
I've been around in my life that made me very uneasy.
Your dad, he was one of them people.
Did she ever say anything to you about...
problems that she had with my father or mother,
or anything like that?
She had had an abortion. And then things were...
You could tell there was more tension
-in the house after that. -Right.
WENDY: From that point on, he was gonna know
everything she was doing.
Of course, her and Tony breaking up and--
STEPHEN: Yeah, I don't remember too much
about that relationship but was it volatile?
Was it-- Or typical, sort of,
high school relationship kinda thing?
-Yeah, typical high school. -Yeah.
Tony had done moved on, you know?
-Right. -He had done moved on with Cori.
SHARON: She was torn up over breaking up with Tony.
And then, we started dating again.
And...
it seemed fine. I think it was harder on her
than we realized at the time.
SHARON: When Cori and Tony started dating,
it was like a challenge for Jennifer.
She would walk by his classes. She would go by Cori's classes.
She would do things... (CHUCKLES) ...just to like,
aggravate her-- Cori.
Um, or to make sure that Tony knew
that she was around.
She would do s... (BREATHES SHAKILY)
(SOBS) But that's-- you know,
and she would tell me she would do this stuff, you know?
(CLICKS TONGUE) Um...
She hated Cori. (LAUGHS)
JENNIFER, ACTOR: I can't do this anymore. I feel like I'm going crazy.
(SOBS, BREATHES HEAVILY)
MARGIE: Fifteen is not the nicest year of your life.
I do remember, she just broke down
and said she didn't want to be crazy.
Jennifer knew she needed help. But she just wasn't ready yet,
or I had not found the proper person
for her to talk to.
You could see when your child's in pain.
You want to do everything you can for them and...
that's my greatest failure in life.
♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
KERRIE: I was just shocked that she left.
It just seemed like she had a good group of friends
that she could've talked to.
I just remember thinking,
"What was so wrong that you had to just go?"
INTERVIEWER: What was your gut reaction
to the notion that she had run away?
It kinda seemed like her.
It seemed definitely plausible
that she had decided to go somewhere for a while.
INTERVIEWER:
How well do I think I knew her?
-I mean, I knew her. -CORI: Or you think you know her.
Yeah. But I mean, like, if you're asking me,
"Do I think it's possible there was a whole another side
to her that I didn't know?"
I guess that's possible. I don't know.
And I remember too,
at some point...
It might have been in junior high.
I do remember Jennifer
running away once. I don't know why though.
-I don't remember why. -Right.
STEPHEN: You know, just curious,
if you have anything that you remember
from people speculating what might've happened when...
about the time she disappeared or anything?
I-- I remember when it all happened...
-STEPHEN: Mm-hmm. -And, you know, of course,
it was all the whisper at school,
-you know, because the police were involved. -STEPHEN: Sure.
But I felt like it faded away pretty quickly though.
Now that I'm older, I'm thinking back,
"Why did it come off like that?"
To me, it should've been search parties...
-STEPHEN: Right. -...it should've been,
"This is not normal. This is Williamsburg."
-STEPHEN: Right. -And I never got that feeling.
I never... You know? And...
Um...
STEPHEN: Right, because I think, you know,
typically, the parents are the ones, you know,
who drive those kinda things to happen.
-THOMAS ANDERSON: Right. -STEPHEN: Right?
And I don't know that my parents ever...
made those things happen.
Right? If that makes sense. Right?
Yeah, it does.
And honestly, it never crossed my mind that way...
-Oh. -...till now.
(CRICKETS CHIRPING)
MARGIE: I didn't write the note.
I didn't leave it in her room.
I didn't help Ron remove the body from the house.
-INVESTIGATOR: Okay. So-- -I didn't help--
INVESTIGATOR: So Ron removed the body from the house?
If he did, I didn't help him!
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪ -(KNOCKING)
-Hey, what's up? -STEPHEN: How you doing?
DONNIE NORRELL: Have you ever met Lena?
-STEPHEN: Oh, no. Hi, Ms. Lena. -Hi.
-STEPHEN: Okay, great. -LENA SISCO: Nice to meet you.
-STEPHEN: Nice to meet you too. Thank you very much for-- -Oh, you're welcome.
DONNIE: She's gonna help with the interview with Margie.
