Episode 2: The Wreck

[00:00:00] Can I tell you a story real quick?

[00:00:04] Sure.

[00:00:06] Miranda.

[00:00:08] So Beth-Ellen was the queen of the wing county fair and that falls, so that fell in

[00:00:18] doubt in August.

[00:00:20] And so the fair would have had to be in sometime in September maybe the first of

[00:00:24] October and Miranda did this dance.

[00:00:28] And we were all there in support of Miranda because we know how she felt.

[00:00:50] And I might chrome this one.

[00:01:00] But Miranda got up there on that stage and she represented everything that everybody felt.

[00:01:12] Everybody was on their feet and screaming, go, go, go, go.

[00:01:20] It's a music kept playing.

[00:01:22] Do it, do it, do it.

[00:01:26] And you can see it on the face, the pain.

[00:01:34] And there was a drop on the place during the wanted.

[00:01:42] Miranda did it.

[00:01:44] And she made Beth a home proud that day.

[00:01:50] Kind of like that Jim Galbanna speech, you know his last speech for instance he states,

[00:01:55] don't care about the telepropters, I don't care.

[00:01:59] I got this little bit of time here on earth and I got something to say.

[00:02:05] And Miranda's performance married that.

[00:02:09] She and she and she and she's up.

[00:02:15] I'm doing this for my heart.

[00:02:17] And I'm doing this for my friends.

[00:02:19] I'm doing this for the one I love.

[00:02:21] And I want everybody to see it and I'm going to make her proud.

[00:02:25] She made it all proud.

[00:02:27] And I don't know if she really knows that but she made it all proud that day.

[00:02:33] Who killed Beth Ellen?

[00:02:37] Episode 2.

[00:02:46] Miranda's dance took place once school started back up.

[00:02:50] After that summer of 94, what would have been Beth Ellen's senior year?

[00:02:58] But we have to rewind back to that car wreck

[00:03:02] that nearly killed Beth Ellen's best friend Heather.

[00:03:05] That was Easter Sunday in 93.

[00:03:08] Toward the end of Beth Ellen's sophomore year.

[00:03:12] After that wreck, like Heather, Beth Ellen was never the same.

[00:03:18] And they were no longer best friends.

[00:03:22] By her junior year it was...

[00:03:24] Kelly, you know she and Beth Ellen were inseparable.

[00:03:30] They were best best friends.

[00:03:32] This is Kelly.

[00:03:34] She was a year older than me in school.

[00:03:37] I feel like we've known each other forever.

[00:03:40] We got really close.

[00:03:42] Like the end of junior high and high school.

[00:03:46] And Kelly saw firsthand that her best friend Beth Ellen...

[00:03:50] She was being a rebellious teenager.

[00:03:52] You know, I mean back then she said she didn't go on with her mom and all that.

[00:03:57] I don't think there's anything wrong with the way Miss Penny was probably peering at things.

[00:04:01] She was just... you know now that I'm grown,

[00:04:04] she was probably just being a rebellious teenager.

[00:04:08] She kind of had a free spirit.

[00:04:10] You know, and just...

[00:04:12] Yeah they just weren't getting along.

[00:04:15] So she wanted to move out.

[00:04:21] And this is how Beth Ellen wound up in Raleigh.

[00:04:24] You'll remember the first part of this from the last episode.

[00:04:27] This is Karen.

[00:04:29] You know she never went far and she never...

[00:04:32] She would usually come see me at the restaurant I worked at.

[00:04:38] It was like a 50 style diner kind of restaurant.

[00:04:41] And she would come on a Sunday after all of that had happened to be like,

[00:04:45] I have to go home, I'm out of gas and I'm out of money.

[00:04:49] And it was actually one of those instances where we saw Ricky and Brian.

[00:04:57] Ricky and Brian were Kelly's step uncles.

[00:05:03] It's a little confusing at first,

[00:05:06] but we'll go through it in a bit.

[00:05:09] At the time, Ricky was 20, a sophomore at NC State.

[00:05:14] And his brother Brian was 21, a junior.

[00:05:18] NC State's in Raleigh.

[00:05:21] We saw Ricky and Brian out of the front windows of the restaurant

[00:05:30] and she ran outside to talk to them.

[00:05:33] When she came back in, she said,

[00:05:36] Ricky and Brian said I could move in with them in Raleigh this summer

[00:05:41] and play a tambourine in their band.

[00:05:46] I guess I didn't believe she would, but she could do that.

