[female narrator] in rural ohio,
A beautiful young mother goes missing.
In all the time that he's known whitney,
She doesn't go off the radar. She doesn't go dark.
She doesn't ghost.
[kimberly] as a parent, you don't want to ever think
That your child is taken from you.
[narrator] the evidence quickly points to foul play.
They're looking in the windows with flashlights
And they start to notice trash bags.
[daniel] I dropped the tailgate,
And I see large clumps of blonde hair.
[narrator] as the investigation escalates,
An inner circle is thrown into question.
Family members have witnessed them fighting with each other.
They would break up, get back together,
Break up, get back together.
[narrator] but is this close-knit family
Hiding a killer?
[eric] to our knowledge, they were the last ones
That saw whitney alive.
[music]
[theme music]
[music]
[narrator] champaign county, ohio
Is a quiet farming community a few miles north of springfield.
You would probably describe it mostly as blue collar.
There's beautiful farming land, very green in the summer.
And people think it's a great place to raise a family.
There's not much crime here and people feel mostly safe.
[narrator] but just after midnight on October 1st, 2020,
The sense of peace is disturbed by a mysterious 911 call.
I was dispatched to meet a male in the parking lot
Of the sheriff's office.
I was told by the dispatch center
That the male would not give them any information
About what he wanted to report.
He just wanted to speak to someone in person.
So, I go out into the parking lot.
[narrator] the young man,
Who identifies himself as randy rider,
Gets out of the vehicle and tells the deputy
Why his friends brought him there.
Randy stated that an incident had occurred
At the house where he lives wit his girlfriend, whitney hostler
His father, rodney rider sr,
And his mother, valerie rider.
He advised that around 11am on September 30th,
There had been an argument between whitney,
His mother valerie, and him.
They were screaming at each other,
And the argument ended abruptly
Randy then left,
And he stated to me that his mother, valerie,
Continued to argue with whitney
[narrator] now it's midnight on October 1st,
And over 12 hours have passed
Since he last heard from whitney.
Randy said that he had been with his friends all day
And someone was supposed to come pick up whitney.
They were not able to get a hold of her.
You can tell that he was genuinely worried about
Her well-being.
[denae] in all the time that he's known whitney,
Which is many years,
She doesn't go off the radar.
She doesn't go dark. She doesn't ghost.
And he hasn't heard from her in all this time.
[eric] they just told him to stand by
At the sheriff's office,
And they would go out to the residence
And, uh, try to make contact with, uh, whitney.
We felt like maybe something
Had happened to her at that point.
[music]
[narrator] whitney lynn hostler was born on July 27th, 1995,
In dayton, ohio.
[kimberly] whitney was the last baby.
When she was first born, we lived in a trailer park.
Whitney was a little terror. She really was.
She liked to run around a lot.
She would mess with her sister a lot.
They would argue, fight, you know, like little kids do.
But she loved her sister, though.
[music]
[narrator] but when whitney was two,
Her life was upended by her parents' divorce.
I just fell out of love with him.
Since I was having, you know, some issues
That I needed to work through,
I decided to have chuck take the girls.
The girls really didn't understand at first.
I mean, they was two and three years old.
I just told them that they had to go with daddy
Until, you know, mommy got everything together,
And that I would get them back.
That never happened.
[denae] chuck moved around with the girls
And basically raised them through
The early years of their lives.
[music]
[narrator] the next time she saw her mother,
Whitney was a teenager.
She was having a lot of behavioral issues,
So they thought it would be best
If whitney went and lived with our mother.
See if maybe that's why she was acting out.
Whitney was something else.
Um, whitney just had her own little personality.
If she didn't like something,
She would definitely let you know it.
She was very blunt.
[denae] she was a little edgy.
She had some facial piercings, blonde hair.
She obviously cared about her appearance.
She would do kind of some cool tricks
With her mascara and eyeliner.
She was really good at drawing and painting.
She liked to do, like, eyes
And, like, abstract pictures.
[kimberly] you would not even believe
The creativity that girl had in her head.
