-Case number 20054 -- Cherry Falls Jane Does.
Two women, sisters, traveling around the southwestern US
before their deaths.
Peter Wolfe, arrested four years ago on a DUI.
Fingerprints matched an open child-abandonment case.
♪♪
18 homes in 13 years.
Six months in juvenile detention.
-That was all I had!
That was all I had left of her! -Hey!
-We haven't heard from Wendy in, uh...
I guess it'll be 20 years next month.
-Did you know she had a daughter?
She's -- She's amazing.
-I have a granddaughter?
-It says here I told the social worker,
"Mommy's with the Dancing Lions".
-What could that possibly mean?
-My mom, she was sitting right here where I am.
This is where she sang me the song.
♪♪
-Is that blood? -Mommy.
-[ Crying ]
I remember.
♪♪
I remember everything.
♪♪
[ Shuddered breathing ]
You killed her!
You killed my mother while I watched!
♪♪
[ Cellphone vibrating ]
-Don't answer it. Stop.
[ Both grunting ]
-Elsie? -No!
-Listen to me. -Elsie?
-Stop!
-Where are you, Elsie?
-I'm at the hotel where my mom -- don't touch me!
Dark Knights! -Elsie?
Elsie! [ Engine starts ]
[ Tires screech ]
♪♪
-Aah!
-[ Grunting ]
♪♪
[ Object clatters ]
♪♪
[ Knock on door ]
♪♪
-Just use your key!
-They haven't checked out yet.
-Here. -Cool, dude.
[ Scanner beeps ]
♪♪
-Elsie.
♪♪
Oh, God. He was here.
He took her here, but what is in this room?
-Call the cops.
♪♪
-Wendy played at the bar.
Maybe Elsie was in the room with her.
Maybe this is where it happened. [ Shuddered breathing ]
-Don't ignore me. You know I'm right.
You have to call the cops. -Oh, God.
He's finishing the story.
But where does the story end?!
-You can't do this alone.
Why are you trying to do this alone?
-Shh! I'm trying to think!
-You want to be the one who solves it, the one who saves her
'cause you're trying to make your loser life mean something.
-I'm trying to make your stupid death mean something!
[ Sobs ]
♪♪
[ Cellphone beeps ]
[ Ringing ]
Hi, can you get me Detective Wally, please?
Wally.
Detective Buckner, then.
I can't hold!
Goddamn it.
Okay, he's telling Elsie his story.
But where does that story end?
Is it at the diner where he left her?
But what about Wendy?
He had to hide her somewhere.
Maybe somewhere along this road.
♪♪
Where are you, Wendy?
Tell me where you are.
♪♪
[ Sighs ]
♪♪
Dancing Lions.
Elsie said, "Mommy's with the Dancing Lions".
Dandelions! It's dandelions!
[ Tires screech ]
♪♪
[ Woman vocalizing ]
♪♪
-♪ My eyes ♪
♪ Are wide open ♪
♪ We can make it ♪
♪ To the other side ♪ [ Shovel scrapes ]
-[ Grunts ]
♪ Our love ♪
♪ It's a-rovin' ♪
♪ And it's yours alive in mine ♪
♪ We will both ♪
♪ Wind up broken ♪
♪ Certain that we have died ♪
-It's okay, Maya.
♪♪
Mommy's just resting.
-♪ But on a day much like this one ♪
-Mommy's with the dandelions.
-♪ We're gonna get up ♪
♪ And we will rise ♪
-I knew I needed to be punished, but sitting,
rotting in that prison cell wasn't gonna fix anything.
-That's what you're trying to do?
Fix it?
-I just want you to understand.
-What, that you're a good guy?
That you feel guilty?
Your mom died and your dad beat on you --
you expect me to feel bad for you?
People go through worse every day,
and they don't murder innocent women.
-You're right. You're right, I know.
♪♪
I'm -- I'm like the boar.
It doesn't want to hurt anybody,
but if it's hunted, its instincts make it dangerous.
-You killed the boar. -To save you.
♪♪
-I can save myself.
-Killing me's not gonna help anything.
-You have to pay for what you've done.
-That's what this is.
[ Birds chirping ]
That's what I'm trying to do.
You know, of all the terrible things I've done,
you know the one I regret the most?
♪♪
Abandoning you.
-[ Sniffles ]
-The second you walked back into my life, [Sighs] it hit me.
♪♪
I need to try and give you back what I took away.
