1 00:00:01,535 --> 00:00:03,237 [reporter] Law enforcement searched for a missing woman. 2 00:00:03,337 --> 00:00:04,872 [Spaeth] She was limited to her yard. 3 00:00:04,972 --> 00:00:06,640 There just wasn't a huge footprint. 4 00:00:06,740 --> 00:00:08,775 And my first thought as a parent was, 5 00:00:08,876 --> 00:00:10,611 why would you leave your child? 6 00:00:10,711 --> 00:00:12,646 My heart sunk because we were 7 00:00:12,746 --> 00:00:14,047 eight months behind the eight ball. 8 00:00:14,147 --> 00:00:16,817 It's not a normal encounter that you just come to the door 9 00:00:16,917 --> 00:00:18,385 with a card for your attorney. 10 00:00:18,485 --> 00:00:21,622 He tells Ellie something that confuses and disturbs her. 11 00:00:21,722 --> 00:00:23,223 She can't get any straight answers. 12 00:00:26,226 --> 00:00:31,999 This area would be an ideal location to dispose of a body. 13 00:00:32,098 --> 00:00:35,002 That's when I knew something was very, very wrong. 14 00:00:35,102 --> 00:00:38,539 I literally fell to my knees 'cause that is my worst fear. 15 00:00:40,107 --> 00:00:42,109 [theme music playing] 16 00:01:09,836 --> 00:01:11,972 Being from Kansas, I'm constantly 17 00:01:12,072 --> 00:01:13,473 combing newspapers 18 00:01:13,574 --> 00:01:17,010 for some kernel of a story that might work for People. 19 00:01:17,110 --> 00:01:20,047 This one jumped out, and the fact that it took place 20 00:01:20,146 --> 00:01:22,215 in Prairie Village, I couldn't believe it. 21 00:01:22,316 --> 00:01:23,550 I grew up there, rode my bike 22 00:01:23,650 --> 00:01:27,621 around the sleepy little suburb of Kansas City. 23 00:01:27,721 --> 00:01:30,023 A young girl's mother disappears... 24 00:01:30,123 --> 00:01:31,625 [Ellie] These are pictures of us. 25 00:01:31,725 --> 00:01:33,994 ...and she can't get any straight answers. 26 00:01:39,032 --> 00:01:41,835 [Tina] In 2019, 51-year-old Angela Green 27 00:01:41,935 --> 00:01:44,404 and her 67-year-old husband, Geoff, 28 00:01:44,503 --> 00:01:46,740 live in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village 29 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,910 with their daughter, Ellie, who's a college freshman. 30 00:01:50,009 --> 00:01:52,079 Although originally from northern China, 31 00:01:52,179 --> 00:01:56,383 Angela has spent most of her adult life in Kansas. 32 00:01:56,483 --> 00:01:59,286 [Michelle] When Angela was in China, she was studying journalism, 33 00:01:59,386 --> 00:02:01,989 and she had done some modeling work. 34 00:02:02,089 --> 00:02:06,893 Her goal was always to get out of the small town 35 00:02:06,994 --> 00:02:08,161 that she grew up in. 36 00:02:09,763 --> 00:02:14,401 Angela had an older sister, Catherine, who she idolized, 37 00:02:14,501 --> 00:02:18,338 who had married an American, and they lived in Kansas. 38 00:02:18,438 --> 00:02:20,107 [car horn beeps] 39 00:02:20,207 --> 00:02:24,011 [Michelle] Seeing how my parents had built a new life in the U.S., 40 00:02:24,111 --> 00:02:26,546 I think she kind of wanted that same thing. 41 00:02:28,081 --> 00:02:30,117 [Tina] When friends of Angela's parents introduce her 42 00:02:30,216 --> 00:02:33,920 to American businessman Geoff Green, the two hit it off, 43 00:02:34,021 --> 00:02:36,623 and Angela jumps at the chance to start a new life 44 00:02:36,723 --> 00:02:38,525 with him in America. 45 00:02:38,625 --> 00:02:40,927 And in the late 1990s, they move in together 46 00:02:41,028 --> 00:02:44,197 in Prairie Village, Kansas, near Angela's sister, Catherine, 47 00:02:44,297 --> 00:02:45,599 and her young nieces. 48 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:49,069 [Michelle] We just had a really special bond. 49 00:02:49,168 --> 00:02:50,570 It was always just me and my aunt 50 00:02:50,671 --> 00:02:52,072 going on little adventures. 51 00:02:53,473 --> 00:02:54,975 I thought she was so beautiful, 52 00:02:55,075 --> 00:02:56,910 and I wanted to be beautiful like her. 53 00:02:58,545 --> 00:03:02,015 Geoff and Angela wed in 1998, but she has a hard time 54 00:03:02,115 --> 00:03:04,384 settling into life in Kansas. 55 00:03:04,484 --> 00:03:08,388 [Michelle] When my aunt came to the U.S., she was always self-conscious 56 00:03:08,488 --> 00:03:11,191 about her English, so she really kept to herself. 57 00:03:12,259 --> 00:03:15,829 Angela's life in America isn't the fairy tale she had in mind, 58 00:03:15,929 --> 00:03:18,331 but that changes in 2000 when she gives birth 59 00:03:18,432 --> 00:03:19,833 to her daughter, Ellie. 60 00:03:19,933 --> 00:03:22,969 I think when she had Ellie, that made everything 61 00:03:23,070 --> 00:03:24,438 make sense for her. 62 00:03:24,538 --> 00:03:27,374 Like, "OK, this was all worth it." 63 00:03:27,474 --> 00:03:29,876 Her whole world became Ellie. 64 00:03:31,478 --> 00:03:36,349 [Johnny] In 2022, People interviewed Ellie about this absolute 65 00:03:36,450 --> 00:03:38,418 nightmare that she's been living through. 66 00:03:44,324 --> 00:03:46,026 Yeah. 67 00:03:46,126 --> 00:03:50,997 She had me as her only child, and she just really, like, 68 00:03:51,098 --> 00:03:53,600 poured her heart out to me and invested 69 00:03:53,700 --> 00:03:55,235 all her time in me. 70 00:03:56,369 --> 00:03:58,704 I was also very close with my dad. 71 00:03:58,805 --> 00:04:02,809 We always went to Take Your Daughter to Work Day, 72 00:04:02,909 --> 00:04:07,581 and went to his car shows that he competed in. 73 00:04:07,681 --> 00:04:10,984 Geoffrey worked in the IT side for support 74 00:04:11,084 --> 00:04:12,252 within the courthouse. 75 00:04:12,352 --> 00:04:15,021 He was involved with woodworking, 76 00:04:15,122 --> 00:04:16,623 working with his cars. 77 00:04:17,858 --> 00:04:21,962 [Ellie] Him and my mom seemed happy. Every couple has its arguments. 78 00:04:22,062 --> 00:04:25,732 I saw them also go through that, but I knew 79 00:04:25,832 --> 00:04:29,569 that they loved each other and I was their main focus. 80 00:04:30,937 --> 00:04:33,406 Angela was concentrating on raising Ellie. 81 00:04:33,507 --> 00:04:34,707 Geoff was working. 82 00:04:34,808 --> 00:04:37,744 I think their situation was pretty routine, 83 00:04:37,844 --> 00:04:42,549 but Ellie grew up basically in a very restricted environment. 84 00:04:44,017 --> 00:04:47,521 [Michelle] Ellie was just really close with her parents 85 00:04:47,621 --> 00:04:52,125 and taught to obey her parents and not really question them. 86 00:04:52,225 --> 00:04:55,362 She wasn't allowed to have play dates or sleepovers. 