-STEPHEN: Okay. -DONNIE: She was
-a Navy interrogator. -LENA: Mm.
She learned how to pick up on deceptive behavior
and we're gonna team up, and we've been discussing...
-STEPHEN: Yeah. Uh-huh. -...our approach and everything.
Going down there to Charlotte...
-STEPHEN: Mm-hmm. -...to interview your mom,
do you think she's willing
or have you talked with her recently about it?
STEPHEN: I think that she'll do it. She's done...
everything that I've ever asked her to do.
Evidently, she feels in her mind she's already,
for the last 30 years, had been telling what she knows.
There may be some really stronger--
I think there are some semantics to what she says
versus what she knows. But she knows.
You know, in that interview, there's this one section
-of where she-- Almost like a Freudian slip... -LENA: Mm-hmm.
...she's like "I didn't help Ron remove the body from the house."
That's huge. "I didn't help Ron..."
STEPHEN: "I didn't help Ron remove the body from the house."
LENA: Deception, I look for it, and I hear it.
So, "I didn't" is indicative of a truthful statement.
Now, not a hundred percent. If she were to say, "I did not,"
-it's what we call a convincing language. -STEPHEN: Right.
But the fact that it just came out,
-"I didn't help Ron remove the body..." -STEPHEN: Mm-hmm.
...seems that it could be a very truthful statement.
DONNIE: I got in my notes, in July 23rd, 2009, interview,
one of the questions asked,
"Where do you think the body is?"
She said, "In the river, mill pond, railroad tracks."
She made those...
Those were kinda weird comments.
I have had 22 years to imagine where that child is.
From what I told you, James River, the river po--
the mill pond, the railroad track.
God only knows where he could've taken her.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
INTERVIEWER:
(WENDI REED CHUCKLES)
It was...
kind of a mixed feeling I guess, once that case file was found.
On one hand, I was very excited because I thought that
it may give us some further avenues to investigate
and potentially bring it in to the case.
On the other hand, it kind of made us look stupid,
and not very professional.
INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us where it was?
I can only tell you where I was told it was.
It was found in the records room,
in a box of old case files.
INTERVIEWER: And how does something like that happen?
I don't know.
I know the records had been searched
at least three different times,
thoroughly, for this case file, and it wasn't there.
And then it was.
-INTERVIEWER: -(SMACKS LIPS) It does.
♪ (SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
WENDI: I don't know all of what Jake has done.
I don't know all of what was in that case file.
I can see how that would be confusing for Stephen.
INTERVIEWER: Given that the original case file
has reappeared,
what is your gut instinct now about the case?
My 99-percent gut
is that the parents are responsible for the note.
(GRUNTS)
DONNIE: I challenge anybody that has a teenager
that wakes up in the morning and finds this crazy note,
that's not gonna immediately call 911.
-She's never done this before. -INTERVIEWER: She has.
She ran away one time, how long was she gone?
INTERVIEWER: I don't know but it is part of her...
-Where is she gonna go? -So, it's not fair to say
she's never done this before.
It's not fair to say.
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ -I just...
It doesn't make sense.
What doesn't make sense usually isn't true.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
INTERVIEWER: We talked to Stephen this morning,
he's wanting to call you today.
He wants to ask you to do one more interview.
-MARGIE: With? -INTERVIEWER: So.
He's hired this PI.
I can't understand why he would hire a private detective.
I don't know what they could glean
-that the police hadn't already. -(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Hello?
-STEPHEN: (OVER PHONE) Hey, Mom. -Hi, Stevie.
-STEPHEN: How are you? -I'm all right. How about you?
STEPHEN: I'm doing okay.
So on Saturday, would you be open to talking
to Donnie Norrell and his partner, Lena,
about Jennifer?
I have no problem with that.
STEPHEN: Okay. Well, I didn't think that you would.
But I just... I just have to ask. That's all.
Okay.
STEPHEN: All right, well, I miss you lots
and love you lots, and, um...
I'll uh--
-I miss you too. -I know you do. I know you do.
I will talk to you in a day or two.
Just let me work out the details here, okay?
-Okay. -Okay. Bye.
-Bye. -Bye, Mom. Bye.
(SNIFFLES, BREATHES DEEPLY)
I don't know how long it's been since I've seen him.
I really don't remember.
