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NBC News
19 hours ago
- NBC News
Dateline: Missing in America podcast covers the April 2024 disappearance of Danielle Lopez in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey
Play the episode ' Lost Lane ' of the Dateline: Missing in America podcast below and click here to follow. 'The picture of New Jersey that most people hold in their minds is so different from this one that, considered beside it, the Pine Barrens, as they are called, become as incongruous as they are beautiful.' That's the writer John McPhee... talking about the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. The Garden State has one of the highest population densities in the U.S., but across a million dense acres, whole swaths of the Pine Barrens are as empty as the days before there was a New Jersey, or an old Jersey. If you want to get lost, this is the place. And if you want someone else to vanish... this is the place. Josh Mankiewicz: 'Easy to disappear in, easy to get lost in.' Jimmy Ramsey: 'A lot of weird stories down there.' Almost 25 years ago, a certain TV show made the Pine Barrens famous... 'The Sopranos. ' 'Let's take 'em down to Pine Barrens. That's South Jersey. It's perfect. It's f------ deserted down there. We take him in the woods, dig a hole, end of story.' On the evening of April 13, 2024, 37-year-old Danielle Lopez evaporated into these thick woods. No call, no text, no goodbye. And almost no trace. Lisa Valentino: 'The not knowing is the hardest part.' What happened to Danielle? Where did she go? Those are questions her loved ones ask themselves daily. And they are praying you may have some answers. Sue Quackenbush: 'That's my hope: that somebody will recall or remember or go through or know something that will prompt, or that somebody's heart is convicted to just do the right thing.' Danielle's mom, Sue Quackenbush, has been shattered by the disappearance of her daughter. I'm Josh Mankiewicz and this is Missing in America, a podcast from Dateline. Josh Mankiewicz: 'This isn't her lost. This isn't her having some mental break. This is something that happened to her at the hands of somebody else.' Sue Quackenbush: 'Absolutely.' This episode is 'Lost Lane.' Please listen closely because you or someone you know may have information that could help solve this case and give Danielle's family the answers they need. Danielle Lopez – or D-Lo as she likes to be called – is loving, loyal, and, according to her mom Sue, loud. Sue Quackenbush: 'I'm quieter, and I would say, 'Danielle, you have to keep it quiet.' She'd say, 'But Mom, you didn't name me Dan-quiet, you named me Dan-yell.'' That quick wit might be a byproduct of growing up sandwiched between two brothers. Sue Quackenbush: 'Her brothers and she got along so well. They truly were best friends.' A tight family unit, Danielle was close with both of her parents despite their divorce. Sue says her daughter was a good student, a cheerleader, popular in school. And maybe most surprising for anyone who has raised teenagers... Sue Quackenbush: 'Her boyfriends were never ones that I disapproved of. Um, she made good choices.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'Lucky you.' Sue said Danielle was very close with her grandfather, and in 2011, moved in with him after her grandmother died. Sue Quackenbush: 'They were world travelers, Yankees fans, um, cruises, everything so much so that she had a hat made saying that she was the granddaughter so that people didn't misinterpret their relationship.' The local newspaper even published an article about Danielle and her grandpa bridging the generational gap as roommates in 2013. More recently, Danielle's life had taken a different turn. Josh Mankiewicz: 'At the time she disappeared, she had suffered a lot of grief. It was quite a bit in a short time, wasn't it?' Sue Quackenbush: 'Quite a bit. We -- we both did the, um, trauma, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression.' Trauma is not overstating it. When Danielle was 29, her older brother Eric died by suicide on Christmas Day, 2015. Sue Quackenbush: 'It was out of the blue and unexpected, so much so that the presents were wrapped, and his clothes were -- were laid out for Christmas. It's a hard recovery from something like that.' Just more than 10 months later came another family tragedy. Danielle's younger brother Michael, a Marine who had served in Afghanistan, died in a car accident in Florida. He was 26. And then a few years later, Danielle lost her grandfather to COVID and her father to a heart attack, one month apart. Josh Mankiewicz: 'Any one of those things is enough to send somebody into a tailspin. You got help. Did she get help?' Sue Quackenbush: 'I tried ma -- many times and I tried showing her by example of -- and -- and giving her the resources that I had. Um, but she made some unwise choices and relied on alcohol for coping.' Sue says she could tell Danielle was struggling, so she helped her daughter into a facility for alcohol addiction. Sue Quackenbush: 'I stayed with her through thick and thin of, um, e -- every bit of what was going on for her and trying to pull myself together, as well as -- as her.