* Look in my eyes, they lie *
* Went to hell a couple of times *
* Can't say I don't try, I tried *
* Now there's nowhere left to hide *
Well, Tonya, I'd like to present you with a little challenge.
How about-- how about a 45 year old case?
-Thanks so much. -I know.
-You're welcome. -July 4th, 1977.
I'm like, am I reading that right?
Uh-huh.
We're in Hubbard, Ohio to tackle not our oldest case,
but our coldest case ever.
The 45 year old missing person case
of dance teacher and devoted mother, Billie Lynn Groff.
Billie Lynn was 28.
She had a ten year old son and a seven year old daughter.
She definitely had some independent streak going on.
You can tell that just by, you know, her wanting to go back
to school, the piano playing, and she had her dance lessons.
Billie Lynn was an artist at heart.
She was a dancer, a pianist, and she was
also studying voice at the local university.
But the true love of her life were her two children.
Can you imagine coming home, it's the 4th of July and you are
excited to get your sparklers and you're looking for your mom.
Then you never see her ever again.
In July of 1977, Billie Lynn was in the process of divorcing
her high school sweetheart, Ed, and excited about
her future when she mysteriously disappeared.
From what I can tell, reading the file,
it doesn't seem like Ed was really supportive of her.
She wasn't even allowed to practice her piano in the house.
And it just sounds like total control and manipulation.
Rewind the clock and think about that back then,
getting a divorce was pretty rare.
Divorce was kind of a no-no.
At a time when women thought that they had limited options,
Billie Lynn was going against the status quo saying,
"I don't care what society says, I can do better."
With her remains never being found, we need to figure out
did Billie Lynn leave on her own or was she murdered?
The police department started coordinating the dig
a couple of days ago.
We're hoping maybe Billie Lynn's remains will turn up.
Law enforcement has always suspected that Ed may have
buried Billie Lynn in the woods by his mom's house,
but up until now, the Hubbard Police Department
never had the resources to search that area.
Human remain detection dogs got a hit,
and now the digging is underway.
And after 45 years, this could very well
be our last chance to solve this case.
You know, time isn't on our side.
As far as having my hopes up that they find
something, I don't have my hopes up.
But if ever I thought we had a case where we might,
this would be it.
-Morning. -Good morning.
-Hello, I'm Kelly.
-I'm Michael. -Nice to meet you.
Hi, Tonya Rider.
-Howard. Nice to meet y'all. -Hi. Nice to meet you.
So we're all excited to be here. Tonya's from Ohio.
-Welcome back. -Yeah, thanks.
I don't think many cops across the country have cases
as old as this one, guys. 45 years old.
There's not a lot of witnesses, so we gotta drag
every little bit out of 'em that we can.
Right.
In 2016, I started reading the Billie Lynn Groff case
and you just can't help to get involved at that point.
Nice area. Thank you.
And you want to find Billie Lynn.
Her two kids deserve to know where she's at.
It's frustrating to me that it's gone on so long.
We need to get this case done.
Let's put some pictures up of Billie Lynn.
Golly, doesn't that look like 1977?
-Yep. -Yeah.
-She Was 28? -Yes.
Billie Lynn was a mother of two and housewife.
She did piano and dance.
She was attending YSU and had friends and everybody liked her.
She was just a gentle soul.
So this is Billie Lynn with her oldest Mark.
And her and Ed, they got married real young, right?
Yeah. They were high school sweethearts.
Billie Lynn and Ed had a very tumultuous marriage
and after ten years, she filed for divorce.
Her divorce lawyer advised her to remain in the house
for fear that if she didn't, she could lose the house
and custody of her son Mark and her daughter Michelle.
Sadly, it was her children who lost their mom.
July the 4th.
Imagine what that means to Mark and Michelle.
-July 4th. -I know.
-Every year. -Yeah.
It's ruined forever.
Okay. So what's the beginning of the story?
On July 4th, 1977, which was a Monday,
Billie Lynn was at the Presbyterian church,
was just down on the street from where they lived.
Ed and Mark and Michelle had went to the Ox Roast.
Was that like a 4th of July celebration for the whole town?
Yep. They would block off a square. They would have food.
Do we know why Billie didn't go to the Ox Roast?
She went to the church to practice her piano.
She never was gonna go to it, so.
After the Ox Roast, Ed's children rode home
with their grandmother and Aunt Janice.
The plan was to continue the Independence Day
celebration at home with Billie Lynn.