(SNIFFLES)
Oh, well...
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LENA: When I prepare for an interview,
the question is purposely phrased
-to elicit a narrative response. -STEPHEN: Mm-hmm.
And so, as she's giving me a narrative response
and I'm detecting deception, it helps me determine
whether or not you're being truthful.
STEPHEN: All right.
I'm gonna have a, you know, a short chat with her before
and just encourage her to tell the truth.
DONNIE: Are we gonna be in a position to...
-LENA: Hmm. -...make any offer
about the family being back together
or see your grandkids, that kinda stuff?
I think the most honest answer is I'm willing to do the work.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
So we're on the way to see my mother.
Maybe the first time I've seen her in...
quite a few years. I haven't been out to her house.
I can't even remember the last time I was here.
I'm very nervous.
Last time I saw him,
he wouldn't even let me touch him.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(KNOCKING)
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
STEPHEN: You know, first I want to say that I believe in you,
I love you, you're forgiven.
You still have immunity. And I'm here for you.
I'm with you.
(MARGIE SIGHS)
I don't know what happened.
And-- and you're rolling your eyes and throwing your head.
All I know is that Jennifer was not there
when I went downstairs.
It's not what you want to hear.
It's not what you think you need.
But that's...
what I have.
The story, you know, around Jennifer's disappearance
has... has got to make sense. It’s got to be logical and...
reasonable and...
It doesn't make sense.
After all your father has put me through...
STEPHEN: Mm-hmm.
...why in the world would you think
I would protect him? I have no reason to.
-I-- Mom, I-- You know-- -I have no reason to.
STEPHEN: You know, I think Dad was abusive, emotionally, to you
and I think it's just-- I think it's really complicated.
I've gone back in my mind,
I can't think of anything that happened
that would make me suspicious.
Nothing.
STEPHEN: Just try.
Think of everything you have to gain.
I have your back.
And I always have.
-You know, we-- I-- We-- -I know that, and you've said that,
and it just makes me feel
like you're the judge and the jury,
and you've convicted me
of something that I haven't done,
that I have no knowledge of.
I want you and my grandchildren back in my life.
I want to see you happy.
But I don't have it to give you, Stephen.
I just don't have it. -Okay.
MARGIE: Now, if you want to convict me
and take me to James City County
and throw me in the jail right now, today...
all I have to do is make two phone calls.
-And... -STEPHEN: Don't...
-...sign over any money I have to you. -I don't want it.
You've threatened to take my home.
-Me? -Yes, you did.
-I don't-- I don't need it, Mom. I-- -I know you don't need it.
-I don't need-- -But that's what you threatened to do.
Yes, I did look at-- at suing you and Dad.
But it was not over money.
It was just because I wanted a judge
to say you did it and you're responsible.
Nothing was ever about money.
-I-- -No, I know th--
what you were doing was not out of needing money
-or wanting money. It was for punishment. -It was just-- No, Mom.
-Yes. -It was-- I just--
-Excuse me a minute. -You know...
it's not about you, it's about Dad. But...
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
It just hurts that you don't believe me.
Just try, you know?
That's all I'm asking.
Okay?
I gotta go. This is just too hard for me right now. Okay?
-MARGIE: I love you. -STEPHEN: I love you too. Okay?
(MARGIE SOBS)
STEPHEN: All right. All right. Mm-hmm.
MARGIE:
STEPHEN: It's okay. It's okay.
-Okay? -MARGIE: (BREATHES SHAKILY)
-STEPHEN: Yes. Okay? -Okay.
STEPHEN: All right. And just try, all right?
I love you lots.
-MARGIE: I love you. -STEPHEN: Okay.
MARGIE: Bye. (SNIFFLES, BREATHES DEEPLY)
MARGIE: I know nothing makes sense.
Nothing has ever made sense.
It's just hard
to not be believed by anyone.
(KNOCKING)
Let's get this over with, folks.
-Hi. -Hey there. Hi.
DONNIE: Stephen just wants to know the truth.
-No matter what, a son-- -"No matter what...
-No-- -...I've got your back."
-No matter-- -"You know, you got immunity."
I am tired of hearing those phrases.
-I want to help Stephen. -DONNIE: Well, good.
MARGIE: But I think he's so far down that rabbit hole
that he's never gonna come out of it.