And sometimes I wondered,
Where did you think of this from, whitney?
[narrator] like many 15-year-olds,
Whitney's academic goals were eclipsed by other interests.
[kimberly] it wasn't hard for whitney to meet guys.
Oh, my lord.
She had the most prettiest eyes
And that's what attracted a lot of boys to her.
[narrator] but only one boy won her heart--
Classmate randy rider.
[chelsea] she liked that he was kind
And he'd go out of his way for her
To show her that he loved her.
He said that she was just beautiful.
He'd never seen someone so pretty in his life.
Randy lived with his parents in st. Paris,
Um, valerie rider and rodney sr.
Randy had an older sister and two older brothers,
And he was the baby of the family.
[narrator] whitney and randy dated
For the next eight years.
[kimberly] she turned 22,
And then she found out she was pregnant
In the fall of 2017, when she took her pregnancy test.
I was happy for her.
My mom told me that my sister was pregnant
And whitney was excited, but scared.
But we were all very happy and excited for her.
[kimberly] she wanted to move out to st. Paris with rand
To get a job out there.
And that way they can save up and get their own place.
That was the plan.
[narrator] after their daughter was born in the summer of 2018,
The couple realized they needed help taking care of her.
So they moved into randy's parents' house,
Where his brother, rodney jr, was also living.
[kimberly] randy's parents were really excited
About the baby coming,
And they wanted to help.
[denae] rodney sr worked building tanks,
And valerie was into automotive
Sort of building as well.
So, they both comfortably retired.
And for them, they had this opportunity in retirement
To create this bond with their grandchild.
From what I saw, valerie was a very loving grandmother.
And she liked to do things with them,
Take them to do things.
[narrator] over the next two years,
Whitney and the rider family continued to grow closer...
...Until whitney suddenly disappears
And randy is worried something has happened to her.
[daniel] deputy culler and I responded
To do the welfare check on whitney.
[eric] when the deputies arrived,
This is after midnight,
And they were trying to make contact with someone there,
See if they could find out what, uh, whitney's status was.
[narrator] as soon as deputies arrive,
They sense something is wrong.
[daniel] we began knocking on the door,
No lights on in the residence.
His brother, rodney jr, then came to the front door.
Deputy culler and I asked rodney jr
Where his parents were and where whitney was.
He stated that none of them were at the residence.
[denae] he stated they were going on a drive
To look for hunting spots,
And they were taking the two-year-old with them.
But, six to seven hours later, they still weren't home.
[eric] at that point, we became more and more confident
That something bad could have actually happened to whitney,
And the riders, and her child.
[music]
[narrator] coming up, a home search unearths new leads...
They found a nearly empty roll of duct tape
In randy's room that he shared with whitney.
[narrator] ...And the truth begins to surface.
[music]
[theme music]
[th[music]ic]
[narrator] champaign county sheriff's deputies
Are at the home of randy rider,
Looking for his missing girlfriend, whitney hostler.
But as officers talk to randy's brother, rodney,
It seems their parents may have vanished as well.
[eric] rodney jr said he didn't have an idea
Where whitney was.
She had left earlier that day and he had not seen her since.
He also explained that his parents had left that evening
To drive around and try to find some new deer hunting locations,
And that they had taken the, uh, granddaughter with them.
The deputies asked if that was something
That they normally did,
Left that, uh, that late at night,
Especially with the child, to go look for hunting areas.
And rodney jr did say that that was somewhat unusual.
[daniel] we asked what kind of vehicle
Rodney jr's parents would be driving,
And he stated it would be a white ford pickup.
Deputy culler and I asked that rodney jr
Have valerie and rodney sr contact us
When they arrived at the residence.
Then we observe the white ford truck pull into the front yard.
[denae] they see a truck pull up,
And they notice, wait, that's got to be rodney sr's truck.
[daniel] we both approached the vehicle and made contacts with
Rodney rider sr, who was driving,
And valerie rider, who was in the passenger seat.
While looking in the vehicle,
I observed a small female child sitting in the back middle seat.