[00:05:54] What month would that have been?

[00:05:57] Maybe early May because we got out of school.

[00:06:00] Graduation I think was June 12th or something like that.

[00:06:04] I think it was before that.

[00:06:06] I think we were still in school.

[00:06:09] And so maybe May ish, but she knew them through her best friend Kelly.

[00:06:16] So here's the family connection which will become increasingly intriguing

[00:06:21] as this story goes along.

[00:06:24] A couple years before all this in the early 90s,

[00:06:28] Kelly's dad David married a little bit of a younger gal named Porsche.

[00:06:33] Porsche was the older sister of Ricky and Brian.

[00:06:37] So although they weren't that much older than Kelly,

[00:06:40] they became her step uncles.

[00:06:42] So here's the quick age run down again.

[00:06:44] The year of the murder in 94,

[00:06:46] Kelly's dad David was 40, married to Porsche who was 30,

[00:06:50] Porsche's younger brothers Brian 21,

[00:06:53] Ricky 20, Kelly was 15 and again Bethellan was 17.

[00:06:59] Let's go back to Karen.

[00:07:01] I knew them because I grew up in junior high with Ricky

[00:07:05] and Brian was a couple of years older than him,

[00:07:08] but I knew them from junior high.

[00:07:10] They went to the same junior high at the end.

[00:07:12] At that point, we're pretty close.

[00:07:14] You may, a couple months before she moved in with them.

[00:07:19] At least at that point did they come across like she was interested

[00:07:23] in dating Ricky or dating one of them?

[00:07:26] No, I don't think so.

[00:07:28] I just think she saw them as Kelly's uncles.

[00:07:32] And they were great.

[00:07:35] Bethellan pretty much thought everybody was great.

[00:07:38] She saw the greatness of everyone,

[00:07:41] but she was just excited to see them and see,

[00:07:44] saw it as an opportunity.

[00:07:46] It was somebody she trusted.

[00:07:48] I think she saw it as again a safe opportunity for her

[00:07:51] to get some space and move to Raleigh.

[00:07:57] I just think she felt safe going and living with them,

[00:08:00] but it doesn't surprise me that Ricky fell in love with her immediately.

[00:08:05] I mean, you couldn't help but fall in love with her.

[00:08:09] Well, how do you know Ricky fell in love with her immediately?

[00:08:13] I think he did.

[00:08:15] I just assumed he did.

[00:08:17] I mean, they started dating,

[00:08:19] but she just was...

[00:08:21] I wouldn't have pictured Brian having any kind of relationship

[00:08:25] with her ever.

[00:08:28] Just such a different personality,

[00:08:30] but Ricky was...

[00:08:32] Ricky was more...

[00:08:34] I don't know.

[00:08:35] How would I describe Ricky?

[00:08:38] He was more gentle, I guess,

[00:08:41] and nicer and sort of quiet.

[00:08:46] And I think probably that part of her that wasn't...

[00:08:50] you know, it wasn't so quiet and was fun and beautiful

[00:08:55] would be appealing to somebody who was a little bit more gentle and quiet.

[00:09:01] Back to Beth Ellen's best friend Kelly.

[00:09:03] How did she meet Ricky?

[00:09:05] When did they start dating?

[00:09:08] I'm sure this from like being at my house and stuff.

[00:09:11] I really don't recall.

[00:09:13] I'm sure they just met in the circle

[00:09:16] and then I guess she was talking to him.

[00:09:19] I guess they are with him.

[00:09:21] Was Ricky living at your dad's house?

[00:09:23] Or was he already in college at that point?

[00:09:25] No, he was in college in Raleigh.

[00:09:28] But then he would just come back home

[00:09:30] or come back to your house

[00:09:32] and then Beth Ellen sort of hanged out?

[00:09:35] Yeah, because his parents lived here as well.

[00:09:38] Oh yeah, okay.

[00:09:40] So before she moved to Raleigh to live with him,

[00:09:43] I mean what would you estimate how long had they been quote dating?

[00:09:48] I can't, I really, I don't know.

[00:09:50] I'm terrible with time friends,

[00:09:52] but that's where you're probably going to have a problem with me.

[00:09:54] I can't believe he said that I'm being honest.

[00:09:57] Before she moved to Raleigh with him,

[00:10:01] they were officially dating

[00:10:03] and it was something we would call it serious

[00:10:06] or was it puppy love

[00:10:07] or did one of them like the one better than the other?