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'That had to be really, really hard.' Sue Quackenbush: 'Um, yes.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'Sounds like you would've dropped everything to help her.' Sue Quackenbush: 'One hundred percent.' Faced with all that tragedy, Sue says Danielle grew closer with someone else: an on-again, off-again boyfriend named James Scott Dunn. He goes by Scott. Danielle, Scott, and their dog Roscoe spent a lot of time camping together in the Pine Barrens. Sue Quackenbush: 'She met him singing -- while singing karaoke.' Danielle loved to sing. That was her on a night out. Today, Sue worries she may never hear that voice again. Josh Mankiewicz: 'When did you realize something was wrong?' Sue Quackenbush: 'I saw that my texts and calls — there's a way to see if they've been delivered – they were not even being delivered. I mean, I knew she was missing.' Sue thought back to the last time she spoke with her daughter. Danielle was camping with her boyfriend in the Pine Barrens. Sue says she sounded positive, hopeful even, about the future. Sue Quackenbush: 'She had a campfire. There was a camper near her that she said kept yelling, 'God is good.' And I said, 'That's my prayers reaching you.' And I just thought that was a good conversation.' Less than two weeks after that conversation, Sue was on the phone again. This time with police, reporting Danielle missing. And giving them their first clue in the investigation. Sue Quackenbush: 'Since Danielle was in high school, we've had a Wawa rewards card. And so when I realized she was missing, I looked at, by chance, at that Wawa card app and, um, it had been used.' Wawa is a chain of convenience stores and gas stations indigenous to that part of the world. Sue noticed a coffee purchase was made on April 13th at 9:11 a.m. The morning after she had last spoken with Danielle. That Wawa was just miles from her campsite. Sue Quackenbush: 'So that's where we knew how to start.' Investigators went to Wawa and found the gas station had a working security camera. Josh Mankiewicz: 'Is she on video from that visit to Wawa?' Sue Quackenbush: 'Absolutely. Yes.' It was one of the first big breaks in Danielle's disappearance and investigators were just days away from an even bigger one. Danielle Lopez's mom, Sue, was hopeful after security video showing her daughter buying coffee gave New Jersey State Troopers a lead. Now they could build a timeline of Danielle's movements, but they still had not found her car. The blue two-door Hyundai Accent she drove was not at the campsite where Danielle had been staying. So investigators scoured the Pine Barrens. Those searches yielded nothing... Until they arrived at a dirt path just a little more than a mile from the main road. It is a place with a fitting name: Lost Lane. And there was Danielle's car, lost no longer. New Jersey State Police: 'So, the car was located on May 1st. It was located on Lost Lane, which is a heavily-wooded area in, uh, Woodland Township. And it was found, uh, in a large puddle, basically on a dirt road.' That's Detective Sergeant Ryan Labriola, with the New Jersey State Police Major Crimes Unit. He spoke with us in September 2024, just a few months after Danielle's disappearance. Det. Sgt. Ryan Labriola: 'Multiple items of her – of her personal property were located inside the car. Just clothing, things like that. No cell phone was found. We believe her cell phone is still with her at this time.' In that interview, investigators also told Dateline they saw no sign of foul play. Det. Sgt. Ryan Labriola: 'There were no signs of any kind of suspicious activity with the car.' Still, Sue feared her daughter would never be found. Sue Quackenbush: 'I have no way of knowing if, somehow, she was taken against her will or trafficked or harmed or that she lays in that forest.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'But what I mean is, this isn't her disappearing. This isn't her lost. This isn't her having some mental break. This is something that happened to her at the hands of somebody else.' Sue Quackenbush: 'Absolutely.' Sue harbors powerful suspicions, and says she believes one person absolutely knows what happened to her daughter: Danielle's boyfriend, Scott. Sue is not shy about saying she never approved of him. Josh Mankiewicz: 'Tell me about the relationship with her boyfriend.' Sue Quackenbush: 'It wasn't good from day one. He is significantly older than she is. He has — he has children her age, but yet he pursued her at a pretty vulnerable time in her life. And, um, she made — she made that choice. I can't – I can't say, you know, he forced her into any relationship, but when I would get her back here from time to time or get her out of the situation with him, he would always find his way back to her.' Dateline pulled Scott's court records and found he's been charged and convicted of various traffic, theft, and drug-related crimes. Sue Quackenbush: 'He had trouble with the law. She saw the good in him. I don't – I don't know, maybe – maybe there is good in everyone, but, um –.