Deputy culler asked about whitney's whereabouts
Or when the last time they had seen whitney,
And valerie stated that a maroon car had picked her up
Sometime in the afternoon.
She said that the windows were tinted
And they couldn't see the driver.
[denae] according to valerie,
They had their granddaughter
Because whitney and randy had had a fight.
And that wasn't unusual.
They unfortunately fought a lot.
However, they'd usually go their separate ways,
They'll cool down, they'll be back together tomorrow.
It'll blow over.
[narrator] the riders say they last heard from whitney
That afternoon.
Valerie rider stated that she had received a text from whitney
Saying that she was going to be gone for a period of time
And that she would contact her
To let her know where she was a
And, uh, when she would be coming back
To pick up the child.
And that everything was okay.
[daniel] deputy culler had asked
Where valerie and rodney had been
Prior to arriving at the residence.
[eric] valerie advised that rodney sr
Wanted to go out and scout out some new deer hunting locations.
So, they drove around for several hours
Trying to find new hunting sites.
It was after that that they went down to a gas station
In the city of new carlisle to buy some cherry coke
And then returned a short time later
To find the deputies there at the residence.
[narrator] despite supporting rodney jr's account,
Deputies find the story odd,
Even under normal circumstances
Considering whitney's disappearance,
The riders' late-night trip sounds even more suspicious.
[denae] they walk around the truck.
And at this point, they're just kind of checking it out.
They're looking in the windows with flashlights.
And they start to notice trash bags.
I looked in the bed cap
And I could see in the bed that there wadded-up trash bags
With duct tape stuck to them.
I dropped the tailgate, pull open those trash bags,
And I see large clumps of blonde hair stuck in the duct tape.
We knew that whitney was a blonde female.
I noticed that the duct tape had formed
Almost like a semicircular shape,
Like it had been wrapped around something.
When I saw the duct tape and the hair,
I just had that feeling that
This was not gonna end well.
Deputy culler went to make a phone call
To chief deputy holmes,
Advise him of the situation.
After he made that phone call,
He asked valerie if he would walk through the house
And make sure that everything looked okay.
The riders said that they would be happy to consent to search
And the deputies went ahead and went through the residence.
[music]
[narrator] during the search,
Deputies find more incriminating evidence.
Deputy culler came back out of the residence
And he placed a nearly empty roll of duct tape
On the tailgate and stated
That he had found that next to the bed in randy's room
That he shared with whitney.
Also, in the bed of the truck,
I located a two-wheeled dolly,
Which the tires were covered in mud.
It was wet still.
And a single flip-flop laying under the dolly.
I also located a thick green rubber glove.
[denae] they're asking, "what are these items for?"
And valerie said, "well, today was a cleaning day.
"I clean often. I've got, you know, grandkids.
"they've got a lot of hair.
"that's just what this is, trash bags, duct tape.
"yep, there's some hair.
That's normal in my household."
[music]
[narrator] rodney jr confirms his mother's explanation.
[denae] he says, "no, that actually does make sense
"because my daughter visits a lot
"and she has some hair loss.
In fact, we call her rapunzel."
So, deputies say, "well, could you
Walk with us out to the truck and take a look at it?"
And the hair is kind of...You know,
Kind of a blondish-brown color.
He looks at it and says,
"yeah, that's probably my daughter's hair."
[narrator] throughout the questioning,
Valerie rider remains cooperative.
Her husband, rodney sr, however,
Doesn't seem as calm.
Rodney sr appeared to be very nervous,
And as time went on, he continued to become more nervous
To the point where, uh,
He started to begin to hyperventilate
And actually had to, to go sit down
Because he was becoming so upset.
Based on what was found in the bed of the truck,
Valerie and rodney sr's actions
Their demeanor, the nervousness, their story,
We felt concerned enough
That we needed to get detectives involved at that point.
You know, something had happened to whitney
And we needed to get to the bottom of that.