[00:10:10] Or what would you say?

[00:10:12] I would probably just say puppy love.

[00:10:15] And like to be honest with you,

[00:10:17] I had a serious boyfriend all through high school.

[00:10:20] And so like I didn't do a lot of things.

[00:10:23] Like I kind of quit hanging out with everybody so much.

[00:10:26] You know what I'm saying?

[00:10:27] Like we were going to church to play basketball

[00:10:30] while friends were having parties and stuff.

[00:10:33] So like going off to Raleigh and stuff like that,

[00:10:36] I really, that wasn't my thing.

[00:10:38] But we still talked on the phone

[00:10:40] and kept in touch and all of that

[00:10:42] and I was wondering where to come home.

[00:10:44] And I had actually asked

[00:10:46] and my dad regrets this,

[00:10:48] he will regret it until they die.

[00:10:50] But I asked my dad could she come home

[00:10:52] and finish out with her senior year

[00:10:54] and stay with us. That's me big.

[00:10:56] He said no. She needs to go home.

[00:10:58] Which is true but you know...

[00:11:00] Did she move to Raleigh

[00:11:02] to just be closer to Ricky

[00:11:05] or was there another reason

[00:11:07] she wanted to be in Raleigh so bad?

[00:11:09] I think it was just to get out of the house.

[00:11:11] I mean yes, you probably had a puppy love on Ricky

[00:11:14] but like just to get out of the house

[00:11:16] and her dream was always to go to New York.

[00:11:20] You know?

[00:11:21] But yeah that was her dream to get up to New York.

[00:11:24] Did she think that

[00:11:26] she was just kind of using Raleigh as a stepping stone

[00:11:29] or did she kind of have a date in mind?

[00:11:33] I don't even really think

[00:11:34] there were like those kind of goals made at that age.

[00:11:37] I think it was more like a day by day thing.

[00:11:39] I think it was like a dream.

[00:11:41] I talked to her about coming home

[00:11:43] to get finished her senior year

[00:11:45] and I think all that was up in the air.

[00:11:48] Like, I don't know

[00:11:49] that she wasn't going to come back home.

[00:11:51] You know?

[00:11:52] She just never got it.

[00:11:53] She gets to really make that decision.

[00:12:02] According to the newspapers,

[00:12:04] Beth Ellen moved out of her parents house for good.

[00:12:06] The weekend of July 4th, 94.

[00:12:09] She stayed at Kelly's house briefly

[00:12:11] and then moved into Ricky and Brian's

[00:12:13] NC State apartment.

[00:12:15] Since we don't know the exact date,

[00:12:17] let's say it was July 7th.

[00:12:19] That would be 40 days.

[00:12:22] She moved to Raleigh

[00:12:23] and within 40 days,

[00:12:25] Beth Ellen was murdered.

[00:12:30] So it's crucial to know as much as possible

[00:12:33] about what was going on during those 40 days.

[00:12:38] How often did you guys talk during that time?

[00:12:42] Which we call you everyday still or?

[00:12:45] No, I would say every day.

[00:12:47] But we did talk a lot.

[00:12:49] But she never back then.

[00:12:50] I don't think we had cell phones

[00:12:52] which was all long distance.

[00:12:53] When she called,

[00:12:54] she would just be calling from Ricky and them's apartment phone.

[00:12:57] I don't really know.

[00:12:59] I know I didn't have a cell phone.

[00:13:01] Like, I remember my dad has like a back phone

[00:13:04] when I was in high school.

[00:13:05] That's how long ago it was.

[00:13:07] And then eventually I think that thing

[00:13:10] cell phones came out with like,

[00:13:12] I just, I don't remember.

[00:13:13] But I think it was probably an apartment phone

[00:13:16] like a landline.

[00:13:17] You felt like you were still talking

[00:13:19] like every couple days.

[00:13:21] Yeah.

[00:13:22] You all wouldn't go a week or two without.

[00:13:25] I'm sorry.

[00:13:26] And did you ever go to Raleigh

[00:13:28] and hang out with her and Ricky in the house?

[00:13:31] I don't think I did ever do it.

[00:13:33] You know, I think she would come home

[00:13:36] and let's gather something.

[00:13:39] So during that five or six week time period,

[00:13:42] Bethelan was kind of going back and forth.

[00:13:45] Again, Goldsboro was only a little over an hour away from Raleigh.

[00:13:49] But I only know of one friend

[00:13:51] that visited Bethelan during that time.