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'You didn't see it.' Sue Quackenbush: 'Oh, I –. No, no, no, no, no. He knew exactly how I felt about him.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'That had to be heartbreaking, watching your daughter make a bad choice again and again.' Sue Quackenbush: 'My heart is completely broken. But I still stuck with her and tried and reinforced that I was there. But as it's very heartbreaking, it was her heart I was worried about.' Now with Danielle missing, she was more worried for her daughter's safety and she didn't trust Scott. Scott did go to the New Jersey State Police to report Danielle missing. And days later, he was arrested — but not for Danielle's disappearance. He is currently serving prison time on drug and theft convictions. Josh Mankiewicz: 'You think he had something to do with this, and you think he knows more than he's telling.' Sue Quackenbush: 'I've written to him in – in jail asking can I come see him, 'cause I know I could look in his eyes and know in two seconds. It's no proof, but I would know as a mom. I absolutely believe he knows or directly has something to do with it.' We also wrote to Scott. In an email to Dateline, Scott said he has been devastated by Danielle's disappearance and wants answers himself. He said he was not at the campsite the night Danielle went missing, and when he returned the next morning, she was gone. He insists police should be looking at someone else: a man who was camping near Scott and Danielle. In fact, Sue says Danielle had complained to her about that same man. Danielle told Sue that man would bother her when Scott was not around. And Sue says Roscoe, Danielle's pit bull, was himself a barrier between Danielle and anyone who might have wanted to harm her. Sue Quackenbush: 'Roscoe was truly Danielle's life. She spent a majority of her time with that dog because she could – she could trust him. Roscoe was older. He had to be put down a month before. I do think that Roscoe protected Danielle.' Sue had to wonder: Could that nearby camper have noticed Roscoe was gone, and seen that as an opportunity? It is a question Sue still cannot answer, even as she learned a lot more about Danielle's movements before she went missing. Months after Danielle was last seen, investigators got another big break. A man contacted police saying he had seen Danielle on the evening of April 13th, hours after she left the Wawa gas station. Here's Sergeant Labriola. Det. Sgt. Ryan Labriola: 'She was seen alive around 6 p.m. on April 13th. That was the last time she was on video by these two civilians that were just driving down the road.' And the State Police did not have to take the man's word for it, because he's a blogger and freelance photographer, and he recorded the interaction on video. Danielle Lopez: 'I was looking at the trees and I got distracted, and by the time I realized I was in a big puddle.' That's Danielle on the day police believe she went missing. Danielle Lopez: 'I was like, 'S---.' And it was fine until I put it in drive...' Man filming: 'Oh, no.' Danielle Lopez: 'Um, is there –? What do I do?' The portions of the video that were posted online show Danielle walking down Lost Lane — that same dirt road where her car would later be found. She asks the man recording for help because, she says, her car is partially submerged in mud about a mile down the road. Sue Quackenbush: 'She tells them, 'What do I do?' Which is – is asking for help, especially from a young girl who isn't that trusting of people any longer. She – she says, 'What do I do?'' Josh Mankiewicz: 'And they start talking about how they don't have any way to tow her out of there, but they don't say, 'Get in.'' Sue Quackenbush: 'No. No. She asked if they could push her. They said no. She said, 'Then I'm just going to keep going, I guess,' as you probably hear.' Danielle Lopez: 'I just walked and it took me like 20 minutes. I was just gonna keep going that way.' Man filming: 'I mean, like, the road is right there, but—.' Danielle: 'All right, I was just gonna wait there.' Sue Quackenbush: 'And they pointed her in the direction of the road.' That was April 13th at 6 p.m. According to New Jersey State Police, that is the last time anyone saw or spoke with Danielle Lopez. She was walking toward the main road. There's no way to know if she made it there or not. After that brief moment of hope, Sue still had no real answers. Police continued to actively search for Danielle to no avail. And then one evening, while watching TV, Sue was inspired to take the investigation into her own hands. Sue Quackenbush: 'I saw one of your — your Dateline episodes, where there was a private investigator and I contacted that private investigator to see what they could guide me with. And she said she couldn't help me but was I aware of CUE? So I contacted Monica Caison immediately.' Monica Caison: 'We began in 1994, in September. Basically, um, because I saw the families in need.' That is Monica Caison, founder of the nonprofit CUE, an acronym for Community United Effort. Monica Caison: 'So, that's when CUE was born — to basically be that liaison between families — with law enforcement, the community, bringing forth awareness and just basically doing whatever it took to bring that missing person home.