I need to be somebody you can count on.
It's what I should've done back then.
♪♪
And now you got nobody, and it's 'cause of me.
♪♪
But it's not too late for either of us.
♪♪
Elsie.
Whatever I can do for the rest of my life to be there for you,
I'll do it.
♪♪
We can be a family.
-You can't fix this.
♪♪
[ Voice breaking ] You can't fix my entire life.
This is all about your guilt, all about what you want --
the family you want,
the stupid stories you've been telling yourself.
I'm done.
I'm done with your stories.
♪♪
[ Gunshot ]
-[ Gasps ]
Elsie! Elsie!
♪♪
Hey.
-Go away.
-I'm not going anywhere.
-Fine.
Then you can watch me kill him.
-Let's talk this through, okay?
-Nobody saw us.
Nobody knows that we're here.
We can bury him in this field, just like he did my mom.
Turn him into nameless bones just like he did those sisters.
This is what he deserves.
-Maybe you're right.
This is what he deserves.
But you don't deserve to carry this around with you forever.
It'll change you.
You don't want to end up like him.
-I don't care.
I have nothing.
I have nothing but him.
♪♪
-Hey.
That's not true.
♪♪
Give me the gun.
♪♪
-Their names.
I didn't get their names, the Cherry Falls sisters.
-It's okay.
Just let him go.
-But you came all this way.
-To find you.
I'm not gonna lose you again.
♪♪
-I know what it's like to live without answers.
♪♪
-Yep, podcast sent us on a wild goose chase.
Who'd have thunk it?
-You wanna say, "I told you so" now or save it for a rainy day?
-Holy crap.
-Stay where you are!
Don't move!
-Wait!
You didn't finish the story.
Who were the sisters?
-Give them their names back!
-Harper, back off!
Elsie, get back now!
♪♪
-He's going for a weapon.
Put your hands where I can see them!
Don't move.
Don't move!
[ Gunshot ]
-[ Grunts ]
♪♪
-Tell us their names!
-[ Groans ]
♪♪
[ Coughs ] -[ Crying ]
♪♪
-It's okay.
It's done.
-[ Crying ]
♪♪
-♪ We will rise ♪
♪ We will rise ♪
♪ We will rise up ♪
♪♪
-He took their names with him.
Like thousands of other Jane Does,
we'll never know their side of the story.
♪♪
But living without answers doesn't mean you stop living.
♪♪
Our story doesn't end with being lost.
♪♪
Our story doesn't end until we're found.
[ Knock on door ]
-You can come in.
-Morning.
How we feeling?
-Fine.
Nervous.
-Aren't you glad you only had to spend a couple nights
in the Center this time?
-It's not as bad as I remembered.
I mean, the decor is butt-ugly and the food still sucks,
but I've seen worse.
-I know you have.
I wish there was more we could've done.
So, is it Elsie or Maya?
I wasn't sure what to put on your exit paperwork.
-Elsie.
That's still who I am.
-You ready, Elsie?
♪♪
-Terrence?
♪♪
-Elsie.
Hi.
♪♪
-Your brother still here? -Yeah.
Th-They're actually letting me take him home for the day.
[ Chuckles ]
I-I found this program for former foster youth.
They've been helping out a lot.
I mean, th-they kinda saved me.
I'm clean, got a job.
-That's good.
-Yeah.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about everything.
♪♪
-You don't have to be the worst thing you do.
I know that's not who you are.
-Terrence!
♪♪
-Corey, this is my friend Elsie.
-Nice to meet you. -Can we go now?
I want waffles.
-[ Chuckles ]
Uh, we eat a lot of waffles.
♪♪
I'm really glad I ran into you.
-Me, too.
-I'll see you around maybe.
♪♪
-♪ I walk this road ♪
♪ I walk this road ♪
♪ Through windswept desert ♪
♪ And forests old ♪
♪ The path is wide but overgrown ♪
♪ I walk alone ♪
-You sure they're coming?
-Yeah, they're coming.
-♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Strangers I meet ♪
♪ Along the way ♪
♪ Though by my side ♪
♪ Strangers they'll stay ♪
♪ From dawn's first light ♪
♪ To black of night ♪
♪ I walk alone ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪ So I walk ♪
♪ To find my way ♪ -Elsie?
-♪ No closer now ♪
-I'm your grandmother.
-♪ Than yesterday ♪ -My name is Dalia.
-I'm your Aunt Robbie.