They're looking for the sparklers,
-Michelle comes outside. -Yeah.
So Michelle says she can't find her mommy,
and she goes, "Maybe she's in bed."
She goes, "No, I looked."
Edward walks up, and Janice asked him where Billie Lynn was.
And he goes like, "Well, I don't, I don't know."
So then the next day she doesn't come to class.
They start getting worried, and they call Ed,
and they pressured him to-- to report her missing.
-Two days later. Okay. -Two days later.
According to the file, when Ed reported Billie Lynn missing,
he did not seem overly concerned about her whereabouts,
but he did hand the police this four page manifesto that
outlined all of her shortcomings as a wife and a mother.
Ed's odd behavior raised some red flags, and so he became
the prime suspect in her missing person case.
Edward Groff.
What do we know about Edward's personality?
Highly controlling.
You know, he didn't like her attending college.
He called it brainwashing.
He didn't like her associating with other people.
Ed disapproved of Billie Lynn's relationships and even
accused her of having an affair with a professor.
There's no evidence that she was,
but is it possible Ed thought he was losing his control
and Billie Lynn filing for divorce
pushed him over the edge?
He's got a short temper.
When is the first we know about bruises on Billie Lynn?
From the college friends.
The neighbor back at that time reported it as well.
Bruises on her arms.
Anybody ever see any choke marks
or hear any strangulation stories?
Not that we know of right now.
On July the 4th, she goes to the church to practice her piano.
Billie Lynn told a friend that before the Ox Roast,
Ed snuck up on her at the church.
We don't know what they argued about.
She said that he jostled her around.
Hours before she goes missing.
Ed has the only known motive to want Billie Lynn dead.
But the initial reports show that he was
at the Ox Roast all night, so he has the perfect alibi.
Is there something we're missing?
Think of all the reasons why you could make
the argument that Billie Lynn really did just run away.
-He was abusive. -Could get away from the abuse.
Billie's father had given her around a thousand dollars
just prior to her disappearance.
So I mean, she would've had a little bit of money.
-Yeah. -She outgrew him.
-So she was becoming more-- -Independent.
-Who files for the divorce?
-She did first. -Divorce a factor?
We can figure it out. I mean, those are all pretty big things.
Any one of 'em would be enough to make you run away
if it's true.
Cold cases are basically solved two ways.
Either you get really lucky with physical evidence like finding
the body or having DNA or with circumstantial evidence.
So while we're hopeful for the dig, our goal is to try
and build a circumstantial evidence case
by talking to witnesses.
We're gonna need to gather every little piece of information
from them to try and figure out what happened to Billie Lynn.
It's a pretty good board, even without finding remains.
Yeah.
And we're hoping that you get a miracle,
but that will be a miracle.
["Crimes" by Katie Ainge]
* I can't travel far enough *
* I can't find a place to hide *
We're excited to go check out the dig site.
But first, we wanna meet Billie Lynn's children.
Thank you.
Nice to meet you.
We're excited to come see y'all
and talk to y'all about everything.
We appreciate you coming here and trying to help us.
Hopefully get some closure. What we're all hoping for.
That's what we're hoping for, Mike.
I've been working with some remain detection dogs.
We're trying to look for your mom.
I don't wanna give you false hope
that we're gonna find her there. It's still a long shot.
But Michelle, listen, we're coming at this
from two kind of different points of view.
Mike is very excited that something is gonna
happen with this dig, and he's doing everything
he can to try and make that happen.
My goal and plan here with Mike is to try and find every
name in the file of every single person that lived
in your mom and dad's world 45 years ago to see what can they
say that's admissible in the courtroom today.
And is that enough to put the case together?
You were so little, but how much do you remember about your mom?
-Not a-- not a lot. -Okay.
My mom was a dancer, and she taught dancing in our basement.
And that's how she was known in the community.
Everybody just loved her.
It was just like what you did on Saturdays
was went to Billie Lynn's and danced.
My mom was just a genuine good person, very easygoing.
She was the type of person that, once you met her, you liked her.
I mean, she just had that personality.
It just weights on you. That hurt doesn't go away.
It's-- it's difficult.
How much do you remember about that July the 4th?
I don't really remember.
-Okay. -I go blank.
After July the 4th, did there ever happen
a conversation or a confrontation
where you said anything to him about--
We weren't allowed. It was forbidden.
He never spoke of it. He never spoke of it.
He said, "Don't ever talk to me about that again."
Your dad told you that?
Yeah. And this was shortly after it happened.