87 00:04:55,462 --> 00:04:57,531 [Johnny] Angela taught her Mandarin, 88 00:04:57,631 --> 00:05:00,967 so she would have somebody to speak to. 89 00:05:01,067 --> 00:05:05,672 And over the years, Ellie became her confidante 90 00:05:05,772 --> 00:05:08,775 and really the only person that she could talk to, 91 00:05:08,875 --> 00:05:12,045 especially after her sister, Catherine, moved to New York 92 00:05:12,145 --> 00:05:14,047 in 2004. 93 00:05:14,147 --> 00:05:18,151 [Ellie] She really made me focus on school. 94 00:05:18,251 --> 00:05:22,522 I mean, she was a tiger mom, but now, looking back, 95 00:05:22,622 --> 00:05:27,294 I appreciate that. It made me who I am today. 96 00:05:28,829 --> 00:05:32,766 [Johnny] In 2018, Ellie goes off to the University of Kansas 97 00:05:32,866 --> 00:05:35,034 as a freshman, moves into the dorms, 98 00:05:35,135 --> 00:05:38,438 makes lots of new friends, and she's having 99 00:05:38,538 --> 00:05:40,440 the time of her life. 100 00:05:40,540 --> 00:05:43,610 But for Angela, her mental health took a steep 101 00:05:43,710 --> 00:05:45,478 decline during that period. 102 00:05:47,814 --> 00:05:50,784 I knew that she struggled with me being on my own, 103 00:05:50,884 --> 00:05:54,888 but also she wanted to be there for me, and that struggle 104 00:05:54,988 --> 00:05:56,823 really took a toll on her. 105 00:05:58,658 --> 00:06:04,097 Angela had some perhaps undiagnosed mental issues, 106 00:06:04,197 --> 00:06:07,400 and she was struggling with the upcoming loss of Ellie 107 00:06:07,500 --> 00:06:12,305 in the household and not a particularly 108 00:06:12,405 --> 00:06:14,474 terrific marriage at that point. 109 00:06:15,976 --> 00:06:19,279 I was their main focus, and that may have possibly 110 00:06:19,379 --> 00:06:20,914 strained their relationship. 111 00:06:21,014 --> 00:06:25,919 Angela's mental health issues became so pronounced 112 00:06:26,019 --> 00:06:29,322 that at one point, Ellie and her father actually 113 00:06:29,422 --> 00:06:31,658 had a conversation about trying to figure out 114 00:06:31,758 --> 00:06:34,794 a way to get Angela some professional help. 115 00:06:36,129 --> 00:06:39,299 There would be moments that Ellie described her mom 116 00:06:39,399 --> 00:06:41,234 as possibly being bipolar. 117 00:06:42,335 --> 00:06:46,840 [Ridge] Angela told Ellie that she worried that something was 118 00:06:46,940 --> 00:06:48,707 wrong with her mentally, 119 00:06:48,808 --> 00:06:51,144 but she didn't seek any treatment. 120 00:06:51,244 --> 00:06:53,246 Historically, she had not 121 00:06:53,346 --> 00:06:56,149 wanted to see a doctor for any reason. 122 00:06:58,952 --> 00:07:01,554 Unlike her mother, Ellie's excited by the chance 123 00:07:01,655 --> 00:07:04,291 to experience the world outside of their home. 124 00:07:04,391 --> 00:07:09,262 She formed new relationships and was bolder, with exploring, 125 00:07:09,362 --> 00:07:11,398 going on vacations or trips. 126 00:07:17,170 --> 00:07:19,606 By mid-June, Ellie's freshman year of college 127 00:07:19,706 --> 00:07:22,342 is behind her, and she's making plans for her summer 128 00:07:22,442 --> 00:07:25,612 that do not include spending a lot of time at home. 129 00:07:25,712 --> 00:07:28,448 [Sarah] Ellie said, "Yes, I'm going to live at home. 130 00:07:28,548 --> 00:07:30,650 "Oh, but I have this job, so I'm gonna be gone doing that. 131 00:07:30,750 --> 00:07:32,419 "And oh, I have this boyfriend, Zach, 132 00:07:32,519 --> 00:07:34,688 and I wanna spend time with him." 133 00:07:34,788 --> 00:07:36,589 It upset her mom. 134 00:07:36,690 --> 00:07:41,394 [Ellie] I knew my mom was increasingly upset, but I never knew why. 135 00:07:41,494 --> 00:07:42,862 I've never been able to figure it out, 136 00:07:42,963 --> 00:07:45,031 and I probably never will. 137 00:07:45,131 --> 00:07:48,068 [Johnny] You can only imagine that she felt so isolated 138 00:07:48,168 --> 00:07:51,671 to begin with, and now her only link with the outside world 139 00:07:51,771 --> 00:07:54,975 was pulling away from her, and she erupted. 140 00:07:56,509 --> 00:07:59,913 [Michelle] Angela had told Ellie, "If you don't ever 141 00:08:00,013 --> 00:08:02,983 wanna be home, then why don't you just leave?" 142 00:08:03,083 --> 00:08:05,018 And Angela took some of Ellie's things and just threw 'em 143 00:08:05,118 --> 00:08:06,619 by the door and was like, "Just leave. 144 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:07,954 I'm done with you." 145 00:08:08,054 --> 00:08:10,890 Instead of, like, dealing with it, she just decided 146 00:08:10,991 --> 00:08:13,860 to, you know, push me away and kick me out. 147 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:18,064 Our son, Zach, said that Ellie had been kicked out 148 00:08:18,164 --> 00:08:21,701 of her house, and I said, "Let's have her come here 149 00:08:21,801 --> 00:08:24,070 until things blow over." 150 00:08:24,170 --> 00:08:27,173 Ellie knew when her mother lost it, 151 00:08:27,273 --> 00:08:29,476 the best thing to do was get out and let things 152 00:08:29,576 --> 00:08:30,910 simmer back down. 153 00:08:32,278 --> 00:08:34,581 I was waiting for an apology from my mom. 154 00:08:34,681 --> 00:08:36,750 I expected to get home the next day. 155 00:08:36,850 --> 00:08:39,251 I never would have imagined that it had blown up 156 00:08:39,352 --> 00:08:40,419 as much as it has. 157 00:08:41,654 --> 00:08:45,458 She didn't reach out to me like she had always done. 158 00:08:45,558 --> 00:08:48,728 She never got that call from her mom. 159 00:08:48,828 --> 00:08:52,198 The night of the fight became the very last time 160 00:08:52,298 --> 00:08:53,433 that she ever saw her. 161 00:09:01,608 --> 00:09:04,044 After four days pass, Geoff reaches out to invite 162 00:09:04,144 --> 00:09:06,346 his daughter, Ellie, back home. 163 00:09:06,446 --> 00:09:11,084 Geoff texted Ellie and said, "Your mom is gone. 164 00:09:12,352 --> 00:09:15,088 "She's at a hospital getting help 165 00:09:15,188 --> 00:09:17,690 for her mental health problems." 166 00:09:19,793 --> 00:09:22,862 He said he, along with mental health aides, 167 00:09:22,962 --> 00:09:25,398 had ambushed her in a parking lot 168 00:09:25,498 --> 00:09:31,838 and then taken her away to some sort of mental institution. 169 00:09:35,275 --> 00:09:39,379 There were a lot of people by my side at that time. 170 00:09:39,479 --> 00:09:43,183 In 2022, Ellie talked to us about when she first learned 171 00:09:43,283 --> 00:09:44,751 that her mom was gone. 172 00:09:44,851 --> 00:09:50,557 My dad told me that my mom was taken to a mental institution. 173 00:09:50,657 --> 00:09:53,693 And I had asked him, you know, where that was, 174 00:09:53,793 --> 00:09:56,129 and he would never give me a straight answer. 