[00:13:54] A girlfriend said that Bethelan called her

[00:13:56] and invited her to come and hang out for an afternoon.

[00:13:59] She came by Ricky and Brian's apartment

[00:14:01] where Bethelan was staying.

[00:14:03] Then they went to a nearby Rockola restaurant.

[00:14:06] It was kind of like a chiles with a music theme.

[00:14:09] That's where Ricky was working as a server at the time.

[00:14:12] Bethelan's friends had they sat in Ricky's section.

[00:14:15] He waited on them.

[00:14:16] The friend told me that Bethelan never said

[00:14:18] she and Ricky were dating or anything like that.

[00:14:21] But she did tell me that Bethelan seemed giddy

[00:14:24] and she could tell that they liked each other.

[00:14:27] And Bethelan wanted them to leave a big tip for Ricky.

[00:14:30] Not much else was too memorable about the lunch.

[00:14:33] It just seemed like Bethelan was happy.

[00:14:35] After lunch, this girlfriend and Bethelan

[00:14:38] went back to Ricky and Brian's apartment.

[00:14:40] They had a drum set.

[00:14:41] And Bethelan played the drums.

[00:14:43] Shortly after Ricky came home from work,

[00:14:46] he had a new black crow CD,

[00:14:48] which he and Bethelan were excited about.

[00:14:52] Multiple friends told me that Bethelan and Ricky

[00:14:55] shared the same love for music.

[00:14:58] And soon after that, the friend left

[00:15:00] and headed back to Goldsboro.

[00:15:02] Raleigh seemed to be treating Bethelan fine.

[00:15:06] But everything wasn't fine.

[00:15:08] Bethelan was out on her own.

[00:15:10] She needed money.

[00:15:11] She needed to pay rent

[00:15:12] and the big goal was to save up money to go to New York.

[00:15:16] Yeah, a gift came out later about the whole escort service thing.

[00:15:20] Were you aware of that before she went missing?

[00:15:23] Yeah.

[00:15:30] After Bethelan's body was found on August 23rd,

[00:15:33] being a small town,

[00:15:35] were quickly got out around Goldsboro

[00:15:37] that she had been working as an escort

[00:15:39] in the weeks leading up to her death.

[00:15:42] But only a select few knew about the escort thing

[00:15:45] as it was going on prior to the murder.

[00:15:48] So how did that start?

[00:15:50] How did she start working for this?

[00:15:54] I feel like we were talking about it

[00:15:56] when she just came up with an owl.

[00:15:58] But I felt like we were just talking like gossiping

[00:16:03] but she really went through with it.

[00:16:08] She moved?

[00:16:10] I don't know how she's feeling the company.

[00:16:12] I don't know anything about it.

[00:16:14] And I don't think she did it that many times.

[00:16:19] When she had started that before she was in Raleigh,

[00:16:24] I don't think so.

[00:16:26] No.

[00:16:27] So she just got hooked up with that escort service

[00:16:29] winter in Raleigh?

[00:16:33] According to the newspapers,

[00:16:35] and a lot of this information came from Kelly,

[00:16:37] Ricky, and his older sister, Portia.

[00:16:41] Bethelan found an ad in the back of the yellow pages.

[00:16:44] Apparently at the time,

[00:16:46] there were like three dozen ads looking for girls and guys

[00:16:49] who were looking to get into the escort business.

[00:16:53] Bethelan called an out-of-state toll-free number

[00:16:56] and lied about her age, told them she was 18.

[00:16:59] And the service never asked for proof of age,

[00:17:02] just a $10 registration fee.

[00:17:05] The company was named Class Act,

[00:17:07] and based out of Virginia.

[00:17:13] Bethelan told her friends that the escort service told her

[00:17:16] that they were running a clean business.

[00:17:18] She was not expected to provide any sexual favors.

[00:17:22] They told her all she had to do was dance privately

[00:17:25] for men in their motel room.

[00:17:27] And she couldn't just make,

[00:17:28] was she working other jobs?

[00:17:30] I don't think so.

[00:17:31] Like waiting tables or anything.

[00:17:32] No.

[00:17:34] I think she told her parents she had a job,

[00:17:37] but she didn't.

[00:17:38] I wonder why she didn't, you know,

[00:17:41] try to wait in tables and the escort service,

[00:17:43] but from your knowledge,

[00:17:45] she was just kind of working the escort service.

[00:17:49] But she didn't do too many calls.