Why don't we just start off with you bringing us
-back to that night? -(ZIPPER ZIPPING)
She went to her room
and when I got ready to go upstairs,
I knocked on her door and went in, and...
LENA: Describe that to me.
Where was she in her bedroom? What was she wearing?
She was wearing a night shirt that had a panda bear.
Her bed was on that wall
and there was a table beside her bed.
In that "L," that's where she was standing.
And I remember that,
that picture is engraved in my mind.
-I will never lose it. -LENA: Yeah. And?
And...
what happened between the time that I saw that note
and what was said between Ron and I at that time,
I couldn't tell you.
LENA: So, how did you feel when you found
and read that note?
Panic.
I was afraid of her anger...
if we didn't do what we were asked to do.
LENA: Mm-hmm.
MARGIE: Several days later, I noticed
the Venetian blind on that Palladian window
in the front was raised.
Somebody was looking out and had raised the little slat
in the blind, and it hadn't gone down.
LENA: There's a lot of accusations that Ron
-had something to do with it. -MARGIE: Right.
How do you feel about those accusations?
I live in two worlds.
-My child disappeared. -Mm-hmm.
-MARGIE: She left home. -LENA: Mm-hmm.
And then...
the world that her father killed her.
I knew the world
-that my daughter disappeared... -Mm-hmm.
...that she'd left home...
far longer...
than the world of Ron killing his daughter.
I never suspected that.
Never.
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
DONNIE: I do wanna ask you this one question.
-Margie, did you write that note? -No.
No, I did not.
DONNIE: Could you have been put into a position
where Ron said, "I'm gonna go to jail for this
-if you don't help me out." -No, no.
-DONNIE: I don't know. I mean, I'm just-- -No, never, never, never, never.
DONNIE: Whose idea was it
to not call the police right then?
I can't say that it was mine totally,
-but I know I had a voice in... -I got you.
Did you ever see the note and go,
"Ron, who the hell is this father figure?"
-"Do you have any idea?" You never? -No. No.
-DONNIE: You never did that? -No. No. No.
-DONNIE: See, I'm a little-- -I know you're confused and--
I am confused because I'm trying to think of--
I'm trying to put my shoes...
-into your shoes. -It fits the bill of not being
-what the normal would do. -DONNIE: Right.
That has been thrown in my face a kazillion times.
DONNIE: And I'm not really sure about this.
LENA: What would you want us to tell Stephen today?
That your mother honestly doesn't know
what happened to your sister.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
LENA: The thing is, with this case, we don't have
concrete evidence or facts to use in it.
We have a lot of hearsay,
we have things that have been retracted,
we have been told something, then said,
"Well, that wasn't the case." So when we interview people,
the only thing we have to go by is,
and especially for me, is detecting that deception.
She remembers everything up, you know, to the point,
and she cried every time she pictured Jennifer.
Like, "I remember she was standing here,
this is what she was wearing," to the detail,
and she would cry every time she had that last image.
And she was very emphatic with us, saying,
"I did not see her after that."
I believe she's being a hundred percent truthful.
That was the last time she had eyes on Jennifer.
So then, how does my mother fail a polygraph?
And was it a failure, or was it inconclusive?
One thing that I remember off the thing from my mother
was like, you know, deception indicated.
-It wasn't inconclusive. -Oh, right.
LENA: But then you got to go to the specific questions.
-There's so much you need to know. -Yeah, I know.
DONNIE: I thought the handwriting on the note,
that your father was...
-STEPHEN: He was ruled out. -...ruled out,
-but the mother wasn't. -That's right.
And that's why I just feel like she wrote the note.
Right.
My top of the list is still Ron accidentally killed her.
And I would believe that. And that is, you know,
consistent with my father saying,
"Hypothetically, I hit her and she fell and hit her head."
That's my top of the list, really.
Yeah, top of the list, but I do--
I believe your mom is telling the truth
with not knowing what happened.
DONNIE: I believe your mom doesn't know what happened.
But I... I believe she helped comprise the note.
♪ (SOFT ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
BUTCH: Stephen has put a lot of stock
in the fact that his mother sat for a polygraph examination,
and it showed deception.
But when you read the summary,
Jennifer had a dental appointment
and Mrs. Pandos could not remember
whether the dental appointment was the tenth or the ninth,
and so she was confused on those dates.