[music]
[theme music]
[music]
[narrator] just over 12 hours after whitney hostler
Was last reportedly seen,
Sheriff's deputies find human hair in the riders' truck
And call in homicide detectives
[scott] we took everything from the search of the truck
As evidence and submitted it to the crime lab
To check for dna.
I spoke with the deputies that were out there
And they voiced their, their concerns.
At that time, they led me into the residence,
The deputies did,
And showed me the general area.
And then I came outside and spoke with
Valerie and rodney sr on the porch.
Mr. Rider seemed kind of hesitant and quiet.
He really didn't say a whole lot.
He was very vague in his, in his answers.
When I spoke with valerie next, she started talking,
And she continued to talk and talk and talk.
It was a nervous talk and,
Based on that, that kind of made me think they're lying.
I said, "something's not right here
"with what we found in the bed of the truck
"and the statements you guys are making.
And we need to talk a little further in a better setting."
[denae] valerie, rodney sr, rodney jr,
The little girl--they're all taken into the station
For questioning.
We decided to interview rodney jr first
To kind of establish a baseline of what had occurred that day.
Rodney had been at work on September 30th of 2020.
He said whitney had left earlier that day
And he had not seen her, um, during the rest of that day.
After completing the interview, rodney jr was released.
[narrator] randy rider continues to stand by at the station
While rodney sr and valerie tell detectives
About the argument that led up to whitney's disappearance.
[narrator] rodney sr says that his wife told him
That she tried to calm whitney down,
But she was too angry.
[music]
[narrator] according to valerie,
As soon as randy left,
Whitney packed up her belongings as well.
Valerie said that whitney, uh, contacted a friend of hers
That was going to come and pick her up,
And they were gonna leave that night.
[narrator] the idea that whitney left
Without her two-year-old child
Doesn't sit right with investigators.
[narrator] randy rider has been
Voluntarily waiting at the station
After reporting whitney missing
When detectives ask him to give a statement,
Officers are eager to hear his version of events.
[eric] according to randy,
Rodney sr and valerie had the baby with them
Virtually all the time.
Um, they were the caretakers of that child.
The child frequently would sleep in their room with them.
Um, everything in his parents' world
Revolved around that little girl.
[narrator] to investigators, it doesn't sound like
His mother was going to let her go that easily.
[narrator] a few moments later,
Randy says his father emerged from the bedroom.
[music]
Speaking with randy, he, he seemed to be genuinely concerned
For the welfare of whitney.
He seemed to be concerned for his daughter.
He seemed to be very suspicious
Of the situation involving his parents.
That, coupled with the physical evidence
That we believed we had found in the truck and in the house
Gave us great concern.
But we, at that point, had nothing to support
That a crime had actually been committed.
[narrator] it's been almost 24 hours
Since whitney was last seen.
Investigators return the riders to their home,
But consider them to be persons of interest.
[music]
[narrator] looking for more information,
Detectives turn to whitney's family next.
[kimberly] the morning of October 1st,
There was a cop outside that needed to talk to me.
So I go outside and he asked me
If I knew a girl named whitney hostler.
And I said, "yes, I do. That is my daughter.
What's going on?"
And he told me that she was being reported missing.
That was not her.
She would always let someone know where she was going,
Whether it be me or, you know, randy.
Whitney's family did not know what her current location was.
[narrator] however, they do something
About whitney and randy's volatile relationship.
[kimberly] they would break up, get back together,
Break up, get back together.
She would get with someone and he would get with someone.
But then that wouldn't last long.
But the last couple years, it was just, got really rocky,
Especially after she had the baby.
[narrator] but whitney's loved ones say
Valerie rider was the one she had the biggest problem with.
Whitney suffered really bad from postpartum depression.
It was hard on her.
Whitney would sleep a lot.
So...It'd make it hard to take care of her daughter.
[kimberly] whitney had issues with valerie
On the point that she was trying to take over her daughter
And keep her for herself.
At one time, I guess, um,
She wanted randy and whitney to sign her over to them
So they can raise her
Because I guess they felt that whitney and randy
Wasn't capable enough of raising her,
Which was so false, so false.