-♪ Keep ♪
-It's nice to meet you.
-Can I give you a hug? Would that be okay?
-♪ Keep ♪
♪ Keep on moving ♪
♪ Keep, keep ♪
♪ Keep on breathing ♪
♪ Keep ♪
-[ Crying ] ♪ Keep believing ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪♪
[ Indistinct conversations, piano music playing ]
-Hey, everybody, this is Harper.
This is the lady who found our Elsie.
[ Applause ]
[ Both laugh ]
-Nice crown.
-Oh. [ Chuckles ]
I can't believe you showed up.
-I had to. It's your birthday.
And I didn't really get you anything...
except for an entire family.
[ Both chuckle ]
-I'll -- I'll introduce you. -Oh, maybe, um...
-No, come on, come on, come on.
Please?
[ Piano music continues ]
-Marna. -Oh, hi, dear.
-This is my Aunt Marna.
-Nice to meet you. Thank you, thank you so much.
[ Piano music continues ]
-Hey. -Oh! Come on.
♪♪
-This is Harper. -Hey, I'm Uncle Dave.
-Hey, Dave.
-He made the cake.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-Would you like to hold Elsie's cousin Annabelle?
-Oh, I'm good -- Oh, okay. That's...
-[ Laughs ]
-Hey, baby. -Hey.
-Would you like one? -Uh, I'm alright.
-Elsie, honey, you got one more present.
♪♪
-Okay, everybody, come on, come on in.
Come on in here.
-It belonged to your grandfather.
♪♪
-[ Chuckles ]
[ Guitar tuning, strumming ]
♪♪
-Everybody gather around.
Family portrait!
♪♪
-[ Crying ]
-Hey!
You're just gonna leave like that
without even saying anything?
♪♪
-I'm not really the family type.
-Your family doesn't know what they're missing.
-I'm all good. Just...
don't worry about me, okay?
Go back inside.
They're really great people.
And you belong with them.
-Yeah, they are great.
And I'm excited to get to know them, but...
they're still strangers to me.
♪♪
All that time we were looking for my family,
I didn't realize that family was something I could choose.
♪♪
And no one's felt more like my family than you.
♪♪
[ Plastic crinkling ]
♪♪
-Their names.
The Cherry Falls sisters, I found their names.
♪♪
Blue and Jolene Drygulski.
♪♪
Wendy Spellman.
Roan Harper.
Their names matter.
Not just for them.
Not just for us to pay respect and grieve,
but because finding the lost connects the living.
Maya Spellman.
Dalia and Roberta Spellman.
Nita Gonzalez...
♪♪
-¿Cómo estás? -You came back.
-I told you I would, didn't I? [ Chuckles ]
-Who's she?
-This is Harper.
She finds people.
-Hola, Nita.
Your parents -- ¿Comó se llaman?
-Fernando y Fátima.
-...Fernando and Fátima Gonzalez.
We're still looking for Nita's parents,
but we will find them.
Because that's what being alive is about --
it's about finding our people.
That's why we're here.
♪♪
So, all of you out there who may be searching or lost,
don't give up.
You will find your true family...
♪♪
...whoever and wherever they are.
I'm Harper, and, uh, this was my last episode of my podcast.
♪♪
-♪ I'm a lost girl in a strange world ♪
♪ Spinnin', spinnin' all around ♪
♪ Spinnin' all around ♪
-What are you working on?
-A new song.
Can I show you some?
♪ I was looking for you, are you looking for me? ♪
♪ I'm not gonna run, I'm not gonna hide ♪
♪ I'm not hard to find ♪
♪ I'm not gonna run, I'm not gonna hide ♪
♪ I'm not hard to find ♪
♪ Missing places, empty faces ♪
♪ I remember where they are ♪
♪ Picking up all of the pieces ♪
♪ The pieces of my heart ♪
♪ I was looking for you, are you looking for me? ♪
♪ I think I'm gonna be okay ♪
♪ I know I'm gonna be okay ♪
♪ I'm a lost girl in a strange world ♪
♪ Just waiting to be found ♪
♪ Waiting to be found ♪
[ Chuckles ]
♪♪
-I'm Harper, and this was the last episode of my podcast.
Make sure to leave us a good review...
or don't.
Whatever.
Thanks for listening. -♪ ...to the other side ♪
-I told you we'd be the dumbass cops in her podcast.
-♪ Our love is a-rollin' ♪
♪ It's yours alive in mine ♪