Wow.
Every belonging of hers was just gone.
It was out of the house.
You couldn't have nothing in your room,
no pictures of her in your room or anything like that.
I would lay in bed a lot and cry, especially at night.
He would just close the door
and then he just ignored me after that.
Not try to comfort you?
-No. -I don't know how you do that.
You know, be that cold.
I don't have anything to say nice about him.
Nothing positive at all.
I tried to steer clear of him.
I just knew that it was an unspoken subject
not to talk about.
Having to grow up without a mom,
there's been a lot of lonely times.
The first seven years of my life, she gave me
the influence to be the nurturing person that I am.
And I'm thankful for that.
And the-- I just try to carry that on in my life and through
my kids as she would want me to, you know?
So that's how I try to live my life each day.
Can you talk about your dad's temper?
Anytime he would lose control is when the rage came.
If he felt for a second that she had another friend,
male or female, that's when he exploded.
Whatever it is he had to do, he was gonna do.
He was stopping her from going to visit other people?
-Yeah. -He was just mean and angry
at-- at-- at everything and everyone.
How much were you aware about the divorce?
Just that they were planning it. I don't think I knew that much.
My mom's attorney told her that she wasn't allowed to leave
the house because she wouldn't get Mark and I.
So she stayed in the house and took the abuse
for fear of leaving, losing us.
If she stayed there because she wanted to keep us,
-why would she leave us? -Exactly.
A lot of cold cases go cold for all kinds of reasons.
-And we're hoping-- -Like, I understand what
you're trying to do, but it's a lot of years to live with.
-You know? -I do. I wanna scream sometimes.
I wanna scream, like, it's-- it's frustrating.
We're gonna try. We're trying so hard.
Thank you for everything you're doing.
-You're welcome. -Thanks. Appreciate it.
Wow. You walk in the room, and you can feel anger and sorrow.
Their whole world changed on the 4th of July, 1977,
and they were babies.
And they're still trying to deal with it and process it
for a lifetime.
And it's time that we do something about it,
and I just really hope we can.
-Thanks, Mike. -You're welcome.
***
[broodi***music]
In July of 1977, Billie Lynn Groff mysteriously disappeared.
Let's go see.
The police have been investigating
that her husband of ten years, Ed Groff,
may have killed her and buried her near his mother's house.
So the dig is on to see if we can locate her remains.
Okay. So give us an orientation of what's--
what's the strategy and layout plan for the dig.
And which way is the house?
Basically, like, right through that--
Right through there's the house?
Right. We cleared that area, so we decided to check this area.
This tall tree that's standing there now
was the first location one of our dogs hit on.
Oh wow. Okay.
Our stump over there is where the second dog alerted first.
And we had a couple of hits in the middle,
and then one over on this wood line.
Odors can get drawn up into trees through the root systems.
So we picked an area that was kinda in the middle of all that,
and we are-- we are working our way out from there.
While cadaver dogs can be eerily accurate
at detecting human remains, it's been over 45 years,
and that scent and the bones
could have moved through the soil.
So even if Billie Lynn's remains were here,
finding them in this vast area
is gonna be a heck of a challenge.
All right. Well, thank you for showing us this.
For now, y'all wanna just go start talking to witnesses?
-Sounds good. -All right. Let's go, let's go.
***
Let me get together all the phone calls we can make
and we'll get some coffee and start doing that.
Yeah. I thought we would just go straight down.
Hi, doctor. Thanks for meeting with us.
Sure.
It's time to start talking to witnesses,
and we need to track down every single one of them.
Hi, this is Sergeant Mike Banic from Hubbard City Police.
But after 45 years, that's a challenge.
Do you remember that case at all?
It doesn't ring any bells, I'll be honest with you.
Can we find them? Are they even still alive?
And if they are, are they gonna remember
all the details that they used to know 45 years ago?
I'm looking for a guy that used to know a fella named Ed Groff.
Is that you, by chance?
We need to keep dialing and keep knocking
and keep praying and hoping that God is on our side in this case.
Had you heard about the disappearance in Hubbard?
I did hear about it, but I know absolutely nothing about it.
We're sorry.
You have reached a number that has been dis--
Hi, I'm Detective Mike Banic. I'm looking for Amanda.
Right here. Hello?
-That's you? -Yeah. Hi.
Kinda young for the one we're looking for.
[laughs]
Thanks for calling today.
You'll have the opportunity to receive a $100
-retail rebate voucher. -That sounds legit.