175 00:09:56,229 --> 00:09:59,799 [Johnny] Ellie described to me that horrible moment 176 00:09:59,899 --> 00:10:03,703 of learning that her father had committed her mother 177 00:10:03,803 --> 00:10:06,673 to a psychiatric hospital, and quickly one of her first 178 00:10:06,773 --> 00:10:08,274 things she asked was, "Where is she? 179 00:10:08,374 --> 00:10:09,909 I wanna go see her." 180 00:10:10,009 --> 00:10:13,980 Ellie was really frustrated that her dad wouldn't 181 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,916 give her any information about where her mom was. 182 00:10:18,952 --> 00:10:22,288 I asked to go visit her, and he said he had already 183 00:10:22,388 --> 00:10:25,425 done so and that she tried to get physical with him. 184 00:10:25,525 --> 00:10:30,063 Geoff kind of told her that it wasn't safe to visit. 185 00:10:33,133 --> 00:10:35,668 [Taylor] Two weeks later, Geoffrey reached out to Ellie 186 00:10:35,768 --> 00:10:37,637 and said, "Hey, come to the house. 187 00:10:37,737 --> 00:10:39,105 "Let's clean it up a little bit. 188 00:10:39,205 --> 00:10:42,208 "We'll put some pictures up of mom so that when she 189 00:10:42,308 --> 00:10:45,345 gets released, we can support her." 190 00:10:45,445 --> 00:10:48,181 [Michelle] Geoff made her go through all of her mom's clothes 191 00:10:48,281 --> 00:10:51,217 and only pick out a few outfits to keep. 192 00:10:51,317 --> 00:10:53,786 And Ellie thought, "When my mom gets back, she's gonna be 193 00:10:53,887 --> 00:10:55,922 so mad that we were, like, getting rid of her clothes." 194 00:10:58,625 --> 00:11:01,494 Then on July 16th, nearly a month after Ellie 195 00:11:01,594 --> 00:11:03,663 last saw her mother, what seems like 196 00:11:03,763 --> 00:11:06,566 a tragic situation goes from bad to worse. 197 00:11:09,002 --> 00:11:10,069 [notification chime] 198 00:11:10,170 --> 00:11:12,739 Her dad had texted her and said, "I have something 199 00:11:12,839 --> 00:11:13,940 to discuss with you." 200 00:11:15,441 --> 00:11:17,010 And then around 11 o'clock at night, 201 00:11:17,110 --> 00:11:19,679 we heard someone in the driveway. 202 00:11:19,779 --> 00:11:21,714 Geoff got out of his car 203 00:11:21,814 --> 00:11:25,451 and then, with no emotion, told Ellie... 204 00:11:26,519 --> 00:11:28,421 Angela died of a stroke. 205 00:11:30,290 --> 00:11:33,693 And she just crumbled and collapsed. 206 00:11:33,793 --> 00:11:36,329 I was shattered. I mean, 207 00:11:36,429 --> 00:11:39,299 when I was told that, I literally, like, fell 208 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:43,369 to my knees in the driveway. Like, I fell on the ground. 209 00:11:43,469 --> 00:11:47,140 That was my worst fear, was I was losing my mom. 210 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:48,274 Um... 211 00:11:48,374 --> 00:11:50,176 [somber music playing] 212 00:11:52,011 --> 00:11:54,414 [Michelle] At that point, Geoff robotically 213 00:11:54,514 --> 00:11:56,849 beelined back to his car, got in, and drove away. 214 00:12:01,154 --> 00:12:02,956 Zach burst into our room, and he said, 215 00:12:03,056 --> 00:12:04,457 "Ellie's mom died." 216 00:12:04,557 --> 00:12:06,526 So my husband and I sat straight up 217 00:12:06,626 --> 00:12:08,728 and like, "Wait, what?" 218 00:12:08,828 --> 00:12:10,296 [scoffs] 219 00:12:10,396 --> 00:12:13,399 And we came downstairs and Ellie was there just 220 00:12:13,499 --> 00:12:16,102 in complete shock, like a shell of herself. 221 00:12:16,202 --> 00:12:17,503 And we hugged and we cried. 222 00:12:17,604 --> 00:12:21,040 And my first thought as a parent of three children 223 00:12:21,140 --> 00:12:24,143 myself is why wouldn't he have taken Ellie with him 224 00:12:24,244 --> 00:12:26,512 when her mom died? 225 00:12:26,613 --> 00:12:28,348 Why would you leave your child? 226 00:12:33,519 --> 00:12:36,823 The day after the kids were told that Angela died, 227 00:12:36,923 --> 00:12:38,891 on July 17th, we invited Geoff 228 00:12:38,992 --> 00:12:40,893 to come over to our house for lunch. 229 00:12:40,994 --> 00:12:44,864 [Michelle] Ellie tried to ask for more details. 230 00:12:44,964 --> 00:12:49,936 Are we going to have a memorial or anything? 231 00:12:50,036 --> 00:12:52,905 And Geoff just shut it down. 232 00:12:53,006 --> 00:12:54,974 "No, I'm not doing that. I'm not ready." 233 00:13:01,714 --> 00:13:05,485 I'm thinking, this feels a little awkward that his wife 234 00:13:05,585 --> 00:13:08,187 has died and nobody's talking about it. 235 00:13:08,288 --> 00:13:10,623 Whenever Ellie would dare to ask her father 236 00:13:10,723 --> 00:13:12,358 about what had happened to her mother, 237 00:13:12,458 --> 00:13:14,327 he had a litany of excuses. 238 00:13:14,427 --> 00:13:18,631 "It's too painful." It made him too sad. 239 00:13:18,731 --> 00:13:22,368 He just completely gaslighted her whenever she tried 240 00:13:22,468 --> 00:13:25,471 to approach him with a question. 241 00:13:25,571 --> 00:13:29,375 I had no reason to believe at that time that there was 242 00:13:29,475 --> 00:13:32,545 something wrong, like not to trust my dad. 243 00:13:33,846 --> 00:13:36,149 [Taylor] Not only is Geoff refusing to talk to Ellie 244 00:13:36,249 --> 00:13:38,484 about her mom's death, but he also doesn't want her 245 00:13:38,584 --> 00:13:40,787 to mention it to her sister, Catherine. 246 00:13:40,887 --> 00:13:42,855 [Sarah] Her sister was in New York. 247 00:13:42,955 --> 00:13:45,258 So Geoff kept saying, "It's not the right time. 248 00:13:45,358 --> 00:13:48,528 Wait till things are, like, settled down a little bit." 249 00:13:48,628 --> 00:13:51,831 I thought it was strange, but I didn't want 250 00:13:51,931 --> 00:13:53,900 to butt in too much. 251 00:13:55,568 --> 00:13:59,172 [Michelle] For Ellie, finding out that her mom had died, 252 00:13:59,272 --> 00:14:04,243 all she really had left was her dad, and so she really 253 00:14:04,344 --> 00:14:06,579 followed his lead and trusted him. 254 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:09,015 I went to therapy. I had a psychiatrist. 255 00:14:09,115 --> 00:14:10,983 I just didn't know what anxiety was. 256 00:14:11,084 --> 00:14:12,418 I didn't know what depression was. 257 00:14:12,518 --> 00:14:14,454 I didn't know what I was going through, 258 00:14:14,554 --> 00:14:16,956 but I knew I needed to talk about it. 259 00:14:19,492 --> 00:14:24,397 Ellie wanted to reach out to her aunt and cousin, 260 00:14:24,497 --> 00:14:27,767 but she was the dutiful daughter who followed 261 00:14:27,867 --> 00:14:30,636 her dad's wishes, and he was saying, "It's not time yet. 262 00:14:30,737 --> 00:14:32,271 I'm not ready yet." 263 00:14:32,372 --> 00:14:34,440 [Taylor] After months of frustration with her father 264 00:14:34,540 --> 00:14:37,176 always giving an excuse as to why he wants to keep 265 00:14:37,276 --> 00:14:40,213 Angela's death a secret, Ellie realizes that she 266 00:14:40,313 --> 00:14:43,049 has to be the one to tell her mom's sister. 