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'Families who are looking for someone missing are in a different situation than families who are watching a homicide investigation progress, aren't they?' Monica Caison: 'Absolutely. Um, you're dealing with an unknown fate.' Sue says she is more than grateful for the care and support CUE has shown her, starting with the CUE coordinator assigned to Danielle's case, Lisa Valentino. Sue Quackenbush: 'Lisa has grown to be someone I can count on for support and guidance in the right direction. Sometimes it's when it's as simple as, 'I just can't breathe,' or 'What should I do?'' Lisa Valentino: 'I work with the families of CUE. I'm the New Jersey State outreach coordinator.' Now, I already know Lisa Valentino. Lisa knows what these families are going through, because she has been in their shoes. In fact, she is still in them today. Her sister, Allison Jackson Foy, vanished from North Carolina in 2006. I reported on that case for Dateline. Josh: 'Is it possible that if Allison had decided to walk away from her life that she wouldn't have told you?' Lisa: 'No way.' Lisa's sister Allison's remains were found nearly two years after she went missing. So far, no one has been arrested for her murder. Now Lisa volunteers at CUE in her home state of New Jersey. Josh Mankiewicz: 'In the case of someone who's missing, you don't know, and it can go on forever and you might never know.' Lisa Valentino: 'Right. And that's what I say to Sue all the time: The not knowing is the hardest part. It's –. I mean, I – I would like justice for my sister. I won't stop. But I'm at a different point: I know where my sister is.' Lisa took up Danielle's case in November 2024. Josh Mankiewicz: 'Everybody in New Jersey knows the Pine Barrens.' Lisa Valentino: 'Everybody in New Jersey knows the Pine Barrens.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'So what kind of place is that to people who haven't been there?' Lisa Valentino: 'Well, it's huge, first of all, and there's hundreds of people in and out of there on a daily basis. I know a lot of four-wheelers go out there, a lot of hikers go out there. And I also think if you don't know where you're going or have maps, or this and that, it could be very easy to get lost in, as well.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'Well, yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I mean, it's an easy — it's an easy place to get lost in, and it's also an easy place to go, if you don't want anybody to see what you're doing, whatever that is.' Lisa Valentino: 'That is correct.' The CUE Center offered a $5,000 reward for information that helps authorities find Danielle. Lisa and Monica have also helped to keep Danielle's name in the media. NBC Philadelphia: 'Shining above 295 in Burlington County is a picture of Danielle Lopez. That big smile that her mom says she is known for.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'You think this is a case where – where a billboard or a reward could make a difference?' Monica Caison: 'I believe that it always makes a difference. If the information is out there, it will bring someone forward, you know, to come forth and help law enforcement get to the next place to search.' As police and CUE continue their work, good Samaritans still sometimes show up and search for Danielle in the Pine Barrens. And out of nowhere, on March 16, 2025 — 11 months after Danielle vanished — one of those helping hands found something near the spot where Danielle was last seen. Sue Quackenbush: 'This article of clothing has not been there at all through any of those searches and was all of a sudden placed hanging from a tree.' During the spring of 2025, Sue Quackenbush learned a searcher had found women's underwear, bleached by the sun. It could have belonged to her daughter, Danielle. Josh Mankiewicz: 'And I guess there's – there's a chance that that might belong to her?' Sue Quackenbush: 'The area was searched very extensively by the police on foot and horseback and canines and marine units. But out in the forest where she was last seen, I placed her flyer on a memorial – some flowers and a flag. That area has been gone over by people that just hike those woods regularly and keep in touch with me. This article of clothing has not been there at all through any of those searches and was all of a sudden placed hanging from a tree.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'What do you make of that?' Sue Quackenbush: 'Could be absolutely nothing. I don't know what to make of it, but I — I have nothing to lose by trying to investigate every part of this that I can.' Sue says police have told her they do not have the resources to test every item of clothing found in the woods for DNA. When she heard that, she turned to an old friend whose nephew is a private investigator. Sue Quackenbush: 'He is going to have a lab that has agreed to — they're going to take my DNA swab to have it compared privately since the police wouldn't.' Private investigator Jimmy Ramsey has decided to do more than just that DNA test. He and his firm are taking on Danielle's case pro bono. Luckily for Sue, he knows New Jersey quite well. Ramsey spent decades of his law enforcement career there. Josh Mankiewicz: 'You had cases there before?' Jimmy Ramsey: 'Uh, as a cop, I worked in the south quite a bit — sure, down, you know, Atlantic City side of the Pine Barrens is more but, yeah, in the Pine Barrens, sure.