[narrator] according to her family,
Whitney had been quietly making plans to leave
For several weeks.
She was supposed to move out on October 1st.
She was supposed to get her apartment that day
And sign the papers at 10:00 that morning.
[narrator] whitney never arrived.
I just knew something was wrong.
She was going to take her daughter with her.
It made no sense to me that whitney was missing
Because that's not like whitney to be missing at all, at all.
She would let someone know.
She always called me and let me know.
[narrator] coming up,
A local resident makes a gruesome discovery.
[narrator] and investigators move in on their suspects.
I knew what had happened.
I just wasn't clear on why it happened.
[theme music]
[narrator] after questioning those closest to her,
Investigators fear whitney hostler
Might have been the victim of foul play.
In a last-ditch effort to find her,
They release details of the case to the media
And open a tip line to the public.
But their break comes from a 911 call.
[eric] the afternoon of October 1st,
The champaign county communication center
Received a call from an individual
In the area of kiser lake road near kiser lake state park.
[narrator] sheriff's deputies
Are immediately sent to the location.
[brandon] deputy sheeley and I responded to the area.
When we got there, st. Paris ems is already on scene.
They had pointed out to where the body was at.
It was off the north side of the roadway,
About 75 feet down to a ravine.
Emt and I secured a rope to a tree
And we went down to the body.
When they rolled her over, I mean, you could see her face,
And it was whitney.
[narrator] the deputies notify homicide detectives,
Who secure the area and begin searching for clues.
[scott] there was a log that was laying across
What appeared as the entrance to the hill
Where she was dumped down.
And there was a, a red mark that was on a, a log
Right up by the entrance to that,
And it looked like blood to me.
You could see leaves and dirt had been moved
From coming down the hill.
To me, it didn't look like she had been killed there.
It appeared that she had been dumped there.
The medical examiner determined that whitney had been strangled
Due to the evidence around her neck
And the redness , choke marks,
In addition to the petechial hemorrhaging in her eyes.
To our knowledge, the riders were the last ones
That had contact with whitney and saw whitney, um, alive.
So, at that point, coupled with the evidence
That had already been found at the residence,
We felt that we really needed t focus our efforts on the riders
[music]
At that time, they were brought in for second interviews.
[narrator] this time, detectives focus on
Valerie rider's husband, rodney sr.
They really start to kind of push him
Because they have picked up on this nervous demeanor
And they think of a tactic.
I actually showed him some autopsy photos.
I said, "obviously, whitney was killed."
And I asked him if he knew who killed whitney.
[eric] he stated he'd been asleep in his bed
And woke up to the argument,
And that when he came out of the bedroom,
He went into where whitney's bedroom was
And where valerie was.
And he found whitney laying on the bed
With a plastic bag over her head,
And it appeared that it had been taped.
[eric] rodney sr stated that
Even though he knew he shouldn't help,
He assisted valerie in placing whitney into the pickup truck
Outside the residence.
And then later, they went out to try to find a location
In order to dispose of whitney's body.
[denae] what sticks out to me
From the whole story, at this time,
Is her own daughter, the two-year-old child,
Is in the vehicle with them
When they're trying to get rid of whitney's body.
[music]
[narrator] armed with this information,
Investigators question valerie again.
I confronted valerie with the fact
That I had already spoken with rodney sr
And that I knew what had happened.
I knew where it happened.
I knew how it happened.
I just wasn't clear on why it happened.
I said, "was it an accident?
Did you accidentally kill whitney?"
[narrator] valerie claims she only meant
To keep whitney from leaving,
But the thought of never seeing her granddaughter again
Sent her into a rage.
The riders seemed to have their whole world
Wrapped up in that granddaughter.
I do believe that valerie felt
That she needed to control that situation.
And her way of control was to murder whitney.
[eric] after we completed the interview with valerie,
The riders were charged with felony murder
And, I believe, tampering with evidence
And abuse of a corpse.
[music]
[narrator] when whitney's loved ones learn of the arrests
They are devastated.
[chelsea] I tried to keep it together because
My mom was crying.