But this disappearance occurred in 1987
and this polygraph examination was done in 2009.
I'm gonna be confused.
Now, part of the problem with a polygraph examination
and one reason that they are notoriously unreliable
and are not admissible evidence,
when there's confusion in the brain,
blood pressure goes up.
And that'll cause the needle to register.
It is merely an indication that there's been a change
in this person's physiological makeup
at that moment.
Take everything in the note that implicates the parents.
And I know that the profiler
who did an analysis of the note...
looked at all of that.
Let me make reference to that.
"Staging a runaway or abduction...
leads me to no other conclusion
than the writer of the note either perpetuated..."
STEPHEN: "...the writer of the note either perpetrated
or assisted in, before or after, the crime of abduction
and, or murder of Jennifer Pandos."
KENNETH MORRIS: "Based on this premise,
your note is most likely written by someone
who would immediately come under scrutiny by the police."
What else can I tell ya? (CHUCKLES)
It's a staged crime scene.
This person who wrote the note is familiar with Jennifer
and her routine, and her schedule,
and things that were important to her.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
INTERVIEWER:
Can you talk a little bit about that in general?
Yeah, I can talk about that in general.
From a profiling standpoint, if I were to create a profile,
say, if I were to look at a crime scene
and come up with a profile of the unknown offender,
I would need a lot of information.
I don't want to know anything at all about any suspects
because that's gonna bias my opinion.
What I-- What I wrote there is based on what's written.
Nothing else. You know, again, it's written in a vacuum.
INTERVIEWER:
(KENNETH BREATHES DEEPLY)
Yeah.
INTERVIEWER:
Right.
-INTERVIEWER 1: -INTERVIEWER 2:
KENNETH: "If your note contains personal information,
your most plausible offender
would be one or both of the parents."
Yeah, at the time
that I was called in to the investigation,
they were the only suspects.
The main reason why I pointed to them
was because there was no one else about.
I guess what I should've written,
in hindsight-- hindsight now is, "The perpetrator was someone
who had a very close relationship to Jennifer."
And left it somewhat ambiguous like that.
JAKE: Think it's wrong. Was it this?
KENNETH: It was the statement I made, right?
-Is that what you were reading here? -It... Yeah, it was that margin
that the parents were probably the offenders.
Well, I mean, what you wrote is,
"If your note was fabricated to misdirect the investigation."
We don't still know that it's fabricated.
-Right. -Is there a possibility that Jennifer was there
when the note was being written?
-KENNETH: It-- It's possible-- -I mean,
it's still a possibility...
And she's provided the information.
...that she left that night on her own,
thinking it was only gonna be for a few days
and something took place.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
STEPHEN: "Your most plausible offender
would be one or both of the parents."
You know, I've read this dozens of times and it's...
haunting.
He doesn't come out and say that we wrote the note,
but that's his implication.
And it didn't happen.
I can understand how Stephen, in reading this,
would feel the way he does towards me but...
these people don't know me.
KENNETH: The mistake that Stephen made
is he's keyed in on his parents.
And then, Jennifer disappears with this cockamamie letter,
well, then you have a profiler saying,
"Well, it's someone close to Jennifer who wrote it,
and there's no one else, so it's probably the parents,"
so he-- he just latched onto that.
Well, he's painted himself into a corner 'cause now...
(STAMMERS)
I guess he hates his parents and his parents hate him.
I don't know.
Can I keep this one?
I just like the picture of my mom.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
You know, she was so young.
You know, baby me.
But I like the picture of my mom.
DONNIE: Evidently, there's a new lead
that the police are following.
The investigator that did the analysis,
he's back and a little bit off the direction of the parents,
-maybe he knows something that we don't know. -Okay.
Yeah, I'd like to know. I wonder what is making him back off.
Can we rule suicide out?
LENA: But her body would've been found.
What, is she gonna trek across the United States
-to commit suicide? -DONNIE: Yeah, true.
Yeah. We would expect her to turn up somewhere.
Take this scenario,
tell me what you think.
DONNIE: Dad gets into it with her.
and then she says, "That's it, I've had enough of this crap."
-And she calls somebody. -LENA: Mm-hmm.
Hey, you have to come get me.