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'So Danielle is not the first missing woman in the Pine Barrens.' Jimmy Ramsey: 'Absolutely not. No.' In April, Ramsey sent Sue's DNA swab and the underwear found in the woods to an independent lab for testing. He meets with Sue frequently to give her updates on the investigation. Josh Mankiewicz: 'Well, you know, Sue is convinced that her boyfriend, sort of, is either involved or knows more than he's saying. That make sense to you?' Jimmy Ramsey: 'You know, the first thing I did was look at his Facebook page and, man, it was – it was an alarming photograph of him with a – a blowtorch. And a quick Google search showed he had recently been caught up in a, uh, undercover operation selling methamphetamine. That world — the methamphetamine world in that area — is not great. And she was obviously not so much involved, I wouldn't say, but the people that she was with were involved with it.' Jimmy Ramsey also heard about the man camping near Danielle — the same one Danielle had complained to her mom about. So he tracked down that man and interviewed him. Ramsey said the man told him he was camping near Danielle and Scott for two weeks and he left the day Danielle disappeared — April 13th. Ramsey says he believes both that man and Scott know more than they're sharing with investigators. He specifically wonders why Scott waited nearly two weeks to report Danielle missing to police. Jimmy Ramsey: 'They're together every day and staying at that campsite together, so he would've been in day-to-day contact with her. To not report her for, you know, let's call it one day, maybe two days — but weeks out? I – I think that's a big red flag for me.' Danielle's boyfriend Scott told Dateline he did not report her missing in those early days because it was not out of the ordinary for Danielle to pick up and leave at times. He said he would do anything to help find Danielle and bring her home. Scott remains behind bars on those unrelated charges and is eligible for parole in January 2027. And Sue continues to search for her daughter. Josh Mankiewicz: 'There've been a lot of searches.' Sue Quackenbush: 'A lot of searches. Yes.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'And more than once, remains have been found, but not her.' Sue Quackenbush: 'Oh, no. I've gone through four different times. I can't even begin to tell you the anxiety around all of that.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'Because each time you think, 'This is it.'' Sue Quackenbush: 'But I just don't know what to think. Do I want it to be? Do I not want it to be? It's, um, there's no clear vision that way. But the law enforcement is very good about getting back to me as quickly as they can to let me know.' Sue Quackenbush has been through more than most of the people I meet — and that is saying a lot. Two of her children are gone. Her third is still missing. It is hard to think about taking advantage of someone in her position. That said, like many families of the missing, Sue has encountered her share of shady characters — people who claim to have information to share in exchange for money. Sue Quackenbush: 'I was scammed horribly in the beginning. They were quite detailed, very specific about how and what to do. And it wasn't until they started asking me for money that I went to the investigation, and they were aware of very similar, almost precise wording done to another missing person's family.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'Did you end up giving them any money?' Sue Quackenbush: 'No.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'No. You just had your hopes raised.' Sue Quackenbush: 'There's been a lot of ups and downs for me in the searches, waiting for them to occur, the scammers, the fake GoFundMes that have been set up that have nothing to do with me. It's still not going to be enough to — to take me down. I'm going to continue to try and find answers.' On April 13, 2025 — the one-year anniversary of Danielle's disappearance — Sue held a vigil for loved ones to gather and pray for Danielle's safe return. A local pastor gave the introduction. Pastor: 'I know for many of you, this is a very hard, hurtful, confusing time. And I thank you so much for coming together today to not only support Sue, to support one another, but to keep Danielle in our prayers.' Sue Quackenbush: 'Danielle sang 'Let There Be Peace on Earth' in the talent show at school. So I picked that song as we — we light candles and pray for answers.' In May of 2025, the DNA test results came back from the underwear found by that searcher in the woods. And they were inconclusive. According to the lab report, there was not enough DNA present on the underwear to confirm if it did, in fact, belong to Danielle. The New Jersey State Police say their investigation is open and active. They told Dateline they have interviewed dozens of people but, as of late last year, nothing viable came from those conversations. They have not named any suspects. Danielle Lopez is still a missing person. The CUE Center and private investigator Jimmy Ramsey also remain invested in solving Danielle's case. As Sue searches and hopes for leads, she tries to remember the good times she and Danielle had together and her daughter's big, bright smile. Sue Quackenbush: 'She's beautiful. She resembles me only in her dimples.