[00:17:52] No, I'm not that I'm aware of.

[00:17:54] What Kelly told the paper 30 years ago

[00:17:57] was that she thought that Bethelan went on about four or five escort calls.

[00:18:01] I asked her,

[00:18:02] if she saw Bethelan during the 40 days in question.

[00:18:05] Yeah, I saw her once during that time period.

[00:18:08] Where did she go?

[00:18:09] So I worked at a restaurant called Andes

[00:18:13] in Mount Olive and she and Kelly had come in for the day

[00:18:16] and I was working at the time and so they sat in there for a couple of hours.

[00:18:20] Well,

[00:18:21] and do you remember what,

[00:18:22] what you guys were talking about then?

[00:18:24] Well, she was just catching me up to speed

[00:18:26] on what she was doing and how things were going.

[00:18:29] But it wasn't anything really specific.

[00:18:31] I mean, clearly I know that she was working for the escort service

[00:18:35] what that entailed.

[00:18:37] What was your knowledge about what all that entailed?

[00:18:40] Okay, I'm just going to have to, you know,

[00:18:42] have other people shared these details.

[00:18:44] I just, I really don't want to have to be the first person to share.

[00:18:48] Not everybody knew obviously,

[00:18:49] but it came out in the papers months later.

[00:18:51] So at this point everybody knows

[00:18:53] but I am trying to figure out when she started,

[00:18:56] how she started,

[00:18:57] how many times get all that information about that element of case?

[00:19:02] But yeah, I mean her cousin brought it up.

[00:19:04] Almost everybody has talked about it.

[00:19:05] Right.

[00:19:06] Yes.

[00:19:07] But only certain people knew it back then.

[00:19:09] That's why I am interested to really put together that timeline

[00:19:13] because her cousin said it probably best.

[00:19:16] You know, she doesn't know if she was killed by someone connected to that escort business

[00:19:21] but she felt like her cousin said, you know,

[00:19:24] I feel like some way or another,

[00:19:27] her working for that business was a part of the reason that she was killed.

[00:19:32] Right.

[00:19:34] So that's why it's important

[00:19:37] to get as many details about that.

[00:19:42] So yeah, what can you tell me about what you knew about it back then?

[00:19:51] Okay. Well obviously, you know,

[00:19:57] that Beth Ellen was under age,

[00:19:59] you know, being only 17 and not 18.

[00:20:06] What I know about what she was doing was she was being hired as an escort

[00:20:11] as a date.

[00:20:14] And whatever capacity, I mean,

[00:20:16] I can't say that she shared about the dates or who she went out with.

[00:20:22] You know, those are not details.

[00:20:26] You know, she didn't divulge who I never heard her say who

[00:20:31] and like I said, I only saw her once hearing that time period in her life.

[00:20:38] And I can't say that she told me that she was working for an escort service,

[00:20:42] but I knew that day when I saw her in any of these I knew

[00:20:46] that's what she was doing to earn money.

[00:20:50] Well, and one of the newspaper articles that said that some,

[00:20:54] one of her friends thought that you might have got assaulted on one of those calls.

[00:21:00] Did you know anything about that?

[00:21:02] Yes.

[00:21:04] Back to Beth Ellen's best friend Kelly.

[00:21:07] What did you hear?

[00:21:08] I just remember,

[00:21:10] like telling me that basically she had been great.

[00:21:17] And I think that was at the point when I asked my dad if she could just come and stay with us

[00:21:22] and she figured everything out.

[00:21:24] Did she ever say that she had the same client more than once?

[00:21:29] Was it always different clients?

[00:21:31] I don't know about that.

[00:21:34] I mean, as an adult I should have asked all these questions, but as a kid I just didn't.

[00:21:50] Beth Ellen was in Raleigh only for a few weeks.

[00:21:53] Had gone on a few escort calls and by the second or third job,

[00:21:58] that's when she got assaulted.

[00:22:02] She at least told one other friend besides Kelly the same friend that visited her in Raleigh.

[00:22:08] That girlfriend remembers it being a week or two after that.

[00:22:11] Beth Ellen showed up at her house which would make this encounter a week or two before Beth Ellen was reported missing.

[00:22:21] Beth Ellen came over saying she needed money for rent.

[00:22:25] This girlfriend gave her what she and her sister could round up around the house, about 20 to 40 bucks she thought.

[00:22:33] And Beth Ellen wasn't the same happy go lucky girl that she seemed during their rock-o'-l afternoon.