I-- I can't stay here anymore.
DONNIE: They have to somehow get past the security gate.
LENA: And so, a person couldn't come through and say,
"Hey, I'm here to see Jennifer Pandos.
She lives at blah, blah, blah. Here's a--"
DONNIE: They'd have to call the house.
-Really? Wow. -DONNIE: Yes.
-LENA: What about this? -(CLEARS THROAT)
Friend parks his car outside the community,
walks, sneaks through the woods, or whatever, walks to the house,
they walk through the community to his car outside the community
so the car never has to come through that gate.
DONNIE: But the location of the Pandos residence
from the gate is, I'm just gonna guess,
over a mile.
LENA: What if Jennifer made the phone call?
Remember, she used to babysit for that guy, right?
-Yeah. Mm-hmm. -Called someone and said,
"In twenty minutes or half an hour,
meet me at the 7-Eleven or wherever, I'll be there.
Pick me up, I'm done."
Then leaves the house,
walks by herself through the path
and meets whoever's picking her up.
DONNIE: What about the note?
-(SIGHS) -Jennifer didn't write the note.
The note's written out of a notebook
that's there at the scene.
See, this is why the note
gets me in almost every scenario.
Just say this scenario. Someone parks,
walks through the woods to the house
to come to get her, okay?
-LENA: Or she just meets him. -I--
Yeah, but the note is there.
(PHONE LINE RINGING)
JAKE: (OVER PHONE) Investigator Rice.
-Hey, Jake. Stephen Pandos. -♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
I was just following up to see if there was any kind of update
-as to what you were doing? -JAKE: Not at this time.
-You know, we're still working... -Yup.
JAKE: ...with what we're working on,
but there's nothing that I can...
-divulge or give out. -Okay.
JAKE: So, no...
INTERVIEWER:
Having a wide open,
"Here's every step that I'm doing,"
I just can't do it.
I've let him know everything that's going on,
it's 'cause it's an open investigation,
and he's running a... his own side investigation.
And that's the hard part for me. I mean, yeah, he calls
but until I have something that's in concrete,
that I can give him the information,
right now, I gotta keep cards to myself.
I just hope I catch who it is. That's what I'm after.
For me to sit here and say
that I have no suspicions on the parents would be a lie.
I still have suspicions.
There is still some things
that you're like, "Why'd this happen?"
If I had to personally describe this case,
it's just like a roller coaster.
That's the way it's went over these years.
We've had times where we were down,
there's nothing, and then,
we have something to work that file.
Now we start to get somewhere. And now, it's got other suspects
so maybe we need to do a loop back.
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
INTERVIEWER: So if the police are looking
at other suspects now, who do you think that would be?
The only one whose name I've heard before was, um...
a guy, last name "Hendrix," I can't remember his first name.
Kerry, maybe...
Um...
who apparently, my sister and some of her friends
used to babysit for. I don't know him.
So I have no idea.
WENDI: In 2006, I was given information
that Jennifer and another friend had gone
to a adult male's home to babysit for him.
And he would often provide them with alcohol.
As I started to look into that individual's history,
I found that he had been convicted
of kidnapping, and attempted kidnapping.
I had a few locations on him.
I had gone to the residence that I believed he was at
and tried to locate him there,
but I was never able to speak with him directly.
(CRICKETS CHIRPING)
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
DONNIE: Kerry Hendrix was a older man.
There was mention in the note of a father-like figure.
He was arrested for attempted abduction
of a female on a college campus there in Williamsburg.
A peer said it was a sexual assault attempt.
He would be somebody
that you would definitely have to look at
as a possible suspect.
ROBIN: (OVER PHONE) This is Robin.
Hey, Robin. My name's Donnie Norrell.
We're talking about anything you can remember
in reference to Kerry Hendrix.
-And, um... -ROBIN: Yes.
...back in 1990.
ROBIN: (CLICKS TONGUE)
-DONNIE: Mm-hmm. -ROBIN:
-DONNIE: Yeah. -ROBIN:
-DONNIE: Well, thanks again, I appreciate it. -ROBIN: All right, no problem.
-All right, take care. -ROBIN: Thanks.
-Bye-bye. -All right. Bye.
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
DONNIE: He would be somebody
that you would definitely have to look at
as a possible suspect.