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'There's a yellow ribbon around the tree outside your house.' Sue Quackenbush: 'That old song, Josh, you would know it — 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon If You Still Want Me.' Danielle would know – she knows that song. She's a singer. She loves songs. She would know. Yes. That will remain 'til there's answers.' Josh Mankiewicz: 'Looking at you today, I wonder how you keep going.' Sue Quackenbush: 'I need answers. I will not — I will stay well to fight for Danielle. I have a strong faith, and I believe this will be made right, but I've got to continue. I've got – I've got to. I'm her only voice.' Here is how you can help… Danielle is 5'4' and at the time of her disappearance weighed 135 lbs. She has brown hair and green eyes. Today Danielle Lopez would be 38 years old. Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is asked to contact the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit at (609) 882-2000 or contact the CUE Center for Missing Persons 24-hour line at (910) 232-1687. CUE's $5,000 reward for information leading investigators to Danielle remains in effect until July 31, 2025. You can see photos and videos of her on our website. To learn more about other people we've covered in our Missing in America series, go to There you'll be able to submit cases you think we should cover in the future. Thanks for listening. See you Fridays on Dateline on NBC.
NBC News
15-05-2025
- NBC News
Chester County D.A. announces arrest of Pennsylvania man for missing wife Anna Maciejewska's 2017 murder
Eight years have passed since 43-year-old Pennsylvania woman Anna Maciejewska vanished. Dateline told Anna's story as part of our Dateline: Missing in America series in May of 2017, about a month after she was last seen in Malvern, Pennsylvania. In May 2025, authorities announced an arrest in the case. 'Today, we are here to announce the arrest with members of the Pennsylvania State Police of Allen Gould,' Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said at a May 14 press conference. 'He's been arrested for killing his wife, Anna Maciejewska.' The D.A. said Gould was charged with murder in the first degree, tampering with evidence and other related charges. 'To this day, Anna's body has not been found, but we still have substantial evidence that proves Gould killed his wife, which is why he was charged,' de Barrena-Sarobe stated. Anna was reported missing by Gould on April 12, 2017. He told authorities she had left home 'in a panic' on the morning of April 10 fearing she would be late for a meeting. Co-workers said Anna never arrived at work that day, and Gould told police she didn't return home that night. During the press conference, the D.A. explained more about the investigation, including how authorities worked to collect information about Anna's routine before her disappearance — which led them to believe she vanished days earlier than originally thought. 'That data involved a collection of cell phone records, financial records, but also witness accounts from friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, people that knew her very well,' de Barrena-Sarobe said. 'These accounts demonstrate that Anna stopped her normal life routine on March 29th, 2017. In fact, the last time someone physically saw Anna or actually heard her voice was on March 28th.' He listed some things they learned that indicated to them that Gould had not been telling the truth. 'Anna's Audi was discovered near the family home, then about a two-mile driving distance,' he said. 'Law enforcement was able to search the car's internal data information and learn that the car had never been driven, let alone started on April 10th, as the defendant reported.' They also discovered some odd messages on her phone. 'On March 30th, Anna, who spoke perfect Polish because she grew up in Poland, sent a text message to her father on that day, wishing him a happy birthday. The problem is the Polish grammar doesn't make sense,' de Barrena-Sarobe said. 'Police were able to later learn that someone had researched how to make that exact message via Google Translate. Anna had no reason to use Google Translate.' He also noted that Anna was a devoted mother, sister, and loved her family dearly. 'There's nothing to indicate that she would stop corresponding with her family,' de Barrena-Sarobe said. 