[00:22:39] She said Beth Ellen seemed rattled.

[00:22:43] It was during this encounter that Beth Ellen told this friend, she had been raped.

[00:22:49] Beth Ellen never went to the police about the assault, but she told Kelly and this girlfriend she was quitting the escort service.

[00:23:00] And it must have been around this time period within the 40 days that another friend of Beth Ellen...

[00:23:06] At a church camp down at the beach and I would come home and there was a hidden den and an area called Indian Springs.

[00:23:17] I would go down there down the dirt road. There's a big barn, there's a pond...

[00:23:27] because then there's not best freedom at the time with dating Beth Ellen.

[00:23:32] And so every time I'd come home that summer at Conheim and there she was, she was down the by the pond. There she was.

[00:23:43] His name was Doug.

[00:23:47] Doug was very different and Doug has passed away three or four years ago now.

[00:23:52] He was a very old soul, crystal blue eyes and a beautiful smile but always wore button-down shirts and pants with a belt.

[00:24:00] Because very old soul and Beth Ellen also had this old soul demeanor about her.

[00:24:09] It's very different from him and somehow those two got to talk and...

[00:24:14] Karen, remember Tile?

[00:24:16] So we had a smoking patio at our high school.

[00:24:19] We were again, you know, a farming community so for years and years and years our high school allowed you to smoke in between classes.

[00:24:29] So Joe and Beth Ellen both always hung out in between classes on the smoking patio.

[00:24:36] She would come running into the classroom and she would lamer-books down on the table and look up at me and tuck her hair behind her ear or to go.

[00:24:46] Okay, I even let this sound like a bad joke or Joe won't pass me and he looked at me and I looked at him and he nodded his head and I nodded back at him.

[00:24:57] You know, it was like the whole high school drama of liking somebody.

[00:25:03] So he finally came up to her and asked her out.

[00:25:07] She thought he was the greatest thing ever and so complete opposite of anything you would think that she would go after.

[00:25:19] And he was so country, you know, war boots every day.

[00:25:27] The sweetest guy you would ever meet in your life.

[00:25:33] Back to Beth Ellen's friend Erica who was coming home from a church camp at the beach that summer.

[00:25:38] I mean we start talking to her at the end of our limit grade year.

[00:25:42] They would just talk and see each other throughout the whole summer.

[00:25:47] Every time I came home and went down there she was always there.

[00:25:57] I'm really focused on the like the six weeks kind of leading up that summer.

[00:26:01] How many times have you figured you saw her that summer?

[00:26:04] Oh, seven to ten times?

[00:26:11] Well now that summer was she partying, was she drinking?

[00:26:15] Whenever I was a rambler, no she wasn't drinking.

[00:26:19] No, I never recall her ever drinking or parting hard.

[00:26:25] She smoked a cigarette.

[00:26:27] She had her male and male lighter.

[00:26:29] I mean she smoked but no, no drinking.

[00:26:33] That's what Beth Ellen's other friends have told me as well.

[00:26:36] It doesn't seem like drugs or alcohol play any part in the story.

[00:26:42] Erica said Joe passed away a few years ago so I asked her.

[00:26:47] Did Joe know she was enrolled?

[00:26:51] Something tells me he did but he never directly told me.

[00:26:56] He worried about her.

[00:26:59] I will say that in our conversations, he worried about her and her fun in her way.

[00:27:07] He told me that a lot.

[00:27:09] He worried about her fun in her way.

[00:27:12] He really cared about her.

[00:27:15] Do you think he knew about the escort thing?

[00:27:18] No, absolutely not.

[00:27:21] Was there ever any discussion about the guy she was living with there, Rick?

[00:27:27] Nope, no.

[00:27:31] She kept one part of her life a secret and then there was this other part of her life that was a secret.

[00:27:38] We had one thing of a year and then we were living over here on this other side of her world.

[00:27:49] And from my understanding, Rick was the outlet to get her exposed to big city life or whatnot.

[00:27:59] Joe was home and she met home to Joe a lot.

[00:28:11] Bethellan seemed to be longing for home.

[00:28:14] She started reaching out to family for the first time since she left.

[00:28:18] And she also introduced her Raleigh guy, Ricky, to the family.

[00:28:22] She and Ricky drove through Goldsboro and popped into her father's grocery store.

[00:28:27] She had to pick up a registration card for her car from her dad.

[00:28:31] So it's hard to say if she would have popped in otherwise.