267 00:14:43,149 --> 00:14:46,652 [Ellie] I just had, like, a big pit in my stomach, and I called 268 00:14:46,753 --> 00:14:51,524 Michelle's mom, and I just could get out the two words, 269 00:14:51,624 --> 00:14:53,226 like, "Mom's dead." 270 00:14:57,430 --> 00:15:02,168 I called my mom, and she said, "Hold on, your cousin Ellie's 271 00:15:02,268 --> 00:15:04,737 on the other line. She said that her mom died." 272 00:15:04,837 --> 00:15:07,507 And I was like, "Oh, my God, OK, talk to her." 273 00:15:08,541 --> 00:15:11,010 [Tina] Michelle waits for her mother to get off the phone with Ellie 274 00:15:11,110 --> 00:15:13,980 and calls her back to get details about Angela's death. 275 00:15:15,047 --> 00:15:17,750 [Michelle] My mom said Ellie just kept saying that she died 276 00:15:17,850 --> 00:15:20,920 on the 16th, and so my mom was like, "Today's February 13th. 277 00:15:21,020 --> 00:15:22,889 How could she have died on the 16th?" 278 00:15:22,989 --> 00:15:26,426 And Ellie said, "No, she died July 16th." 279 00:15:26,526 --> 00:15:30,363 And so then my mom was just in complete shock. 280 00:15:34,300 --> 00:15:40,373 I called Ellie and asked her to walk me through what happened. 281 00:15:40,473 --> 00:15:44,076 She said that her dad had ambushed Angela 282 00:15:44,177 --> 00:15:48,014 in a grocery store parking lot and then taken her away. 283 00:15:49,515 --> 00:15:52,251 And then as soon as I heard that, I thought, as a lawyer, 284 00:15:52,351 --> 00:15:53,820 there's absolutely no way that would have happened 285 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,756 without any court order or judge ruling. 286 00:15:56,856 --> 00:15:59,025 And so then every time I kind of asked another question, 287 00:15:59,125 --> 00:16:01,661 Ellie just didn't know anything. 288 00:16:01,761 --> 00:16:04,864 Ellie can't tell Michelle what facility Angela was in 289 00:16:04,964 --> 00:16:07,567 who notified her father about Angela's death, 290 00:16:07,667 --> 00:16:10,303 or even where Angela's body is. 291 00:16:10,403 --> 00:16:14,941 I just said, "OK, well, do you have her death certificate? 292 00:16:15,041 --> 00:16:17,844 "If we have this, we can see where she died, how she died, 293 00:16:17,944 --> 00:16:20,813 who signed off on the death, so we could get some answers." 294 00:16:20,913 --> 00:16:24,584 I told Ellie that she had to go to the vital records office 295 00:16:24,684 --> 00:16:28,454 in Topeka, Kansas, to get a copy of her mom's death certificate. 296 00:16:28,554 --> 00:16:32,458 Ellie drives to Topeka the next day, February 14th, 297 00:16:32,558 --> 00:16:34,293 to look for the death certificate. 298 00:16:34,393 --> 00:16:36,829 [Michelle] The clerk was able to find her marriage certificate, 299 00:16:36,929 --> 00:16:39,465 but there was no death certificate. 300 00:16:41,234 --> 00:16:43,936 That's when I knew something was very, very wrong. 301 00:16:52,645 --> 00:16:56,082 [Michelle] After we found out there was no death certificate in Kansas 302 00:16:56,182 --> 00:17:00,453 for my Aunt Angela, I thought either she died 303 00:17:00,553 --> 00:17:03,623 in a different state, or authorities were never 304 00:17:03,723 --> 00:17:08,594 alerted of it, or she was still alive. 305 00:17:10,195 --> 00:17:13,699 All just bizarre possibilities at that point. 306 00:17:13,799 --> 00:17:17,737 After learning that there is no death certificate in Topeka 307 00:17:17,837 --> 00:17:21,507 for her mother, Ellie gets in her car and drives 308 00:17:21,607 --> 00:17:25,243 straight back to Prairie Village to her father's house. 309 00:17:25,344 --> 00:17:29,181 Ellie said she asked him, "Where did mom die?" 310 00:17:29,282 --> 00:17:30,650 And then, he said, "Kansas." 311 00:17:30,750 --> 00:17:32,518 And then she said, "No, she didn't. 312 00:17:33,653 --> 00:17:35,521 "I tried to look for her death certificate, 313 00:17:35,621 --> 00:17:38,391 and there wasn't one for her in Kansas." 314 00:17:38,491 --> 00:17:41,394 And so then Geoff had said that, "I thought it was Kansas, 315 00:17:41,494 --> 00:17:43,329 but maybe not. I'll have to go check." 316 00:17:43,429 --> 00:17:46,132 He couldn't provide me any proof. 317 00:17:46,232 --> 00:17:49,969 When Ellie told me what had happened, she slowly started 318 00:17:50,069 --> 00:17:52,638 to realize how bizarre everything was. 319 00:17:53,639 --> 00:17:55,041 So that day, I called 320 00:17:55,141 --> 00:17:56,709 the Prairie Village Police Department. 321 00:17:57,977 --> 00:18:01,380 [Wakefield] On February 15th, 2020, Michelle called, 322 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,517 wanting a welfare check on her aunt, Angela Green. 323 00:18:05,685 --> 00:18:08,187 She stated that nobody had seen her for a long time 324 00:18:08,287 --> 00:18:11,824 and that she had been told that Angela had passed away. 325 00:18:11,924 --> 00:18:14,527 Prairie Village officers responded to Angela's home, 326 00:18:15,595 --> 00:18:17,229 and at that time, Geoffrey actually 327 00:18:17,330 --> 00:18:18,497 pulled into the driveway. 328 00:18:20,166 --> 00:18:22,735 [Taylor] The officer said, "Hey, we're here to check 329 00:18:22,835 --> 00:18:24,503 the welfare of Angela." 330 00:18:24,604 --> 00:18:27,106 And he says, "She's out with friends." 331 00:18:28,207 --> 00:18:29,842 He gave them consent to come inside 332 00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:31,811 and look for Angela, which they did. 333 00:18:33,212 --> 00:18:36,782 There were no signs of Angela, and officers asked Geoffrey 334 00:18:36,882 --> 00:18:38,618 if Angela was alive 335 00:18:38,718 --> 00:18:40,620 because they had heard reports that she had died. 336 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:44,156 And Geoff said she was alive and that it was crazy. 337 00:18:44,256 --> 00:18:46,425 He wouldn't know why anybody would say that she had died. 338 00:18:47,827 --> 00:18:50,696 I got a call from one of the officers saying, 339 00:18:50,796 --> 00:18:52,832 "Oh boy, you really got it wrong." 340 00:18:52,932 --> 00:18:54,033 I was just like, 341 00:18:55,067 --> 00:18:58,270 "No, no, no, no, no. He's been telling his daughter 342 00:18:58,371 --> 00:19:00,172 that her mom died in July." 343 00:19:00,272 --> 00:19:02,274 And so I thought, "They need to speak with Ellie." 344 00:19:03,576 --> 00:19:05,878 [Johnny] The following day, Ellie leaves her college dorm 345 00:19:05,978 --> 00:19:08,581 at KU and goes to the Prairie Village 346 00:19:08,681 --> 00:19:11,951 Police Department and files a missing persons report. 