Which you can redeem
from your purchases at major retail--
We were all just good friends in school
and we always honored Billie Lynn.
We just felt so bad that she disappeared.
We could never hear or finding her or anything.
So y'all were all in the same class?
-Yeah, 1966. -You and Billie Lynn and Eddie?
-All also, yeah. All of us. -Wow.
We finally got some luck.
We found this high school friend of Billie Lynn and Ed,
who's willing to talk to us.
Let's hope she remembers something.
Billie Lynn and Eddie, they were going together in school.
What could you tell us about Billie?
She was nice.
I mean, she was friendly, outgoing,
but she was sheltered with Eddie.
He was just controlling.
You wouldn't see her talking to nobody else.
No way. Mm-mm.
We was just so surprised that she married him now.
I mean, he actually locked her in a locker.
-Inside the locker? -Yeah.
Did she ever talk about him hitting her or?
He was a touchy subject.
But in those days that's how it was.
You kept things to yourself and you were scared
to talk to people about it.
Or do anything about it.
Getting a divorce was a big deal.
Big deal. You just didn't do that.
At a time when getting divorced was really rare,
Billie Lynn was determined to do something.
And I think that's a pretty good indication
of how bad her marriage was.
It seems like she was more fearful of Ed
than she was of the stigma of being divorced.
What do you think would've happened based on all you saw,
if she had tried to break up with him?
Oh, he would definitely [laughs] landed her.
When you say landed, you mean he would've--
-he would've hit-- -Did something to her. Yeah.
***
[phone line ringing]
-Hello? -Hello, this is Sergeant Haney
with the City of Hubbard Police Department.
We need to talk to a close friend of Billie Lynn's.
She may have insight into her state of mind
and the emotional toll of her strained marriage.
It looks like you-- you guys were pretty good friends
and you guys were also neighbors.
Do you remember the last
conversation you had with Billie?
Did she ever give you any explanation
as to why he would get upset
and caused the bruises or the broken door?
Did you have any dealings with him after the disappearance?
Did you ever meet him after?
Do you think she would've left her children?
Yeah.
It's hard to imagine a mother leaving her children,
but the hesitation in her voice, it speaks volumes.
She knew as well as anyone the dire circumstances
that Billie Lynn was facing.
For all the reasons that people suspected that Ed killed her,
they also could have been the motivation for her to escape.
***
Did anybody call y'all back on our witness list?
Well, it-- it wasn't fruitful.
We had one lead that I followed and--
and it's a 95 year old man that is local,
but he has no recollection of the name or any of this.
Okay.
We did speak with a polygrapher.
He said that he doesn't recall the interview.
He's done over 7,000 interviews, plus he's 85 years old.
It's always a long shot, but we always try
'cause sometimes you get lucky.
-Right. Yeah. -Okay.
We're interviewing and everybody that we can find who
might have information on the disappearance
and possible murder of Billie Lynn Groff.
While we work on tracking 'em down,
the other team is off to talk
to Billie Lynn's really good friend Ann Cliness.
I'm here working on the Billie Lynn Groff case.
Oh my God.
According to the offense report, after returning home
from church, Billie Lynn called her friend Ann Cliness
around 9:30 p.m.
which would make her the very last person
Billie Lynn ever talked to.
We were friends and we really liked each other,
and she became my accompanist.
She was a pianist. She was very vivacious.
She was a good mom.
She was just a little shining light.
Did she confide in you about how Ed treated her?
Well, I-- she did tell me things when he got angry
about how he treated her.
He was being very abusive
and that's one reason she wanted to go.
She wanted to get away from him.
But she would never leave her kids, right?
She would never do that.
So in your statement, you have
that you talked to Billie on July 4th.
Does that sound familiar?
4th of July she called me and said
that she was gonna meet me the next day.
After our voice lessons, she was gonna give me
what little money she had to-- to hide for-- to keep for her.
I never got it because she never came.
-Right. -Right.
We know that shortly before Billie Lynn disappeared,
her father gave her $1,000 to pay for school.
We initially thought she could have used that money to flee,
but now it appears she had another plan in place.
Her divorce was in progress and she was stashing away money
in order to get her and her babies to safety.
Unfortunately, that day never came.
That night she said to me, "Here they come.
I'll see you tomorrow."
Who do you think she thought was coming?
Well, I think she knew he was bringing the children home
because when she called me, I think I remember her saying,
"You know, I don't have long." She didn't wanna upset him.