'It simply doesn't make any common sense.' D.A. de Barrena-Sarobe also revealed that preliminary divorce papers were found in Gould's home. At the end of the press conference, the D.A. took some questions. When asked what took so long, he explained the difficulty in prosecuting a 'no body' case. 'They take a lot of work. You have to uncover every stone. You have to make sure that you have it right,' he said. 'We've done that here, but it just simply takes time.' The D.A. said Gould was taken into custody without incident on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. He is being held without bail and his first hearing will take place at the end of the month. Dateline reached out to Gould's attorney for comment but has not yet heard back. And while Anna is still missing, D.A. de Barrena-Sarobe is hopeful they will one day be able to find her. 'We always would like to bring finality to the family in Poland, to everyone,' he said.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
She Fled from a Car Ride with Her Boyfriend 9 Years Ago and Ran into the Woods — and Her Body Was Just Found
The last time anyone saw Shannah Boiteau on June 22, 2016, she was running away from a vehicle driven by her boyfriend on a desolate stretch of county road outside of St. Cloud, Minn. Leaving her purse, phone and shoes behind, Boiteau, 23, of Chippewa Falls, Wisc., raced barefoot into the densely wooded area next to Highway I-94, County Road 74, and was never seen again. Now, nearly nine years later, authorities say her skeletal remains have been found on a property in Augusta, Minn., near where she vanished. In a Facebook post on Thursday, May 1, her father, Cletus Boiteau, wrote, 'We would like to thank everyone who has reached out with their thoughts and prayer. 'From the bottom of our hearts we can never thank you enough. This has and is the hardest thing we have ever been through in our lives. Shannah was our first born and stole our hearts from the moment she arrived. Our hearts are broken and will never be whole again.' After Boiteau vanished on June 22, 2016, police issued a release asking for the public's help in locating the young mother. She and her boyfriend had gotten into an argument when she ran out of the car, her family said, according to NBC News' Dateline: Missing in America article series in August 2016. At the time, authorities said they did not believe Boiteau knew anyone in the St. Cloud area. Authorities kept searching for her, but eventually the case went cold. Now, at least some of the mystery surrounding her death is over. In an update on Tuesday, April 29, St. Cloud Police reported that on Saturday, April 26, officers located the remains, which were identified on April drought conditions exposed the once-flooded area where her remains were located, and the property owner found her remains, Cletus wrote in his post. "Trust us when we say that we have all the same questions that everyone else does. We will probably never know all the answers to those questions," he wrote. The investigation remains active. Read the original article on People
NBC News
29-04-2025
- NBC News
Nearly nine years later, human remains of missing Wisconsin woman found near where she vanished
Nearly nine years after the disappearance of Wisconsin mother Shannah Boiteau, authorities have announced that her remains have been found. The 23-year-old was last seen on June 22, 2016, along a highway outside St. Cloud, Minnesota. Dateline featured her story in our Dateline: Missing in America article series in August of that year. The day Shannah vanished she was in a car with her boyfriend driving down Highway 94. After passing a police vehicle, Shannah fled the car. She was barefoot and did not have her purse with her when she vanished into the woods running parallel to the highway. Authorities reportedly witnessed her looking distressed as she made her way into the trees. What happened to her next is unknown. But now, nearly nine later, Shannah's remains have been found. The St. Cloud, Minnesota Police Department shared a media release on Tuesday, April 29. 'On Saturday, April 26th, at approximately 1220 PM, SCPD was notified that a property owner had located possible human remains on his property in the 25000 block of County Rd 74,' the release stated. 'Officers responded, and with the assistance of the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, they recovered apparent skeletal human remains.' The police said this was near the area where Shannah Boiteau was last seen. By Monday, the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office had confirmed the identity of the remains as belonging to Shannah Boiteau. St. Cloud Police stated the case remains an active investigation and they are continuing to work with both the medical examiner and the BCA to investigate Shannah's case. Shannah's loved ones posted on the 'Help Find Shannah Boiteau' Facebook group after the news was released. 'It is with great sorrow and sadness that we have to report that we have found Shannah Boiteau and she has gained her angel wings,' the post states. They asked for privacy as they grieve Shannah but were grateful for the support over the years. 'Much love to everyone who has shared and helped us through this from the start,' they wrote.