347 00:19:13,219 --> 00:19:17,556 [Sarah] Ellie and I went in to talk to two officers, 348 00:19:17,657 --> 00:19:19,592 and while we were sitting in there, 349 00:19:19,692 --> 00:19:21,127 [phone ringing] 350 00:19:21,227 --> 00:19:23,062 Geoff happened to call. 351 00:19:23,162 --> 00:19:28,034 So the police recorded him talking to Ellie. 352 00:19:28,134 --> 00:19:30,569 [Taylor] Ellie says, "Hey, what happened to Mom?" 353 00:19:51,457 --> 00:19:55,227 He goes into talking about how he was at work 354 00:19:55,327 --> 00:19:57,897 and someone from the facility called him. 355 00:20:25,458 --> 00:20:28,794 We were kind of helping her ask questions. 356 00:20:51,550 --> 00:20:53,452 [Johnny] The police can't believe what they're hearing. 357 00:20:53,552 --> 00:20:55,087 Something is not adding up. 358 00:21:30,890 --> 00:21:32,925 That didn't make any sense at all. 359 00:21:33,025 --> 00:21:35,561 We kept getting these strange... 360 00:21:35,661 --> 00:21:36,896 pieces of information. 361 00:21:42,668 --> 00:21:45,471 [Taylor] Geoff was always just changing his story, 362 00:21:45,571 --> 00:21:48,440 but he's doing it very nonchalantly. 363 00:21:48,541 --> 00:21:51,277 I thought, "Well, that's weird." 364 00:21:51,377 --> 00:21:53,612 She gets off the phone with her father 365 00:21:53,712 --> 00:21:57,650 and then continues filling out the missing persons report 366 00:21:57,750 --> 00:21:59,251 that starts the investigation. 367 00:22:00,419 --> 00:22:02,755 [Wakefield] We became suspicious right away. 368 00:22:02,855 --> 00:22:04,490 There was no record of any death. 369 00:22:04,590 --> 00:22:09,195 We contacted numerous hospitals, mental hospitals, 370 00:22:09,295 --> 00:22:11,230 never had any record of Angela. 371 00:22:11,330 --> 00:22:14,200 We checked for death certificates nationwide. 372 00:22:14,300 --> 00:22:15,935 There was no death reports. 373 00:22:16,035 --> 00:22:18,971 And we know that you cannot cremate somebody 374 00:22:19,071 --> 00:22:21,040 without any sort of death certificate. 375 00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:26,178 We did look at every possible transportation by boat, 376 00:22:26,278 --> 00:22:30,616 by to train, by bus to see if there was any way 377 00:22:30,716 --> 00:22:32,785 that she did leave on her own. 378 00:22:32,885 --> 00:22:35,087 And none of those were fruitful. 379 00:22:36,388 --> 00:22:41,126 Angela lacked the social media footprint and some other 380 00:22:41,227 --> 00:22:44,930 footprints that other people have, such as credit history, 381 00:22:45,030 --> 00:22:47,132 bank cards, different things like that. 382 00:22:47,233 --> 00:22:50,836 My parents were telling her, "You need some sort of way 383 00:22:50,936 --> 00:22:55,107 to build credit. You should get a credit card." 384 00:22:55,207 --> 00:22:58,911 They knew that Geoff did not have Angela's name 385 00:22:59,011 --> 00:23:02,414 on the house deed, and her response was, 386 00:23:02,514 --> 00:23:04,083 "No, Geoff told me I don't need to." 387 00:23:05,117 --> 00:23:08,888 So she never had a credit card. 388 00:23:08,988 --> 00:23:10,389 [Wakefield] We talked to all the neighbors. 389 00:23:10,489 --> 00:23:13,292 They thought that something was out of the normal for sure. 390 00:23:13,392 --> 00:23:15,527 They hadn't seen Angela for a long time. 391 00:23:15,628 --> 00:23:18,063 They said Angela used to be seen fairly frequently 392 00:23:18,163 --> 00:23:20,766 taking care of her yard and the flowers 393 00:23:20,866 --> 00:23:22,268 in the medians around the neighborhood. 394 00:23:24,169 --> 00:23:26,238 The summer came up, and Angela wasn't out 395 00:23:26,338 --> 00:23:31,810 as usual, I'd ask other neighbors, and they thought 396 00:23:31,911 --> 00:23:33,879 maybe she had gone to China. 397 00:23:33,979 --> 00:23:36,682 She had almost like a ghost-like 398 00:23:36,782 --> 00:23:38,183 presence in the community. 399 00:23:38,284 --> 00:23:39,952 I mean, people would see her maybe going 400 00:23:40,052 --> 00:23:42,922 to the grocery store, but really didn't speak to anybody, 401 00:23:43,022 --> 00:23:44,156 couldn't speak to anybody. 402 00:23:45,591 --> 00:23:47,660 So the next day after Ellie files 403 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,263 the missing persons report, detectives from 404 00:23:51,363 --> 00:23:52,998 the Prairie Village Police Department 405 00:23:53,098 --> 00:23:56,769 travel to Lawrence, and they meet Geoff 406 00:23:56,869 --> 00:24:00,272 at the property that he had purchased months earlier. 407 00:24:00,372 --> 00:24:02,608 Ellie told us that Geoff had purchased a residence 408 00:24:02,708 --> 00:24:03,943 in Lawrence, Kansas, which is where 409 00:24:04,043 --> 00:24:05,778 the University of Kansas is. 410 00:24:05,878 --> 00:24:07,546 He was going to fix that residence up 411 00:24:07,646 --> 00:24:09,348 and let Ellie and her roommates live there. 412 00:24:10,950 --> 00:24:12,918 [Taylor] Detective Wakefield knocks on the door. 413 00:24:13,018 --> 00:24:16,722 Then the door opens and we're met by Geoffrey Green. 414 00:24:16,822 --> 00:24:19,692 I immediately identified myself as a detective 415 00:24:19,792 --> 00:24:21,026 with the police department, 416 00:24:21,126 --> 00:24:22,761 but Geoff didn't say anything to me. 417 00:24:22,861 --> 00:24:27,132 He just handed me a card of a attorney. 418 00:24:27,232 --> 00:24:29,568 It's not a normal encounter that on the first time I knock 419 00:24:29,668 --> 00:24:31,904 on your door you just come to the door with a card 420 00:24:32,004 --> 00:24:33,172 for your attorney. 421 00:24:33,272 --> 00:24:35,441 That's very unusual and definitely made me think 422 00:24:35,541 --> 00:24:37,409 that there was more going on. 423 00:24:41,313 --> 00:24:44,783 At that moment, my heart sunk because we were 424 00:24:44,883 --> 00:24:46,919 eight months behind the eight ball. 425 00:24:47,019 --> 00:24:51,824 We knew that this was going to be a challenging case. 426 00:24:51,924 --> 00:24:54,326 [Tina] With Angela missing for nearly eight months, 427 00:24:54,426 --> 00:24:56,295 the police go to work searching for evidence 428 00:24:56,395 --> 00:24:57,896 that can point to what happened to her. 429 00:24:59,098 --> 00:25:01,734 [Wakefield] We contacted Geoff's brother and his sister-in-law 430 00:25:01,834 --> 00:25:03,936 to see what they knew about Angela 431 00:25:04,036 --> 00:25:06,205 and what had happened to her. 432 00:25:06,305 --> 00:25:09,274 They told us that Geoff told them 433 00:25:09,375 --> 00:25:11,677 that Angela died of a stroke at their house 434 00:25:11,777 --> 00:25:13,312 in Prairie Village. 435 00:25:13,412 --> 00:25:15,180 That was obviously concerning. 436 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:16,682 Now, we've had three different stories 437 00:25:16,782 --> 00:25:18,884 of what happened to Angela. 