She lost it.
So...I felt like I had to be the strong one.
As a parent, you don't wanna never, ever
Think that your child is taken from you like that.
But it happened to me and my family.
And it didn't need to.
It was so senseless, senseless.
[narrator] now it's up to prosecutors
To get justice for whitney's family.
To sit in that courtroom looking at her
Was the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do.
I wanted them to get the most sentence,
The most years that they could get,
Which was, hopefully, forever.
And I'm gonna make sure that happens.
[theme music]
[narrator] days after whitney hostler's body was found,
Valerie and rodney rider sr are both in jail
Awaiting trial for her murder.
But some question whether they are truly the ones
Responsible for her death.
After the arrest of both rodney sr and valerie,
We obviously were continuing to receive information or calls
Indicating that they believed
That randy probably killed whitney himself
And that valerie and rodney sr
Were simply claiming responsibility
So they could protect their son.
[denae] so there's history there between whitney and randy.
We know that family members have witnessed them
Fighting with each other.
And they started thinking about
Well, what really happened?
[scott] we continued to look into
Randy's possible involvement in it
Just to make sure that nothing comes up down the road.
[music]
[narrator] to investigators' surprise,
Randy is happy to cooperate.
[eric] we interviewed randy, and we said,
"well, would you be willing to take a polygraph?"
And he said, "absolutely."
[eric] detective kemp and I drove randy
Over to the bureau of criminal investigation in london, ohio,
Where he was, uh, subjected to a polygraph exam
By one of the bci polygraph investigators.
[eric] upon completing the polygraph exam,
It was very clear that randy was not trying to, uh,
Trying to lie,
He was not trying to cover up any truth,
And that he did not commit the crime.
[music]
[narrator] two months later, in December 2020,
Rodney rider sr enters a plea deal.
Rodney sr was convicted of possession of criminal tools,
Obstructing justice, and tampering with evidence,
And was sentenced to 36 months in prison.
[narrator] that leaves the confessed killer valerie rider
To stand trial alone.
When her trial begins in February 2021,
Both her son and her husband ar witnesses for the prosecution.
[denae] here's what they had--
Hair in the duct tape that was the same color as whitney's
They had statements from rodney saying,
"look, my wife did it."
Then they have valerie sort of breaking down
And admitting things
That proved, or at least pointed to,
Her involvement in whitney's death.
Not only that, this big piece of evidence
Happened to be one green glove
That was found in the truck.
And this is the golden part for prosecutors.
Valerie's dna was inside the glove
While whitney's dna was on the outside of the glove.
[narrator] while the case against valerie
Seems straightforward,
Her lawyers insist she didn't do it.
Despite the results of randy's polygraph test,
They maintain he was the one who actually killed whitney.
The defense said, "not a chance.
"valerie is innocent.
In fact, she's taking the fall for her son, randy."
And in that defense, they called randy's siblings,
Valerie and rodney sr's children,
And they came to the stand,
And they argued that their mother was kind and caring,
And in fact, rather than being an instigator,
She tried to always calm people down.
[kimberly] randy's many things,
But randy's not a murderer, okay?
Wanting to put her own son under the bus
To save her own skin.
Yeah, what mother does that?
That's no mother to me.
She acted like she had no care in the world.
And denied it, denied it,
All the way to the end.
She didn't show any type of remorse.
She just acted like she would never hurt my sister,
But...She did.
[narrator] the jury agrees.
On February 25th, 2021,
They find valerie guilty.
[scott] valerie rider was convicted of murder,
Felonious assault, tampering with evidence,
And gross abuse of a corpse.
She received 21 years in prison to life.
[chelsea] I was happy that my sister got justice.
Not that her serving 21 years to life
Is ever gonna bring my sister back.
She was a mother. She was a daughter.
She was a granddaughter.
She was a great friend.
And her daughter has to live the rest of her life
Without her mother.
[kimberly] my daughter didn't have to die.
No, she didn't.
But there's nothing that can be done now about that
Except for we love her, we miss every day.
Every day.
[music]