NBC News
10-03-2025
- NBC News
The search for Tyler Goodrich in Lincoln, Nebraska, ends as officials recover remains in wooded area
After more than a year and a half of looking for Tyler Goodrich, the search has finally come to an end. Dateline first featured Tyler's disappearance in our online Missing in America series at the end of 2023, nearly two months after he vanished from his Lincoln, Nebraska, home on November 3, 2023. In July 2024, Josh Mankiewicz told Tyler's story as part of Season 3 of the Dateline: Missing in America podcast series. During our first interview, Tyler's father, Lonnie Goodrich, told Dateline he wanted closure for the family. 'Two things have to happen: His body has to be recovered or somebody has to confess,' he said. 'Somebody has to give out the information that they have so that we can have closure. And I pray for that. I mean, every day, every night, a hundred times a day.' And now, one of those two things has happened. At approximately 9:43 a.m. on Saturday, March 8, 2025, the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office was dispatched 'on a report of a deceased individual.' On Monday, March 10, the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office held a press conference to share additional details about the body that had been found. 'Our authorities were dispatched to a wooded area of Highway 77, West Pioneers to a report of a deceased individual,' Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said. 'Based on what we have discovered and details at the scene, the deceased has been identified as Tyler Goodrich, who has been missing since November 3rd, 2023.' The area is wooded and had been previously searched by public volunteers. The remains were located about 10-15 yards from the road, and about 967 yards from Tyler's residence. Officials believe the body had been there for over a year. 'Preliminary results of our investigation have led us to believe this is not a homicide and there is no threat to the public,' Chief Deputy Houchin stated. There were no weapons found at the scene. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday for additional forensic testing and to 'provide further insight into the death investigation.' Houchin stated they will wait to share additional details until after the autopsy is completed and the family has been apprised of the information. The Chief Deputy also shared his condolences to the family. 'I would like to send our condolences and deepest sympathy to Tyler's family and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time,' he said. 'We are so grateful for everybody -- the public, other law enforcement agencies -- who have helped us and volunteered in looking for Tyler.' Tyler's friend Rachel Barth -- who was a driving force behind the search for Tyler -- shared a message with Dateline following the recent developments: On Friday, November 3, 2023, our friend Tyler Goodrich went missing. For the past 16 months, we have done everything in our power to find him and get answers. This past Saturday, we were notified that Tyler had been located near his home. While we still don't know what happened, we are overwhelmed with grief, sadness, and a sense of relief that he has been found. Since Tyler went missing, the love and support from so many have meant the world to us. His story reached millions, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who searched, shared, and hoped alongside us. Your kindness and compassion have been a source of comfort during this unimaginable time. One of our goals was to make Tyler a household name and share a glimpse of the incredible person he was with the world. We will forever miss our beautiful, red-headed, marathon-running, dessert-obsessed friend. As we process this loss, we ask for privacy and space to remember the wonderful person Tyler was. Thank you for holding him in your hearts. We will always love and remember you. The investigation remains open. If you have any information about Tyler's case, please contact the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office at 402-441-6500.