I think she was afraid, but I never expected
to never see her again.
***
According to Ann Cliness, the very last thing
Billie Lynn told her was, "Here they come."
Assuming that the car pulling up was her family.
That was shortly after 9:30 p.m.
But we know Billie Lynn's family didn't return
'till roughly an hour later when Ed's mother and sister
brought the kids home, followed by Ed in his car,
and Billie Lynn was nowhere to be found.
Is it possible that Ed left the Ox Roast
and made a trip on his own without anyone noticing?
-So this is our house? -Yep.
We know that she's on the phone
with Ann Cliness and someone pulls in.
Whoever's turning in, they're turning in
and they're right there.
So she would've definitely known it was him pulling in.
-When she said they. -They.
-They're home. -Yeah, definitely.
If Ed did come home alone, I can't imagine
what Billie Lynn was thinking when she realized
that their kids were not with them.
So then he comes in, maybe whatever happens, happens.
That garage, there's a door, can go right to the kitchen.
If you wanted to move somebody, just put a car
in the garage and shut the door.
Then you could bring her straight into the garage,
put her in a trunk of the car, open the garage, and go.
-That changes-- -That's a huge point.
It is. Right.
If you were gonna take the body out in the trunk of the car
and go to wherever you think he-- she was taken,
how long of time are we talking about?
Back then, I-I'm sure he could have made
that trip in seven, eight minutes. Easy.
So let's just say ten.
Ten plus ten is 20 plus whatever he needs to do
to get rid of the body.
How many hours to dig a hole?
Four? I don't know.
If he's digging a hole, he's gone a lot longer time.
If Ed did kill Billie Lynn during this one hour window,
how did he have enough time to drive to the property
near his mom's house, dig the hole
and then bury Billie Lynn there?
Did he temporarily hide the body somewhere in their home?
How could he have pulled this off
without the kids finding their mom dead?
***
e.
Right in front of my family. In front of the whole place.
Oh, wow.
He reminds me of a control freak.
-That flag went up right away. -Okay.
Now that we have evidence suggesting that Billie Lynn
did not voluntarily leave, we're gonna dig into
the world of our main suspect Ed Groff.
We've heard that he was a jealous, possessive husband
that abused her, but was he capable of murder?
He was kind of a strange guy.
How -- how would you say strange?
Distant.
We're still working through the people on our witness list,
including Ed's ex-girlfriends, to see if there's any kind
of pattern of violent behavior in his relationships.
You felt concerned for your safety back then around Ed?
Wow.
How long were you guys together?
A couple years.
And then we broke up and then he tried running me off
the road, followed me everywhere.
He kept showing up at the house. He gets obsessed, I think.
I don't know. He scared the crap outta me. I do know that.
Then I was cutting the grass.
I remember some kind of a hold, it was him.
He grabbed me up and put me on the porch.
You were on the lawnmower, and he grabbed you by--
From behind.
Putting his arm around your neck,
and then he led you to the-- to the house?
Did he have his arm around your neck the whole time
-you walked to the-- -Yes. I was afraid.
Finally, he just stopped.
Deborah's story of Ed's attack is yet another example
of Ed's anger toward women once the relationship ends,
and it seems his pattern of controlling,
stalking and abuse spanned decades.
-You've had quite an experience. -Yeah.
He gave me the creeps. I'm sorry.
Could Ed have strangled Billie Lynn
the same way he did Deborah?
You hear a lot of the same things over and over now.
Yeah.
***
-You met Janice before, huh? -Yes.
How is she feeling about telling all she knows?
She's talking about her brother. That's a concern for her.
I give her credit 'cause not everybody does that.
We're down to the last two witnesses we were
hoping to find while we were here.
Ed's sister, Janice and her daughter Donna.
You ready?
We've heard that over the years, Janice has become more open
to the idea that her brother Ed was involved
in the disappearance of Billie Lynn.
If she knows anything, now is the time
for Janice to tell us all that she can.
-Janice, I'm Kelly. -Hi Kelly.
-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you too.
So excited to meet you.
-I'm a nervous wreck. -I know you are.
-It's okay. -I have conflicted feelings.
I'm really conflicted. I-- I'm-- I'm-- yeah.
-You would have to be. -Yeah.
He's your brother. You love him.
Mm-hmm. When this first happened,
even the things that were so obvious, we denied.
We-- we-- we were in denial.
We-- we said, "No, he didn't do anything,
and there has to be another explanation.
There has to be another reason."