438 00:25:18,984 --> 00:25:22,421 The police realized the story that Geoff's brother 439 00:25:22,521 --> 00:25:27,126 and sister-in-law were telling them about that final night 440 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,598 was different than the story that they had told Ellie. 441 00:25:32,698 --> 00:25:37,036 On the day when Ellie filed the missing persons report 442 00:25:37,136 --> 00:25:40,406 for Angela, she had also called Geoff's family members 443 00:25:40,506 --> 00:25:43,142 to let them know what was going on. 444 00:25:43,242 --> 00:25:46,245 And they said, "There may have been an accident involved 445 00:25:46,345 --> 00:25:48,747 and your dad really needs to get a lawyer." 446 00:25:48,847 --> 00:25:52,851 We immediately thought, OK, they know more than Ellie knows. 447 00:25:52,951 --> 00:25:54,787 But by the time Ellie was able to get ahold of 448 00:25:54,887 --> 00:25:57,489 Geoff's family members again, they just refused 449 00:25:57,589 --> 00:25:58,991 to speak with her. 450 00:25:59,091 --> 00:26:01,960 Family members reprimanded me for asking questions. 451 00:26:02,061 --> 00:26:04,296 They were like, "Why can't you just let it go?" 452 00:26:06,398 --> 00:26:08,634 I've seen the nasty texts that his side of the family 453 00:26:08,734 --> 00:26:11,136 have sent Ellie for just asking a simple question like, 454 00:26:11,236 --> 00:26:12,671 "Hey, do you wanna get lunch?" And them being, 455 00:26:12,771 --> 00:26:14,173 "If you dare speak about your dad, 456 00:26:14,273 --> 00:26:15,908 there is no way I'm getting lunch with you." 457 00:26:16,942 --> 00:26:18,710 And then her being like, "How can I not ask questions?" 458 00:26:21,013 --> 00:26:23,282 I believe the family knows exactly what happened 459 00:26:23,382 --> 00:26:24,383 to Angela. 460 00:26:34,293 --> 00:26:36,795 [Wakefield] While we were talking to Ellie, we learned that Geoff had 461 00:26:36,895 --> 00:26:38,597 the house in Prairie Village. 462 00:26:38,697 --> 00:26:41,266 He had the house in Lawrence, Kansas, 463 00:26:41,366 --> 00:26:43,635 and he also had a friend that had some property 464 00:26:43,735 --> 00:26:46,338 in Olathe, Kansas, where Geoff stored, like, a trailer 465 00:26:46,438 --> 00:26:49,041 that had some tools in it, a car. 466 00:26:49,141 --> 00:26:51,443 In early March, the police obtain a warrant 467 00:26:51,543 --> 00:26:52,911 for the Prairie Village house 468 00:26:53,011 --> 00:26:55,481 as well as the property in Olathe, 469 00:26:55,581 --> 00:26:57,683 but there isn't enough evidence to obtain a warrant 470 00:26:57,783 --> 00:26:59,551 for the Lawrence house since he bought it 471 00:26:59,651 --> 00:27:01,887 after Angela disappeared. 472 00:27:01,987 --> 00:27:04,156 [reporter] Law enforcement searched for a missing woman 473 00:27:04,256 --> 00:27:06,625 in two different areas in Johnson County, 474 00:27:06,725 --> 00:27:08,760 the first outside of a home in Prairie Village, 475 00:27:08,861 --> 00:27:10,896 the second near a business in Olathe. 476 00:27:12,364 --> 00:27:15,167 We did have cadaver dogs that went through the backyard. 477 00:27:15,267 --> 00:27:18,403 We didn't find any signs of blood or anything like that. 478 00:27:19,605 --> 00:27:23,008 In the house, we did recover Angela's ID, 479 00:27:23,108 --> 00:27:25,577 her purse, her passports. 480 00:27:25,677 --> 00:27:29,414 It would be very difficult for somebody to continue 481 00:27:29,515 --> 00:27:32,518 to have a lifestyle without having 482 00:27:32,618 --> 00:27:36,121 her driver's license and passport. 483 00:27:36,221 --> 00:27:38,724 [Tina] While police searched the Prairie Village house, 484 00:27:38,824 --> 00:27:42,261 Detective Taylor heads to the 35-acre storage area 485 00:27:42,361 --> 00:27:45,164 that Geoff's friend owns in Olathe, 486 00:27:45,264 --> 00:27:48,133 all of which Geoff has access to. 487 00:27:48,233 --> 00:27:50,836 [reporter #2] About 70 law enforcement officers and cadets 488 00:27:50,936 --> 00:27:53,372 from eight different departments searching the large piece 489 00:27:53,472 --> 00:27:54,940 of property on North Woodland Street, 490 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,544 that includes open spaces, wooded areas, and a pond. 491 00:27:58,644 --> 00:28:01,146 [reporter #3] They searched 35 acres of land. 492 00:28:01,246 --> 00:28:04,383 A dive team searched a pond on the site. 493 00:28:04,483 --> 00:28:08,654 [Taylor] We canvassed that area and water by grids 494 00:28:08,754 --> 00:28:13,859 and searched for any human remains of Angela Green. 495 00:28:17,396 --> 00:28:20,666 Actually, as you look straight right that way, 496 00:28:20,766 --> 00:28:22,634 there are two trailers. 497 00:28:22,734 --> 00:28:25,204 For sure one of 'em is Geoff's. 498 00:28:26,838 --> 00:28:29,575 I thought they were gonna find human remains. 499 00:28:31,510 --> 00:28:36,248 We collected evidence and did DNA swabs of the trailers. 500 00:28:38,183 --> 00:28:40,786 That did not come back with any evidence 501 00:28:40,886 --> 00:28:42,521 related to Angela Green. 502 00:28:45,224 --> 00:28:48,727 You can see the buildup of dirt among the trees. 503 00:28:48,827 --> 00:28:51,430 There was a time when it was basically flat, 504 00:28:51,530 --> 00:28:56,568 but in February of 2019, they began excavating 505 00:28:56,668 --> 00:28:58,870 for the new Johnson County Courthouse. 506 00:28:58,971 --> 00:29:01,273 [reporter #4] In the eight months since Angela's disappearance, 507 00:29:01,373 --> 00:29:02,808 construction had begun on the new 508 00:29:02,908 --> 00:29:04,309 Johnson County Courthouse. 509 00:29:04,409 --> 00:29:07,379 Everything they had excavated had been dumped 510 00:29:07,479 --> 00:29:09,381 in that storage lot. 511 00:29:09,481 --> 00:29:12,584 [Ridge] There was a steady daily stream of thousands 512 00:29:12,684 --> 00:29:17,122 and thousands of loads of dirt coming in here, maybe, you know, 513 00:29:17,222 --> 00:29:20,726 20, 30, 40 feet of dirt that was gonna be put on top 514 00:29:20,826 --> 00:29:22,327 of that whole area. 515 00:29:22,427 --> 00:29:24,763 [Taylor] So while we were doing our investigation, 516 00:29:24,863 --> 00:29:29,001 we had different terrain from eight months prior 517 00:29:29,101 --> 00:29:31,103 when Angela went missing. 