Is he the father-like figure that she was talking about?
Could he have written the note?
All of those things are possible.
(PHONE LINE RINGING)
FILMMAKER: Hello?
STEPHEN: (OVER PHONE) Hey there.
FILMMAKER:
STEPHEN:
FILMMAKER:
INTERVIEWER: Could we interview you?
KERRY HENDRIX: Yeah, it's been like, a long time though.
INTERVIEWER: That's okay. This was the last place
that we had for you, and so we took a chance
-and drove up here. -(KERRY SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
(LAUGHS)
INTERVIEWER: Hmm. So, tell me how you know Jennifer Pandos?
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪ -(COUGHS) It seems to me,
I was newly divorced, and I had won custody
of my then one-year-old son.
I'm thinking that I saw an advertisement somewhere,
like a teenager
looking to babysit, make money on the side.
INTERVIEWER: And did you ever suspect that the cops thought
that you may be somebody who was harboring her?
Yeah, yeah. I believed that about her father and the police
the whole time. I mean, I was their prime interest.
Um...
And, you know-- And I could understand if she was--
If I was one of the few people in her life
that was outside the family, I'd be... I'd be looking that way too.
INTERVIEWER: Well we've been following every...
-Yeah. (COUGHS) -...potential lead
-or anybody that had... -Hmm.
...any interactions with her at all, we've been...
You know, in Williamsburg-- Williamsburg's a small town
and I had a troubled childhood,
like I said, I was in trouble a lot.
And so they always had me and my little circle of friends
as number one suspects in anything that happened
in that town. These girls were getting raped in college
and we were suspects. And we, you know, won the case.
And so, you know, they build this image
of you based on their...
their suspicions and it sticks with you.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, we did see...
-Yeah. (COUGHS) -...on your record
that you had been convicted of attempted abduction
-and they-- What was that about? -Abduction, yeah.
And see they thought that was a rape attempt.
It was attempted robbery.
(STAMMERS) I was addicted to cocaine at the time
and I tried to snatch a purse which wound up being a backpack.
And, you know, because she thought
that I was trying to push her in the car,
they thought that I was trying to abduct her.
There was no evidence of no abduction.
INTERVIEWER: Cori, who's the girl
that came over to your house with Jennifer,
she said that you actually gave them alcohol.
No. No.
No. (CHUCKLES) I would never do it. Never do it.
INTERVIEWER: Would you have considered yourself
a father figure for Jennifer at all?
I probably was at the time because,
you know, I was a father.
And I mean, that's why she was there.
To babysit my son.
And she was telling me some stuff about her family life
where she was having problems.
She didn't really say what the problems were,
she just said she didn't feel comfortable there
and she was looking-- Didn't know what to do.
And she was thinking about running away.
And I cautioned her against that.
And then she just--
Never came around anymore. And her father called
and thought that she was staying over there.
So that's when I kinda learned that she went missing.
And I kinda figured that she ran away,
that's what she had been talking about.
INTERVIEWER:
KERRY: Well, he called first.
And I said, "You know, if you wanna come by and look,
look for yourself, that's fine, but she's not here."
And he did. He seemed like a nice-looking guy,
and I think he was just there very briefly.
But he was very cold. And, um...
like "push away" kind of personality,
at least with me.
And I-- I understand why he felt like
I was harboring a girl there or something. But, uh, um...
seemed like the police had-- they came by or at least called,
I can't remember. I don't think they came by, they called.
And I told them the same thing. And...
that you're more than welcome to come by and look anytime.
(CHUCKLES) She's not here, you know?
What you doing? (CHUCKLES)
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JAKE: Hey, Andrew. This is Jake.
I'm just making sure
that you got that stuff that I sent you.
Reference, "Pandos."
Right. I mean, that's my belief and that he had more to do
than what he's telling us.
Yeah, I mean, that's my thing.
He might be having us on to a different location.
Okay. So we're going down the right road.
All right, bye.
I mean, right now, I'm waiting on lab results to come back.
I will say that.
'Cause I don't want anyone to know who might be
or might not be on the radar.
If they get tipped off that we're coming,
it can prepare them for what they wanna tell us.
So I would rather... me know and that's it.
And me make that surprise visit.
INTERVIEWER: Are you hopeful still?
I'm very hopeful.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