But over the years, we all started to face
some of us sooner than others that, yeah.
Okay. So we're just gonna kinda let you tell the whole story
and make sure that we cover everything with you today.
Okay?
They were having a big 4th of July doing
down right in the center of town.
Eddie said he'd bring the kids
and we were all gonna meet there.
So we got there. Eddie wasn't there yet.
And when my mom came in, she said,
"Did-- did anybody see Billie today?"
She was worried about Billie.
She goes, "Well, I saw Eddie coming out
of the woods with a shovel."
And my friend said, "What does she think?
He killed her or something?"
And we just started laughing.
My mother asked him what he was doing,
and he said Billie wanted a plant or a tree or something
and he was gonna dig it up for her or something.
That's the excuse he gave.
And why'd you call it an excuse?
Because he didn't dig up a tree or any shrub,
and he wouldn't have done that anyway
because Billie was divorcing him and he was angry with her.
If Ed was seen with a shovel by his own mom earlier that day,
does that mean that he dug the hole earlier that same day?
Because if he did, that would explain how he was
able to bury Billie Lynn in that short of a window.
-What happens next? -Eddie probably got there
maybe about ten or 15 minutes later.
We're talking having a good time.
The kids are running, Mark and Michelle are running around.
And he disappears.
Eddie was gone for quite a while and my husband was coming back.
He had just got a beer and then Eddie came. And he said, "Ed."
He said, "Why are you sweating like that?"
It's-- Eddie was sweating.
Your husband said that out loud?
Yeah. And he said, "Oh, I couldn't find Mark and Michelle.
-I was looking for them." -According to Ed,
he never left the Ox Roast until he went home for the night.
We've already heard evidence suggesting otherwise.
And now we're hearing that around the same time,
he was unaccounted for and when he did return, he was sweaty.
It seems like Ed's perfect little alibi
might not be so perfect after all.
Being very, very honest with you,
if we can put this case together, it's because of you.
In a way I'm hoping that it will resolve something
for the family.
And in another way, it is my brother.
-I know. -That's hard.
But if he really did do something
then Billie deserves justice.
We all know it's not easy for Janice to tell
her story, but we're glad she did.
And now we have a much better picture of Ed's movement
and everything he did the day his wife disappeared.
And even more importantly, Janice is willing to
testify in the courtroom against her own brother.
This is huge.
-Hello. -Hi.
Janice's daughter, Donna has been waiting
in the backyard to also talk to us.
She was only 13 years old at the time, but we wanna see
if she remembers anything that could be helpful to the case.
Is there anything you can think of that you know
or saw her that we need to know about?
Well, I wasn't in town when it happened.
I had been gone a couple days. I got home July 5th.
And that week was when he cleaned that house
with the Clorox.
And I remember because when I went over,
I was like [sniffs], and I smelled it.
-Where? -Down the basement steps.
Right when you walked in, it was right there.
It hit you. I'll never forget it.
We just got the last piece that we needed to put together
a possible scenario of how Ed killed Billie Lynn.
It's possible that after slipping away from the Ox Roast,
he choked Billie Lynn and then concealed her body
in the basement, hoping that nobody would find her
until he had time to bury the body in the pre-dug hole.
That makes all this sound a whole lot
more cold-blooded and premeditated.
I always think that that's where everything happened.
Because he cleaned those basements.
-He didn't clean. -He didn't clean?
-No. -Okay.
I think it's time we go talk to Ed Groff.
***
all the notes from all the interviews
with Edward Groff, there's not a lot of detail, right?
His initial written statement was really short.
-Two sentences. -Yep.
And then the interviews, they weren't real long.
Mm-mm.
You would think that if your wife went missing,
you know, all these years, he's never contacted us
to find out an update.
It makes no sense.
Maybe he'll open the door because you're with me.
-Yeah, right. -He likes pretty ladies.
Yeah. He doesn't like bitches though.
[laughs] I'm sure he doesn't.
Now it's time for us to confront our suspect, Ed Groff.
-You ready? -Yep.
We wanna compare what Ed has to say with everything
that we've been learning from all these witnesses.
If he tells us something inconsistent today,
that can only strengthen the case.
-Hello? -Hello. Good morning.
-Hi. -Hi.
I'm Sergeant Mike Banic from Hubbard City.
I was hoping that you could help me.
I'm looking into the case you filed back in '77
of the-- your missing wife. Can you help me?
No, you've got the wrong person.
-You're not Ed Groff? -Yeah, I'm Ed Groff.