518 00:29:32,371 --> 00:29:37,242 This area in Olathe would be an absolute ideal location 519 00:29:37,342 --> 00:29:39,978 to dispose of a body 520 00:29:40,078 --> 00:29:44,750 under 30 feet of soil on top of it. 521 00:29:44,850 --> 00:29:48,220 By the summer of 2020, with no one coming forward 522 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,989 with information about Angela's disappearance, 523 00:29:51,089 --> 00:29:54,860 and without the capacity to dig 30 feet down into the dirt, 524 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,096 the Prairie Village police call in the FBI. 525 00:29:59,197 --> 00:30:02,968 [Spaeth] In August of 2020, I became involved with the Angela Green 526 00:30:03,068 --> 00:30:04,870 missing persons investigation. 527 00:30:04,970 --> 00:30:07,272 One of the things that I do in a missing persons investigation 528 00:30:07,372 --> 00:30:09,207 is we try to understand the victim. 529 00:30:09,308 --> 00:30:11,076 And in this case, she didn't work anywhere. 530 00:30:11,176 --> 00:30:14,646 She was pretty limited to going to the store, her yard. 531 00:30:14,746 --> 00:30:16,915 There just wasn't a huge footprint. 532 00:30:17,015 --> 00:30:20,052 So the FBI, provided the Prairie Village Police Department 533 00:30:20,152 --> 00:30:22,954 with resources to conduct additional physical searches. 534 00:30:23,055 --> 00:30:26,391 And we're continually trying to find potential leads 535 00:30:26,491 --> 00:30:28,860 and more avenues for us to follow up on. 536 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,595 [Johnny] By the end of 2020, 537 00:30:30,696 --> 00:30:33,365 a year and a half after her disappearance, 538 00:30:33,465 --> 00:30:35,867 Michelle and Ellie decide 539 00:30:35,967 --> 00:30:39,171 that they've gotta take matters into their own hands 540 00:30:39,271 --> 00:30:44,943 by posting videos on TikTok about Angela's disappearance. 541 00:30:45,043 --> 00:30:48,947 Welcome to part one of "Who the F did my aunt marry?" 542 00:30:49,047 --> 00:30:52,751 I just felt so defeated. 543 00:30:52,851 --> 00:30:56,288 And I'm confident that Geoff was involved 544 00:30:56,388 --> 00:30:58,357 with what happened to Angela. 545 00:30:58,457 --> 00:31:03,962 And so one day I just decided to make a TikTok video talking 546 00:31:04,062 --> 00:31:08,233 about what happened to my aunt and how ridiculous 547 00:31:08,333 --> 00:31:10,102 Geoff's different stories have been. 548 00:31:10,202 --> 00:31:12,604 My aunt went missing almost over two years ago 549 00:31:12,704 --> 00:31:14,840 under very suspicious circumstances 550 00:31:14,940 --> 00:31:17,042 in Prairie Village, Kansas. 551 00:31:17,142 --> 00:31:21,279 Next morning, when I woke up, It had a couple million views. 552 00:31:21,380 --> 00:31:25,584 I think Geoff intended for Angela to be forgotten about. 553 00:31:26,685 --> 00:31:29,821 With the support that I got from social media, 554 00:31:29,921 --> 00:31:33,392 I wanted to make sure that kind of the exact opposite would happen. 555 00:31:33,492 --> 00:31:35,260 Thank you all so much for your support. 556 00:31:36,328 --> 00:31:38,330 [Ridge] I became familiar with this case 557 00:31:38,430 --> 00:31:42,367 because I discovered this whole media campaign. 558 00:31:42,467 --> 00:31:43,568 I mean, it went viral. 559 00:31:44,636 --> 00:31:47,839 This is my mom. These are pictures of us. 560 00:31:47,939 --> 00:31:50,675 I have been publicly advocating for my mom 561 00:31:50,776 --> 00:31:53,945 for almost a year now. My mom is still missing. 562 00:31:54,045 --> 00:31:57,082 Michelle and I created a petition called 563 00:31:57,182 --> 00:31:58,650 "Justice for Angela Green." 564 00:31:58,750 --> 00:32:02,821 Ellie and I had set up a GoFundMe to raise money 565 00:32:02,921 --> 00:32:05,190 to be able to hire private investigators. 566 00:32:05,290 --> 00:32:08,860 And through the GoFundMe, Steve Ridge had reached out 567 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,830 and said that he was a private investigator 568 00:32:11,930 --> 00:32:16,535 and he was willing to take on the case pro bono. 569 00:32:16,635 --> 00:32:20,739 And so Ellie and I gave our blessing to do so. 570 00:32:20,839 --> 00:32:23,809 I was able to forge a very good working relationship 571 00:32:23,909 --> 00:32:24,910 with the two of them. 572 00:32:25,977 --> 00:32:30,415 I've studied the escalation of troublesome relationships. 573 00:32:31,583 --> 00:32:33,618 I talked to the next-door neighbor. 574 00:32:33,718 --> 00:32:38,390 They described Geoff as a very mysterious guy 575 00:32:38,490 --> 00:32:40,358 and pretty controlling. 576 00:32:41,526 --> 00:32:46,198 From what I've read, Geoff and Angela's relationship, 577 00:32:46,298 --> 00:32:49,334 that is the recipe for confrontation. 578 00:32:49,434 --> 00:32:53,338 I do believe that the night of the argument with Angela, 579 00:32:53,438 --> 00:32:56,708 after Ellie left the home, things escalated 580 00:32:56,808 --> 00:33:00,879 between Geoff and Angela, and regardless of 581 00:33:00,979 --> 00:33:04,950 who started it, she ended up dead. 582 00:33:05,050 --> 00:33:07,319 As Steve continues to search for any information 583 00:33:07,419 --> 00:33:11,423 on where Angela ended up, Ellie pursues her own investigation, 584 00:33:11,523 --> 00:33:13,492 consistently recording her conversations 585 00:33:13,592 --> 00:33:15,160 with her father. 586 00:33:15,260 --> 00:33:18,230 [Johnny] Ellie was still in contact with Geoff. 587 00:33:18,330 --> 00:33:20,799 He continued to pay for her schooling. 588 00:33:20,899 --> 00:33:24,135 I think he was basically trying to keep their relationship. 589 00:34:00,505 --> 00:34:03,575 He was like, "I don't like being cross-examined." 590 00:34:03,675 --> 00:34:06,745 I was firing questions at him, and he'd either, like, 591 00:34:06,845 --> 00:34:08,547 avoid it, or he'd lie. 592 00:34:08,647 --> 00:34:11,716 Lies upon lies, but, like, little breadcrumbs 593 00:34:11,815 --> 00:34:13,685 that would lead me on, but then they'd always be 594 00:34:13,784 --> 00:34:15,954 dead ends, like, every single time. 595 00:34:16,054 --> 00:34:19,190 Geoff was surprised that Ellie was really pushing him 596 00:34:19,291 --> 00:34:20,257 on certain things. 597 00:34:22,193 --> 00:34:24,228 His stories were bizarre. 598 00:34:52,157 --> 00:34:54,726 [Johnny] The following summer, Ellie goes to the house 599 00:34:54,826 --> 00:34:58,396 in Lawrence and is shocked to see 600 00:34:58,496 --> 00:35:03,435 her mother's favorite flowers, hostas, planted in the backyard. 601 00:35:03,535 --> 00:35:08,039 [Michelle] These flowers that Angela grew in their garden 602 00:35:08,139 --> 00:35:11,776 at the Prairie Village home were dug up and brought 603 00:35:11,876 --> 00:35:13,178 to the Lawrence property. 604 00:35:15,213 --> 00:35:18,483 Then Ellie went on the Dr. Phil show 605 00:35:18,583 --> 00:35:20,218 and told them that she noticed 606 00:35:21,786 --> 00:35:25,056 something really strange in their garden. 