[00:28:34] She brought Ricky into the store, her dad met him, shook his hand and said Ricky walked through the store as he brought Bethellan into his office to have a sit down and talk with her.

[00:28:45] He asked her about coming home and she said she might crash there a few nights.

[00:28:50] And he said, no, no you're not going to do that.

[00:28:54] He said no, home is not a place to crash.

[00:28:57] If you're going to come and stay you're more than welcome.

[00:29:00] And I wish you would, her dad said.

[00:29:03] But you're not going to come back and use it like a motel.

[00:29:07] That was the first time he met Ricky and the last time he saw Bethellan.

[00:29:15] Her dad said after stopping by his store they were headed to Taylor'sville.

[00:29:20] That's where brother Bill and his family lived.

[00:29:23] They lived near the mountains.

[00:29:25] Bill remembers them stopping by.

[00:29:27] They ordered some pizza and all watched a movie that night.

[00:29:31] Bill was aware Bethellan was living with Ricky.

[00:29:34] The plan was for everyone to take a day trip to the mountains the following day

[00:29:38] to check out the sites and have a family picnic.

[00:29:41] That night before everyone went to bed, Bill tried to have a heart to heart with Bethellan.

[00:29:45] He told her how much their parents were hurting.

[00:29:48] With her essentially running away and living in Raleigh.

[00:29:51] Bill said she was completely resistant.

[00:29:54] She didn't get mad or anything, but she let them know.

[00:29:57] She wasn't going to live back at home.

[00:29:59] The next morning rather abruptly, Ricky and Bethellan decided they wanted to go up to the mountains on their own.

[00:30:05] They didn't want to do the family picnic thing.

[00:30:08] So Bethellan's brother Bill gave them directions for sightseeing

[00:30:12] and they went on by themselves.

[00:30:14] That was the last time Bill would see his sister.

[00:30:19] Around that same time, Bethellan called her other brother Brian.

[00:30:23] He told her to come back home.

[00:30:26] She wouldn't listen to him either.

[00:30:28] And that was the last time Brian spoke to his sister.

[00:30:33] Bethellan called her cousin.

[00:30:36] And she called my daughter, but she was disguising her voice because I said who's calling who is this?

[00:30:43] She said Sarah.

[00:30:45] And my mom was still upstairs.

[00:30:47] She hollered up to me and said pick up the phone.

[00:30:50] It's for you.

[00:30:51] And I said, well, who is it?

[00:30:52] And she said Sarah.

[00:30:54] I said, I don't know any Sarah.

[00:30:56] And she said, well, if she's on the phone and she's asking for you.

[00:31:00] So I got on the phone.

[00:31:01] I said hello.

[00:31:02] And she said, hey, she and me.

[00:31:06] I said that Ellen.

[00:31:07] And she said, yeah.

[00:31:09] I said, well, why did you tell mom that your name was Sarah?

[00:31:14] And she said because I didn't want her knowing that I was calling.

[00:31:18] She said because then she'd turn around and tell her mom.

[00:31:22] And she didn't want to get into it.

[00:31:24] She didn't want her mom to know one of things.

[00:31:26] So I just asked her, you know, how are you doing?

[00:31:29] She said, I'm doing good.

[00:31:30] I said, are you happy?

[00:31:31] And she said yes.

[00:31:32] I did ask her what she was doing there.

[00:31:35] And she said, she met some people down there.

[00:31:37] And she had friends down there.

[00:31:39] And she was currently working out of restaurant.

[00:31:42] Then she just pretty much said she had to go.

[00:31:46] And I didn't know that was going to be the last time that I talked to her.

[00:31:55] I wouldn't have known anything was wrong.

[00:31:57] By the way, she sounded happy.

[00:32:01] I didn't even ask her if she was coming home.

[00:32:04] And I don't know why I didn't.

[00:32:07] But, you know, I knew the reason that she was down there.

[00:32:11] You know, because I wanted to go to the concert and not opinion, not letting her.

[00:32:15] Your remember last episode what Bethelan's aunt Pansy said triggered the move out?

[00:32:20] Bethelan got mad at them because they would not let her go to Lala Palozo.

[00:32:26] That year, the Beastie boys, smashing pumpkins, green day and Bethelan were there.

[00:32:34] Six days before she was reported missing,

[00:32:38] her friend Amanda ran into her walking across the lawn at the Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh.

[00:32:46] She didn't see who Bethelan was with.

[00:32:49] But she said Bethelan seemed fine.