Okay. Don't you wanna help find your wife?
-Not really? -Why not?
It's been so long.
I don't even know anything about it,
but I don't feel like I'm mentally ready to talk to,
and I think you are people here to trick me.
I promise I'm not here to trick you.
I'm here to just get information from you.
Well, I don't trust cops.
Whatever you remember, if it's the truth, that's all we need.
And I told you pretty much everything.
She said that she was leaving.
She told people that she was leaving, and she left.
Where'd she tell people she was going?
-She didn't. -How was your marriage?
Oh, we-- we got along good.
Never-- no fights or nothing, no violence?
-Oh no. No. -Okay.
I mean, we never fought.
We would have a few words, but she always blamed me for
'cause she was pregnant in high school,
and she always blamed me for that pregnancy.
You know what I mean?
She's the one that said that I ruined her life, you know?
And sometimes, she kinda blamed the kids
and take it out on them.
Is that why, after when she went missing,
you made Mark and Michelle take down all of her pictures,
and they weren't allowed to ever talk about her again?
That don't make sense to me.
I don't remember anything like that.
They were allowed to do whatever,
pretty much anything, they want.
Every belonging of hers was just gone.
It was out of the house.
You couldn't have nothing in your room,
no pictures of her in your room or anything like that.
There are some old friends of Billie's
that talk about the fact
that she had bruises on her sometimes,
-some abuse going on. -No. Never. No.
-Not true? -No.
Do you remember that she had filed for a divorce?
-Yeah. That's okay. -What do you mean that's okay?
Some people get divorces all the time.
So it was a friendly divorce. You weren't upset?
-I think so. -Okay.
So when's the last time you saw her?
When me and the kids left to go to the party.
That's-- that's the last time I saw her.
Did you stay there the whole time that day?
Oh yeah. I never left.
I was with these people the whole time.
He disappears. Eddie was gone for quite a while.
It was dark when we come home that night.
You say you drove the kids home?
-We left, yeah. -Okay.
What was the house like when you got home that night?
Well, she wasn't there.
We thought she'd come back, then it just kept going
on and on and on.
Ann Cliness says that night, she was talking
to Billie on the phone.
When Billie says, "They're coming home now."
And that would've been around 9:30.
Doesn't sound right.
The file says you get home around 10:40.
So there's an hour window, hour gap in there.
Well, like I say, I was with the kids the whole time.
Edward, how come your mom says that she saw you coming out
of the woods over by her house that day
with the shovel that very day.
I don't believe you.
That doesn't even make sense to me.
But I-I think you're trying to trick me here too.
I don't believe that.
People noticed the smell of Clorox coming from
the basement in the days after Billie went missing.
I have no idea where you're getting all this stuff.
That week was when he cleaned that house with the Clorox.
When I went over, I was like, [sniff], and I smelled it.
I'll never forget it.
I don't know what you're talking about.
-Yes, you do. -I didn't bury her anywhere.
Okay?
What did you do with her then?
I didn't-- I haven't seen her.
The last time I saw her is when me and the kids
left for the Ox Roast.
Now, you wanna arrest me?
I'll come right out, and you can handcuff me
and take me to jail and-- okay?
-Ain't nobody believing you. -No one.
-Goodbye. -Bye.
If Ed killed Billie Lynn, he's never gonna confess.
But we've got enough to field our circumstantial
evidence case against him.
This is fantastic.
-Well, he saw you, not me. -Yeah.
I think. That's why he opened the window.
-He did. He saw a girl, not you. -That's amazing.
***
What's the final analysis with the dig Mike?
They're done digging now, and they didn't find anything.
And they dug everywhere you wanted them to.
Yes, but I'm okay.
After everything that we've done, I--I'm very optimistic.
While we did not have any luck with the dig,
we did with our witnesses,
and we are feeling good about our case.
-Hi Chief, how are you? -How are you?
-I'm good. -Good to see you.
Chief Thompson is gonna join us to review what we learned.
All right. So we put on the board the possibility.
-Did Billie Lynn run away? -The children piece is huge.
Everybody agrees she would never leave her kids.
She would never leave her kids.
She would never do that.
She was committed to leaving him, but not that way.
I think it should be removed from board.
Remove it. Absolutely remove it.
All right.
Okay. So now Edward Groff.
Start with the big picture and all the ways
you can prove that he was abusive
starting in high school through how many witnesses?
I mean, he actually locked her in a locker.
-Inside the locker? -Yeah.