607 00:35:26,691 --> 00:35:32,464 They had asked her to collect soil from the area where Geoff 608 00:35:32,564 --> 00:35:37,135 replanted the hostas and that they would send it for testing. 609 00:35:38,670 --> 00:35:41,573 I took different samples of this mound that my dad had 610 00:35:41,673 --> 00:35:43,642 planted my mom's flowers on. 611 00:35:44,643 --> 00:35:46,945 I had like private investigators 612 00:35:47,045 --> 00:35:49,881 on the other side. I was like FaceTiming them. 613 00:35:49,981 --> 00:35:52,217 Then I zipped them all up, I shipped them off 614 00:35:52,317 --> 00:35:54,719 to California where they were. 615 00:35:54,819 --> 00:35:58,890 They put it out in their field in three separate piles 616 00:35:59,891 --> 00:36:02,293 and they had their dogs go out. 617 00:36:02,394 --> 00:36:06,231 Each of the dogs sat down at the dirt piles. 618 00:36:06,331 --> 00:36:08,667 They told her that the dogs 619 00:36:08,767 --> 00:36:12,370 had hit on possible decom bodies there. 620 00:36:14,506 --> 00:36:17,776 We took that information to our District Attorney's office. 621 00:36:17,876 --> 00:36:21,112 We were able to get the search warrant for the yard 622 00:36:21,212 --> 00:36:23,782 in Lawrence that Geoffrey had purchased back 623 00:36:23,882 --> 00:36:25,417 in November of 2019. 624 00:36:26,951 --> 00:36:29,421 We were really hoping that Angela's remains 625 00:36:29,521 --> 00:36:31,222 were in the backyard. 626 00:36:34,659 --> 00:36:36,094 [Taylor] We sifted the dirt, 627 00:36:38,029 --> 00:36:42,033 and we did not find any evidence of human remains 628 00:36:42,133 --> 00:36:43,802 or decom bodies there. 629 00:36:45,270 --> 00:36:48,540 I think we were hopeful and then ultimately 630 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,509 disappointed when not much came of that. 631 00:36:54,012 --> 00:36:57,615 The case is far from just sitting in the back burner 632 00:36:57,716 --> 00:36:59,984 in a filing cabinet somewhere. 633 00:37:00,085 --> 00:37:02,821 The Prairie Village Police, the FBI, the DA, 634 00:37:02,921 --> 00:37:04,055 they want this thing solved. 635 00:37:05,256 --> 00:37:08,760 In the summer of 2022, I told Mr. Green that this case isn't 636 00:37:08,860 --> 00:37:11,796 going away, that we're gonna continue to follow up on it, 637 00:37:11,896 --> 00:37:12,864 and that we're gonna find the truth 638 00:37:12,964 --> 00:37:14,165 of what happened to Angela. 639 00:37:15,700 --> 00:37:18,136 After years of trying everything she can 640 00:37:18,236 --> 00:37:20,371 to find out what happened to her mother, 641 00:37:20,472 --> 00:37:23,174 Ellie decides to put the case behind her. 642 00:37:23,274 --> 00:37:25,643 She moves to Colorado to finish college 643 00:37:25,744 --> 00:37:28,379 and tries to move on with her life. 644 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:32,250 The last time that Ellie saw Geoff, Ellie said to him, 645 00:37:32,350 --> 00:37:35,920 "I know you won't say anything now, but before you die, 646 00:37:36,020 --> 00:37:37,956 "can you at least write me a letter 647 00:37:38,056 --> 00:37:40,625 of what happened to Mom?" 648 00:37:40,725 --> 00:37:42,594 And that's the last time she saw or spoke with him. 649 00:38:01,813 --> 00:38:02,814 Yeah. 650 00:38:11,222 --> 00:38:13,825 Although Angela has now been missing for six years, 651 00:38:13,925 --> 00:38:17,562 in addition to the police and FBI, both Ellie's cousin, 652 00:38:17,662 --> 00:38:20,899 Michelle, and Steve Ridge have not given up the search. 653 00:38:22,267 --> 00:38:24,702 Yeah, I think that's his truck right there. 654 00:38:26,504 --> 00:38:27,505 I'm gonna go see him. 655 00:38:27,605 --> 00:38:28,740 [producer] All right. 656 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,843 I'm gonna go see if old Geoff will come to the door. 657 00:38:39,217 --> 00:38:41,719 I have some information on Angela that I wanted 658 00:38:41,820 --> 00:38:45,023 to share with you. -And who are you? 659 00:38:45,123 --> 00:38:47,892 I'm Steve Ridge. I'm a private investigator. 660 00:38:47,992 --> 00:38:50,395 I've been working on the case for three or four years. 661 00:38:50,495 --> 00:38:52,564 All right, well, you can drop off whatever you want, 662 00:38:52,664 --> 00:38:54,132 but we're not gonna have a conversation. 663 00:38:57,869 --> 00:39:01,005 The Iowa private investigator Steve Ridge is offering 664 00:39:01,105 --> 00:39:03,575 reward money out of his own pocket 665 00:39:03,675 --> 00:39:06,344 to help find Angela Green or her remains. 666 00:39:08,079 --> 00:39:11,716 I had put up a reward offer of $50,000. 667 00:39:11,816 --> 00:39:14,419 I would gladly pay that out at this point to know 668 00:39:14,519 --> 00:39:16,988 where Angela is buried. 669 00:39:17,088 --> 00:39:20,592 Every single day for years, my aunt has been 670 00:39:20,692 --> 00:39:22,493 the first thing that I thought about when I woke up 671 00:39:22,594 --> 00:39:24,729 and the last thing I thought about before I go to bed. 672 00:39:26,097 --> 00:39:30,101 I don't have peace and I don't think that I'll ever get that 673 00:39:30,201 --> 00:39:31,502 until I figure out what happened to her, 674 00:39:31,603 --> 00:39:36,074 which is why I refuse to give up on sharing her story 675 00:39:36,174 --> 00:39:38,109 and really trying to get answers. 676 00:39:39,444 --> 00:39:41,779 [Wakefield] The goal is to determine what happened to Angela. 677 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:44,015 The more people that know about that and the more people 678 00:39:44,115 --> 00:39:47,018 that know that something did happen or that she is missing, 679 00:39:47,118 --> 00:39:49,087 it helps the investigation. 680 00:39:49,187 --> 00:39:52,390 Our agency needs someone to come forward. 681 00:39:52,490 --> 00:39:56,294 But we firmly believe that family and or a friend 682 00:39:56,394 --> 00:39:59,530 of Geoff Green knows exactly what happened. 683 00:40:00,832 --> 00:40:04,102 [Michelle] I think that people who surround Geoff and are 684 00:40:04,202 --> 00:40:08,473 protecting him now need to recognize that he has not 685 00:40:08,573 --> 00:40:14,245 and will not protect them and that justice can be served 686 00:40:14,345 --> 00:40:15,813 with their involvement. 687 00:40:17,482 --> 00:40:21,753 But I promise that Geoff will never know a single day 688 00:40:21,853 --> 00:40:25,189 of peace until we figure out what happened. 689 00:40:47,912 --> 00:40:57,922 [gentle music] 690 00:41:21,245 --> 00:41:24,082 She was murdered brutally. 691 00:41:24,182 --> 00:41:27,852 Anybody that does anything like that is a monster. 692 00:41:27,952 --> 00:41:30,121 Her voice was shaking and she was scared. 693 00:41:30,221 --> 00:41:31,956 Who could hace done this? 694 00:41:32,056 --> 00:41:33,524 Now it's time to hear the truth.