[00:32:51] She seemed happy.

[00:32:52] They hugged each other.

[00:32:55] And Amanda said she would see her in a few weeks at school.

[00:33:00] Bethelan told her she wasn't going back to school.

[00:33:03] She said she was living in Raleigh now.

[00:33:08] But days later, she was back at Joe's family's property in seven springs.

[00:33:13] In the very last night, she came home.

[00:33:17] Joe's folks had this little dinner and it all brown-panelling and a little TV in the corner

[00:33:24] to require her.

[00:33:25] And she and I are sitting there.

[00:33:27] And the realm of the whole conversation was, how much she adored Joe.

[00:33:34] To turn on them and she stood up and we were walking, going to walk outside to meet it with everybody else that was outside.

[00:33:41] She dropped her Maryland and then rode to Lala Palozo.

[00:33:47] So in that conversation happened three or four days before she went to the office?

[00:33:52] Yeah.

[00:34:02] Bethelan was juggling a lot that summer.

[00:34:06] Joe in seven springs.

[00:34:09] Ricky and Raleigh.

[00:34:12] And even though she had quit the escort business, she still needed money.

[00:34:17] So she had started it back up.

[00:34:22] And that brings us to the last night of Bethelan's life.

[00:34:34] She was in Raleigh at Ricky and Brian's apartment.

[00:34:43] There was also another guy living in the apartment that summer.

[00:34:47] His name was Walt.

[00:34:49] And this is Ricky's friend growing up in Goldsboro.

[00:34:52] And by that point in 1994, like Ricky, Walt was also a sophomore at NC State.

[00:35:03] And this is Ricky's account of what happened that night as reported in the papers.

[00:35:12] It was Monday night that bled over to Tuesday morning, August 16th, 1994.

[00:35:21] Bethelan and Ricky were alone in the apartment watching bass against ink on TV.

[00:35:29] Ricky's brother Brian and Walt were out somewhere.

[00:35:36] Around 2 a.m. the phone rang.

[00:35:38] It was the escort service.

[00:35:40] There was a client at the inkeeper motel looking for the usual date.

[00:35:45] 45 minutes of exotic dancing.

[00:35:48] Bethelan took the job. She got ready.

[00:35:53] She put on a sleeveless silver top and a multicolored miniskirt.

[00:35:58] And her friend's mom's 70-style platform sandals.

[00:36:03] She put on makeup.

[00:36:05] And left for the inkeeper at around 2.30 a.m.

[00:36:11] Walt and Brian still weren't back at the apartment yet.

[00:36:15] According to Ricky, they got back shortly after she left.

[00:36:19] And that was the last time he ever saw Bethelan.

[00:36:23] And that's really about everything that's been made public.

[00:36:27] About Bethelan's last night.

[00:36:30] As you heard at the beginning of last episode, Bethelan's car was found about 5 hours later.

[00:36:36] The radio still on.

[00:36:39] The driver's door open.

[00:36:41] And her shoe and the floor board.

[00:36:45] But there's a lot more to the story.

[00:36:49] Over the subsequent months after her car and body were found.

[00:36:55] Additional information surfaced. Some explosive information.

[00:37:01] Sure you saw the letter that ran in the newspaper about the whole politician's thing and all of that.

[00:37:10] An anonymous letter was sent to the Goldsboro newspaper.

[00:37:13] It said Bethelan was actually working for an escort service that catered to high-powered people, lawyers, doctors, and politicians.

[00:37:22] Yeah, now what did you think about that?

[00:37:25] It's so weird.

[00:37:28] It was such a weird...

[00:37:31] I don't know where that came from or what the police even thought of that and the fact that it got published in the newspaper was really strange.

[00:37:41] But then Kelly even says specifically.

[00:37:48] In a private Facebook message to Karen back in 2020.

[00:37:52] I was a 15-year-old all tied up in politicians and scandals and covering for Ricky.

[00:38:01] If you have information about this case or no someone who might.

[00:38:17] Call 1-866-TIPS-4-BE

[00:38:22] That's 866-847-742-3

[00:38:29] or email us at who killed Bethelan at gmail.com

[00:38:35] If you're in North Carolina and want to help, please email us.

[00:38:40] For more information on the case and to see pictures check out our website at Bethelanpodcast.com

[00:38:48] and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

[00:38:52] 2024, the year of closure for a family and justice for Bethelan.

[00:38:59] Thank you for listening and stay tuned.