He was being very abusive.
What did Debra Creed tell y'all?
Choke hold.
I remember some kind of a hold.
He grabbed me up and put me on the porch.
You have a living, breathing witness
who can tell you manner and means in what he does.
-Sure. -That's big.
It is big. That's new. That's big.
And what does Janice tell us about Ox Roast day?
That Ed left and came back,
and he was sweating when he returned.
My husband said, "Ed."
He said, "Why are you sweating like that?"
Ed's mom sees her son come out of the woods
next to her house with a shovel, saying he's gonna--
looking for a tree to replant
for a woman that's divorcing him?
And then the only unusual thing
in that house in the days that followed was what?
Odor of bleach in the-- in the basement steps area.
When I went over, I was like, [sniffs], and I smelled it.
-Where? -Down the basement steps.
It's right there. It hits you.
When you have all these witnesses,
and you have his own children and his own sister
willing to say all that they can say from 45 years ago?
-Yeah. -Oh my God, guys.
It don't get better than that as far as a witness world.
The Hubbard Police Department is prepared to present
the circumstantial evidence case that we have built
against Ed Groff to their prosecutor.
I feel a lot better about this case today
than a couple weeks ago. I mean, it's a great case.
It's impressive what you guys have done.
Every prosecutor has the same legal requirements,
but maybe different expectations before they'll accept a case,
which makes our job very challenging.
But I firmly believe that no body is no excuse
to not take a case and move forward.
Hopefully, this prosecutor agrees.
Go. Y'all go to your meeting and have good luck,
and let us know as soon as you get out how it goes.
***
How long the meeting last with your DA?
One hour and 15 minutes.
This is not gonna be a fun conversation
-for Mark and Michelle. -No.
Are you thinking about how you're gonna tell them?
Just tell 'em.
-Straight up. -Yep.
***
-Hello. -Hi, Kelly.
-Hi. -Hi.
-Good to see you again.
-Good to see you. -Good to see you.
It was a long, productive week, and we spoke to a lot of people.
And whenever your mom's name was mentioned, it was,
"Oh, she was such a sweet lady, you know?"
And every person we spoke to said absolutely
your mother would've never have left without you.
-Never. No doubt. -No doubt.
That's what I said from the beginning.
And we met with prosecutor today going over
what we have learned over this course of the week.
He feels at this time there's just not enough to move forward.
We don't have enough probable cause to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that-- that your dad's guilty.
So the digging area found no results?
Correct.
He said unless we have like a body,
-a confession or someone-- -And an admission.
***
We're so frustrated.
Y'all, we really--
-we really had a good week. -I know.
Did you think there's a chance that he could still--
-that the-- -This is what I'll say.
I'll say you have the right to have a meeting too.
He represents you. You're a victim.
That's his job.
-I appreciate all you've done. -Don't-- yeah, you're welcome.
I think Mark and I have felt all these years that,
you know, you're kind of alone.
You know, you feel like, I don't know.
In listening to the things that they've said,
it's just gonna be a long road.
It just frustrates me. Just really frustrates me.
You just gotta find a way to deal with it
and cope and move on.
But you never really move on from it.
* Somewhere down the line *
* We lost ourselves *
We went to your dad last Saturday.
He spoke to us from his bedroom window.
Did you go in the house? Were you outside?
He wouldn't answer the front door.
We made him mad. He quit talking.
Did he close the window?
Yes. Yes.
Him closing on the window on you just reminds me of
the nights, like, when I was laying in bed crying
'cause I missed my mom, and he closed the door.
Like, that just was the sentiment I got
that just came over me.
You know, it's like, that's how I felt.
I don't know what to say, you know?
There's no-- there's no words, there's no equivalent for pain.
You know, you carry on. Which is what I've tried to do.
But I want justice.
And I'm not gonna quit either. You know?
That's the promise I made both of you to try to keep
pushing this forward to-- to bring what the prosecutor wants.
We're gonna keep trying.
Thank you for fighting for us and giving it a shot.
-I'm sorry. -Don't be sorry.
I'm not gonna stop fighting.
-Well, he's not gonna give up. -No.
-It was nice to meet you. -Thanks, Kelly.
Thanks for everything
We desperately wanted to bring Mark and Michelle good news.
And right now, we are just as mad and frustrated as they are.
I know that they've overcome so much already in their lives
and hopefully, they can continue to fight and persevere.
Billie Lynn would be so proud of her babies.
* Next thing we're broken, woken up some place else *